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Lego Masters NZ brickmaster Robin Sathers (Photo: TVNZ)
Lego Masters NZ brickmaster Robin Sathers (Photo: TVNZ)

Pop CultureMay 9, 2022

New kid on the blocks: Meet Lego Masters NZ brickmaster Robin Sather

Lego Masters NZ brickmaster Robin Sathers (Photo: TVNZ)
Lego Masters NZ brickmaster Robin Sathers (Photo: TVNZ)

He’s one of a handful of Lego-certified professional builders in the world, and he’s come to New Zealand to judge our creations.

Robin Sather has trodden on countless Lego bricks in his life. “You kind of get immune to it after a while,” he laughs. “There are some pieces that are worse than others as well – those little tiny ones with the pointy edges? They can definitely hurt.” But given he holds the title of the world’s first Lego-certified professional builder, Sather’s learned the secrets about how to avoid the pain of a soft foot pad making contact with a rogue plastic brick. 

“The rule in my house is that if you build something, you have to clean up the floor,” he explains.

Behind the scenes of Lego Masters NZ, it is a little bit harder to keep things clean and tidy. Behind a nondescript studio door, an army of Lego enthusiasts are hard at work dismantling the latest gargantuan creations made by the Lego Masters NZ teams. Each brick is tossed to its allocated container to be brought back into the brick pit, the set’s technicolour pick’n’mix of over two-and-a-half million bricks.

The almighty Lego Masters NZ brick pit. (Photo: Supplied)

Flitting about said brick pit, Sather is like a big Canadian kid in a candy shop. He holds up a very small Lego sheep (“it’s New Zealand, we had to have sheep!”), rustles through a bin of 1,400 different types of Lego hair and plucks out his absolute favourite Lego head like a rare diamond (“my favourite is the old school smiley”). His enthusiasm for Lego is infectious – he even gifts me two small Lego bunnies on arrival. 

Sather says he got his first Lego from a thrift store when he was a toddler. “It was just a little container of used Lego – my family wasn’t very well off – but I was just off and running from there.” Lego stuck through his childhood and into his teens, where it was not one of the coolest pastimes a 17-year-old could have. “I am old enough that that was pre-internet, so I literally thought I was one of three people in the world,” he explains. “I was very closeted, very secretive.” 

When the internet took off, so too did the Lego community. “That’s when I discovered that there weren’t three of us, there were about 30 million of us that were older Lego fans,” says Sather. In Canada, he began setting up clubs for building enthusiasts and creating large scale displays for anyone who wanted them. “Anyone who could make anything could just jump at it,” he says. “We would do trains, we would do town layouts, we would make a space display – anything that meant doing a bunch of building, we would do it.” 

Robin Sather and his Lego creations. (Photos: Supplied)

The builds continued to get more and more ambitious as Sather found his particular niche, many of which can be found on his incredible website. “I like historical things – pirates, castles, architecture, that’s my favourite stuff to build.” He remembers doing a full Harry Potter-themed Hogwarts display in the early 2000s, well before the Lego Harry Potter range arrived. As well as the creative element, Sather thrived on bringing Lego creators together – co-ordinating meets where individuals would show up with their own part of a large Lego town, for example. “I liked the admin of it all,” he laughs. 

By 2004, Lego was slowly taking over Sather’s life. “For two days a week full time we would be planning these things and I was thinking ‘something’s got to give here’,” he recalls. He had good ideas and he was making money doing corporate builds, which is when the Lego penny dropped – what if he did it all with Lego’s blessing? “I thought because this is doing such good things for the Lego company, surely they would want to support something like this?” He drafted up a pitch for a job as a professional Lego builder, and Lego loved it. 

“That’s how I was able to become a full-time Lego builder and events person in Western Canada without having to move to Denmark, home of Lego.” 

With the might of Big Lego behind him, Sather made Lego his full-time job in the mid-2000s and hasn’t looked back. He’s only had one major Lego disaster that he can recall, during a build for a giant sign at a comic expo in Vancouver. Comprised of two parts, each the size of a large dining table, Sather found himself building up until the last minute and didn’t have time to glue them together. It was a risky move considering they had to be stacked on top of each other on a cart to get across the expo floor, and that said cart would hit a rogue pebble on its journey.

“The top piece instantly dislodged and shattered on the floor, literally 30 metres from where it was going to be displayed” he shudders. “That was that – I just picked up the pieces and said ‘no sign, sorry, it’s too late’.”

Sather and a more successful Lego sign. (Photo: Supplied)

Thankfully, there have been no such large scale disasters so far on Lego Masters NZ, the latest brick-based creation for Sather to add to his impressive Lego CV. But that doesn’t mean the show hasn’t had its fair share of challenges. “We are a long way from everywhere here,” Sather laughs. “When I came here there was nothing – I didn’t know any builders, I didn’t know how much space we would have, I didn’t have any bricks here.” Shipping and supply issues in the middle of a pandemic also made it tricky to source all the bricks, but Sather had faith in the Lego gods.

“I needn’t have worried, because everything came together,” he says. “The team was on top of it, and here we are. Amazing crew, amazing brick pit, amazing staff.”

Robin Sather and Lego Masters NZ host Dai Henwood. (Photo: TVNZ)

Sather’s role on the show itself extends well beyond being the on-camera judge. Where on international iterations of the franchise the brickmaster only appears to chat to the teams and judge their creations, Sather is wearing multiple hats on Lego Masters NZ. “I’m managing all of the pre-builds, the big set pieces for various episodes, the brick pit, the sorting of bricks and the crew that is taking everything apart,” he explains. “When I’m not on set I’m out the back with local builders who are rendering my ideas for future episodes.”

Being brickmaster has given Sather fascinating insights into New Zealanders’ Lego talents, but also our shortcomings. “There are some phenomenal stories being told, great building techniques, but there is this humility as well that is a very Kiwi thing – it is a very Canadian thing too,” he says. That humility can also sometimes get in the way. “The self-deprecating thing, this whole imposter syndrome thing of ‘I don’t belong here, I am a terrible builder, why am I even here?’” Sather groans. “Everyone thinks that. It’s ridiculous.”

The almighty Lego Masters NZ trophy. (Photo: TVNZ)

Having had a sneak peek at what the Lego Masters NZ contestants have built, the imposter syndrome is just that. “There are some really emotional moments where builders surprised themselves with that they come up with when they just let themselves go,” Sather says, beginning to tear up as he describes the successes on the show. “They just do unbelievable work – we saw some really, really nice moments where people created some stuff that they might not have been able to do outside of this context.” 

As for those of us who don’t have access to two-and-a-half million bricks at home, Sather says Lego can still provide a creative escape for us drones welded to our screens all day. “We are still organic creatures,” he says, “we haven’t ascended into a digital realm just yet, so we are always going to be about the senses and the tactile, which is why Lego is what it is.” He encourages everyone, young and old, to dust off their old Lego sets and get building while they watch along with the show. “Its a space to make cool stuff and tell really interesting stories with just those little bricks,” he says. 

Above all else, Sather says remembering to have fun and muck around is the most important part of the Lego experience – something kids know innately, but adults tend to forget.“It’s kind of a safe creativity where sometimes you might not even know what you are building, but it comes to you as you go,” he says. “That’s the beauty of Lego, it pulls stories and creativity out of you that you didn’t even know were there.”

Lego Masters NZ screens at 7.30pm Monday and Tuesday nights on TVNZ 2 and streams on TVNZ OnDemand.


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The six cast members of the TV show Down for Love, looking happy
The cast of Down for Love (Image: TVNZ/Tina Tiller)

Pop CultureMay 8, 2022

Down For Love is transforming reality romance

The six cast members of the TV show Down for Love, looking happy
The cast of Down for Love (Image: TVNZ/Tina Tiller)

Alex Casey goes behind the scenes of a dating show with a difference. 

Nicola is peering through the foggy glass of the penguin enclosure at Kelly Tarlton’s. Inside, her son Josh is on his latest romantic adventure for TVNZ’s new dating show Down For Love. As the penguins curiously peck at the television crew’s rolls of gaffer tape and strappy camera bags, Nicola is happy to sit back and watch the action unfold. “Look, he’s 22, he doesn’t need me in there holding his hand,” she laughs. To be fair, he doesn’t – Josh is already tightly holding his date’s hand as they shuffle coyly across the ice to feed the penguins.

And, like any good dating show, within a few minutes the pair are awkwardly smooching.

In the same vein as shows like The Undateables and Love on the Spectrum, Down For Love looks to celebrate disability and neurodiversity within the primetime dating show format. Created and produced by Attitude Pictures, the series is an original format that grew organically from conversations around Down Syndrome and dating. “We were wanting to do something in the area of love and relationships, because there are significant barriers for people living with disabilities,” series producer Robyn Paterson explains. “And I really wanted to bring more of a documentary lens to it, so that it could go beyond just entertainment.” 

Josh hits the viaduct. (Image: TVNZ)

Of all the production companies to bring depth to the dating show genre, Attitude is particularly well-placed to handle the sensitivities of a show like Down For Love. Since its inception in 2005, Attitude has had a focus on producing content in the mental health and disability space in Aotearoa. Paterson says founder Robyn Scott-Vincent had the goal “to make a difference to people’s understanding of disability” after her own son, who lives with a disability, was excluded from attending their local school. “She felt like if people understood more about living with disability, that perhaps that would start to change people’s perceptions.”

That was nearly two decades ago, and Attitude has since become a Sunday morning stalwart on TVNZ, focused on telling the stories of people from across the country including activist Dr Huhana Hickey and model and influencer Sophia Malthus. Behind the scenes, the company also helps to mentor and grow the careers of people who live with disabilities, fostering diversity both on and off the camera. “People come and go but a lot of us come back,” says Paterson. “I think that is because the content has a lot of heart and meaning, it’s got purpose.”

It is that commitment to the cause that led to the New Zealand Down Syndrome Association (NZDSA) getting onboard with Down For Love, collaborating from the early production stages all the way through to providing feedback on edited cuts of the episodes. “We were well aware that they were very much a disability-led production company,” explains NZDSA national executive officer Zandra Vaccarino. “They have a mana-enhancing lens where they really want people to tell their own stories and to own the narrative, so that made me feel a lot more comfortable.”

Some of the participants on Down For Love. (Image: TVNZ)

For Vaccarino, Down For Love provided a chance to showcase not just the diversity within the Down Syndrome community, but celebrate a part of their lives that is often misunderstood or ignored – romantic relationships. “People make assumptions that people with Down Syndrome may not want a relationship, or cannot have a relationship,” she explains. “I knew that people with Down Syndrome would be keen to have their stories told and to raise awareness that, just like everyone else, they also want to have meaningful relationships.”

One of the many participants looking to find love on the show is Carlos Biggemann, a 31-year-old man living with Down Syndrome who originally hails from Bolivia. With a CV to wow any dating show casting director, he is fluent in four languages, a professional photographer and a decorated competitive swimmer. Having already starred in his own episode for Attitude’s series Being Me, Biggemann describes Down For Love as “the opportunity of a lifetime”. “I thought ‘yeah why not, let’s give it a shot’,” he laughs over Zoom from his home in Dunedin. 

Biggemann was an occasional fan of romance reality franchises such as MTV’s Next and TVNZ’s The Bachelor NZ and The Bachelorette NZ, diplomatically describing them as “interesting to watch”. But being able to star in one of these shows himself was always a dream. “Now I have found that I am in it and I am experiencing it as well,” he beams. 

Carlos Biggemann, renaissance man. (Image: TVNZ)

Having only had two relationships before going on the show, Biggemann says he was extremely nervous before his first date, which features in episode two. “It was wonderful but on the other hand it was, ‘is this for real’?” he says. “I was waiting at Larnach Castle thinking ‘how on Earth am I going to handle this?’ My legs were shaking with anxiousness, and when we were having lunch, my legs were still shaking.” He admits there were times when he wanted to pinch himself during filming. “Jesus Christ, lord, I am dating a new girl?! It was an overwhelming feeling.”

It turns out Biggemann had little to worry about. “Two words: interesting woman,” he laughs. “She’s one of a kind.” 

By all accounts, Down For Love appears to have a slightly better success rate than the likes of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, which Paterson credits to Attitude’s researcher and match-maker Justin Scott. “We did a lot of work in all our pre-interviews to try and figure out what they wanted in a partner, what they wanted in life, what they wanted to do on a date,” she explains. “We would match them with someone with similar lifestyles and interests. Then, at the very least, if there wasn’t a romantic connection they would get a really solid friendship.”

Dates were carefully planned based on participant preferences. (Image: TVNZ)

For everyone involved in the production, their duty of care was extended to everything from ensuring the scheduling was comfortable for all the participants, to having a disability-specific counsellor available throughout. Giving participants agency over their own stories was also key. “We really wanted people to stay in the driver’s seat of their own stories,” says Paterson. “Especially with intellectual disabilities, because people aren’t often afforded the right to tell their own stories.” It was also important to represent a diverse range of people within the Down Syndrome community, as well as their wider networks of family and friends. 

Back at Kelly Tarlton’s, Josh’s mum Nicola stops to chortle at the large baby emperor penguin in the nearby enclosure. “Josh has enjoyed all of his dates, they’ve all been very different,” she says. Still on the ice, Josh and his date, whose name is redacted in the event of spoilers, hold each other in a close embrace and lean in for yet another kiss. “Are they snogging again?” Nicola laughs, exasperatedly tapping on the glass. “Hey, people came to see the penguins, not you two snogging!” Neither of them hear her, but she doesn’t seem to mind.

It’s a candid moment that sums up much of what Down For Love is about – frank, warm, funny, heartfelt, and sometimes even a bit racy. Paterson says it was important to capture all the highs and lows of each romantic journey, including conversations around physical intimacy. “Society tends to treat people with intellectual disabilities like they don’t have the same needs and desires as everyone else,” she explains. “We didn’t want to shy away from big conversations around sex and relationships because that wouldn’t be fair and it wouldn’t be real.”

Josh is ready. (Image: TVNZ)

Zaccarino hopes that Down For Love promotes the idea that people living with Down Syndrome have a right to be included in the “universal experience” that is finding love. “Everyone in society has the right to a relationship,” she says. “I think it is a platform to start having valuable conversations around relationships and inclusion.” Paterson agrees. “I hope people get a better understanding from it and afford people living with disabilities the respect that they deserve, especially in terms of having the same wants and needs as everybody else.”

Without revealing too much, Biggemann says he is “very happy” with his experience as a participant on Down For Love. “It was just amazing,” he says. “It was one of the amazing feelings of my life.” He hopes that people enjoy the series, and that it inspires them to “get involved with new friends and meeting new faces” themselves. “I have made friends from all different backgrounds from Aotearoa, and this is something that I can one day tell to my grandchildren,” he grins. 

“I can tell them that this is how I met the love of my life: on Down For Love.” 

Down For Love begins Monday at 8.30pm on TVNZ2

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