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What does Hamish Blake do during marathon Lego builds?

"Before we did the show I asked, 'Should I bring in a treadmill?'" says Hamish Blake.

It’s no secret Television can take a long time to film, and on some shows the ratio of what is shot versus what makes the final cut can be vast.

On Lego Masters, in particular, cameras are constantly filming contestants build, with some challenges stretching out to 27 hours.

“I’ve had people ask me, ‘Do you film it all in one day?'” Hamish Blake laughs.

“Then I’ve said to them, ‘The 27 hour build?’

“And they go, ‘Yeah, do you shoot it all in one day?’

Blake repeats again, ‘The 27 HOUR BUILD?’

The shortest build this year was four hours, which still feels like a long time on one challenge. So what does an audacious host do during such marathon sessions?

“Before we did the show I asked, ‘Should I bring in a treadmill?'” Blake tells TV Tonight.

“A regular arc for an episode is: the intros happen, there’s a bit of building, then lunch, they build all afternoon and I’m periodically ducking in and out and chatting to people.

“During the build times, I’m either on the floor, or I’m in the control room, chatting about what’s going on in the episode. There’s a little bit you can plan but not (much) really. Mostly it’s reactive and to be honest, that’s what I love about the show.

“I work a lot better, I think in an environment where you can react to stuff, organically. I’m not a huge planner, I much prefer reacting to things.”

Blake is back for two more seasons of Lego Masters, already confirmed by Nine, showing no signs of waning enthusiasm.

“I also like an environment where you can say and do heaps and heaps of stuff but 90% of it will hit the cutting room floor. I’m fine with that. When me and Andy do travel shows, we shoot for eight hours, and probably get five minutes out of the day. We are totally fine with that. I love that because it just allows you to try endless things, and something might stick,” he added.

“3% of what I say will make the edit. I don’t see that as a bad thing. I just enjoy that it’s 8 hours of playtime.”

Lego Masters grand final airs 7:30pm Monday night on Nine.

8 Responses

  1. Thanks for asking this question as I wondered what Hamish did the whole time they are building. He does a great job keeping up the energy levels over such a long period of time. I want to know whose poor job it is to take apart all the lego sculptures and put the lego pieces away. That job would suck.

    1. Sound correct. 2019 nominees were announced in May of that year so S1 would have been after the cut-off date and into 2020 event which never happened. He won Gold in 2012 for Gap Year.

      1. I’m a latecomer to the Hamish love, but he excels in this hosting role. I was all ready to give him my vote until…….well, we all know what happened.

    1. Yes, I’ve always thought a real BTS of Master Chef would be interesting – are their donuts and coffee out the back? Are the camera ops salivating on those CU’s…do they eat the left overs? The segment producers, do they form close bonds with the contestants? Who does all the cleaning, how does that look behind the scenes? There’s lots of shiny surfaces on that set…who keeps all the fingerprint marks off them?

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