Television Taskmaster | Series 18 starts tonight

Mike doing that little dance and then returning to the phone box was so funny. :D
 
Watching the second episode right now.. Just finished the balloon task
a) Mike is great.
b) 2nd time Jamali should have been disqualified in 2 episode but wasnt.. he was not 3m from the mouse when he "trapped" it.. and the bottom of the balloon was clearly below his waist.

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2 episodes in.. safe to say Mike is my favourite contestant.. Jamali the least .. Pretty decent set though..
 
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Have you never watched Man Down? He plays Greg Davies' character's best mate. Well worth a watch.

Nope. Might give it a shot.

Mike is really good. Not sure how he managed to track down and trap the balloon but great commitment.

Expecting the team tasks to be a bit dodgy this season too as they were filmed not too long after lockdown started (guess the bonus is at least both teams now have the same circumstances than the farce of last season with one team having a much harder job).
 
Random fact: Wozniak won the first ever version of Taskmaster, which was a live show Alex organised at the Edinburgh Fringe.
 
I'm looking forward to Lee and Mike's team tasks. I'm expecting them be quite chaotic, 'humour first, competency second' efforts. Similar to David Baddiel and Jo Brand.
It might hinder their points total and ability to win, but should be very entertaining.
 
I used to like Jamali, but he comes across like a right bellend on this.

Charlotte is a fecking treasure.
 
I used to like Jamali, but he comes across like a right bellend on this.

Charlotte is a fecking treasure.
I agree that Jamali is coming across as a bit annoying and one dimensional so far.

I'm not sure what Charlotte really offers from a comedy or entertainment point. She comes across fine, and isn't annoying, but she's not particularly comedic or entertaining.

I'm enjoying this series so far, but it's Lee and Mike who are offering the humour and entertainment for me. The other three are OK, although Jamali's a little annoying.
 
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I agree that Jamali is coming across as a bit annoying and one dimensional so far.

I'm not sure what Charlotte really offers from a comedy or entertainment point. She comes across fine, and isn't annoying, but she's not particularly comedic or entertaining.

I'm enjoying this series so far, but it's Lee and Mike who are offering the humour and entertainment for me. The other three are OK, although Jamali's a little annoying.
I'm possibly giving her a pass because she's fecling angelic looking.
 
Just watched the second episode. Just feels like it's going to be another disappointing season. The contestants aren't that great and it really seems like they are running out if decent ideas for tasks. Mike Wozniak has been good but like others have said, Lee Mack seems reserved. The two women are pretty bland and Jamali is really not funny and becoming more annoying, he was horrendous in that argument task.
 
I love Taskmaster and I think an average / weaker series by it's standards is still one of the best things on TV nowadays.

The first couple of episodes so far suggest this series may only be one of the average ones - although it may get better if Lee let's himself go more.

TBH, I think series 8, 9 and 10 were also only average ones by the shows high standards, so it's been a while since one of the best Taskmaster series in my opinion.

My favourite was series 7, with Rhod Gilbert (especially), James Acaster and Phil Wang. That was following on from mostly very good first 6 series - and managed to top them as the best yet. Since then, I don't think any of the latest ones have been quite as good. But it's still a great show to watch even when it's not quite at it's best.
 
I love Taskmaster and I think an average / weaker series by it's standards is still one of the best things on TV nowadays.

The first couple of episodes so far suggest this series may only be one of the average ones - although it may get better if Lee let's himself go more.

TBH, I think series 8, 9 and 10 were also only average ones by the shows high standards, so it's been a while since one of the best Taskmaster series in my opinion.

My favourite was series 7, with Rhod Gilbert (especially), James Acaster and Phil Wang. That was following on from mostly very good first 6 series - and managed to top them as the best yet. Since then, I don't think any of the latest ones have been quite as good. But it's still a great show to watch even when it's not quite at it's best.
I love series 7 too. The task where Rhod hid in Greg's wardrobe immediately springs to mind!
 
I love series 7 too. The task where Rhod hid in Greg's wardrobe immediately springs to mind!


Rhod was perfect for the show as he was a mix of being really competitive and just wanting to wind up Alex and Greg as much as he could.

I loved the season Nish Kumar was on as the entire cast was really good like wise the Noel Fielding series.

The season with Ed Gamble was fantastic due to a great cast and the rivalry between Ed and Rose who both wanted to win so much

I guess it's hard after so many seasons to find established stars so they have to take chances on lesser known guests.

I do think this season is a lot better than last though.
 
I'd order it 1 > 7 > 4 > 2 > 3 > 5 > 8 > 9 > 6 > 10

1 was incredible because they were all so competitive and Romesh and Tim Keys were mental. I really hope they start reusing former contestants in future series because the ones in the earlier series were largely better than the latter.

Edit: wait I've mixed up 4 and 5. 5 was the one with Bob Mortimer and Sally Philips so that goes into 3rd.
 
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I'd order it 1 > 7 > 4 > 2 > 3 > 5 > 8 > 9 > 6 > 10

1 was incredible because they were all so competitive and Romesh and Tim Keys were mental. I really hope they start reusing former contestants in future series because the ones in the earlier series were largely better than the latter.
Yeah, I agree about the contestants - it's like the latest series of Richard Osman's House of Games: they've used most of the best comedians willing to do it by now and so the latest groups aren't as good.

My order of favourite series would probably be:

7, 1, 5, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10.

I'd like to put series 6 higher as I love Tim Vine, and thought he was great on Taskmaster, but the rest of the group were only OK.
 
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Thought episode 2 was very good. Mike is absolutely brilliant.

I will say though, I think I actually enjoyed the line up as a whole on NZ taskmaster more then this line up.
 
Give me a series with

Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, and Bob.
 
If Sarah wins the series I might cry.
 
This is shaping up to be the frst series I don’t like. I think ten minutes after yesterday’s episode finished I couldn’t really remembered anything that happened.
 
I don't think it helps that this week was possibly the worst set of tasks i can remember.

The airport one was one of the worst they’ve ever done. I didn’t mind the making the coal sizzle one though.
 
It's been a weak series. So far anyway.
 
Im really enjoying this season i stopped watching last season as i hated all the contestants but this time around has been the opposite for me.

The only one i find disappointing is Lee Mack who is too concerned with winning and appears horrified at the idea he may not be the champion when it is over.

Charlotte has been my favourite and Alex winding up Jamali has been great viewing
 
Found out i could watch it from Norway on Dailymotion a while back, binged it all.
Later found out we have a Norwegian version, which i also like - unfortunately that tv channel has very few funny celebrities, so the same have been in like 2 seasons out of 3 :P
(ninja edit: Not all have been in 2 seasons each, but 2 or 3 of them have)

Currently watching the NZ version, which is great fun, even though i have no clue who any of them are :lol:
 
The airport one was one of the worst they’ve ever done. I didn’t mind the making the coal sizzle one though.
Coal one was apparently taken from the Finnish version.
The only one i find disappointing is Lee Mack who is too concerned with winning and appears horrified at the idea he may not be the champion when it is over.
If he was that bothered he would have put up a fight over being scored low/last on certain tasks. He is taking it seriously though but Charlotte Ritchie said he and his kids are massive fans of the show so he's not going to be the sort to clown around. There's also an interview with Mack himself where he said he came in not wanting to be last but he found himself being more competitive than he thought.
 
It's been one of the poorer series so far in terms of humour and memorable tasks. Not helped, I suppose, by covid restrictions limiting the task options.

However, I'm still finding it a pleasant watch as it's still one of the few modern shows that I enjoy - helped by the fact that it's one of the few shows mostly free of politics / social issues debate and just gets on with trying to be entertaining instead of preachy like far too many shows.

Also, I don't really find any of the 5 too annoying. Jamali a little bit - he's a bit too one dimensional so far with his argumentative style. Charlotte and Sarah aren't funny and are a bit bland - especially Sarah. But they're not annoying and so are OK. Lee's a little more reserved than I expected but, on the other hand, Mike, who I'd never heard of, has been really good so far.

Far from a classic series, but I think that applies to series 8, 9 and 10 as well so I didn't approach the series expecting peak Taskmaster and I'm just pleased to see new episodes.

Hopefully there'll still be the occasional series that hits the heights of most of the first 7 series, but I'm approaching each series nowadays expecting them to be more of the series 8-11 standard.
 
This week's episode was much better, I thought, with some good tasks. Makes me wonder why the edited the shows in the way they did, as they could have spread the funnier moments more evenly through the series.

Sarah is possibly the most boringly straight-down-the-middle contestant they've ever had on the show. I hope she doesn't win.
 
I'm loving this season to be honest it is so much better than last season the contestants are better gel a lot more.

Jamali and Alex's relationship is amazing I would watch a show with the two of them just to see how long it would take Jamali to kill him.

Looks like Sarah will run away with it though unless she really has a nightmare few weeks
 
Usually the “smart” ways of completing a challenge are a little disguised, but I’m really surprised that only two contestants figured out that you can tear down the toilet paper holder and get it away as far as possible. Although since you’re always looking for creative ways to do the task maybe this is too straightforward of a decision.
 
One of the best episodes in ages. Great tasks, especially the salt one.

Lee's joke about '6 quid/sick squid' :lol:
 
Lee must have broken the record for disqualifications in one episode. Love how their brains just go out the window when confronted with a weird talk
 
I always wonder what I'd have done for certain tasks.

Banana one I'd have probably microwaved it and then blended it. Also would likely have not noticed the jelly and wouldn't have thought to melt it, not straight away anyway.

Toilet roll one I'd have asked for a GPS tracker, then ripped it off the wall like Jamali did but then attach it to some helium balloons or stick it in a car like Lee. Or on a train if I had enough time. Actually the house is near Heathrow so maybe I'd see if anyone was getting on a flight and ask if they could add it to their luggage :lol: Probably wouldn't find a willing participant for that though.
 
With the banana one I immediately thought there must be some significance to the pointless locks on the bottle, so I would have wasted time looking for something to do with that. Or gone looking for a different, bigger bottle around the house to put the banana into instead.
 
Thought this weeks episode was easily the best of the season so far.

The idea of wrapping each leg genuinely never entered my mind until Jamali did it
 
Thought this weeks episode was easily the best of the season so far.

The idea of wrapping each leg genuinely never entered my mind until Jamali did it


I couldn't believe none of the others thought of that as there was always going to be something else to that task.

I have a feeling Tim Key is behind some of these tasks especially the trick ones
 
I'm enjoying this series more than any since the wonderful series 7.

The last 3 haven't been great by Taskmaster standards - still watchable and enjoyable, but not as much as the first 7. This has been a real return to form for the show.

Lee and Mike are my favourites still, and the main source of humour. Jamali is hit and miss - providing some humour but a bit of a one trick pony who can be the most annoying. Charlotte and Sarah aren't providing much humour, but neither are OTT or annoying and are fairly decent in a quiet way.

So, overall, a good group, and some very good tasks being set.