Parkchester man featured on national Lego game show
Mel Brown and Jermaine Gardner (Right) make up the team, “East Coast Bricksters” on the upcoming FOX
television special LEGO Masters airing February 5 at 9 P.M. EST. Gardner is a Parkchester local who works as
cell phone technician consultant by day and LEGO connoisseur. Photo by FOX/Drew Herrmann
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BY KYLE VUILLE
A local cell phone technician
was featured as a contestant
on the upcoming LEGOMasters
show on Fox hosted
by comedian Will Arnett.
Jermaine Gardner, 37, of
Parkchester, staked his quest
for fame after competing
with partner Mel Brown, in a
chance to win $100,000 against
nine teams in ten challenges.
According to Gardner, the
judges called the ‘Bookmasters’
analyse three different
factors during every round.
The fi rst and foremost being
the race against the clock
followed by a team’s ability
to tell a story with their creation
and the project’s WOW
factor.
Gardner said his LEGO
building days started like
most children and ended when
he entered high school.
“I remember my father
would come home with Legos
once in awhile as a reward
for good grades or behavior,”
Gardner said.
Gardner said Legos took a
back seat as a teen while the
pursuit of the opposite sex occupied
most of his free time .
In 2014 he began making
Youtube LEGO tutorial videos
and digital fi les of LEGO
instructors to make a little extra
cash.
“I was looking for some extra
income and I started seeing
people making these digital
fi les,” Gardner said.
After acquiring a small following
from his LEGO Youtube
channel and attending
several Comic-Con conventions,
Gardner’s future competition
partner, Brown, gave
him a call and told him to sign
up for the show.
“I was actually on my way
home from work when Mel
called me and told me apply
online for the show,” Gardner
said. “It was a fairly quick process.”
He said the entire casting
process happened from late
July to early October.
“I was super excited to hear
that I was going to be on the
show because I’d been following
the show in other countries
for awhile,” Gardner
said.
Gardner noted that Brown
knew he wanted him as a partner
from the get-go.
After a few video interviews
with casting agents, Gardner
and Brown secured their positions
as a team, dubbed the
‘The East Coast Bricksters.’
The duo then set their strategy
by watching previous airings
of the show.
According to Gardner, he
didn’t want to focus on any
particular facet of the competition,
but did pay attention to
certain patterns.
Gardner said they had
some advantages like knowledge
of the system and their
engineering skills.
According to a press release,
the ‘East Coast Bricksters’
strengths are being
great storytellers and having
expertise in building tall skyscrapers.
Gardner and Brown are
both African American,
which Gardner felt separated
them from the rest of the competition
in a good way.
“There’s not many people
of color involved in the LEGO
community,” Gardner said.
Who won the competition?
Tune into the show which is
airing Wednesday, February
5, at 9 p.m. on FOX.
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