Amy Corbett: From Design Lead to LEGO MASTERS USA judge

Brick Master Amy Corbett reveals how she took her LEGO design expertise to the set of LEGO MASTERS USA

It is half way through LEGO MASTERS USA and the contest is heating up. As one of the show’s two judges, Amy Corbett needs to maintain a cool head. In each episode, she and fellow Design Lead Jamie Berard give advice to the contestants, select the winning builds and have the tough decision to make about who to send home.

As well being a Brick Master, Amy recently launched LEGO DOTS as part of her regular role as a LEGO Design Lead. She brings all of her expertise to the LEGO MASTERS set as pairs of builders compete to construct the most impressive models.

In this exclusive interview, Amy reveals what it has been like to step into the world of LEGO television.

Working at the LEGO Group, was the idea of television ever on your radar?

No, I don’t even think in my life, in my wildest dreams, that television was on the radar. No, I didn’t think this was an opportunity that I would get – but it was an exciting one, definitely.

What was it like turning up on set for the first time?

It is quite an interesting thing to reflect on after you have done it, because the filming was over several weeks, so you get used to it more and more. In the beginning it was just a lot of new things. You are suddenly moved from your top secret work environment with a team that you know, that you can easily communicate with and give directions to, to being in a TV environment with a bunch of amazing contestants, people you have never met before, never talked to, never communicated with – and being a judge, which is also a new experience, so really having the power to make some big decisions that are going to affect people’s future in a way.

So it was quite a different experience – but of course there are a lot of parallels that I can draw with my everyday job. It was a very fast paced environment, so we had to learn very quickly how to be TV judges as opposed to Creative Leads directing a design team.

Meet the LEGO MASTERS USA judges: Jamie Berard and Amy Corbett

Did you think about how you would approach the role of a judge?

I think at the beginning, I had a lot of different ideas about what I would be, or how I would come across, how I wanted to say things… but I think when you are in that environment you just have to be yourself, it is really hard to shape a persona or personality. I wanted to be the nice judge, that was my plan and that Jamie would be the mean one, but we just found a natural flow of how we work best together, how we can best give the feedback to the contestants, that would not only help them to grow for the next week but also understand some of the decisions we were making along the way.

How did you feel at the end of the process?

At the end I think we definitely felt like it had been this roller-coaster ride where we had learnt so much so fast. The biggest thing I felt was pride for the contestants and how much I had seen them grow from the beginning of the competition to the end. I would like to say a lot of that was the way that Jamie and I, over the course of the competition, learned how to be coaches to the contestants and give them the feedback and input they needed to up their game with every challenge. It was incredible how some of the teams developed throughout the competition and really took on everything you said and learned from it. I would like to think that we developed the skills to really be coaches to the contestants by the end of the competition.

The next episode of LEGO MASTERS will air in FOX in the USA on Wednesday, March 11 at 9.00pm ET/10.00pm PT.

More LEGO MASTERS USA coverage

LEGO MASTERS: The road to the USA

Episode reviews:
Episode 1: “Dream Park Theme Park”
Episode 2: “Space Smash Challenge”
Episode 3: “Cut in Half”
Episode 4: “Movie Genres”
Episode 5: “Mega City Block”

Exit interviews:
Episode 1: No elimination
Episode 2: “Space Smash Challenge”
Episode 3: “Cut in Half”
Episode 4: “Movie Genres”
Episode 5: “Mega City Block”

Meet the judges:
Jamie Berard
Amy Corbett

Meet the contestants:
Sam and Jessica
Krystle and Amie
Mel and Jermaine
Flynn and Richard
Boone and Mark
Manny and Nestor
Travis and Corey
Tyler and Amy
Jessie and Kara
Christian and Aaron

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