LEGO Masters Australia Episode 5 Recap – Building Bridges

May 7, 2019 | 1

Last night’s episode was one of my favourite episodes yet and quite possibly the best one so far.

One of the things that make LEGO such a special toy is the fact that you can quite literally build anything out of it, and last night’s episode demonstrated that in epic fashion.

With another elimination round coming up, winning the challenge meant skipping out on it, meaning that teams wanting to progress in the gruelling competition had to bring their A-game.

The challenge was unlike any other that the teams have faced – constructing a bridge out of LEGO that could bear as much weight as possible. Whimsical designs and imagination didn’t matter as much in the challenge, in favour of rock solid engineering.

It was a really interesting challenge, seeing most of the teams struggle as engineering and technical builds were obviously out of their comfort zones – except for David and G who embraced the technicality and engineering required, putting their Technic prowess to work.

The first two thirds of the challenge was quite entertaining as we saw teams opt for different approaches and designs to tackle the challenge and construct the most solid bridge in 10 hours.

To put the bridges to the test, Hamish drove a remote-controlled truck (sadly, not made of Technic) over the bridges, which combined with its load weighed 8kgs.

Surprisingly, despite some of the teams’ bridges creaking and bending under the weight of the truck, all the bridges survived which meant that Hamish had to improvise and bring out larger weights to put the bridges to the test.

I don’t know what it is but the stakes immediately got raised, and the level of tension was palpable as the teams started stressing about whether their constructions could take the weights.

Here’s a look at Henry and Cade’s bridge. Henry and Cade have established themselves as one of the most creative and in-sync teams in the competition, so it was interesting to see how they’d approach the challenge.

Their talents and sound building skills seemed to transfer reasonably well, with a simple but rigid bridge supported by two girders.

Hamish and the Brickman kept adding the kettlebells, until the entire structure tipped over after holding up 58kgs, which was a darn impressive feat!

Henry and Cade had set the bar pretty high, and it was time to move on to the next bridge, as the other teams started sweating, wondering how much weight their bridges could bear.

Here’s a look at Matt and Lyn’s bridge, which utilised hollow tubes for added structural strange.

It ultimately held up to 34kgs of weight, before the plates that made up the “road” section of the bridge gave way despite the structure staying mostly intact.

Here’s Kate and Bilsy’s bridge, which once again, was completely dominated by Kale, introducing a lattice frame for the entire structure.

Kale was ultra-confident about the strength of his lattice structure, even getting Hamish to smash a section into a chair to prove its strength.

It was a bold gamble, being the only team that didn’t utilise any technic to reinforce the structure, and predictably, the bridge collapsed after only bearing 24kgs, the weakest of all the bridges. Kale had previously boasted that it could withstand 120kgs.

Maddy and Jimmy were the team that looked the most out of their comfort zone in this challenge, as this was completely different to their brand of whimsical pop-culture infused designs, but they employed some solid bridge-making techniques, and true to themselves, gave it a bit of a twist by placing heaps of Jeff Bridges on their uh, bridge.

Despite being novice bridge-builders, their bridge managed to withstand 34 kgs before crumbling.

Jordan and Miller were an interesting team to watch, as Miller had previously took a few classes at uni on Engineering, which did expose him to some fundamental principles of bridge designs, which he employed in this clean, but aesthetically pleasing design.

The bridge featured 3 supports on each side, and provided the most entertainment.

It didn’t seem to let up, taking kettlebell, after kettlebell. Despite some parts giving away in the final few weights, the bridge still stood strong until it inevitably crumbled in spectacular fashion after holding 88kgs (I could easily walk over this bridge) in total.

Spectacular TV and it was a blast seeing the other team’s and the judge’s reactions to the bridge seemingly taking on weight after weight.

Last but not least was David and G’s imposing creation, complete with an A-frame for added stability. This thing just screamed engineering excellence and I really loved that it gave off a sturdy, industrial look.

It looked like it could take anything thrown their way, but after watching Jordan and Miller’s bridge taking so much punishment, you could see that David and G were starting to get worried.

Unsurprisingly, the bridge took as many kettlebells as Jordan and Miller’s, leaving us viewers at the edge of our seats, before also succumbing at 88kgs in stunning fashion.

It was a tie, and it came down to aesthetics, which was the tie-breaker, with the Brickman ruling in David and G’s favour.

What a challenge, and David and G walk away deserving winners, safe from tonight’s elimination round.

All in all, I think everyone emerged a winner in their own way as they each pushed their skills to the next level, building bridges that could hold the weight of a small child.

I have to say, you’d have to watch the entire episode to feel the tension as it’s really tough to capture it in this blog. Highly recommend catching up on 9Now.

This was reality TV at its best, and I really enjoyed this episode, especially how it demonstrated the limits that you could push LEGO to. Super impressive stuff and I can’t wait for tonight’s episode, which airs at 730pm tonight on 9!

Episode 6 airs on Channel 9 at 7:30pm tonight, so don’t miss out!

Check out the Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3 or Episode 4 recaps to catch up! Thanks again for reading! If you’ve watched the episode, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section on the eliminated team and the judging!

LEGO Masters Australia is a reality TV series on Channel 9 which pits 8 teams of LEGO builders against each other to test their creativity and design. It airs on Channel 9 on Sundays (7pm), Mondays and Tuesdays (730pm) and you can stream it on 9Now.