Taskmaster, a British gameshow - Now free for everyone to watch on YouTube

[Bender]

The premise of the show is 5 celebrity contestants, mostly comedians, are given some ridiculous, and often humiliating tasks to do, like playing mini golf with raw eggs, eating the most watermelon in a minute, or recreating a retro game IRL.

Full playlists are available here for the first 7 series, and they're adding a new episode per week. The "HomeTasking" playlist has some challenges you can do during quarantine as well.

I'm just mentioning it because we can all use a laugh during this lockdown bullshit, and some of you might like it.

 

[Red Hood]

This is great, because with lockdown it's much harder to humiliate comedians yourself without committing a B & E.

 

[CWCissey]

The new series is pretty good so far, all the contestants are funny in their own way (Katherine attempting everything with dignity, Richard being straight-forward, Daisy being hyperactive, Mawaan being dumb and Johnny being Johnny Vegas) and the tasks have been suitabily ridiculous.

I will say that nothing will ever beat the Video game task. GTAcaster was fucking genius!

 

[Bender]

I will say that nothing will ever beat the Video game task. GTAcaster was fucking genius!

That entire thing was so spot-on, even the unnecessarily-forceful opening of the door at the start. I think that was one of the few times he acknowledged Alex's existence in the series, and it was just to kill him repeatedly. I love it when the tasks backfire on Alex, like the "homemade Marmite" task or when he had to sit on a cake, props to the guy for actually going through with it though.

 

[CWCissey]

That entire thing was so spot-on, even the unnecessarily-forceful opening of the door at the start. I think that was one of the few times he acknowledged Alex's existence in the series, and it was just to kill him repeatedly. I love it when the tasks backfire on Alex, like the "homemade Marmite" task or when he had to sit on a cake, props to the guy for actually going through with it though.

I think my favourite bit of Alex abuse was in the first series, where they had to make the 3 course meal that has an ingredient that begins with every letter of the alphabet.

Tim Key asks who's going to eat it, Alex says he is, so Tim puts dog food down as an ingredient.

 

[Bender]

I think my favourite bit of Alex abuse was in the first series, where they had to make the 3 course meal that has an ingredient that begins with every letter of the alphabet.

Tim Key asks who's going to eat it, Alex says he is, so Tim puts dog food down as an ingredient.

I swear Alex has a humiliation fetish, it's the only thing that explains how far he's willing to be degraded on his own show.

 

[Devilish Jack o Lantern]

I love taskmaster ! really funny show . i did notice a pattern of young guy, out of shape guy, old guy, Indian/black guy, woman as contestants in every season .

 

[CWCissey]

Bin Juice, anyone?

 

[Bender]

I love taskmaster ! really funny show . i did notice a pattern of young guy, out of shape guy, old guy, Indian/black guy, woman as contestants in every season .

And the South Asians are either really funny (Romesh and Paul Chowdhry, innit?) or are having the time of their life in the studio (Nish Kumar).

I think the mix of contestants works pretty well because not all of the tasks are physical, so being young and fit doesn't guarantee you'll win the series, and it results in a variety of different methods because of their different backgrounds.

 

[CWCissey]

So we had the final tonight and people are fucking mad about who won the series.

 

[Bender]

So we had the final tonight and people are fucking mad about who won the series.

Katherine's the standout contestant of this series for me, her interpretation and subsequent attempt at putting wellies on a spider was absolutely hilarious. Her antics making Alex lose his composure is another highlight, like breaking the arch in her attempt to make a foot-powered catapult.

I've loved Mawaan during this series, he's both brilliant (his magic trick making the cow disappear, and constantly skirting the rules) and a complete moron (trying to inflate an egg with helium, lol).

Richard was alright, I think he's wanted to be on the show for a while and he did pretty well.

Vegas having a near-constant mental breakdown throughout the show was pretty funny to see, especially during the locker challenge. I genuinely felt bad for him when his beer mat house collapsed.

Daisy is my least-favourite contestant so far and I don't understand why they would even have her on the show while she was so heavily pregnant. She also came across as a bit of a bitch when she yelled at Richard during one of the live tasks, it reminded me of Iain Stirling's team task.

I don't get why people are mad about who won, from what I've seen they've been a fan favourite for a while who's there to have a bit of fun.

ETA: Series 11 lineup's been released. Charlotte Ritchie, Jamali Maddix, LEE MACK (the only good thing besides Sarah Millican to come from Oop North, lol), Mike Wozniak and Sarah Kendall. I'm really looking forwards to see if Mack's lightning-fast wit will help him during the tasks.

 

[CWCissey]

Katherine's the standout contestant of this series for me, her interpretation and subsequent attempt at putting wellies on a spider was absolutely hilarious. Her antics making Alex lose his composure is another highlight, like breaking the arch in her attempt to make a foot-powered catapult.

I've loved Mawaan during this series, he's both brilliant (his magic trick making the cow disappear, and constantly skirting the rules) and a complete moron (trying to inflate an egg with helium, lol).

Richard was alright, I think he's wanted to be on the show for a while and he did pretty well.

Vegas having a near-constant mental breakdown throughout the show was pretty funny to see, especially during the locker challenge. I genuinely felt bad for him when his beer mat house collapsed.

Daisy is my least-favourite contestant so far and I don't understand why they would even have her on the show while she was so heavily pregnant. She also came across as a bit of a bitch when she yelled at Richard during one of the live tasks, it reminded me of Iain Stirling's team task.

I don't get why people are mad about who won, from what I've seen they've been a fan favourite for a while who's there to have a bit of fun.

ETA: Series 11 lineup's been released. Charlotte Ritchie, Jamali Maddix, LEE MACK (the only good thing besides Sarah Millican to come from Oop North, lol), Mike Wozniak and Sarah Kendall. I'm really looking forwards to see if Mack's lightning-fast wit will help him during the tasks.

Ahh so looks like all three of Man Down's main cast has now appeared on Taskmaster. Lee Mack should be good! He's usually amazing at taking the mick. I don't recognise the other three though.

 

[Caddchef]

I was happy Richard won, especially after the acting task and him bringing in Histor the crow from This Morning With Richard Not Judy for one of the tasks.

 

[Next Task]

No comment.

 

[CWCissey]

No comment.

Daisy fan?

 

[Next Task]

Daisy fan?

I like everybody. I just shouldn't say anything, because I will be a gushing fool for a long period of time.

I will say it was the most anti-climactic final screen task, though. I was hoping they'd saved something spectacular for the final, but while it was good, it wasn't 'last task' good.

 

[CWCissey]

I like everybody. I just shouldn't say anything, because I will be a gushing fool for a long period of time.

I will say it was the most anti-climactic final screen task, though. I was hoping they'd saved something spectacular for the final, but while it was good, it wasn't 'last task' good.

Go for it. I love a passionate response.

I think they were banking on the final stage task, which was legit tense.

 

[Next Task]

I am restraining myself. I am trying to be good.
But I will say I always warm to contestants on the show. Daisy and Marwan took me a couple of episodes longer than the rest, but in the end I really liked all of them, except for how none of them put much into the prize tasks. Richard Herring is perhaps slightly duller as a winner than Daisy would have been (yes, we're getting a second Champion of Champions), but it's consistency that wins Taskmaster. Alex doesn't want to do a Loser of Losers, but I think a show of the Close Seconds would be good, and Daisy would make the rankings for that.

I felt genuinely sorry for Johnny Vegas numerous times. I felt a little worried for Katherine at times as well, because she seemed less invested than Johnny during the actual tasks, but much more invested in the studio. Also, it sounds like she'd have done infinitely better if Alex had just told her to leave the room more. Marwan seemed a bit dim, but turned out to be one of the best lateral thinkers, and I pretty much 'got' Daisy from the combined 'quiet drink' task and the 'say words of a certain length' final task. And at the end of the day I can never be mad at someone for being both very competitive but also able to laugh at themselves. While I thought the show lost a little spark from the social distancing, and it made the team tasks more awkward considering they were done in two very different conditions, I still enjoyed it, and there are some absolute highlights. I thought they were all good competitors, just that everything other than the last live task in the last episode wasn't quite finale-level.

The absolute best finale would have to be Season 7's - YouTube has the extended version of 'Sausage or Finger' which is a great watch.

That's the short version.

 

[Bender]

I am restraining myself. I am trying to be good.
But I will say I always warm to contestants on the show. Daisy and Marwan took me a couple of episodes longer than the rest, but in the end I really liked all of them, except for how none of them put much into the prize tasks. Richard Herring is perhaps slightly duller as a winner than Daisy would have been (yes, we're getting a second Champion of Champions), but it's consistency that wins Taskmaster. Alex doesn't want to do a Loser of Losers, but I think a show of the Close Seconds would be good, and Daisy would make the rankings for that.

I felt genuinely sorry for Johnny Vegas numerous times. I felt a little worried for Katherine at times as well, because she seemed less invested than Johnny during the actual tasks, but much more invested in the studio. Also, it sounds like she'd have done infinitely better if Alex had just told her to leave the room more. Marwan seemed a bit dim, but turned out to be one of the best lateral thinkers, and I pretty much 'got' Daisy from the combined 'quiet drink' task and the 'say words of a certain length' final task. And at the end of the day I can never be mad at someone for being both very competitive but also able to laugh at themselves. While I thought the show lost a little spark from the social distancing, and it made the team tasks more awkward considering they were done in two very different conditions, I still enjoyed it, and there are some absolute highlights. I thought they were all good competitors, just that everything other than the last live task in the last episode wasn't quite finale-level.

The absolute best finale would have to be Season 7's - YouTube has the extended version of 'Sausage or Finger' which is a great watch.

That's the short version.

I don't know why, but for a long time something gave me the idea you're a Taskmaster fan.

Lee Mack should be good! He's usually amazing at taking the mick.

Dude's got lightning-fast wit, I'm really interested how creatively he finishes the tasks. His banter with Greg in the studio and Alex during the tasks is gonna be great. I imagine at some point he's gonna break literally every rule of a task and somehow bullshit his way into first place and grin at the camera, like the cheeky little scamp he is.

I was happy Richard won, especially after the acting task and him bringing in Histor the crow from This Morning With Richard Not Judy for one of the tasks.

Apparently he's a massive fan of the show and wanted to be a contestant for years. he livestreamed a watchalong on Twitch.

 

[stinky lush bath soap]

I'm glad Richard won. He is very underrated imo. Would love to see him feature in panel shows instead of some of the comedians who are recurrent. He would be brilliant on QI or Would I Lie to You.