LEGO Masters, Australia’s most beloved entertainment show is set to return for its fifth season on Channel 9 and 9Now at 7:30 PM on Easter Monday April 10.
This season is the biggest yet, featuring a world first: a competition between previous winners and top teams, along with a wildcard duo, in LEGO Masters: Grand Masters.
Host Hamish Blake and judge Ryan “Brickman” McNaught will return to the show to put this elite group of champion builders to the test. The challenges this year are tougher than ever, including suspended LEGO worlds high above the ground, a movie mayhem scene using motors and explosives, and the launch of a rocket into the sky.
According to Ryan, the contestants are well aware of the high expectations placed on them as Grand Masters, and they are ready to bring something new and exciting to the table.
This season will feature special guest appearances from Sophie Monk, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, and Mickey Mouse to celebrate 100 years of Disney storytelling.
Hamish is excited to be back for the Grand Masters season, stating that it is a “huge honour” to be considered the best host that has ever hosted LEGO Masters Australia. This season will showcase unbelievable heights of creativity as the best brick builders in the nation raid the ever-expanding brickpit to outdo each other.
Expect to see some of the greatest builds in LEGO TV history as the contestants battle it out for the most coveted trophy of all. LEGO Masters: Grand Masters promises to be a season like no other, with new twists and turns that will keep viewers on the edge of their seats.
Kale & Trent
Kale and Trent are teamed up for the first time as a wild card duo to show Australia just what they’ve got: Lego passion and creativity by the bucket load. Kale has gone so far as to make his passion his livelihood, noting his job title as “brick artist and toy photographer”.
Kale was known in Season 1 for always wanting to “build big”. He was so focused on scale that he scored an invite back for Season 3 to play the crucial human ruler in the Go Big or Go Home challenge. But Kale hasn’t made it to a Grand Final and is back for redemption.
Describing himself as strong-willed, determined and creative, Kale also admits he can be too much of a perfectionist and impatient at times. He likes to be challenged, to do something he couldn’t do yesterday, and considers his best build to be the next one.
His building style is eclectic, joyful and often fuelled by pop culture. Estimating that his Lego collection is nudging a phenomenal total of 3,000,000 bricks, Kale is well known among the Lego community and considers himself to be “Lego famous”. Though he is an accountant by trade, Trent’s real passion is toys, and he is a 1980s toy mega collector. He has numerous collectors’ items that have taken over space in his own house. He even has a podcast called Toy Power, which allows him to share his love of toys and pop culture.
Describing his builds as colourful and wacky, Trent loves to capture characters with funny expressions and thinks his biggest strength is conveying a cartoon expression face. Trent is champing at the bit to return to the monster Brick Pit!
Andrew & Damian
Best mates Andrew and Damian met by chance while exhibiting at their local Lego club events and have been inseparable ever since.
Runners-up in Series 2, these Queenslanders are back with a new strategy, working on innovative building ideas they can bring to each episode. Music teacher Andrew is a big kid at heart and a doting dad to five children.
Andrew has been building Lego since he was eight and estimates that he owns 300,000 bricks. He is inspired by architecture and loves storytelling when it comes to the building process. He enjoys building fast and furious with brick on brick, then detailing later. Damian is a graphic designer and he runs a business jointly with Andrew called Clicking Bricks. They provide live builds, commissions and workshops for the public.
Describing his Lego style as a clean aesthetic with a good mix of colour, Damian also loves intricate, detailed Minifig builds as well as larger brick-built characters. A father of two, Damian is razor-keen to test himself against the best builders from previous series.
Their biggest and most recent build is a replica of the famous Iona Abbey in Scotland as part of a commission project for Clicking Bricks – measuring 2 metres long, 1.5 metres wide and 1 metre tall. Highly strategic in their planning, Damian and Andrew are ready to claim the title.
Scott & Owen
Larrikin best mates from Western Australia, Scott and Owen are chasing their first Lego title after placing second in Season 3.
This easy going, fun-loving and cheeky duo met in high school and have fond memories of playing with Lego when they were younger. Although they have very different minds on a creative level, their skills complement each other.
Scott looks at the bigger picture; Owen has a detail-orientated focus on the aesthetics. Scott is an electrician with a heart of gold. He loves the endless possibilities that Lego brings – “The ability to create whole towns, scenarios or even worlds is mind-blowing.” His speciality is Minifigure dioramas and logic and creativity are his strengths.
Owen is a passionate engineer who describes his work as “playing with giant Lego made out of steel”. His Lego style is big, bold and epic, with his strength this season being a knowledge of basic mechanisms, which he attributes to his engineering background. Their goal is to make the smaller details absolutely perfect, as in the past they have struggled with overall composition.
After working hard to improve on this, the boys are back to build good Lego fast and consistently and walk away with the trophy this time.
David & Gus
Season 3 winners David and Gus from Melbourne return to stake their claim for the Lego Grand Masters trophy.
They are famously known for their incredible Season 3 build “Fox in First Snow”, which encapsulated their creative artistic style and incredible eye for detail. David, a senior business analyst, was born in Columbia and moved to Australia five years ago after a visit where he fell in love with our country. He describes Lego as his “happy place” and loves how everyday life can spark his imagination to build.
David remembers playing Lego as a child, but his passion was reignited in 2001 after the re-release of a set that reminded him of his childhood. He has been building MOCs (My Own Creation) ever since and even builds Lego MOCs inside real bottles!
Gus is a design engineer who has previously worked for Brickman. He discovered Lego as a child and went through a very long dark age before being reintroduced to Lego around the time his son was born. Gus describes his Lego style as artistic and enjoys creating organic shapes and characters. He loves being challenged creatively and technically and getting an emotional reaction out of people.
David and Gus chat nearly every day – talking more to each other than their wives, they reckon!
Joss & Henry
Newcastle brothers Joss and Henry won Lego Masters in Season 4. They are an extremely focused duo returning to push the envelope and build things they wouldn’t normally try.
The boys are known for their creature builds such as dragons, monsters, and dinosaurs, and recall their Grand Final build in Season 4 as their greatest creation yet. Joss and Henry often spend hours building together and say that Lego has nurtured their brotherly relationship.
Through play, the brothers have found a safe space to break down walls and talk to each other about anything at all while they are building, saying “it brings us back to our childhood”. Joss lives and breathes Lego. He works at his local Lego store and spends around 20 hours a week building.
His strengths are learning on the fly, building creatures and creating natural shapes. He refers to his building style as sculpting out of clay, starting with a rigid skeleton and adding layers outward. Joss has three builds on display at the Lego Masterpiece Gallery in Denmark, which he says is a massive honour.
Henry, a work safety officer, says he has been a fan of Lego since he was born. He cannot recall a time in his life where he wasn’t building with Lego. Henry’s strengths are creativity, bold colour and texturing. He describes his style as adaptive; he hasn’t built many MOCs outside of Lego Masters and figures his builds out on the go, which leads to each build looking different.
These eclectic brothers are back to prove they aren’t one-trick ponies. (And Hamish still owes them $50).
Henry & Sarah
Series 1 star Henry returns with a new teammate this season, bubbly Bricksmas winner Sarah from Series 3. As a previous winner he feels as though the pressure is somewhat off as they get ready for the epic intensity of the Grand Masters.
For Sydneysider Henry, a father to three boys, his career as a property valuer means he doesn’t get to express his creative side much at work, so at home building Lego and playing guitar is how he can creatively blow off steam. He considers himself the ultimate all-rounder when it comes to brick building, with a strong focus on storytelling.
His winning strategy this season is to focus on his strengths. With a collection numbering a staggering total of 500,000 bricks, Henry loves the sense of accomplishment and creative satisfaction that Lego building gives him. He enjoys challenging himself to use bricks in unconventional ways and translating real-world items into Lego.
A respected builder within the Lego community, Henry has recently been working on pop culture icons known as “Brikfaced” which consist of smaller characters with larger heads that capture the unmistakeable look of the person they are representing. They have even been reposted by heavy metal band Metallica. Larger-than-life Sarah is a muralist from Victoria. She loves colourful and unique builds and recalls her favourite build from Series 3, “Geisha”.
Sarah does Lego builds at home with her son and says these are her favourites. Although only discovering Lego a few years ago, Sarah estimates she already owns 50,000 bricks, and in a week she would spend eight hours building. Listing her strengths as being creative and colourful, she admits technical Lego will be her weakness. Sarah won the recent Bricksmas Specials contest on Nine, taking home the Christmas trophy with celebrity chef Poh.
Although this is their first time building as a team, Henry and Sarah have two Lego trophies between them and have been in the top two 12 times.
Ryan & Gabby
After finishing third in Series 3, Ryan and Gabby have revised their strategies for Grand Masters.
They’ve been looking for visual examples of worlds they would like to create, storing a bank of ideas to assist them during the concept and planning process.
Lego fanatic Ryan is a primary school teacher who also runs a business called The Sodor Team, replicating trains depicted in the original TV series, Thomas the Tank Engine. Ryan, a very technical builder, can assemble elaborate structures while ensuring structural integrity.
He describes his style as neat and detailed while broad in scope. He is no stranger to a Brick Pit – having his own 6m x 4m Lego room at home storing close to 750,000 bricks. This father of four from Victoria is excited to be up against the best builders in the country.
Gabby is a therapist and clinical educator from Melbourne and mother of two young boys. She is very creative, and as well as building Lego loves to sew, knit and paint. Gabby is imaginative: her strengths are interesting colour combinations, model composition and creating fun Minifig stories.
She’s hoping these will complement Ryan with his great technical ability.
Alex & Caleb
Sydneysiders Alex and Caleb were the Series 4 runners-up.
This high-energy, ultra-competitive team who thrive on social interaction always give 100 per cent and throw themselves into every challenge. They are a dynamic duo known for their unique and sophisticated ideas. They were in the middle of the pack early in Series 4, but once they found their groove they were unstoppable.
Both recall their favourite build from their series , “Gone Fishin”, which got them into the Grand Final. Alex is a makeup artist and TAFE teacher with a love and natural knack for Lego.
A self-confessed nerd, she enjoys watching Star Wars and Harry Potter on repeat most weekends. She collects Star Wars memorabilia, and despite having only been an AFOL (Adult Fan Of Lego) for the last few years, she now owns 35 Lego sets with that number quickly growing. Her strengths are storytelling and humour.
Caleb is studying law at university, and he builds Lego to decompress after long, stressful hours of study. An avid builder, Lego was an everyday part of his childhood growing up.Caleb is determined and will always push through until he finds a solution when he has a technical problem to solve. Describing his style as humorous, he wants to make people laugh with his builds. Returning to the Lego floor is a chance for Alex and Caleb to go one better.
They’ve improved their technical ability which will complement their superb storytelling skills.
