Filming for 'LEGO Masters' Is a Grueling Experience

What's the most elaborate thing you've built with Legos? You're probably thinking of some cool designs from your childhood or an intricately themed box set you received for Christmas. But what about a stable bridge? Or functioning animatronics?

These are just some of the things the contestants on FOX's reality show LEGO Masters have managed to make using Lego bricks and their imagination.

These builds are, in a word, impressive, and they no doubt take countless hours to conceive and construct. But what is filming on the set of LEGO Masters like? Do the contestants get breaks, or are they expected to shoot everything in one day?

It's no secret that the competitors on the show come up with builds that are easily some of the most elaborate (and time-consuming) creations viewers have seen. While the contestants are obviously under a bit of a time crunch, thanks to production, it's a bit unclear to some viewers just how long they'll spend on these models.

Host Will Arnett talked with Entertainment Weekly about the realities of the show — and it turns out it's just as grueling behind the scenes as you'd expect.

"Certainly the builders do have to build for that amount of time. There are breaks, of course — we're not monsters," he told the outlet. "But it is a competition show. So we are very mindful of the clock, and that is something that we take very seriously. So from the moment that they're on the floor building, the clock is on, and then when we know that there's going to be a twist coming, we sort of guard that like a state secret."

So yes, these builds often do take just as long as they say they do — but the contestants aren't expected to build them without any breaks in between, luckily. That being said, with the sheer size and scale of some of these builds, it's likely not an easy process.

Another question many viewers have about the show is how long filming can take. With many of these builds taking tens of hours a piece, it seems impossible for one episode to have been shot in one day.

And despite production admitting that they watch the clock very closely while the contestants are creating their final pieces, they aren't always expected to complete them in one day.

On a Reddit thread, users claimed that there was evidence in the show to prove that the rounds were sometimes filmed over the course of multiple days, depending on how long the project was expected to take.

"The filming is broken up into multiple days," one user writes, citing an "Ask Me Anything" done by a previous contestant. "So a 12 hour build would be over two days. I guess they just make them wear the same outfits."

Watch LEGO Masters on FOX on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. EST.