Clowning around on the set of LEGO Masters Australia Vs The World with host Hamish Blake is everything you would expect it to be. He encourages TV WEEK to steal LEGO bricks as mementos while jokingly claiming the show is rigged.
“We’ve got four Aussie teams versus four internationals,” Hamish, 42, explains about the latest season. “So already we have the advantage. It’s our show, so we’re obviously going to stack the deck for Australia.”
The four local teams will compete against LEGO Masters winners from France, Germany, the US and Denmark for $100,000 and world domination.
Although the show is entering its sixth season, the two-time TV WEEK Gold Logie winner says he hasn’t run out of ideas to keep the challenges and builds entertaining, but admits legalities sometimes get in the way of his more outlandish proposals.
“We wanted to get these gel blasters that fire 8mm balls that disintegrate – they’re like nerf weapons. They’re super-fun, but because they look like guns, they’re illegal in New South Wales,” he says, before contemplating moving the set to Queensland, where they’re legal. “Imagine trying to concentrate while those are being shot around your LEGO build.”
Hamish also enjoys playful banter with right-hand man and LEGO expert Ryan “Brickman” McNaught, but, as fathers, the pair could also sympathise with the international teams spending time away from their families.
“Everyone except the Germans are parents,” Hamish explains. “We were talking with Camille on the French team, who is doing the show with his sister. He has a high-pressure job as a psychiatrist, his wife is a pediatrician, they have kids, so to spend a few weeks in Australia was a lot. But [his family] pushed him, and said, ‘This is a great opportunity, you love LEGO, we’ll manage,’ and now he’s here and he’s on cloud nine.”
LEGO Masters now has 16 versions across the globe, and having four overseas teams in the mix raises both the calibre of the contest and the stakes – particularly for the Aussies.
“The international teams are coming in with experience, but our Aussie teams are new to the show,” Hamish says. “We sort of figured because Australia is many seasons ahead of the rest of the world, we might have an advantage, while a lot of the others are on their first or second [season]. It’s well known that Australia is the hardest and the leading edge [version] of the franchise.”
Hamish is no stranger to creating high-quality, trend-setting content, with popular parenting podcast How Other Dads Dad and the long-running The Hamish And Andy Show. So it’s not surprising LEGO Masters has been so successful, but that isn’t what he’s most proud of.
“It’s not about how many people listen or [the number of] views you get,” the father-of-two says. “In terms of [How Other Dads Dad], for example, what I’m most proud of are the guests who have come on who are super-generous and heartfelt with their stories. If you get a hundred of dads or mums listening and it means something to them, that’s more successful to me than a million downloads.”
Although Hamish’s recent relocation to Sydney with his family means he and bestie Andy Lee have been physically separated, that hasn’t affected their friendship or podcast.
“It’s our own little world and anything can happen in there that we don’t have to run past anyone,” Hamish says.
As for whether Hamish will be watching LEGO Masters back with his wife, Zoë Foster Blake, and their kids – Sonny, nine, and Rudy, six – he jokes, “I don’t even watch myself back, so I’m not making the kids watch me.”
