Holly Robinson Peete‘s connection to the LEGO brand extends far beyond her guest appearance on Fox‘s LEGO Masters: Celebrity Holiday Bricktacular.

As a mother of four, Peete knows a thing or two about fostering her children’s imagination through the beloved toy, especially for her son RJ.

“I’ve always enjoyed building LEGO sets,” she told Blavity’s Shadow and Act. “I mean, that was something that I enjoyed for most of my life, but, once I had kids, it kind of shifted, and then, I have a special son with autism, and I don’t know what it is; I mean everyone loves LEGO, but there’s something about RJ’s brain that connects to the sets differently. He has built the Taj Mahal. He has built the Eiffel Tower, like, when I tell you, he has built the most challenging sets, and it’s something he loves to do, and so when they came to me and said, ‘Hey, would you like to be a part of this Celebrity Holiday Bricktacular?’ I was like, ‘Absolutely,’ and I brought RJ down to the set, and he went crazy because, you know, we’re not doing these out of the box. We’re building from scratch.”

What is LEGO Masters: Celebrity Holiday Bricktacular about?

According to the official description, LEGO Masters: Celebrity Holiday Bricktacular is a “two-night event series, airing over two weeks, will coldly go where no snowman has gone before, with unpredictable twists and surprises. Special celebrity guests include Sophia Bush (One Tree Hill, Chicago P.D.), Holly Robinson Peete (Queens Court, Meet the Peetes), Eric McCormack (Will & Grace, The Other Black Girl) and Lil Rel Howery (Get Out, Harold and the Purple Crayon) pairing up with fan-favorite former contestants — Christine Blandino (Season 3), Stephen Joo (Season 3), Aaron Newman (Season 1) and Corey D. Samuels (Season 1) — to compete in jaw-dropping holiday-themed challenges for charities of their choice. Ultimately, one team will earn the title of LEGO Masters: Celebrity Holiday Bricktacular champions and leave with the coveted trophy.”

What surprised her the most about building LEGO bricks from scratch?

Although Peete was initially nervous about joining the show, intimidated by the fact that she had to build the LEGO bricks without an official model to look to for guidance, she said it was a gratifying experience.

“They have a whole vocabulary,” Peete shared. “The LEGO bricks are something. The different shapes and colors on this show set were spectacular, and all of the bricks were organized and put in different containers. It was so beautiful, but the challenging thing was worrying that I wouldn’t be able to contribute enough to the partnership.”

She added, “One episode already aired, and then Part 2 is gonna air [this] week, and we were watching the first episode, and I was smiling from ear to ear. I think what I took away from it was I went in nervous because I thought I didn’t have the skills to do this, but once I listened to my partner, who is a phenomenal Brickmaster guy who is so smart and works with LEGO now to create different sets from his brain, so I leaned on him. What I learned was more than just the beauty of collaboration; I did bring creativity, ideas and inspiration to the build.”

Where can I watch the show?

Part 2 of LEGO Masters: Celebrity Holiday Bricktacular airs on Fox on Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET.

Holly Robinson Peete

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