'I've gone deep': Hamish Blake admits his Lego obsession has him 'stealing' from set

Everyone’s favourite light-hearted, family-friendly, and inspirational reality show Lego Masters is back and it’s just what we need during these crazy and uncertain times.

Throw together some passionate people, dramatic and incredible challenges, and a hilarious host in Hamish Blake and the show is a recipe for a fun time.

Chatting to Yahoo Lifestyle, Hamish has filled us in on what to expect on this second season and reveals what really happens on set - like the fact his lego obsession has reached the point where he is taking mini figures home.

“This was either going to go one of two ways – I was either going to get sick of Lego, or I would go deep. And I’ve gone deep,” Hamish tells Yahoo Lifestyle, admitting the show has definitely fuelled the fire.

“I steal a lot from the show – I should be honest about that.

“I realised the easiest thing to steal is the mini-figures off the giant walls we’ve got in The Brick Pit. That became quite easy, and I did steal a lot of Star Wars mini figures.”

When it comes to filming the competition, besides getting to ride around on a scooter this season, which is pretty awesome, Hamish says he generally doesn’t even have too much of a script.

“Generally, I would say I have maximum [creative license],” he tells us. “We know the things we have to say, and there are certain bits that we have to communicate, but by and large, I guess I’m free-wheeling it.”

One of those “certain bits” is making sure Lego expert Brickman - Ryan McNaught - gets to share his thoughts on the Lego builds and challenges, as well as sharing his tips for the contestants.

“The bit we all want to hear is what Brickman has thought [about what everyone has made], and why he thought it,” Hamish says.

“I find that really interesting – I’m always fascinated to hear his critique, because it’s a great master class in creativity, and problem solving, and building. He’s got such a great take on what it takes to get something right.

“Apart from that, I’m basically just saying whatever pops into my head.”

For those who watched season one, there was an exciting addition to season two - and a familiar face - as one half of last year’s grand finalists Jordan and Miller returns to help teams with the task of having to run to and from The Brick Pit for Lego pieces.

Contestants can win the ‘Flash Jordy’ brick to give them this advantage for one build, and Hamish says the idea for the addition actually started as a bit of a joke.

“That Jordy thing, we were all joking around, and the idea came up, and the Executive Producer stopped and went, ‘We are DEFINITELY doing that in the show!’” he says.

“And that is what I love about this show – so many things start as jokes, where it’s under the premise of, ‘Wouldn’t it be silly if we did X’, and then the room stops, and our Executive Producer says, ‘Yep, we’re doing it.’”

Other than a few exciting new additons - like Flash Jordy, Hamish’s scooter and iPads - the host says there was not huge attempt to completely overhaul the show after the success of season one.

“We tried to keep all the bits we loved, and that made the show the show,” he says. “But I suppose the benefit of any Season Two over any Season One is that now we know what the show is and isn’t, so we knew the places it would be fun to push things; or take things to another level.

“I think this season, the builds are going to a whole new level.”

The father-of-two also says he’s been enjoying sharing the show’s experience with his kids Rudy and Sonny.

“The kids did come out to set a bunch of times. I probably accidentally took them out on days where we might have had food trucks on set, or ice cream, or something else that was fun,” Hamish says.

“Also, the people who work on the show loved having the kids there, so various people would be fussing over them and making them hot chocolates, or whatever. They now have the worst idea of what a workplace is of all time!”

Not that he would call this a ‘job’ anyway, Hamish adds.

“But they’re like, ‘As far as we can tell, Dad goes to a place where they have unlimited hot chocolate and he watches people build Lego. Then he comes home’,” he says.

“I don’t think they think of work as something you have to go to university for! My son is constantly going to be baffled as to why he has to do anything at school because he already knows how to go to a shed and drink hot chocolate! That’s all you do, right?”

But the Lego obsession has definitely taken over the entire Foster-Blake household, which Hamish says is where the copious amounts of mini figures he has ‘nicked’ come in handy.

“So, now, at home, what we’re doing is, we are at that level where we’re starting to build castles, and buildings, and worlds,” he says.

“But we now have lots of mini figures, so we can build stadiums, or maybe bleacher seats. So if we build two robots that are going to battle each other, we are going to have an audience seated to watch!”

Lego Masters screens Sunday, Monday and Tuesday on Channel Nine. All episodes are also available to view through 9Now.

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