
There were definitely times when a piece was just spectacular and we were like, “What do you mean we have to say something negative? There’s nothing negative to say.” And then even in Season 1, we were always prompted to have both good and bad things to say about every piece-so that no matter what happened, they would have footage to build the story arc. I realized that I didn’t necessarily have to be super concise or articulate all the time because they would always have lots of material to choose from, which is liberating. KG: When I saw the final version, I realized how little of the actual footage gets used. NetflixĮD: Did anything you learned about hosting this show in Season 1 affect your roles in the new season? Judge Katherine Gray ( left), Season 1 winner Deborah Czeresko ( center), and host Nick Uhas mid-critique during Season 2 of Blown Away. And it’s definitely a magical thing to watch. To see an artist working in a milieu like this with this kind of arcane knowledge that was invented by Romans 2,000 years ago-I think it’s pretty eye-opening. There’s just so much about it that’s unlike anything else that people do. It’s this combination of a dance and athleticism and artistry as well as just dangerous elements: You could burn or cut yourself at any minute. This is who I am and you are judging who I am.” So glassblowing lends itself really well to a reality competition for those reasons. So it’s not just, like, “Hey, I’m blowing glass, I hope I do well.” It’s like, “This is my everything. Some of these people have been professors for decades, and the style of glass they do is everything they do. NU: I have so much empathy for these contestants: They’re not just doing this for fun, this is their whole life’s work. I really had to put my faith in them that they were going to do what they said they would, and I think that they did.Į D: What is it about glassblowing that makes it a great fit for a competition format? Certainly, Nick, you have a background with reality TV, having competed on Big Brother and America’s Got Talent. The producers were pretty clear that that’s not how they wanted to portray the field-they wanted to preserve all the drama for the actual process of glassblowing-but I was still nervous until I saw the final product. Katherine Gray: I was definitely nervous and apprehensive because it’s a small community, and I’m not really crazy about a lot of reality shows because they just get so competitive. There’s so much mystery in glass, and I was so excited to dive into it from the science standpoint of, What is this material? How do you manipulate this material? What makes the material do what it does? There’s so much interest about the medium itself that.well, I was blown away.

I had done some work with the Discovery Channel and the Weather Channel. Nick Uhas: A lot of my background up until this point has been through science and engineering. NetflixĮLLE Decor: What was your reaction when the producers approached you to host a reality competition show about.glassblowing? Ī contestant at work on Season 2 of Blown Away. Here, the show’s presenter, Nick Uhas, a YouTube science content maker, and its resident evaluator and host, Katherine Gray, a glass artist and art professor, discuss the unlikely success of Blown Away.

The show follows 10 glassblowing contestants, gathered in what is deemed the largest hot shop in North America (it’s outside of Toronto) and competing for the title of “Best in Glass.” The winner receives $60,000 and a residency at the Corning Museum of Glass (the museum is exhibiting pieces from all 10 competitors to coincide with this new season). Blown Away-the second season premieres today on Netflix-falls sturdily into the latter category.

#Blown away pieces tv
And then there are fields that have not been previously associated with the prying lenses of videographers but end up being unexpectedly fertile territory for unscripted TV drama. Consider the endless riffs on fashion ( America’s Next Top Model, Project Runway, Next in Fashion), cooking ( Top Chef, Chopped), and baking ( Nailed It!, The Great British Baking Show) that have found enthusiastic and loyal audiences.

Certain disciplines are such natural fits with a reality-television format that they seem to beg for the voyeuristic presence of multiple camera angles.
