By Erica Louise
EGO Masters Australia is a reality television
show on Channel 9, which sees teams compete to build the best LEGO project. It is hosted by Hamish Blake and judged by LEGO Certified Professionals Ryan "The Brickman" McNaught. LEGO Masters Season 2 screened just at the right time for Australian families. The show was a delight to watch during isolating times, showcasing some incredible builds made by a lovely group of creative people. To celebrate the number one show in Australia and to talk about his life before and after LEGO Masters Season 2, we had a chat to Ryan "The Brickman" McNaught: Q. When were you first introduced to LEGO? A: "I got my first LEGO set when I was three years old, a tiny blue boat that my grandmother bought for me. It cost 29c! I loved LEGO up until around the age of 14 - when it wasn't cool anymore. I didn't touch a brick again until I had kids - I have twin sons. My mum kept all my childhood things and one day said "You'd better have your junk back" ; my LEGO was amongst that. I started playing with LEGO again and remembered how much fun it was. Then I started looking at how LEGO had evolved and changed, so I got back into it that way." Q. As the only LEGO Certified Professional (LCP) in the Southern Hemisphere, what does it take to become one? A: "There are 14 of us around the world and we all became LEGO Certified Professionals in a different way. There's no such thing as LEGO University or anything like that. I was doing some work with LEGO MINDSTORMS, which is used in schools to teach kids about STEM learning and engineering. LEGO really liked what I was doing and we had a few chats and it went from there." 12 Peninsula Kids â Winter 2020
Q. When you became an official LEGO Certified Professional, did you travel to LEGO HQ in Denmark? A: "I met up with the person who looks after that division in Chicago; I used to work in I.T. and would travel quite a lot. However, each year - except this year - we all get together, usually in Denmark or somewhere else in the world, and talk about all things LEGO." Q. You enjoy running marathons! What do you have planned for the future? Are there any runs coming up? A: "I was supposed to be running the Boston Marathon a month ago, and I was supposed to be running in Berlin in September, but unfortunately that's been cancelled too. I've done some virtual runs but it's not quite the same." Q. Tell us about your time in lockdown and what you've been up to? A: "I did a bit of running, but we've also been renovating our house over the past 12 months, so there has been lots of renovations whilst in lockdown" Q. Have the Coronavirus restrictions changed or stopped any work plans that you had? A: "We have LEGO exhibitions touring around the world. Right now there is one in Saudi Arabia, in Leicester UK, and one in Vancouver Canada. All of those exhibitions have stopped. Everything is on pause and the models are all sitting there getting dusty unfortunately until the world sorts itself out." Q. Have you been able to work on anything during lockdown? A: "We're currently building our next exhibition and using the lull to our advantage. It's a little challenging and difficult with social distancing because our team is collaborative. We work together in teams and we can't do a lot of that at the moment so it's very different and its changed what we do a lot."