LEGO MASTERS Post-Mortem: Aubree and Ryan on Their Season 4 Journey

[Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Thursday, November 2 episode of LEGO MASTERS.]

On the Thursday, November 2 episode of LEGO MASTERS, the builders have an unusual task: Replicate an item (from a detective’s office) and replicate it exactly. 

For married team Aubree and Ryan Ninow, they opted to replicate a television—which had the challenges of making a realistic screen (with limited options) and also dealing with the not-simple back portion of the device.

When LEGO MASTERS season 3 winner Stacey Roy surprised the remaining groups and was tasked with figuring out which items were real and which were brick replicas, the first one she sussed out was the TV. The Brickmasters also placed the TV in the bottom two builds and opted to send Aubree and Ryan home.

Here, the duo talk with Give Me My Remote about the complications of the challenge…

Last week, the twist was that no one went home. How much time did you have to linger on that high or was there the immediate concern about what it meant for the competition? 
Ryan Ninow: The problem is week by week, the stronger teams keep staying, so the competition keeps getting more difficult. And so even though everyone was saved, you still got a room full of really good builders. So you know the next challenge is going to test you and you got to really put your A-game on, because you could be gone. So there’s really no time to just, like, relax. Even though it’s exciting to hear no one’s going home, you’re instantly like, “Okay, I mean, there’s still another good team here.”
Aubree Ninow: I think it also made other people think, is there gonna be a double elimination since nobody went home? So it kind of had everybody on eggshells a little bit.

What was going through your mind as you were picking your item this build? 
Ryan Ninow: Well, the Brickmasters, they told us, “We want to see ambition—we’re going to take ambition into account. So if you go really small, it better be…really, really perfect. But if you go big, we understand there’s going to be limitations of what you can do.” So we were actually the last ones to bring the item out of the space because we wanted to see what everyone took. And we felt like our item was big enough to be ambitious, in the top half of ambition, but something that could test our abilities with techniques and not be sitting around for a lot of hours with the complete build, wondering if we didn’t go ambitious enough. So that’s kind of why we picked the one we did.

Was there a point during the build when you started to think this wasn’t the right choice? Or do you still feel it was the right one, even with the outcome?
Aubree Ninow: [Ryan]’s nudging me because he knows! It’s hard because when you’re picking something in that room, you’re obviously thinking about all the things: what’s actually feasible; and because you also don’t want to go home, so if it doesn’t turn out right, you are going to probably be in the bottom two and go home. So I mean, we felt pretty comfortable with the item that we chose. But it’s hard because when you’re in that time crunch, obviously, you want to make it look identical. So for us, the challenge is to learn when to stop touching it.
Ryan Ninow: And focus in on parts that need the attention. Like, the back of our item was actually fairly complex and required a lot of time.
Aubree Ninow: Because they said it’s a 360 [degree] build, which probably isn’t something that was shared. So they look at the build from all sides. It’s not just the front; it’s also the back, too. So the back was much more complex than the front
Ryan Ninow: And way more time-consuming. And so I was like, okay, wanna put all this time and effort to make sure the back has all these angles, right? And due to that, it came down [to] not enough time making sure that the front looked ideal…and that’s the first point of presentation. So, looking back, definitely would have focused more on the presentation side of things to make sure that was dialed in and have the issues in the back that are more hidden versus the issue in the front. So…yeah.

The Brickmasters were saying to focus on the screen, as well. When that advice came during the build, could you actually shift focus, or were you pretty set with how much time you could devote to it?
Aubree Ninow: We actually felt pretty confident about the front. So I think we weren’t worried about the front. It was the back that we wanted to make sure that looked great—and it did look great.
Ryan Ninow: The back looked really, really good.
Aubree Ninow: Obviously the TV, the item we picked had a bubble glass.
Ryan Ninow: A bubble screen. And then the trim was, like, angled and came to points. I got too caught in how accurate can I make these corners? [Can I] try and [have them] look angled versus are the proportions of the screen vertical, square, or horizontal? And when you’re so close to it for so long, you’re building like within a foot of it, you don’t realize until you step back, “Oh that is skewed. That is wrong.” And Aubree tried warning me multiple times, but my stress was peak. And I was getting real nervous and so only when we finally got it hooked on and I stepped back I was like, “Oh, I see exactly what Aubree was saying, I should have stepped back and looked at it.” And…I know if we just took like three studs off of one side, three studs off the other with the trim, it would have given at least a square screen. But the bubble part, we contemplated on if we just wanted to make it flat or if we wanted to try and use slopes. But you’re very limited with the items with that colored gray to make a bubble screen. As I’m sure you know, that’s going to be extremely difficult out of LEGO in general and you’re limited with pieces there.

What was going through your head when the TV was the first thing that Stacey picked to be a LEGO build?
Ryan Ninow: Well, our first thing was, you know what, we should have done what a couple teams did and pick something that you actually couldn’t even see! Something that’s hidden over in the corner on the side, where literally the guest isn’t even able to see it. We’re like, “Oh, we picked something facing right at them in the back.”
Aubree Ninow: Just a bad decision all around. [Both laugh.] Full of regret, just bad decision making. We almost picked…there was a dog statue. And we never really had a chance to showcase a sculpting technique and we really love doing that. And so we thought about that, but then it’s like that risk of, well what if it looks like brick?

Ryan Ninow: Definitely when it was picked first, though, honestly—we didn’t think she actually said our item first because we thought she was talking about something different. And then [host] Will [Arnett] was like, “Is this what you’re talking about?” And she’s like, “Oh, yeah,” and we were like, “Wait, is that what you were actually talking about?”
Aubree Ninow: [They] flip the light on, and then he was like, “Stacey, did you pick this item or this item?” She’s like, “Oh, that item.”
Ryan Ninow: And we were like, “Whoa, wait, is that really what it was?”
Aubree Ninow: We kind of feel like Will guided her to our build, and we were like, “Why would [you]—no!”
Ryan Ninow: The way she responded was like, “Oh yeah, yeah, that one.” And we were like, “We didn’t think you actually said that one.” So then our stress went high.
Aubree Ninow: She for sure mentioned a different item. I’m going to be salty about it.

A number of other builders came together to help complete another item—the gigantic rug—and it seems like there’s been a lovely bond between all of the contestants. What was it like being on the show with these people?
Aubree Ninow: It’s so fun, because I feel like even now, for us watching the show, you really don’t get a glimpse of all their personalities, which is kind of a shame. Behind the scenes, everybody is such a hoot; so funny. Luis and Alex—
Ryan Ninow: They come across as super serious teachers on this show. And yet they are so funny, so laid back.
Aubree Ninow: Total jokesters. Emilee is still the same on or off camera. She’s still bubbly…it was just really fun because everybody got along. But we also had time to get to know each other before filming started…so that was nice. We had like about a week for everybody to kind of like get to know each other
Ryan Ninow: And then downtime. After the episode ends, you’re spending some time with them. And it’s so nice. You really get to know them and it makes it that much more fun when you’re competing with them.
Aubree Ninow: And that’s much harder, too, because you’re like, “No don’t go…but I want to beat you!”
Ryan Ninow: Like, oh, you got eliminated! Darn. We’re gonna miss you, like, emotionally with the fun we’re having. But at the end of the day, you’re trying to win.

How much time did you have to actually recover from those ten-hour builds? 
Ryan Ninow: They jump into the next one as soon as judging is done and a person’s eliminated. You’re like, alright, but here’s the next episode; this is the challenge. And you’re like, oh my gosh, here we go. Obviously, you can’t build 24 hours of the day, but it’s tiring. But it’s fun.
Aubree Ninow: It’s back-to-back. So once one challenge is done, then you get ready for the next episode and on to the next.
Ryan Ninow: They don’t skip a beat.

Looking at your time on the show outside of this episode, is there anything you wish you had done differently or regret?
Ryan Ninow: We were thrilled…our goal was to get in there and just focus on each challenge at a time and just try and get to the next, the next, to the next. And we knew eventually, at some point, you would either make it to the finale and win or not win or just get eliminated along the way. And so I think we tried to just enjoy each one as it came and went, which is kind of hard because you put so much time and effort into it. And then on to the next like we were saying. I think we really enjoyed it, though. We took the time to enjoy it, and really enjoy the other teams and get to know them. And now they’re all really great friends. So I think that’s the most important thing—we made sure that we left with friends.

Without spoiling who wins, which teams do you think are the ones to watch?
Ryan Ninow: I think probably the cleanest, most artistic builders are Luis and Alex. I think they have consistently been some of the most artistic, clean builds.
Aubree Ninow: And creative. Their monkey build was so creative.
Ryan Ninow: But Sam and Neena are over there building clocks as tall as people. So it’s kind of hard to say you can’t notice them; they’ve won challenges.
Aubree Ninow: When we got eliminated, we had our thoughts on who would be in the finals and we said it was Luis and Alex, Christopher and Robert, and then Sam and Neena. That’s who our guess is.
Ryan Ninow: Yeah, but that’s what’s hard. You got to see how well Paul and Nealita did on our last challenge. They won and they did an amazing job. I mean, when you see them side by side, you can’t even tell. So you’ve got great, great builders all around. So those are the ones that we anticipate due to how consistent they’ve been.

Looking back at your time on the show, what is the thing that you are most proud of, build-wise?
Aubree Ninow: Episode 3, when we did the volcano build—we were so proud of it. We were like, “We built that?!”
Ryan Ninow: Yeah, I mean we didn’t even get top two, but we were thrilled with how it turned out. We thought it was very appealing. The colors were very great.
Aubree Ninow: One of the compliments we got actually from Jamie [Berard], which they didn’t show on the show, he said your build looks like a postcard. And he was like, that is the most spectacular, beautiful [build].
Ryan Ninow: And so we were like, if we go out next week, we are happy with that. To get such a nice compliment from Jamie made our day. And yeah, that ultimately was by far our favorite build.

Outside of the builds, what is your favorite memory of your time on the show?
Ryan Ninow: That’s hard. I think ultimately, that first challenge, because that’s when it all became real. You’re so nervous because you have no idea how well you’re gonna do and how everyone’s gonna do. It’s a fresh slate for everybody. But you’re on LEGO MASTERS—you’re in the build room, and it hits you. You got cameras around you. You’re miked up and you’re sweating. You’re nervous…I remember I took a moment to just soak it in. And I think that that, ultimately, is my favorite memory, that first [beat] right before they’re like, “Okay, get your brick on.”

What do you guys feel like you’ve learned about yourself as builders, and yourself as a team as builders, from the show?
Aubree Ninow: Well, I mean, I felt like a glorified assistant to Ryan. Our whole marriage, we worked together, so we know how each one of us function. For this, though, it was fun to watch Ryan, obviously, do his thing—he’s in his element. And so I just tried to really help, like, “Put me to work, I can brick really fast. Just tell me where to lay it.”
Ryan Ninow: I think what was fun is we’re both creative people and are kind of artistic. And I think it was really enjoyable to see us come together and [create] finished, polished builds that we were hoping we could accomplish while on the competition. And so, ultimately, I think that was probably the coolest thing…our main focus was great, clean, pretty builds to look at, color-wise, design-wise. It may not have been the most complex or sophisticated with movements and mechanisms, but we wanted to make things that look very appealing. And I think we accomplished that on all of our builds except for episode 4…it was a little rough.

Is there anything else you want to share about your time on the show?
Ryan Ninow: I think we just had a great time together with everybody. It was so fun.
Aubree Ninow: It was the coolest experience. You don’t realize how grateful you are to be there…something that I didn’t realize is a lot of people in the LEGO community look at it—
Ryan Ninow: It’s like the top achievement to get on the show.
Aubree Ninow: And so that was really fun to kind of see…that’s dreams come true in a sense for some people.
Ryan Ninow: It’s really cool to [be] a part of that LEGO community with LEGO MASTERS and be part of that family now. So it’s awesome.

–

LEGO MASTERS, Thursdays, 9/8c, Fox

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