‘Lego Masters’ Judges Amy Corbett and Jamie Berard Tease “Energized” Season 2

Lego Masters Season 2 is here and, we’re happy to report, everything is still awesome. Fox’s feel-good, family competition show warmed our hearts and blew our minds when it debuted in early 2020. It also gave everyone something positive to look forward to every week as 2020 turned into 2020. Unlike a lot of reality competition shows, Lego Masters never thrived on the drama and instead showcased all the spectacular and imaginative uses for the most ubiquitous toy ever. We loved to see it—and we love to see it back for Season 2 .

The new season of Lego Masters builds on the solid foundation laid in Season 1, with Will Arnett back as host and Brickmasters Amy Corbett and Jamie Berard ready to get to work. Obviously a lot has changed in the year and a half since Season 1 debuted, but you—thankfully—wouldn’t know it from Season 2. The show is every bit as optimistic and intense (you know you start sweating every time someone has to pick up a build!) as you remember. You can totally go home again, if that home is built with Lego bricks.

Ahead of Season 2’s highly-anticipated premiere, Decider got to chat with judges Jamie Berard and Amy Corbett about the success of Season 1 and how the Lego Masters team worked hard offscreen to keep the magic going onscreen.

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Decider: Are y’all ready for Season 2 to be out there in the world?

Jamie Berard: We were just talking about that. We can’t wait.

Amy Corbett: We’re so excited. It’s been a fast turnaround but at the same time, it’s been a really long wait to actually see the show, so—

Berard: —And we get as excited about the teasers as probably you guys do when you see them.

Decider: The production moved to Georgia for Season 2. Could you tell any difference on set?

Corbett: No, you could not tell at all. I think that set was perfectly, perfectly constructed. And it felt right at home again.

Berard: Yeah, they do a good job of trying to isolate us from anything around us. When you go inside that box of a building, it’s totally Lego Masters. But outside of that, it was my first time spending time in Georgia, and so the food—when we were eating every day, I was like, “Oh man, I gotta watch out because there’s some good cooking here, but I gotta fit into these outfits.”

Decider: What I really love about Season 2 is that, even though it was filmed during the pandemic, you can’t tell. Season 1 was our comfort watch when COVID started, and it’s nice that Season 2 still feels so much like Season 1. What was it like to go back into production?

Corbett: I’m so glad to hear that you felt that because I think that was actually the big goal in making the show that way. We wanted it to be an escape for people from some of these tough things with COVID that’s happening in the world. So we wanted it to feel like it could have been filmed at any time and also be timeless in that way. And it was super nice for Jamie and I. As soon as we walked out in front of the camera, we also forgot COVID was happening. We had a little escape. But saying that, everyone around us was making sure that it was totally safe for us to be there, and we could relax and we could be our best selves on set. And then as soon as you got off [set], then you saw people in the masks and protective wear and being really careful.

Berard: Yeah, it did feel really special. We felt quite privileged because the builders, Will, Amy, and myself, we were in this special bubble so we were able to be on the set and interact with each other just like we always would, and that was so cool. But you did get an awareness of what it took to create that environment. As soon as you step those three feet off of the set, you became very aware of how much of an effort it took, but we were so grateful for it.

Corbett: I think one thing that was was different [in Season 2] is we all still had that feeling of COVID, so we didn’t hug. We didn’t have some of those goodbyes that we maybe had in Season 1. Because even though we’re in this little bubble, you still—I still feel wrong to hug people. It feels like we’re not supposed to do that. So I think that was the one place where maybe we didn’t go as far

Decider: The other big difference this time is that all of the contestants have definitely seen Season 1. Were the teams more savvy this time around? 

Berard: Definitely. I would say most everybody on Season 2 was very aware of Season 1, and I would say the most noticeable thing was how when we would speak or Will would speak, they would listen so carefully to every little thing. They didn’t want to miss a single thing. And even if we were in the front and we were having a chat about where the teams at, Will’s just talking to us, you could see that ear from a table coming close to us. They just wanted to gather as much information as possible. But I also think that they knew what they were getting into, so there was an energy. The first season, it was a little bit of where are we going with this? What’s happening? Some of the builders were a little unsure as to how far in to go or not. But the builders this season, they’re like, we’re all in. We’re pumped. They were just really energized.

Corbett: You could tell for sure they’ve been doing some training and practicing at home, which is great. We want people to be their very best in the competition, so we love that people are practicing and trying things out. But we also have a whole new set of challenges for them, so no matter how much you practice or watch Season 1, there’s a whole load of new challenges being thrown at them.

Decider: What challenges can fans expect from Season 2?

Corbett: This is where we’re never that good at how much we can share! But I think as always, you’re gonna see Lego in totally brand new ways that you’ve never seen before. So we’ve got a little hint of going into the fashion world and trying a challenge in that direction. And we’ve got some parade floats where we want to see the personality of the contestants. We’ve got some explosions.

Berard: But we also got those crazy strength challenges as well. There’s one in particular in mind where you see how many ways people are creative in solving this challenge. I was just—I was giddy.

Corbett: He could not hold back.

Berard: My engineering side started to peek through. But it’s that nice balance of having, like Amy said, the storytelling, characters, action. It’s really a great mix this season.

Decider: I think that you clearly see that mix in the premiere episode, which includes a team that’s wearing the Lego Dots bracelet in tribute to a family member who’s passed. I remember Lego Dots were the new toy when Season 1 came out. What was it like seeing a really personal way people are connecting with Lego products?

Corbett: Yeah, [Lego Dots] just launched as the show launched. And that’s actually the project that I work on, so I run the design team. And and I think it was awesome to see how creative people are being with Dots, and the fact that they were using it to commemorate their great-niece. I think was was pretty special. And, in a way, she was there with them because they had that bracelet on. It was really special, yeah.

Decider: It really speaks to the community that Lego has built. That’s really on display in Season 2. Some of the new contestants have built with some of the Season 1 contestants. How has the Lego community responded to Lego Masters?

Berard: There’s definitely some excitement, to your point, about how everybody’s connected. The fact that they’re name dropping each other, and then the people on the show are very aware of Season 1 people. It’s nice when you see within the fan forums, now that they’ve seen some of the teasers, and they’re like, “Oh, Moto’s on there! Oh, Steven’s on there!” They know the names of the people and they get even more excited because they know them and they know what their potential is. That’s how it translates into the show. It’s really wild and fun to see. But at least as a starting point, [the community] knows, okay, they got some really good people in this season.

Corbett: I think [the community] also comes in admiring them. They look look up to each other and they learn from each other as well, which I think is awesome. And I think the Lego community is also great at cheering on other people in the Lego community. So whether they’re are other people in the show, or whether they’re sitting at home watching it, they really want you or their team from their area of the Lego community to win. It’s really special, actually, isn’t it?

Berard: Even some of the challenges, you can see people in the room, like, “I can’t wait to see how this other team solves this because this is totally what they do.” It’s fun to see that anticipation.

Decider: The first episode has—no spoilers—one specific really jaw-dropping build. But you two have probably seen it all when it comes to Lego. Are there still moments that shock and surprise you on the show?

Corbett: I think one of the awesome things about Lego is no matter how much you’ve seen, people can always surprise you because there’s always new ways you can use the bricks and combine them. That’s the awesome thing about the system. That build for sure made my jaw drop from the moment it started moving. But I think actually the great thing in the first episode is the teams all come in and they’re like, “This is who I am as a builder.” It’s their chance to show their personality, their building style. And I think for us to be amazed by so many of the builds, and episode one just made my jaw drop—wow, this is gonna be a tough competition but super exciting.

Berard: Yeah, it was slightly intimidating  because we’re like, this is the very first episode? We’re in trouble. How do we send any of these people home?

Decider: Speaking of home, Lego Masters Season 1 just debuted over in the UK. What’s that been like for you, Amy? Are you getting a lot of messages from people back home?

Corbett: Yes! It’s still on at the moment. I think the weirdest thing is when my parents or my brother get a message being like, “Is that your sister on TV? ” I’m getting a lot of love and it’s really nice to share it with my home country. That’s something I never had quite the same as Jamie in the US. My family is in the UK so they could only see [Season 1] through me. They weren’t seeing it live on the TV. And so to be able to share it with the UK and share what I’ve done is really fun and exciting. And yes, there are a lot of big fans of the show and a lot of people there are really excited for Season 2 and hoping that it will make its way to the UK sometime soon.

Decider: Have you met any surprising fans of Lego Masters since the show debuted last year?

Berard: I was expecting people would get excited, but I think for me, it’s mostly the kids that have really, really come out in full force. They are just so pumped. And we’re seeing them doing challenges on their own, these family challenges on YouTube and stuff like that. I get really excited when I see that.

Corbett: Yeah, I think is less of who we know watches it and more of sometimes, we’re like, do you think they might watch it? Sometimes we’re sitting in the hotel after filming, while we’re filming season two, and we were watching Shark Tank or something and [we were] like, “Do you think they watch Lego Masters? Do you think they’re fans? Do you think they watch it with their kids?” I think it’s fun to speculate sometimes about who might have it on in the background, and even be hooked on the show and really rooting for a team.

Decider: Are there any challenges from the show that you really wish you could have participated in?

Berard: Yeah, in Season 2 there are so many challenges that we just wanted to get a table and say, “We just want to do this one.” But which one specifically? Actually, I wanted to do the fashion challenge.

Corbett: We certainly had a lot of fun filming the fashion challenge this time, and there was a lot of energy so we had a lot of ideas for that. In Season 1, the storybook challenge, I think it was my fave. When the kids came in and made a story and people had to build it, right away I was imagining what these things could look like and how to bring the story to life. I think that’s just so much my world. I enjoy building, so I’d love to be building in that challenge.

Berard: Yeah. And I have a soft spot for Star Wars, so I would have loved it if C-3PO said something amazing about something that I built. It would have just made me melt.

Lego Masters Season 2 premieres on Tuesday, June 1 at 8 p.m. ET on Fox

Stream Lego Masters on Hulu