Taskmaster

[Chris2K]

I take it all back. That lemon task may have made this the worst series of anything in television history.

But Fred being back may have saved it!

[Josh]

Ardal’s Swedish drinking song was fucking delightful.

[K]

2 hours ago, Josh said:

Ardal’s Swedish drinking song was fucking delightful.

my wife and i got very excited by the swedish language task.

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

Gosh, this cast is absolutely phenomenal. 

[K]

weirdly i don't think this has been posted in here yet

 

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Having only started this during lockdown, my wife and I manage to grab an episode a week or so due to childrens bedtimes and busy evenings. That means we're quite far behind but are now into the second half of season 10.

 

Season 10 is really really unfairly overlooked as we both really rate it. I know it suffers because of being a Covid series and them being sat apart, no live audience etc, but there's a really good vibe between them all and Daisy, Johnny and Katherine ending up in tears of laughter so often is wonderful.

In fact it's probably one of only a few series where I actively like every contestant and they all try to do their best more often than not. The team tasks struggle 'cos of the Covid rules, but there are some excellent tasks and while you have some good-natured grumbling about perceived unfair decisions, it doesn't spill over into being annoying.

 

 

We chose NOT to watch season 8 because we saw one episode while on holiday last year and hated it and I spent half of season 7 dreading having to watch it next.

[K]

i'd give eight a go when you get to the end. it's one of the weaker series tbh, but Paul Sinha is a treasure.

[Josh]

Yeah, it’s still a good one. Was Iain Sterling the issue? For what it’s worth, he becomes more self-aware as it goes and he ultimately felt terrible about coming off like an asshole. Lou Sanders herself has very nice things to say about him.

[Chris2K]

Season 8 is my least favourite as well, partly because of the Iain Sterling issues mentioned, partly because watching Paul Sinha struggle doing physical tasks with hindsight of his Parkinson's diagnosis makes me sad, and partly because:

Spoiler

Lou Sanders just runs away with it so there's no intrigue to the scoring side of things. Season 6 had the same issue with Liza Tarbuck, but that series had Tim Vine so it's exempt from criticism.

 

[K]

If it helps you enjoy it, Paul himself has said that the Parkinsons was only a small part of why he was struggling. He'd recently had surgery, plus he says he just has no spacial awareness as it is. I think that while his parkinsons was there, it hadn't fully manifested at the time.

 

[FLiam]

I love him - he’s great.

[LittleDaniel]

This series is such a delight that one of my favorite moments didn't even make the actual episode.

 

[Josh]

That’s fantastic. I don’t know what’s better: that, or her mounting him on the throne.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

On 14/06/2022 at 20:22, Josh said:

Yeah, it’s still a good one. Was Iain Sterling the issue? For what it’s worth, he becomes more self-aware as it goes and he ultimately felt terrible about coming off like an asshole. Lou Sanders herself has very nice things to say about him.

 

Ian Sterling for sure, also Joe Thomas who just kinda looked spaced and confused for much of what I watched.

[Chris2K]

Spoiler

That final (recorded) task may be one of my favourite tasks of all time, and I don't think I'll ever stop laughing to "you put an aubergine in my mouth" thanks to the complete lack of context. It's really heartwarming to see how all 5 of them seemed to be getting on so well, evidenced by Bridget's disqualification where the others were more upset than she was.

I'm happy Sophie won, she was a prototypical contestant of both being at least competent in every task, with the more than occasional flash of brilliance, and also bringing memorable moments to the table.

I guess the Season 14 contestants aren't going to be revealed until after Champion of Champions next week, although from what I've read they've already recorded the studio sections for it.

[Josh]

7 hours ago, ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster said:

 

Ian Sterling for sure, also Joe Thomas who just kinda looked spaced and confused for much of what I watched.

I really enjoyed Joe Thomas on that series, for whatever it’s worth.

And that was a damn good final tonight. It’s honestly been a truly exceptional series and almost entirely down to this being exactly the right mix of contestants. Everyone brought something to the table individually, but the whole is more than just the sum of its parts. Everyone doing Bridget’s dance together at the end was a perfect closing image to tell you what that group was like.

And I am VERY excited to get Champion of Champions next week!

[K]

cannot believe they're keeping a secret aubergine task from us

[Josh]

According to the podcast, the women never even filmed it, so something either went way off the rails when the guys did it or it was just a bit boring. For a hot second, I thought it was going to be a team equivalent of the old prank tasks given to just one person. But apparently not.

[Liam]

Ardal O'Hanlon might be my favourite contestant of all time. Definitely top 3.

[K]

5 hours ago, Josh said:

According to the podcast, the women never even filmed it, so something either went way off the rails when the guys did it or it was just a bit boring. For a hot second, I thought it was going to be a team equivalent of the old prank tasks given to just one person. But apparently not.

Yeah they said on the show the women didn't do it, so I assumed it was a prank task as well.