Taskmaster Series 18 Episode 9: The Stats Round Up

Warning! Past this point be spoilers for Taskmaster Series 18 Episode 9! Do not go past this unsettling portrait of Greg Davies’ sex face by Noel Fielding if you haven’t seen Series 18 Episode 9!

Sidi Cleans Up, But Will Andy Be Top Fur-long?

Emma Sidi’s third episode win (21, 4.2 PPT) was impressive, but rather overshadowed by the news that, for the first time since Episode 2, Jack Dee (15, 3.0 PPT) is no longer top of the table — replaced by Andy Zaltzman (20, 4.0 PPT), with just one episode to go!

Let’s grab the powerwasher and mash our faces into a plate of (what we hope is) chocolate spread: it’s time for some STATS!

HEADLINES

• Emma won her third episode, but, unless something truly remarkable happens next week, she won’t be the series champion. She will (most likely) be the 13th contestant to win three or more episodes without winning the series — and if she stays in her current position in the series, she will be just the third contestant to finish fourth despite winning three episodes (after James Acaster in Series 7, and Emma’s best friend Sue Perkins in Series 16).

“Mum! How long’s a furlong?!”

• Andy finished Episode 9 in first place for the series for the first time — it’s the latest anyone new has taken the lead in the show’s history*. Sophie Duker held the record previously — she led her series for the first time at the end of Episode 7. Like a Mussolini reference in an episode of a primetime comedy gameshow, Andy has really come out of nowhere.

• Eagle-eyed viewers might remember a similar stat last week. Andy did take the lead for one task last week, but he lost it almost immediately afterwards — for the purposes of this stat I’m talking about times contestants have led the series at the end of an episode, rather than midway through.
• Jack Dee led the series for seven episodes, since Episode 2, before losing it this week. It’s the longest anyone has held a lead that they eventually lost — the previous record was held by Kerry Godliman, who led the first six episodes of Series 7 before being overtaken by Jessica Knappett in the seventh. Although, in a good omen for Jack, she was able to snatch the trophy from Jess in the final episode of her series, making back a three point gap (coincidentally the exact gap between Andy and Jack currently…)

“Oh, it’s hilarious. Always makes me laugh.”

• To win this series, Jack needs to outscore Andy by at least three points in the final episode. He hasn’t managed to do that since Episode 5 (when he scored 19 and Andy scored 13): since that episode, Andy hasn’t scored below 16, and Jack hasn’t scored higher than 17. Looking at previous series, it’s not looking great for Jack: only once in the history of Taskmaster UK has the contestant leading at the end of Episode 9 not gone on to win the series — that was the aforementioned Jessica Knappett in Series 7.
• Rosie’s poor episode (13, 2.6PPT) means that the gap between first and fifth has stretched a bit to 23 points — it’s no longer the closest series ever in that regard, as the 22 point between Sophie Duker and Judi Love at the end of Series 13 Episode 9 has overtaken it. Rosie is now 12 points behind Emma Sidi in fourth place — the tightening we saw in the last few episodes has been reversed, and the gap is now about the size of a furlong (ie, much, much bigger than Rosie can possibly contemplate). After the tumult of the first few episodes, where the person in last place changed each week, it seems we now know who will finish there — the Bubblegum Fairy/Mr Poo.

Prize Task (The Best Thing For Keeping Things In That Isn’t Just A Regular Item For Keeping Things In)

• This is another “repurposing” prize task — one where contestants are encouraged to find an object and put it in a new context. Other examples include Series 11’s “Best Thing To Hang On A Wall That You Wouldn’t Normally Hang On A Wall”, Series 15’s “The Most Fun Thing To Wear On Your Head That You Aren’t Supposed To Wear On Your Head”, Series 16’s “The Best Thing For A Grown-Up That Is Meant For A Child” and Series 17’s “The Best Thing For A Person That Is Meant For An Animal”. Greg usually rewards practicality over whimsy/cleverness in these kinds of task — in the “best thing for an adult that’s meant for a child” task, he gave Lucy Beaumont 5 points for a b-urrp (a bib attached to a lunchbox), and shouted at Sam Campbell for bringing in a birth certificate. This week was no different, as Emma Sidi’s practical trouser baguette holder won out over Andy Zaltzman’s toilet (what a sentence).

“Like storing meat in a dog.”

• Jack Dee scored 2 for his “battery holder” (a village Christmas scene with a ‘hidden compartment’ to keep batteries in). I believe this is only the second Christmas themed prize task, after Jessica Knappett’s creepy Victorian Christmas cards in Series 7 (which also scored 2 points, Greg clearly hates Christmas). This is only the second time Jack hasn’t scored a 3 in prize tasks (he also scored 2 for his “badass” T. K. Maxx outfit in Episode 4). If Jack fails to score more than 3 next week, he will be the first contestant since Roisin Conaty in Series 1 to never score higher than 3 in prize tasks, and the first contestant ever to do so in a ten episode series. He’s currently averaging 2.78 points per prize task which, remarkably, is still better than 23 previous contestants (including Chris Ramsey and Series 12 champion Morgana Robinson).

“It’s sort of fabulous?”

• Emma Sidi scored 5 for her extremely chic jean bag-uette holder. For the third episode in a row she modelled her prize on the big screen, having previously shown off the hat moisturiser (5 points) and her awful fake chin blisters (1 point). Emma seems to have hit on a rich vein of form in prize tasks in recent weeks — having failed to win any of the first four prize tasks, she’s won three of the subsequent five. It means she’s averaging 3.33 points per prize task, putting her in 27th on the all-time chart — that’s above John Robins, Ed Gamble and Richard Herring among others on the all time list, although among the Series 18 gang she’s in third (an indication how strong the competition is in the prize task this series). She’s the second contestant to bring in a pair of trousers for a prize task after Mark Watson’s submission for “Most High Octane Thing” — he infamously brought in a pair of trousers that he had stolen from Greg Davies’ dressing room at a gig with the help of Ed Gamble. He received, as he feared he would, 1 point.

Greg’s reaction to the biscuit tin.

• For the first time in three weeks, Babátúndé Aléshé didn’t start his prize task by murmuring “oh no” under his breath — although from Greg’s reaction, he possible should have. He brought in a biscuit tin containing something that’s not biscuits, which Greg rightly pointed out is a pretty standard use for a biscuit tin. In fact, it’s so common that “a biscuit tin containing something other than biscuits” has already been brought in as a prize task — Ardal O’Hanlon in the final episode of Series 13 brought in a biscuit tin containing his grandmother’s “birth cert” (birth certificate). It’s the second time in two series that Greg has punctured someone’s prize task by saying that every single person in the audience was one step ahead — last series, Nick Mohammed brought in a “vase” his Mum had been given, and Greg (again rightly) pointed out that every audience member could see it was a drum turned upside down. Babá is currently the eleventh worst prize tasker in Taskmaster UK history — if he does badly again next week, he could go level with Munya Chawawa and Richard Osman in sixth worst place. We’re at the stage where bringing a paper plate is considered one of his better efforts.

“OK my bad.”

• Next came Rosie, who brought in a bra — I believe she is the first contestant to submit a bra, but the fourth to bring in a form of undergarment (after Rob Beckett in Champion of Champions brought in a pair of heart-covered underpants; Desiree Burch brought in a pair of dissolving pants in Series 12; and Fern Brady brought in some ugly underpants sent to her by her mother in Series 14). She also attempted to bribe Greg — this is the third instance she’s given or taken money from someone in the show so far, after she attempted to bribe one of the pub-quiz playing production staff in Episode 3, and then mugged the sound guy in Episode 4. In those acts of bribery/blatant thievery Rosie was wearing her show outfit, so was able to call on her specially designed “Bribes” pocket rather than her bra. This got her 3, a rare middling score for Rosie (who is usually either brilliant or terrible at this task) — her only other 3 came in the “Most Fun Thing To Put In Alex’s Pocket Without Him Knowing” task, where she submitted an ice cube (level with The People’s Champion of Scoring 3 in Prize Tasks, Jack Dee).

• Andy Zaltzman brought in a toilet — he’s the third contestant to do so, after Johnny Vegas in Series 10 (for The Best Thing That Is Bigger At The Top Than The Bottom) and Mark Watson in Series 5 (for The Most Awkward Item For Someone Else To Take Home — he brought in a full bathroom suite). There were more cricket references in this task (after the rhinoceros that shot out cricket balls two weeks ago): along with the model of WG Grace, there was a cricket ball and a copy of the Wisden 1982 Almanac. Eagle-eyed viewers may also have spotted two previous Andy prize tasks within this task — the cistern contained his Mosquit-eau aftershave from last week as well as the Elixir of Eternal Life from Episode 6. Andy’s 4 points here means he’s up against it if he wants to break the all-time points record in prize tasks — he would need to score 5 next week to become the first contestant ever to score 40 points from prize tasks along in one series, and 4 to go level with Desiree Burch, Steve Pemberton and Mawaan Rizwan (who all managed 39). Andy is currently in 6th place on the All-Time list for prize tasking with a score of 3.89 PPT — although no matter what he does next week he won’t overtake statistically the best prize tasker ever… Lolly Adefope. The youngest ever Taskmaster UK contestant averaged 4.25 points per prize task, dropping just six points in the prize tasks across the whole series (although as she was in an eight episode series, she scored fewer gross points than Desiree Burch, Steve Pemberton and Mawaan Rizwan). So there’s not just Greg’s head to play for next week — Andy could also be breaking prize task records too! (I’m guessing he’s more excited about the head.)

Task One (Walk One Furlong in Ten Minutes)

• Contestants have had to estimate time in a few previous tasks, with the first example coming in just a few episodes into the show’s run (the third live task of the entire show was simply “Stand up after 100 seconds”). In Series 6 the contestants had to get back to the house and give the portrait of Greg a kiss as close to thirty minutes as possible (although both Tim Vine and Asim Chaudhry thought it was just fastest wins). In Series 9, contestants had to inflate, tie and pop balloons, but if any balloons remained inflated after 10 minutes they would be disqualified — they also couldn’t look at any timing devices in that task — while in Series 15 contestants had to exit the caravan exactly twenty minutes after they entered it (with only egg timers and a non-waterproof clock supplied). There have also been times when contestants have had to estimate distances — in Series 6 they had to work out the length of a piece of string, while in Series 7 they had to measure the length of the caravan in baked beans. I’m not sure I can recall a time contestants had to do both at once, although I have been wrong many times before…
• There was another part of the task, which said that contestants couldn’t make use of any “technology” in their attempt, except to make three 5 second phone calls. This was an attempt to stop contestants from just using their phones to look up how long a furlong was, or any other timing device to work out how long they had been doing it for —although the definition of “technology” was unspecified and ultimately so vague as to be unenforceable. Emma Sidi pointed out that Jack Dee, by answering a fourth, longer phone call from his son, was making use of technology, while Alex argued that Emma had used “technology” by looking at her watch. In some senses this problem with the wording of the task was similar to the Series 15 “potato hat” task, which stated that contestants couldn’t “touch anything” during their task — a term so open-ended it had to be discarded in the actual judgement.

Jack, not getting through to his agent.

• This was only Babátúndé’s second objectively judged solo filmed task win of the series — his previous win came in the (controversial) scare maze task, where he ate Alex’s carrot the fastest (despite definitely running). Despite this, he’s still leading the series in objectively judged tasks — he’s averaging 3.11 points per objectively judged task. This might be surprising, but it’s down to a combination of factors — firstly, Babá was wearing his hot dog in the scare maze task which bumped his score up; secondly that tally also includes live and team tasks, and Babá’s team have done exceptionally well; and thirdly Babá might not be winning many of those solo filmed objective tasks but he’s not usually coming last in them either (the big exception being the “defuse the robot” task, where he was disqualified).
• Babá also became the first contestant to call two different comedians in one series — last week, he called Eddie Kadi to help him with his French (which needed work) and this week he tried to call Mo Gilligan to find out how long a furlong is (because sure, that sounds like the kind of thing one of the busiest comedians working in Britain right now would take time out of his day to do). It went to voicemail, just like Jack Dee’s call to his agent. Jack is the second contestant to call his agent or manager during the show — the first was Russell Howard, who got his agent to call him an Uber back to the Taskmaster house in Series 6 (which Liza Tarbuck never let him live down). Jack being rejected by his agent is not unique — in Taskmaster Australia S1, Julia Morris received 5 points in the “Call an older family member and make them hang up on you” when she called her agent who then promptly disconnected her. Unlike Jack, at least she got some points out of the shame.

“The first person in life didn’t know anything. He had to work stuff out.”

• Rosie came last in this task, which might not be surprising given her position in the series — but it’s actually only the fifth time she’s scored 1 point in a solo task this series, and the first time since Episode 5’s “make the strongest smell”. In fact, Babá, Emma and series leader Andy have all come last in more solo tasks than Rosie — she’s only come last in 14.29% of all her tasks, which is actually in the top 20 for lowest percentage of last place finishes. On that front she’s ahead of champions Noel Fielding, Lou Sanders, Bob Mortimer and Liza Tarbuck. It’s a particularly good percentage for a contestant in last place in their series — for reference, her nearest competitor on that front is Alice Levine, who finished in last place in 20.41% of her tasks (48th overall). Her low score in the series is down to a poor performance in the team tasks with Jack(ie) and her lack of solo task wins (just seven).
• not including Winner Takes All tasks

“That feels like a good horsie gallop.”

Task Two (Clean The Most Profound Picture)

• This was another slightly ambiguously worded task — “the most profound picture of majestic nature” can mean a profound picture that demonstrates the majestic natural world, or it can mean a profound picture which has a “nature” (ie, attribute) that is majestic. I had assumed it was the former, but the fact that Jack did a Turner-esque Tower Bridge (not nature) and Babá did the Jackson Five (definitely not nature) implies that it was actually the latter. Although in that case there are two overlapping judging criteria — was Greg judging based on the most profound picture that happened to also have a majestic nature, or the “most majestic nature”? In the end Greg didn’t really engage with any of these questions and gave 5 points to the prettiest one, which is, you know, what he does.

Jack’s artwork.

• Rosie’s effort was the second time she had used (hopefully) chocolate spread and smeared it over a face, after she also used it in the puppet sidekick task in Episode 6 (where she starred as Mr Poo). Meanwhile Emma Sidi scored 5 for the second time in an art task (after her excellent Klimt’s The Kiss in Episode 3). She’s the sixth contestant to score 5 points in two separate art tasks, after Katy Wix (Series 9), Johnny Vegas (Series 10), Chris Ramsey (Series 13*), Sam Campbell (Series 16), and almost certainly the first to attempt to do some art in a small patch of dirt outside the house. (*if we count “make the most beautiful edible statue” as an art task.)

“Is it chocolate spread?”

• Babá did a piece honouring the Jackson Five (or a tree, it wasn’t entirely clear) — it’s the third time a popstar has been depicted on the show, after Mel Giedroyc created either Barry Gibb or Kris Kristofferson (she couldn’t remember which) out of toilet paper in Series 4, and last series’ stunning recreation of Freddie Mercury on the back of John Robins’ head. Andy, meanwhile, attempted to clean a mannequin’s backside into Italy (nope, no idea either), using cleaning fluid, fairy liquid and hot sauce. It’s the second time Andy has used the mannequin in an art task (it featured heavily in his recreation of Guernica), and it’s also the second time Andy has argued that the show isn’t doing enough to talk about historical atrocities. You may be surprised to find out it’s the first time anyone has mentioned Mussolini on Taskmaster. I know, maybe Andy has a point.

Emma’s genuinely good artwork of New Zealand.

Task Three (Place All The Balls In The Gutter, And Balance The Gutter On The Cow)

• Linda (the cow) has been used by contestants in many tasks previously — Daisy May Cooper made it disappear (by shoving it into a hedge), Rylan made it pass through a donut, Chris Ramsey balanced on it to trick Greg about which body part he was sticking through a shower curtain — but I think this is the first time she’s actually been written into a task specifically. Alex made the point that her name was Linda to the contestants as they were moving her — he did the same for Nick Mohammed last series when he needed to use her to balance an impressive load (an umbrella) on his chin.
• This was the second “fastest wins” team task of the series (after the “work out what’s in the chest” task in Episode 7, AKA Captain Jackie and the Hot Dog, AKA The Lying Betrayal) — although unlike that task, this one was about moving quickly physically and fine motor skills (which didn’t play to Rosie’s strengths because, as she forcefully reminded Babá in the studio, she’s got “fucking cerebral palsy”). As a result, Greg gave the Team of Two 3 points, despite being nine and a half times slower than the Team of Three (the biggest margin between two teams in a single task ever, beating out Series 17’s “Make the most movements on the movement board” task, where the Team of Three did better by a magnitude of 8.6) — this seems fair given the disadvantages, and is a notable example of the difference between objective solo tasks and objective team tasks. Usually fastest wins tasks are judged simply in the order that the contestants finish, but because team tasks are now usually judged “5 + <5” (5 points for the winner, less than 5 for the loser), it means Greg can exercise a bit of subjective judgement in an otherwise objective task and attempt to redress the balance.

Emma “supervising”.

• Although it is worth saying that (controversially) there were visible balls on the ground at the end of Jack and Rosie’s attempt, which would mean that their effort didn’t have the “full gutter of balls” required, and this perhaps should have been another disqualification for the Team of Two. Also, as Producer Christine points out on The People’s Podcast this week (off mic), Jack Dee used string to stop the balls from falling off the gutter, and string is famously floppy…

Live Task (Float Or Not Float)

• This was another “stay in your seat” live task — the second of the series, after Episode 6’s “guess this person’s job”. There have been tasks similar to this one before, in the sense that it’s the contestants predicting the outcome of an experiment that Greg and/or Alex are doing — in Series 14, the contestants had to predict which sounds would be louder (a task rendered almost entirely random by Alex’s inconsistent handling of the decibel meter, I have been reliably informed), and in New Year’s Treat 2024 the contestants had to guess whether an item would fit through a hole or not fit through a hole (and Kojey Radical angrily threw some eggs).

Float… or not float?

• Andy won — it was his third solo live task win of the series (after the “pat Pat, rustle Russell etc” task in Episode 3, and the “Throw A Bean Bag Onto The Island” task in Episode 7. It means Andy is now averaging 2.78 points per live task, which is currently the best in the series (again, a reminder that these live task scores are so low because there have been so many ‘winner takes all’ tasks). Jack is just behind on 2.56 points per live task — and with the margins so tight going into the final episode it’s another area where neither one can afford to give up points. Emma Sidi, meanwhile, is still yet to win a solo live task — if she doesn’t win next week’s live task, she’ll be the first contestant since Judi Love in Series 13 to fail to win a solo live task, and the sixth contestant overall (since the show moved to ten episodes in Series 6).

All Time Leaderboard

All Time Points Per Task Leaderboard After Ep 9 (1–15) Andy in 13th

• Andy moves into first place for the series, and into the Top 20 on the all-time list — he’s currently sitting joint 13th with Jessica Knappett. The Top 10 will be a harder nut to crack — assuming there are five tasks in the final episode, he will need to score 22 to edge Ed Gamble and Guz Khan. The good news is if Andy wants to stay in the Top 20 he only needs to score 15 in the final episode — he’s scored 16 and over in the past 4 episodes, so as long as he keeps that momentum up he should be OK. Once again though, it’s his work in the studio and in his team that is keeping him afloat — Andy’s points per solo filmed task score sits at a deeply unimpresive 2.95 PPT, which is just 0.03 above Series 13 last place finisher Judi Love. There’s a good chance Andy could become just the second contestant to win a series of Taskmaster with a points per solo filmed task score below 3.00 — the first being Richard Herring, whose solo filmed task score was a miserable 2.85.

All Time Points Per Task Leaderboard After Ep 9 (19–28) Jack in 23rd

• Jack stumbles once again — his score of 15 (3.00 PPT) means that he falls down to 23rd on the all-time leaderboard with a series score of 3.18 PPT (level with Rose Matafeo and Richard Herring). Jack managed to win eight solo tasks in the first six episodes of the series — since Episode 7, however, he’s only won two. Nowhere is the contrast between Andy and Jack more apparent than in the studio — Andy is averaging 6.67 points per episode in the studio (the 15th best score of all time, and particularly impressive given the number of Winner Takes All live tasks there have been), while Jack is averaging just 5.33 (69th on the all-time leaderboard, below even Munya Chawawa). It effectively means that Andy is gaining nearly a point and a half per episode on Jack in the studio — even though Jack’s solo filmed task score is ridiculously high (3.91, currently the highest PPT score ever), he can’t overcome the deficit in the studio (and as a result of the massive discrepancy between the two teams). While Jack will obviously care about catching Andy the most, it’s worth saying he can also sneak into the Top 20 with a decent enough score — if he gets 18 or more he’ll finish above John Richardson and find himself rubbing shoulders with Sam Campbell, Desiree Burch and Alan Davies.

All Time Points Per Task Leaderboard After Ep 9 (35–45) Baba in 41st

• Babátúndé Aléshé needed a great episode (and a rubbish one from Andy) to keep any lingering hopes alive — his score of 18 (3.6PPT) was his best without a hot dog assist, but was two fewer than Zaltzman’s and means he’s still 9 points behind the leader in the series. His fine episode means he’s now up to 41st on the all-time leaderboard, now level with Jenny Eclair and Russell Howard, and just behind James Acaster. Like Jack, Babá’s problem has been the studio, where he’s managing just 4.67 points per episode. There are currently only five contestants who have scored few points per task there — Sian Gibson and Joe Thomas (both Series 8), Hugh Dennis (Series 4), Victoria Coren Mitchell (Series 12) and (who else) Roisin Conaty (Series 1).

All Time Points Per Task Leaderboard After Ep 9 (36–55) Emma in 48th

• Emma Sidi had another great episode (21 points, 4.2PPT) , and it raises her back up to joint 48th on the leaderboard (alongside Dave Gorman, Frankie Boyle and Munya Chawawa) with a series PPT score of 3.00. This result was her second over 20 this series (after winning Episode 7 with 22 points) — it means she is only the sixth contestant ever to come lower than 10 in two episodes, and score 20 or higher in another two. The other topsy-turvy contestants who managed the same feat are Rhod Gilbert (Series 7), Desiree Burch (Series 12), Bridget Christie (Series 13), Munya Chawawa (Series 14) and Kiell Smith-Bynoe (Series 15). Both Desiree and Rhod managed to score 20 or more in three episodes, while Kiell managed it four times. He’s not Mae Martin’s stand-in for Champion of Champions (and also saboteur) for nothing. Back to Emma, and a combination of a good prize task and an excellent art task means that her subjectively judged task score is on the up — she’s now 52nd on the all-time chart with a score of 3.06PPT, just above Jenny Eclair and (gulp) David Baddiel. If Emma manages a score of 16 or higher next week she will rise a few places on the leaderboard — if she’s able to nab 20 points in next week’s finale, she will finish level with Julian Clary in 31st in the all-time chart (not too shabby, given last week’s debacle).

All Time Points Per Task Leaderboard After Ep 9 (68–77) Rosie in 73rd

• Rosie Jones had a weak but not dreadful episode, scoring 13 points (2.6PPT). It means she falls a few places, behind both Jamali Maddix and Sue Perkins, nestling in at joint 73rd for the series alongside Johnny Vegas. She’ll need a huge effort to finish as the highest scoring last place finisher now — she’s currently 21 points behind Fern Brady and John Kearns (who both finished joint last in Series 14 with a score of 144 points). More realistically, a score of 15 or more in next week’s finale will see her climb into the All Time Top 70 (not a hugely catchy category, but oh well), where she’d leapfrog Tim Key. A very bad episode, on the other hand, could see her plummet further — if she scores 7 or less in the finale, she’ll fall below Ivo Graham and Nick Mohammed, and a score of 6 would leave her level with Lucy Beaumont. Thankfully it seems Rosie is fairly certain to pass above the Baddiel Zone — she just needs 4 points to ensure that (although Mel Giedroyc did famously score just 3 points in one episode in Series 4…).

And Finally…

Andy double-hatting.

• During the furlong task, both Emma and Andy decided to “double-hat”. In previous series, contestants who have had a hat or helmet as part of their costume have usually swapped out the costume one in favour of the compulsory one — in Series 6, Tim Vine chose not to wear his safari hat underneath his new hat in the “kiss the portrait of the Taskmaster while wearing a new hat” task; in Series 11 Lee Mack took off his own hat to put on a captain’s hat; while in Series 13 Bridget Christie’s “tallest hat” was not over her usual black cowboy hat (being, as it was, a colander with something stuck to it). In fact, before this series, I could only find one instance of double-hatting in the history of Taskmaster: Jamali Maddix, who, in the “wear the captain’s hat” task in Series 11, chose to put the hat over his beanie rather than take it off. Emma and Andy are following in his footsteps, proudly double-hatting — in fact, this is Emma and Andy’s second double-hatting over the series, after they chose to wear the visors over their costume hats in Episode 7’s “Ring the bell” task. Jamali walked so Emma and Andy could run, into a glorious era of double-hatting. We’ll have to see if anyone dares to go one step further in a future series — the triple-hatting (or hattrick-hatting)…

If you want to see more of these stats, simply pour some hot sauce on your head and declare yourself Mount Etna… or click here for the Giant Terrifying Spreadsheet!

And don’t forget to listen to Taskmaster The People’s Podcast with me and Jenny Eclair, where this week we’re talking about toilets, batteries and how hard it is clap when you’re wearing boxing gloves. Plus we discover if The Famous Geof knows how long a furlong is!

Also also, a reminder that An Absolute Casserole: The Taskmaster Compendium, co-written with me and Little Alex Horne, is OUT NOW! I really hope you enjoy it: it’s a very silly, very detailed book filled with facts, stats, behind the scenes goss, recipes, anecodes about the original Edinburgh show, quotes and pictures of Alex Horne eating a meal in a lift (yes really)! If you read it and like it, please do rate and review it and tell a friend and also tell me!