Celebrity battle builds excitement at Illawarra Brick Show

The first Celebrity Brick Battle was a huge hit at the seventh annual Illawarra Brick Show which raised funds for KidsWish at a packed Illawarra Sports Stadium on the weekend.

Around 6000 guests flocked to the stadium at Berkeley to visit the Brick Show with a huge crowd in attendance for the inaugural Celebrity Brick Battle which pitted five teams against each other in a LEGO® bridge building challenge.

Five children quailified for the competition after they submitted a photo of their LEGO® build with 10 entries put on display at Stockland Shellharbour.

Members of the general public voted on the entries and the five finalists were placed into teams with a celebrity and a brick building master.

St George Illawarra NRLW player Keele Browne, Illawarra Hawks legend Kevin White and Wollongong Wolves trio Oliver Yates, Dylan Ryan and Vedran Janjetovic kindly donated their time to be the celebrities in the teams.

The teams were:

Eli Martin, Oliver Yates and Branko (brick master)
Kai Satchell , Vedran Janjetovic and Max (brick master)
Jasper Lukins, Dylan Ryan and Lewis (brick master)
Finn Stackhouse, Kevin White and Dave (brick master)
Parker Holt, Keele Browne and Amanda (brick master)

Branko and Max are a father and son duo who competed on season three of LEGO® Masters while Dave and Lewis were the first ever LEGOLAND Master builders at the Melbourne Discovery Centre.

Producer Mick from our media parnters at Wave FM was the MC for the event and he interviewed the competitors as they built their models.

Their challenge was to structurally engineer the construction of a one-metre bridge with the crowd voting on the winner.

The team of Oliver, Eli and Branko received the loudest cheer when it came time for the spectators to cast their vote and Eli received a $100 LEGO® kit plus another $100 to spend on LEGO® at the event.

The other four children scored a $50 kit and another $50 to spend for their efforts.

Judging by the response from the kids in attendance, there will be many more LEGO® builders eager to enter next year.

Follow KidsWish on Facebook and Instagram to ensure you don’t miss out on the 2025 competition details as well as all the wonderful community events that are coming up.

More than $43,000 was raised for KidsWish at the Brick Show. The funds will help our mission of fulfilling the lives of children living with disability or illness and their families through supportive programs, special events and community projects, with a goal of building an inclusive community that can be enjoyed by all.

The two-day event also featured dozens of cleverly designed constructions, including a mosaic wall and the University of Wollongong’s robotics display.

There was a jumping castle, remote control cars and visits from Illawarra’s Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man and the Transformer Bumblebee, while one lucky winner took home $2000 worth of LEGO® from the raffle.

KidsWish would like to thank Figtree Lions Club for their help in cooking the barbecue at the Brick Show as well as the 60 volunteers who helped with face painting and ensuring the event ran smoothly.

Our thanks also go to JB Metro for donating lolly bags, Falcones Bakery for donating the bread for the BBQ, Leisure Coast Fruit Market & Deli and Illawarra Small Goods for their support with the BBQ, as well as Lake Illawarra Hotel and North Nowra Tavern for the use of their mobile cool rooms.