OLI & CHARLIE'S TRIUMPH 'TOUGH LOVE HELPED US WIN!'

The brick-tastic secret behind the siblings' success

- Hayley McLarin

Growing up in  Palmerston North, Oli and Charlie Mollard's parents taught them that actions had consequences and that arguing with each other meant nobody would win. And it was this "tough love" that helped the contestants take out the Lego Masters NZ trophy last week.

"Pretty much the only thing that we ever fought over when we were younger was Lego, specifically random bits like glow-in-the-dark bricks that we both wanted to use," remembers Charlie, 19.

"Our parents would put the bricks on top of the fridge so neither of us could have them and that's how we learned not to fight. We had our moments on the show, but we knew that if we start arguing and disagreeing, then it was just going to stuff things up and make them worse."

Wellington-based Oli, 21, agrees, who is non-binary, although they add that the show came with a lot of added pressure. "I'm not someone who deals well with stress, so I lashed out unnecessarily at Charlie a few times, but he knows it was all in the moment and there's definitely no hard feelings."

With their impressive builds, the students proved themselves to be a dynamic duo, taking out the final with a medieval movie scene, but Oli confesses, "I went a bit overboard. The dragon had two heads and three little baby dragons running around causing chaos, as well as our brave hero rescuing the sad prince. Robin [Sather, aka Brickmaster] was stressed about our build because he couldn't see what was happening until the last minute, when we actually put it all together."

Charlie points out that the winning dragon build was indicative of their skill sets. He's doing a Bachelor of Engineering, while Oli is partway through a visual communication course that encompasses graphic design. It came naturally that Charlie would use his engineering expertise to build the structures and Oli would add all the finishing touches.