Lego Masters Nate and Steve interview

I am very glad to say that I managed to secure an interview with Nate and Steve, the winners of the Channel Four programme 'Lego Masters'. They were both at the Lego Discovery Centre in Manchester at the Trafford Centre to judge a kid vs grownups competition and gave me some time to ask them questions. During the interview, I only wrote detailed notes of what they said so the following is paraphrased (I could not write everything they said and I did not have the means to record it) but the overall answers are the same.

Congratulations on winning 'Lego Masters', what is life like now that you have become very well known in the Lego community?

Nate: Well, we haven't really seen much of the Lego community.
Steve: It's nice to be recognised and to see people be excited about what we have built and it's good to try and inspire people. We very much look forward to taking the final build over to Denmark.

I know your backstory dealt with anxiety, how did you overcome this in the pressures of the build room?

Steve: For the process of having cameras in-front of me, I didn't think of it as being 2 million people watching me on the other side and because of the experience, I have grown in confidence because of all the good feedback we have been getting. It has really helped me with anxiety and we were both  nervous at the first audition.

How did you manage to find anything in the build room?

Nate: Everything was sorted, it's just trying to find the drawer.
Steve: In the final days we could sort out the drawers so that it was organised to us.

Which part of being on 'Lego Masters' was your favourite?

Nate: Meeting everyone. Behind the scenes we met a few different Lego designers and Matthew
Steve: You can't really get the opportunity for the VP of design to look at what you have built and to know he is looking at your build.

Besides from what we saw on 'Lego Masters', what else have you built?

Steve: I have a Flickr page and I've done a few brick animations. We did a challenge where we took our six favourite sets and built them micro scale.

How many sets do you have or do you mainly build your own creations?

Nate: Hundreds of sets
Steve: I have many sets and every mixel but I prefer building my own creations

What is it like to have your work displayed in the Lego house in Denmark?

Nate: It's just fantastic, we saw the AFOL opening and it's just incredible
Steve: It's really something you can't buy and it's a real privilege to have our work displayed with legends'.

Have you learnt anything from this experience?

Nate: To take more pride in our work and this has given us more evidence to show that what we build is good
Steve: It helped me battle my anxiety and showed that anyone can have a go at building and build something good. We didn't think we would get on the show let alone win it.

And finally, what message would you like to give to those reading this post?

Steve: Probably the same as how we ended the show. You don't know what you can build so throw away the instructions, also, even though Lego is seen as a children's toy, adults can use it too.

During the interview, I also asked about both final builds being displayed in the Lego house and if the original plans were for only the winner's build to be displayed there. Nate and Steve answered by saying no one knew about the builds being displayed in the Lego house until the final and that Matthew Ashton really did change the plans so that both final builds could be displayed there.

If you wish to see Steve's wonderful Lego photos which include pictures of his time on Lego Masters, you can see his Flickr profile at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/138645704@N05/

If you somehow have not seen Channel Four's 'Lego Masters' or are behind on the series, it is available for catch up at: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/lego-masters
I believe that it is worth watching. It is even worth watching if you know who wins.