Taskmaster: 200 Extraordinary Tasks for Ordinary People: 220 Extraordinary Tasks for Ordinary People

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The task where the contestants put eight wellington boots in the lab on a stuffed spider in the garden. Parkinson doesn’t understand that she can leave the lab, so spends 20 minutes searching for the spider in the lab, before deciding that the table is a spider and putting the boots on the legs of that instead. Baffling, glorious nonsense. 37 Eat, throw, balance G: It’s remarkable. He’s so naturally funny. He does a thing where he throws away a point wilfully in one of the live tasks. It’s one of the most surprising and funniest things I’ve seen on the show. That really wrong-footed me, that. Although Jo Brand spent most of her time in the CBA club, she also had moments of sheer brilliance (scream-singing Jerusalem down the phone to Alex as an egg timer) and other series highlights were Ed Gamble’s meltdowns and Rose Matafeo’s outstanding rootin’ tootin’ Taskmaster theme. ED 6. Series Fourteen The task where the contestants have to slide for the longest. Mel Giedroyc is dragged about in a sleeping bag by crew members like a confused but delighted worm, and I could watch it for the rest of my life and be happy. 79 Sing the theme tune Want to make a show of your own? Here are some bonus tips on how to do it that were shared at the RTS Futures event by the Taskmaster team:

Yes, I was really nervous all the way through all of the tasks. I find being creative or entertaining on demand impossible. A: He was desperate to win it because he knows the show inside out. Most of his mates have done it and that desperation meant going charging into the tasks and then realising it was too late. He got all giddy and excited and never stopped to think. But he’s a really thoughtful person generally, so that was surprising. When I ask Horne if he ever disagrees with Davies’s judgment, the answer is instant. “Yes. Most tasks. It’s frustrating, really, because I know that if he scored it in a certain way, then the episode might unravel in a certain way. Quite often he’ll score it completely wrong, so someone has already won with two tasks to spare.” Despite this, Horne wouldn’t have it any other way – “I’m always pleased that Greg is invested. I’m more interested in him caring about who wins, rather than him churning out scores that we’ve told him to say.”

6. There were some changes from what they first planned

I wish I had thought more about the prize tasks, because I was mortified on a couple of occasions. But no real regrets. I wish I hadn’t taken my shoe off without having any nail varnish on my toes in episode four. And I am very double-chinned, and I forgot about that. And I wish I could do some of the tasks again, knowing what I know now. When you’re doing stand-up, which has been the bulk of my career, you have a degree of control over what you’re putting out – and obviously, you’re slightly massaging your own character to make it more likeable or whimsical or whatever. I’ve seen every episode, and I’m a big fan of tasks in general. I like problem solving; I spend most of my time in Escape Rooms. I wish that my life was just people giving me specific tasks to do. I like having choice and free will taken out of my life so I’ve been trying to get on Taskmaster for years. Every year, I literally begged them. The task where the contestants have to make a “hilarious blooper”. Tim Key and Frank Skinner invent a home movie where a man falls off a ladder so hard his entire torso gets embedded in the ground. Chilling. 83 Vanishing act G: And publicly slagged their them off. Which is always fun – it adds a frisson of danger to the room.

The pieces all fell into place when Alex met Frank Skinner for lunch. When he said 'yes', it became much easier to get more people onboard too. By the time they started filming, everyone was super excited to be involved. After all, there was no prep for them, no need to be topical, and a lot of fun to be had. But if there’s one thing the UK loves more than queuing, it’s an underdog. Or sometimes just someone who isn’t afraid to admit they simply can’t be arsed. And in many ways it’s the contestants’ biggest, most epic failures that make some of the show’s best moments.

Greg Davies and Alex Horne

On the subject of Edinburgh, series 11 isn’t Mike Wozniak’s first Taskmasterexperience. Before he developed the format for television, Alex Horne performed a version of it with comedian contestants as a live Edinburgh Fringe show in 2010. The winner of the stage version? Mr Mike Wozniak. You do have to leave your dignity at home with this show. Is that something you were perfectly comfortable with? I did find a lot of the tasks, and my failure to adapt to them, very stressful [but] I returned home every day, delighted with how fun and creative it had all been, and how I’d been taken care of. But with a lot of micro regrets about things I knew I could have done better. A: I think he thinks it’s all against him. He doesn’t realise there’s four other people doing it too. A lot of people came in this like, “I’ve come here to win a trophy.” I said, “I don’t care about the trophy, I just want people to say ‘Kiell won Taskmaster’ one time. That’s all I care about.” I went in there going, “I’m going to fight for everything. I want to win.”