LEGO MASTERS Post-Mortem: Emilee and Kelly on Their Bittersweet Final Build

[Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Thursday, November 30 episode of LEGO MASTERS.]

With just four teams left in LEGO MASTERS, the builders were tasked with a difficult task: create a working roller coaster.

Friends Emilee and Kelly opted to go for a family-friendly design, crafting gorgeous flowers and intricate design work around their “Ladybug Flight.” But, unfortunately, the Brickmasters Jamie and Amy opted to send the duo home.

Here, the duo talks about their build, their (very) bittersweet exit, and their time on the show. 

What was going through your mind when you found out about this roller coaster challenge?
Emilee: I kind of wanted to barf. I was really nervous. I had never built anything mechanical like that, in that way. And I knew, ultimately, you needed gravity to get it to come back down to the base, or you needed some mechanism to make it come back around. I knew with my skill set, I wanted it to come back with gravity. And, yes, I was nervous but also really excited to take on this task.

Kelly: Yeah, I was nervous, too. But I would say I wasn’t any more nervous than I was any other challenge—when they give you any challenge in the show, it’s something you’ve never done before. It’s something really hard. It’s designed to challenge you and push you outside of your comfort zone as a builder. So I kind of thought the same thing of this challenge going in: I thought, “I never made a roller coaster. So let’s just figure this out.” But it’s the same as I thought when we made the boat or the car: ”I’ve never made a remote control car. So we’ll just figure this out as we go along.” So this wasn’t really any different. But I would say I was nervous, just like I was with any other challenge.

This was the first week, as a viewer, that it started to really feel like it was down to the final groups. For you as contestants, at what point did you start to feel like you were in the endgame of the season?
Emilee: When we put five cars on that race track [last episode] is when I was like, “There are only five teams”. I think I actually looked at Kelly and said, “Kelly there are only five teams!” And not very many female teams make it this far. And I’m like, if we make it one more, we will be one of only two all-female teams to ever make it to the semi-finals. So for me, that was very motivating.

Kelly: Yeah, it was the same. I think it was the final five. When we got down there, you just walked into the studio as a smaller and smaller group, and it’s like, oh, all of a sudden, you have room to spread out. We walk in and are in our line, and we’re like, “We have lots of space. Why do we have so much space? Because there’s nobody here.” And it just hits you when you look down the row and you just don’t see as many faces as you’re used to. 

Then like Emilee said, to realize that we were the only all-female team left, that kind of hit us. And we just thought, “Wow, we made it so far.” And we just realized that we were in the thick of it.

With fewer people competing, were you more conscious of what everyone else was building? Or did you try to keep in your own bubble?
Emilee: I definitely think we were in our own headspace. I think the only thing we noticed was that everyone else was using white and red track and a little accent of yellow; we used black and red. And so visually ours was automatically different, but I thought overall, aesthetically, it looked marvelous. I would go to a park and pick our ride. I thought it was aesthetically beautiful and it looked fun.

Kelly: Yeah, we definitely we’re always looking around at the other tables just to get an idea of what other people are doing; not necessarily to copy them, but just to see where they’re at and where we’re at. And I felt really good about our concept. We had a great story. We were super excited about it. We knew it could be really fun, the storytelling, and the visual appeal of looking at it. So we knew where we wanted to go with our story and we just felt good about it. And I don’t think either of us were worried about what other teams were doing compared to what we were doing because we were just kind of in our zone and we had our vision and we were going to make it happen.

The Brickmasters noted your design was beautiful, but simple. What did you make of that?
Emilee: The exact words Jamie said to us, which they will probably show in the episode…were, “If you’re not going to go as big as the other teams, then you need to nail your details.” So Kelly and I said, “Okay, we’re keeping our coaster.” We both felt confident about it, that it was all red like a ladybug and we were going to really lean into it. We had some spinning flowers going in different directions. Our mechanism was completely covered. You could not see any of our motors. So it didn’t take the illusion. We have a little path all the way to the spider. And so for us, we just said, “Let’s nail those details down to compensate for maybe not being as technical.”
Kelly: Yeah, that is what he said. So when he said that comment, we weren’t worried about it because we knew that our aesthetics and storytelling were really strong. And I would say stronger than any other teams that were there.
Emilee: I agree.
Kelly: And so we felt good about it. So it didn’t bother me that he said our roller coaster was more simple because that was never part of the challenge in the first place. We read the brief and we had all the requirements they asked for and we had excellent storytelling and aesthetics. So at that point, we were not worried about it.

So then what was going through your mind when you learned you were in the bottom two?
Kelly: I mean, we were thinking somebody has to be in the bottom two. There’s only so many teams left, so it was okay. Like, we knew at some point…for a long time in the show, we were in the middle, right? So we were just kind of middle of the pack. And as the show goes on and more teams get eliminated, that middle shrunk, for sure. And so you don’t have the middle anymore. I guess it didn’t surprise me, because somebody has to be in the bottom and we just we’re gonna roll with it. You just don’t know what the judges are looking for. 

And, I mean, honestly, we disagreed. I’ll proudly say that we did not agree that we should have been in the bottom and we shouldn’t have been eliminated because we loved our roller coaster and we still stand by that. So we just know that the judges look for different things. There’s no set checklist of criteria. It’s not like a rubric that we’re being graded on. It’s just all whatever they think. So we disagreed, but we were gonna just go with it. And we still are proud of what we made.
Emilee: There were some episodes for me that I was like, “Okay, I could see our build had some issues if there weren’t builds that had bigger issues. I could have seen us being in the bottom.” But when we were leaving the studio, Christopher put his arm around me and he goes, “You guys are going to win this one. Your build is gorgeous.” And so I had the utmost confidence. During our bee one, I loved our bee, but I was like, I think we could go home on this; it was a little bit more simple. So I’m sure my face when they say it is going to just look really shocked…I was very disappointed to go home on this build. But also grateful to go home on something that I was extremely 100% proud of and would not change.
Kelly: Same.

It seemed like a genuinely difficult decision for the Brickmasters, who said it was one of their toughest decisions. Was there any element of relief in that it seemed to be so close and they were so tortured by the choice? Or did that make it harder?
Kelly: Well, I would say, yes, I’m glad that they were tortured over it. [Laughs.] I don’t think we should have been eliminated. I think we should have gone forward, but I’m glad they had a hard decision. I’m glad we gave them a hard decision to make.
Emilee: And to see them get so choked up—there was a moment there where Jamie literally couldn’t talk. Amy was the one that had to say something because Jamie literally was so emotional. And I looked around and there were some camera people that were emotional. It was just like a really awesome experience to know that we were loved on that show and people appreciated who we were and I hope that we gave America inspiration to be a woman that goes after her goals. Ultimately, that was what I wanted to portray. And I think me and Kelly did that really well.

What does it mean to get so close to the finals?
Emilee: I’m mad, Marisa! [Laughs.] I’m still mad and I know when I watch this episode back, I’m gonna be madder watching it. This was the chance for LEGO MASTERS to have two females in the finale. They easily could have sent us through; our build was good enough to make it through, that it wouldn’t have been like, “Why would the judges have selected them?” And I think me and Kelly could have put up something in the finale that would have wowed people so much. We can’t build the same speed that Sam and Neena and Christopher and Robert build, but we build different. We build beautifully and with detail. And Kelly is fantastic at the details and making things look so amazing. I’m just mad! I’m still mad thinking about it.
Kelly: Yeah, it’s hard.
Emilee: We wanted to be there. And it was their chance to have two girls—they’ve never had…I’m mad now!
Kelly: No, it is hard and I’m with Emilee—I get mad watching this show back, [in] previous episodes where I’ve disagreed with their decisions, too. And I get mad about it. And this is one of them where I feel like our build was excellent. It was really good. And they could have easily put us through and no one would have batted an eye saying they shouldn’t be there or anything like that. It was a great build. And so I get mad, too, because we got to do every challenge on the show that they gave to us. The final build is always build whatever you want; it’s always up to the builders. And so I feel really proud that we were able to do every single challenge that the show put forth and there’s just the one [round] that we didn’t get to do, which would have been anything we wanted. And I know that we would have put up a showstopper for that. And it would have been amazing and it would have been awesome to have that chance. Yeah, so I’m with Emilee. I try to not get too worked up about it. I gotta just let go—but it’s a little upsetting.
Emilee: Give us a chance after the episode to have a couple of weeks to unwind before we do any more interviews, because there could be some bad words.

Looking at your journey as a whole, what was the build you were most proud of?
Emilee: For me, it was this one, the roller coaster. I mean, you’ve seen it, obviously—it was striking. The flowers were striking, the floor was striking, the way our thing came around, it worked perfectly. I think you’re gonna watch in that episode how excited I am. 

I think if I had to say one regret, it is that I would have gone up to those judges and [when] they said, “How do you feel about your roller coaster working?” I was nervous, because roller coasters are finicky. And I think if I would have gone up and been like, “Our roller coaster is freaking amazing. It’s going to work perfect,” and had a little more confidence in myself, in the mechanism I had built—but, like, of course you’re gonna be nervous. Even Jamie said sometimes his roller coaster that he created doesn’t work because something isn’t pushed down correctly. So. [Makes a screaming noise.]
Kelly: Yeah, I have to agree with Emily—for most proud, I’m most proud of this one, this roller coaster. Just because it is something that, like Emily said, is very finicky, and we had never done one before…I had never touched a roller coaster track before this episode, before it was sitting there in front of us. So I didn’t even know how it worked. I didn’t know how to hook them together. I didn’t know how to do the chain and how to get the car to go up—we were learning all of this on the spot because I’ve never done a roller coaster before. So to turn out a roller coaster as good as the one that we did…we were both very proud. And it was an emotional moment to just get that final time call when they say time is up. Like, oh my gosh, look what we made.
Emilee: We just turned to each other—I could get so emotional crying right now [she tears up]—I just turned to Kelly and said, “Thank you for doing this with me. Thank you. Thank you for making this beautiful roller coaster.” And I wouldn’t have done it with anyone but Kelly.

On that note, how has this impacted your relationship?
Emilee: I will tell you that not very many teams, especially for some reason female teams, leave wanting to remain great friends [due to] the contention and the tension that they put you in. And me and Kelly are different, so there was some worry that we were going to butt heads on certain things. And we did, of course, but we both knew what each other’s strengths were and we both knew exactly what each other needed to thrive and be in their great moment. 

So I knew Kelly needed that clarinet episode for her to decompress and build something that she was upmost proud of. So when she said I want to build the clarinet, of course, as a teammate, I’m like, “Let’s do it.” It looked insanely hard to me and I had no idea where we were gonna start, but as her teammate, I wanted to support her. As she did with the robots when I said, “Let’s build these huge robots,” and she was like, “I don’t know if we can get that done.” But she supported me as my teammate and I supported her as a teammate. It’s a give and take. It’s a respect thing. And it’s a pressure cooker in there and I think we helped make each other diamonds. When we were getting cooked, we just became diamonds at the end. And I love this lady so much. [She tears up again.] She’s a huge inspiration and role model, as a mom, a woman, a builder. I appreciate her dearly.
Kelly: You’re gonna make me cry. No, but it’s the same—that’s what I was gonna say to you about Emily. The difference between each of us is so stark; when we came in, we’re such opposite personalities, right? They knew that, that’s why they put us together…like oil and water. But we really learned how to work together because we had to, because we didn’t want to go on the show and just look like a mess because we couldn’t get along or couldn’t communicate. But we’re both good communicators like in our daily lives. I feel like that’s a strength that we have. So we just used that and came together and really took the time to get to know each other better because we’ve known each other a little bit, but not really. So we really appreciated our differences and then use them to help us…to use each of our strengths to our advantage as a team in the competition. So we just did our best to work together and I feel like we did a really good job.
Emilee: And I will say that I think when you look around the room, not many teams talk while they’re building. But Kelly and I told our favorite vacations we went on, our favorite adventures, and our favorite Christmas we ever had, because that’s how I needed to build. And I knew when she needed a little quiet time, and that was okay. But I think when you look around, not many builders [were talking]. They were just head down, focus on what they were doing. But Kelly and I told stories, we did accents, we laughed so much, and we sang. And we would get in trouble for singing because they couldn’t use the footage! And I just had an amazing time and I would do it again tomorrow if they wanted us.
Kelly: Same.

Is there anything else you want to share about your experience?
Emilee: I will say, I’m just so grateful to the hair and makeup and the audio and the lighting and all those people that don’t get recognized. The people that make the brick pit. I love every single one of them. I think they are amazing human beings. They made my experience there so much better. The talent wranglers down to the person that brings our food. I just was so amazed by how well this machine ran—those people, they don’t get enough recognition for what they are on the show. And it was very impressive, every morning, going into hair and makeup and just needed a hug from those girls. Or the audio guy, Slater, that I just basically lifted up my shirt—he just got all the goods all the time. [Laughs.] And so I just appreciate them dearly.
Kelly: Yeah, it was just an amazing experience.
Emilee: We did it. We did a good job, Kelly. I love ya.

LEGO MASTERS, Thursdays, 9/8c, Fox

RELATED:

• LEGO MASTERS Post-Mortem: Luis and Alex on the LEGO 2K Drive Challenge and Their Season 4 Journey
• LEGO MASTERS Post-Mortem: Melanie Breaks Down the Fashion Challenge—and The Team’s Risky Decision
• LEGO MASTERS Post-Mortem: Aubree and Ryan on Their Season 4 Journey
• LEGO MASTERS Post-Mortem: Tim and Tim on Their Season 4 Journey
• LEGO MASTERS Exclusive Clip: The Golden Brick is Back
• LEGO MASTERS: Jamie Berard Previews the ‘Wonderfully Chaotic’ Kitten Challenge
• LEGO MASTERS’ Jamie Berard Previews Season 4’s ‘Jaw-Dropping’ Moments
• Fox Renews LEGO MASTERS
• Fox Renews LEGO MASTERS

Follow @GiveMeMyRemote and @marisaroffman on Twitter for the latest TV news. Connect with other TV fans on GIVE ME MY REMOTE’s official Facebook page or our Instagram.

And be the first to see our exclusive videos by subscribing to our YouTube channel.

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases made through links/ads placed on the site.