Pittsfield's Erin Laundry Competes in 'Lego Master' TV Show
A watch party was held at the Garage at the Colonial Theatre for Wednesday's premiere, which shows Laundry and her teammate's 'space ukelele.'
The Colonial Theatre's Garage was packed for the Pittsfield resident's debut on Fox's "Lego Masters."
The third season of the reality competition show, hosted by actor and comedian Will Arnett, premiered on Wednesday. Twelve teams of two Lego builders each are competing for $100,000 and the title of "Lego Master" over the next seven weeks.
Laundry traveled to the Atlanta area in the spring with her teammate Liz Puleo to film. For her, it was like being at a summer camp that is dedicated to her passion.
"It was amazing. It was a lot like summer camp for grown-up Lego fans, seriously," Laundry said during the watch party.
"And everyone was really high energy and really friendly and it was almost the opposite of a reality show in the fact that we wanted everyone to stay there as long as possible and everyone became a family really fast, we bonded very quickly while we were down there."
The first episode was space-themed and contestants were given 13 hours to build something "out of this world" that attaches to a Lego space station. Donning Boston shirts, Laundry and Puleo — also a Massachusetts resident — built a "rocking ukelele" spaceship inspired by their love for music.
Laundry's team did not win the first challenge but was not sent home and will continue into the competition.
Judges told her team told that it was super clear that they bonded over a passion for music while building the piece and it was "overall a great build."
The nationally televised show was launched in 2020 and actor Brad Pitt is an executive producer.
New episodes will premiere every Wednesday at 9 p.m. Next week is dinosaur themed.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Laundry had opened "Bottomless Bricks" in Adams that specialized in Lego-themed birthday parties and served as a gathering space.
Though the business closed its doors in 2020, she intends to re-open in Pittsfield and is looking for a space.
During the pandemic, she and her husband continued to create with Legos.
Laundry tried to get on season two of the show but did not make it. Last November, she reapplied for the third season with Puleo, a fellow enthusiast who she met in an online group called the "Ladies Lego Lounge."
"We kind of bonded over the flower bouquet that they came out with and how to create a vase to put it in," she said. "We found out that we both live in Massachusetts and so we got in touch and we hung out and hit it off big time so we decided to apply for the show together."
Laundry got into Legos through her family.
"I raised boys and then my husband ended up getting very into Lego as our oldest grew out of it and I came up with the idea for my business as a way to encourage their interests," she said.
"My husband loves to sort and I figured if we're constantly playing with Legos, they constantly need to be resorted and then I somehow just sort of fell into it because there I was, standing around all day around 100 pounds of Lego in my business and I had to build displays in my window or something ... and ended up building that way."
She began making her own creations during the pandemic and took classes in Lego robotics, which is something she wants to offer in the future.
When it comes to building her sculptures, Laundry likes to be more spontaneous.
"I tend to stick to smaller things, but really anything that pops in my head," she said about the themes of her works.
"It's almost like I get struck by lightning. I just have this idea and I can't stop thinking about it until I've made it."
Laundry's Lego work can be found on her Instagram @folkiebrick.
@lizpbuilds ? original sound - Liz Puleo
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