The Best 124 Moments In Taskmaster History (As A Way Of Escaping The Despair of 2020) [124–101]
Taskmaster’s good isn’t it? It has everything: eggs, comedians, shouting, anger, betrayal, more eggs, hiding, dogs, beans, chickens, yet more eggs, plastic ducks, Sally Phillips shaking Alex Horne’s hand and saying Abu Dhabi, horrifying edible faces and, of course, eggs.
2020, on the other hand, sucks a big old sack of shit and no mistake. So while I would usually spend the gap between Christmas and New Year (or, in Taskmaster terms, the end of Series 10 and the New Year’s Day Treat) reflecting on the last twelve months, making a series of resolutions and generally deciding to be kinder to my fellow man, this year I’ve thrown a massive Iain Stirling style strop and instead have spent this time working out the best 124 moments in Taskmaster history. In true Taskmaster style I’ve used both a slavish Hornesque dedication to stats (getting my long-suffering Twitter followers to vote on their favourite moments) and an autocratic Daviesesque series of brutal arbitrary decisions (randomly assigning my favourite moments a higher position because I FELT LIKE IT). And no, none of these placements can be questioned. Just try me. I will come down on you harder than a pot of yoghurt thrown from a crane onto Mark Watson’s face.
So without further tedious banter, LET’S DO THE COUNTDOWN! FEEL THE RUSH!
124: Siân Gibson Makes A Loud “Eeeeeeeeee” Noise While Running (Series 8, Ep 2)
Task: Run the furthest distance while making a continuous noise with your mouth.
What happened: While other contestants thought carefully about tactics and strategy (Iain Stirling tried to get round the rules by beatboxing), Siân Gibson just took off down the garden, squealing like a toddler after too many sweets.
Why is it so good: The pure innocent happiness of one of Britain’s best loved character comedians going “EEEEEEEE” while Alex chases her with a tape measure.
Position in task: Third (ahead of Iain Stirling’s cleverclogs beatboxing which came last)
Watch out for: Siân making this noise constantly for the rest of the series (when she sets fire to an eraser, when she celebrates a goal, when she entertained a toddler by pretending to be a Fitness Princess (??)).
123: Doc Brown Sings To The Mayor of Chesham (Series 2, Ep 3)
Task: Impress the Mayor of Chesham.
What happened: Doc Brown couldn’t think of what to do in this open-ended task and, in a panic, started singing “Rags to Riches” by Elvis Presley (because, as he explained to Greg afterwards, apparently the Mayor looked like he would enjoy show-tunes).
Why is it so good: the way his painful bid is intercut with Joe Wilkinson’s effortless “42 Calippos and a six pack of beer”. The frozen horror in his eyes as he commits to the first verse, acapella, and realises just how much of the song he still has to go. The way he can’t quite commit to going full volume. The way his voice gives out just as he sings “…and I’ll open the doooor”, like the ridiculousness of the situation, singing to the mayor of Chesham in a town hall, has suddenly dawned on him. And the fact that he’s still reading the lyrics off his phone.
Position in task: Fourth (only behind Jon Richardson, who has a fullblown existential crisis).
Watch out for: Doc’s gloriously awkward exit where he just mumbles “‘til next time”, as if this is going to become an annual event.
122: Siân Gibson cheats (Series 8, Episode 8)
Task: Catch the red balls in things from the shed. Catch the yellow balls in clothing. Don’t let the green balls touch anything other than the grass. Catch the blue ball with something from the kitchen. (Team Task)
What happened: at the end of a team task where competitors have to catch the tennis balls — and after Siân’s team is declared the winner — Alex Horne reveals that she had been secretly siphoning tennis balls into her bag long after the whistle had gone.
Why is it so good: it’s the DRAMA. If anyone’s going to cheat in this series, it’s surely going to be one of Lou Sanders or Iain Stirling (two of the most competitive contestants in the show’s history) — but no, instead it’s lovely Siân who does the dirty. There’s a genuine sense of betrayal — how could Siân bring the game into disrepute like this? Why, Siân, why? And it’s not even good cheating — at one point she bends down like she’s tying her shoelace and bundles a few in. THERE ARE CAMERAS, SIAN. IT’S A TV SHOW. WHAT ARE YOU DOING.
Position in task: Disqualified (down from first)
Watch out for: her teammate Joe Thomas’ reaction — not angry, not even disappointed, just his usual expression of sad confusion and solitude, like someone’s crammed Eeyore into the body of an estate agent.
121: Phil Wang Bites Into An Apple and Shouts “Wang!” (Series 7, Ep 2)
Task: Predict what one of the other contestants (specified) will do with the objects presented. You must then perform an action, in the hope that another contestant will predict what you do.
What happened: In a task where the two most important things were to accurately predict what your fellow contestants would do, and (crucially) be predictable for your fellow contestants, Phil Wang decided to eschew the predictable airhorn and instead bite into an apple, before shouting “WANG!” and walking off.
Why is it so good: There’s a kind of joy watching Phil bite into an apple and yell his name, but more importantly there’s also a kind of blissful ignorance to Phil here — he doesn’t seem to understand what the task actually was, and it gives him a kind of anarchic power. He is the wildcard. No-one can predict him. He will sabotage himself and other people if it means he gets to shout his own name on television. And oddly in a way, that truly is the most Phil Wang thing he could do.
Position in task: Joint-last (with everyone but Jessica Knappett)
Watch out for: The look of genuine irritation on Kerry Godliman’s face as Phil explains his thinking behind the apple bite.
120: Johnny Vegas Makes A 200ft Mutant Socialist Chicken Disappear (Series 10, Ep 1)
Task: Make the largest object properly vanish.
What happened: Johnny Vegas eschews all the typical “vanishing” techniques of his fellow contestants (such as using mirrors, playing with perspective etc) and instead makes a compelling pseudo-political short film about a 200ft socialist chicken.
Why is it so good: the first episode of the Covid series was a serious test — could Taskmaster still work if contestants had to socially distance? Does the show lose its anarchic spark if everyone’s constantly making sure they’re two metres away? Johnny Vegas provided the unpredictability and chaos that Covid threatened to take away with a bizarre satirical piece, as a giant chicken with googly eyes in league with Jeremy Corbyn crushes a (charmingly shit) paper version of London. It was cathartic and surprisingly moving. Well, as moving as a disheveled man smashing Big Ben with a stuffed chicken and yelling “THE CHURCH WILL NEVER BE UNITED WITH THE STATE” can be.
Position in task: A much deserved second (behind Mawaan Rizwan)
Watch out for: The little man shouting “GET BREXIT DONE” on the side of Big Ben.
119: Al Murray Propels A Pea Up The Motorway (Series 3, Ep 1)
Task: Propel a pea the furthest distance and land on a red carpet.
What happened: While others propelled their pea using their hands or a tennis racket, Al Murray went several miles further — he took his pea on a rolled up bit of carpet in a taxi ride up the M4.
Why is it so good: It cemented Al very on as the Roman Abramovich of Taskmaster — he doesn’t care about the cost, he doesn’t care about how gross it looks, he’s not afraid to flash the cash about in order to win this game. It was a taxi ride that cost him £150 — given that this was back when the show was on Dave, that’s probably half the appearance fee for the episode right there. But it’s also oddly endearing — it doesn’t come across as ostentatious or showy, but rather a little bit sweet and even slightly pathetic. If you told people “Al Murray paid £150 to take a pea to Slough so that he could win a round of a gameshow on Dave”, their reaction won’t be “my goodness, he must be doing well for himself”, it will be “Wow. He must have absolutely nothing else going on in his life.”
Position in task: First. Obviously. Because that’s what £150 gets you.
Watch out for: Al randomly mentioning that he knew the taxi-driver’s niece. As Greg says, “lovely little detail.”
118: Asim Chaudhry Makes His Wind-Up Man Go On The Most Extraordinary Underground Journey (Series 6, Ep 2)
Task: Make this wind-up man go on the most extraordinary journey.
What happened: while others gave their wind-up man a spiritual journey (Russell Howard), and others gave their wind-up man the sweet release of death (Liza Tarbuck), Asim Chaudhry pulls out all the stops — parachuting his tiny mechanical guy into an underground lair filled with Actual Fire and (Plastic) Lizards.
Why is it so good: The best Taskmaster moments are the ones that take you properly by surprise. Asim had been set up as the Lovable Loser until this point (he came last in the first four tasks of the series), and when he was left until last in this task it seemed inevitable it would be for Lousy Reasons. Instead, Asim created a mini-Speilberg masterpiece, cheering his tiny man on from above ground with chants of “Godspeed” and “look there are fucking monsters!”.
Position in task: Where else? First.
Watch out for: Asim grabbing his wind-up man at the end of his long journey and yelling “You made it!”. He gives him a look of genuine pride, like a father looking at his weird tinny son.
117: Lolly Adefope tries to slide down a concrete driveway (Series 4, Ep 5)
Task: Slide the furthest within one attempt.
What happened: While others went for sneakier definitions of the word “slide” — Mel Giedroyc is pulled around by the crew in a sleeping bag — Lolly went for the conventional: sliding down the driveway on a sledge on a bit of slippy tarpaulin. After a huge build-up, she manages a slide of just 3.2 metres.
Why is it so good: There’s something very satisfying about watching someone spend so long doing something that you know, in your heart of hearts, will be a miserable failure. As Lolly sets up the slide on the concrete driveway, you know that there’s only one way it can end — but she’s so confident and so precise in her methodology that you start to wonder… has she nailed this? Has she somehow managed to come up with some kind of scientific alchemy that will allow her to glide gloriously down the driveway? The answer, of course, is no. As Greg points out, if she’d worn a wool suit and fallen onto velcro she’d have done pretty much the same.
Position in task: First for style, last for actual points.
Watch out for: Lolly giving herself a standing ovation when she’s watching the footage back in the studio. That’s confidence.
116: Katy Wix Advertises Her New Cult To Alex (Series 9, Ep 1)
Task: Make the most dramatic entrance.
What happened: Katy Wix enters a room attached to four bizarre lifesize balloon people, all dressed in gingham dresses and leopard print headscarves, while muttering “Join our cult, join our cult, join our cult”.
Why is it so good: Taskmaster is at its best when it’s open-ended, because that’s when the unique sense of humour of each of the contestants can shine through. I would argue there’s no-one else in the world who would have done what Katy did there — each individual decision, from the balloon faces to the horrible dresses to the weird child’s drawing of a pamphlet, was so random and unconnected that it felt like we were watching the birth of a new form of art. Was it good? I genuinely don’t know. Would I watch it again? I would be afraid to. Would I join that cult? Inevitably, yes.
Position in task: A scarcely believable fourth.
Watch out for: Katy breaking character forty seconds in after a few “Join our cults” and murmuring “oooh it’s heavy” and having to have a sit down.
115: Ed Gamble sings the Taskmaster theme like a baby (Season 9, Ep 8)
Task: Write the best lyrics to the Taskmaster theme tune and perform them in the most memorable way.
What happened: Ed decided to perform the Taskmaster theme as a baby who, by the end of the song, has soiled himself.
Why is it so good: Ed’s decision to sit behind a hedge and plonk a doll’s body under his neck creates one of the more disturbing images in Taskmaster history. But, to his credit, every time I hear the Taskmaster theme I now find myself singing “Waaaaah wah wah waaaaah, I’m a big babyyyyyyy”. Also any task where Alex comes out dressed as Ed’s mum and gives him a kiss on the eye (?) gets top marks from me.
Position in task: Second, behind Rose Matafeo’s banjo hit (more of that later…)
Watch out for: Ed’s look of fear and revulsion in the studio before his attempt is shown, and also the way at the end of the clip Alex pulls away “Ed the baby” (ie: a headless doll and the disembodied head of a mannequin).
114: Iain Stirling Wears A Onesie of Greg’s Face (Series 8, Ep 5)
Task: Best face (Prize task)
What happened: Iain Stirling strips off during the prize task to reveal a onesie with dozens of pictures of Greg’s face on the top, and two MASSIVE pictures of Greg’s face on the thighs.
Why is it so good: watching Iain Stirling in Taskmaster is like watching a condensed version of Citizen Kane — a man so consumed by his lust for power (and the Taskmaster trophy) that he will do anything, ANYTHING to get it (even shout at Lou Sanders on multiple occasions). This was a good illustration of Iain’s commitment to the cause — wearing a truly hideous onesie of Greg just to bag five measly points.
Position in task: First (duh, because Greg is a narcissist).
Watch out for: The way Iain proudly spreads his legs after the onesie reveal, like some kind of confused remake of Basic Instinct. As Greg points out, “it really is light material, you’re bobbling around in there.”
113: Jessica Knappett Recreates Mario Kart (Season 7, Ep 10)
Task: Physically recreate a classic video game.
What happened: Jessica Knappett decides to recreate Mario Kart using golf carts, an obstacle course in the garden, and two excellent fake moustaches.
Why is it so good: of all the contestants across all ten series, Jessica Knappett probably had the most fun — whether it was imitating airhorns or finding satsumas in socks, she just looked like she was at the best kids’ birthday party in the world all the time. Arguably the most fun she had was here, driving about in the Taskmaster garden, doing a stupid Italian accent and dodging bananas chucked by Alex. A truly joyful experience that got her a spontaneous round of applause as soon as the task started.
Position in task: First in the race, joint third in the task.
Watch out for: Jessica imitating a race-car as she turns around corners (“nyhhhhhoooooo”, very similar to her airhorn) and her cry of “a-victory!” at the end. Bliss.
112: Joe Lycett Blows Up A Cake With Fireworks (Series 4, Ep 1)
Task: Beautifully destroy a cake.
What happened: Joe Lycett put an entire Bonfire Night’s worth of fireworks into a bucket, placed a cake on top and sat back to watch the mayhem and chaos unfold.
Why is it so good: Not only is it the simplest interpretation of the task (EXPLODE IT!), but played in slow motion and to soft classical music, there’s a kind of serene beauty to it — smoke, sparks, bits of soggy cake flying through the air, all framed by Joe Lycett’s grinning face and slowed down whoops of joy. If you pulled that clip out and played it on giant projector in a loop in a big white room in the Tate Modern, people would legitimately think it was a piece of art. Not necessarily a good piece of art, but still.
Position in task: First, obviously.
Watch out for: Joe triumphantly sticking his finger into the cake remnants at the end, licking it and then gagging because it’s obviously disgusting. As Greg put it, “it’s like someone choreographing a ballet and then coming out onto the stage afterwards and having a shit.”
111: Josh Widdicombe Is The Only One To Sing The Taskmaster Theme (Champion of Champions Ep 2)
Task: Sing along to the Taskmaster theme tune. (Special Introduction Task)
What happened: Before the episode even starts, Josh turns up in the lab, is handed a microphone and is told to sing along to the Taskmaster theme tune. It is “his worst nightmare”, and given his singing, it’s fair to see why.
Why is it so good: Not only was this a task that only Josh had to do, but it wasn’t even a task — Josh sings along to the titles at the top of the show, clearly embarrassed out of his mind, wishing the lab would open up and swallow him…and then Greg and Alex don’t even mention it. They just move on with the rest of the show. It’s like that prank that kids play on each other where they pretend one of them is invisible. It’s psychological torture. It’s only five minutes later, during the Prize task, that Josh brings it up — “are we not even discussing the fact that you made me sing the theme tune under the guise that it was a task everybody was doing” — and Greg reveals that he doesn’t even get a point. Cruel. Brutal. Glorious.
Position in task: Only one doing the task, and he received nothing. 0/0.
Watch out for: Josh’s terrible robot dance moves as he sings the theme tune, and cringeworthy little kiss to camera at the end. He’s like a three year old playing with a video camera for the first time.
110: Daisy May Cooper Doesn’t Get An Egg In The Frying Pan (Series 10, Ep 1)
Task: Land the most eggs in the pan. You may not throw any eggs. You may not leave the balcony. You may only use the contents of one box.
What happened: Daisy May Cooper attaches her eggs to a brilliant airship contraption made out of helium balloons and a leafblower, which she expertly shepherds onto the pan… but when Alex checks to see where it’s landed, he finds that none of the eggs have actually landed in the pan itself.
Why is it so good: In typically cruel Taskmaster style, the show allows Daisy to celebrate (a victory dance and shouting THAT IS GREAAAAT into a tube), before brutally taking it away with those seven ominous words… “Would you like to see it again?” If Alex Horne suggests watching your greatest achievement again, you just know that he’s going to show you something that will crush your hopes and dreams. As Alex lifts up the balloons and sadly shows the empty pan with a shake of the head, you can feel the audience deflate like a badly constructed Johnny Vegas airship. A poignant, painful moment.
Position in task: First (but only because she got a bonus point and everyone failed).
Watch out for: Katherine Parkinson’s “That’s just mean, showing her that” after the reveal, with the tone of a grown-up telling off a child for a prank that they secretly think is very funny.
109: Jon Richardson Eats A Mouse (Series 2, Ep 2)
Task: Create a video for a nursery rhyme.
What happened: Jon Richardson chose to creepily play “Three Blind Mice” with a toy piano while staring up at the camera, before a slow, horrific pan across a tabletop showed the scene of a blind mouse massacre — three tiny glasses, three tiny canes, a bloody knife, two disembodied tails and one Jon Richardson, dressed in a dress and pigtails, with a psychotic smile and single mousetail in his mouth.
Why is it so good: Up until this series I had thought of Jon as a misanthropic observational comedian, and up to a point his performance on Taskmaster confirmed that view — but with this task he unleashed his inner League of Gentlemen, from the creepy rendition of the nursery rhyme to the upsetting realistic horror. I will never hear Three Blind Mice the same again — or get the image of Jon’s grinning face with blood round his face out of my head. To quote Greg — “Nightmarish. Creepy. Strangely attractive.”
Position in task: Joint first (with Doc Brown’s Once I Caught A Fish Alive).
Watch out for: Jon’s horrifying wink to the camera at the end, and his line “the funny thing is I had already filmed that before the task.”
108: Lou Sanders Wins With The Final Toss Of The Frying Pan (Series 8, Ep 4)
Task: Choose a hoop to throw a frying pan into, then choose a distance to throw from. If you choose the small hoop, you get three attempts — the medium hoop gets two, and the large hoop gets one. Longest distance from a successful throw wins.
What happened: Going into the final round of Frying Pan Hoop Throw, Paul Sinha is in the lead with a Big Hoop from Close Range. Joe, Siân and Iain have all failed with Medium Hoops from Medium Range, and it’s all down to Lou Sanders. Surely there’s no way she can get the frying pan in the hoop from there? She steadies herself. The tension rises. Greg watches, transfixed, murmuring to himself. “Imagine if it goes in?!” She throws it long, true…and just inside the hoop. A moment of ridiculous drama.
Why is it so good: The greatest moment in a Live Task ever? A genuine sporting achievement? It was like watching an obscure sport in the Olympics — at first you have no idea what’s going on, and by Attempt 3 you’re an old hand, shouting at the screen for Iain Stirling to ANGLE THE PAN, ANGLE THE PAN! The pure exhilaration on Lou’s face, the sense of shock on Alex’s, the spontaneous applause from the audience — the Agueroooooo moment of Taskmaster. “In all of pan hoop history…”
Position in task: First, deserved.
Watch out for: Lou grabbing her hoop at the end and doing a hula so bad it would have embarrassed James Acaster.
107: Tim Vine Traps A Fly In A Chocolate Egg (Series 6, Ep 8)
Task: Put something genuinely surprising inside a chocolate egg.
What happened: After clambering about in a tree for an impressive amount of time, Tim presented Alex with his (rather dirty) chocolate egg and then watched happily as a fly fluttered out of it.
Why is it so good: As Tim says, it’s almost as if the fly is a properly trained fly — it comes out of the egg, looks at Alex, waits a beat and then flies off. The fly is legitimately a better actor than Russell Howard. And Tim’s reaction to his plan coming together — a delighted little chuckle squeak — is one of the purest moments in the show. It doesn’t matter that he was actually aiming for a bee.
Position in task: Second (behind Alice Levine getting Alex’s PIN)
Watch out for: Tim carefully hitting a bush with a stick in the hope that a bee would fly out.
106: Iain Stirling Misses An Open Goal And Then Does A Conga (Series 8, Ep 6)
Task: Score a goal from the furthest distance. You have one attempt.
What happened: While all of the other competitors used the small goal (and only Sian managed to score), Iain spends a long time and effort getting the crew and Alex to move a nearby Regular Sized Goal into the garden. He sets the ball down 34 metres away from the goal, steps up…and shanks it horribly, horribly wide. But then, because the task is also the Best Celebration (even if you don’t score), Iain furiously gets the cast and crew together for a conga. It’s awful.
Why is it so good: It’s hard to think of a more hubristic moment in Taskmaster history than this. Iain loves football, he spent so long getting the shot ready, he even gets Alex to shake his hand before the shot and then… he misses. Terribly. And he’s so, so angry. That moment, where he’s screaming into his own teeth as the ball goes wide, is the most I’ve ever related to Iain Stirling. I felt his pain. After that, the conga is so wonderfully pathetic, with Iain murmuring “I’ve just scored a goal, I’ve just scored a goal…” to the tune of the conga. Back in the studio, Iain looks haunted, furious with the confident failing Iain of the past.
Position in task: Disqualified (no goal). And no point for celebration either.
Watch out for: Alex telling Greg afterwards that he had whispered in Iain’s ear during the conga that “he didn’t need to do this”.
105: Liza Tarbuck Puts A Lizard On A Drill (Series 6, Ep 3)
Task: Make something spin for the longest period of time.
What happened: While other competitors were more momentum-based (Asim Chaudhry span a bike wheel, Tim Vine rolled a ping pong ball around a bowl, standard stuff), Liza used technology. Specifically, she stuck a lizard on an electric drill and jammed the trigger so that it span for eighty four minutes.
Why is it so good: So much of Liza’s time on Taskmaster you spend asking “why?”, and this is no exception. A drill, sure, but why a lizard? Why position the lizard so that it looks like it’s being violently impaled by the drill? Her answer to why she “buggered a toy lizard” is just to shake her hands and say “JAZZ”, which as a reply is as Tarbuck as they come. In fairness she did later explain to Greg that she had been “eye-balling that lizard for a while”, as if the next logical step after eye-balling is to shove a drill into its backside.
Position in task: First, as usual for Liza.
Watch out for: Seconds after pushing the drill up the toy lizard Liza does a strange Frank Spencer-esque impression and shakes the lizard while going “don’t do that to me! Oooh-hoo hoo hoo!” Why? Liza Tarbuck, that’s why.
104: Joe Wilkinson Secretes Pineapple (Series 2, Ep 4)
Task: Conceal a pineapple on your person.
What happened: The contestants had to hide a pineapple on their body and then be examined by Alex Horne at a distance as they span around on a turntable. Naturally Joe Wilkinson put as much as he possibly could down his trousers, to the extent that the plastic bags that he had used to keep the pineapples in exploded, causing…quite the sensation.
Why is it so good: Joe seems to go through his own version of the five stages of grief during this challenge — he refuses to plan ahead and think of a strategy (Denial), he swears at a plastic bag when it breaks (Anger), he starts jumping up and down to implore the pineapple to go deeper (Bargaining), he starts just…laughing sadly as the pineapple drips down his leg (Depression) and finally he inches out of the lab, flat cap on head, body heaving with pineapple flesh and juice, knowing in his heart of hearts that he has lost (Acceptance).
Position in task: Last, unsurprisingly.
Watch out for: his whispered groan as he leaves the lab, his body squelching with pineapple… “It’s leaking at the front now”. Hideous.
103: Lou Sanders Shouts Mummy! (Series 8, Episode 8)
Task: Catch the red balls in things from the shed… (but also throughout Series 8)
What happened: Greg Davies picked up on the fact during this task that Lou has a strange habit of shouting “MUMMY!” when doing physical tasks (such as trying to catch tennis balls). Lou immediately regrets ever saying Mummy.
Why is it so good: First off, credit to Lou — it’s a great phrase to shout when you’re putting a shift in. I now frequently shout “mummy” while doing DIY or playing football, and it’s a very good way of freaking out everyone in the general area. Secondly, once Greg points it out you can’t stop hearing it — she does it in the beach ball task later in this episode, she does it in a bunch of live tasks: it’s a mini Easter Egg for the whole show. An Easter Egg courtesy of the Easter Mummy.
Position in task: NA — Mummies do not compete, they merely offer encouragement.
Watch out for: when Joe and Siân are disqualified for Siân’s blatant cheating, Lou breaking the tension with an expertly timed celebratory “mummy!”
102: Katherine Parkinson Uses A Garden Arch To Make A Catapult (Series 10, Ep 3)
Task: Catapult this shoe into the bath using a homemade contraption. You may only use your foot to operate the contraption.
What happened: Katherine spends a long time trying to work out what a catapult is (secretly asking Alex when she thinks the cameras aren’t on), and it just goes downhill from there. First she tries to find a “Y-shaped twig”. Then she takes the TV antenna down from the caravan and tries to use that. Then she wraps a rubber band around her own feet and tries to fire the shoe into the bath. Then the same thing but, inexplicably, on her back. Then she gets the garden arch, which she first uses as a frame to fire the shoe with her feet (it doesn’t work), then she accidentally breaks the arch, then she just tries to kick the shoe into the bath via the garden arch, before finally attaching the shoe onto the pole attached to the garden arch and gently guiding it into the bath in an extremely uncatapultish manner.
Why is it so good: It’s Katherine’s dedication to terrible ideas that sells this — even when the catapult is clearly failing, and the shoe is travelling only an inch at a time, she still looks out hopefully towards the bath as if somehow, by magic, it might suddenly start moving by sheer force of will and end up in the bath. The number of times that Alex Horne — a man who prides himself on remaining calm and inscrutable during tasks — has to hide his face behind the clipboard to stop from laughing too hard says it all — Katherine is a ridiculous terrible force of nature, the worst and greatest player to ever play the game.
Position in task: last.
Watch out for: at the very nadir of the task, Katherine looking down at her creation and murmuring, “It’s a shame my hands aren’t my feet.” A quote for the ages.
101: Richard Osman Throws A Shopping Trolley Into A Stream (Series 2, Ep 5)
Task: Place supplied items into a shopping trolley on the other side of a stream.
What happened: While everyone else tried to move the stuff to the trolley, Richard had another idea — he would get the trolley and take it to the stuff. When he discovered the trolley had no wheels, he picked it up and threw it into the stream in a terrifying display of masculine brute power.
Why is it so good: There’s something hypnotic about watching the usually refined Richard Osman resort to stupid physical force — it’s like watching Albert Einstein furiously kick an advertising hoarding to pieces. The fact also that this was one of the few tasks in a semi-public place, and the fact that Richard Osman is one of the more famous people to do Taskmaster, added to the surrealness of the whole incident — if you were in West London doing your shopping on that day and caught sight of Richard Osman chucking a shopping trolley into a stream, please get in contact. I desperately want to know what was running through your head.
Position in task: Second, although first in style points.
Watch out for: Anticipating that he’d have to use it, Richard preemptively blew up the raft before opening the task. As it was, it was entirely unnecessary and almost certainly made it more difficult to pack into the trolley. Too clever, Osman. Too clever.
WOW that’s a lot of writing! Well, get ready for some more as I count down the remaining 100 (Jesus Christ) over the next few days! Will your favourite moment be there? Almost certainly, there are A HUNDRED OF THEM.
Click here for Part 2 [100–81]!
