History Heartwarming / Taskmaster

* The show appears to have gained a large influx of fans internationally during 2020-2021, amid the chaos, uncertainty, and frustration of the COVID-19 pandemic (among other things) and the numerous lockdowns and economic upheavals that resulted from it. A common refrain is that it's surprisingly relaxing and comforting to watch something unabashedly, joyfully silly, and lighthearted as an escape from all the stress and misery.

* In "Lotta Soup", the contestants are asked to bring in the worst gift a relative gave him. James brings in a calendar made by his young nephew, each of which has a joke the nephew wrote it himself, as comedians hate being given material. Greg and the audience find it "absolutely charming", and James admits that he's fond of the gift and "really likes the guy".

* Sue and Susan in particular quickly become fast friends with a touching dynamic. When they first meet, Susan seems genuinely delighted to be paired with Sue, a beloved figure in British pop culture, and Sue is clearly charmed by her new teammate's positive and fun-loving attitude. Throughout the series, they can often be seen giggling to or supporting each other, with Sue at one point even joining in on Susan's spontaneous dancing.

* When Sophie wins her first episode ("The 75th Question"), she genuinely appears to be on the verge of tears when her victory is announced. [[spoiler:She has [[TearsOfJoy very much the same reaction]] when it's revealed she won the series.]]

* When [[spoiler: Dara]] wins the series, [[spoiler: he shakes his fellow contestants' hands but hugs Sarah and kisses her cheek, before lifting the trophy with genuine joy]].

* The episode ends with all contestants but one in joint 2nd place, receiving a very sweet "awww, that's nice." Then, in honour of the actual winner, [[spoiler:Sir Mo Farrah, everyone starts making [[MemeticMutation the 'Mo' sign]].]]

-->Greg: Victoria, with an absolute masterful hand by a poker professional, she takes the five points with Mr. Greedy Esquire.

* In general, panels that gel together on screen continue their friendships long after shooting ends. According to Alex Series 4's panel continues to get along particularly well, and Ed Gamble noted on the the podcast that the Series 4 panel [[http://web.archive.org/web/20191209231258/https://twitter.com/joelycett/status/1204162888270782464 reunited for afternoon tea after they got jealous of the Series 9 panel doing the same]].
* The trip to Cologne offered up as a prize task in Series 1 did actually happen. Tim, Frank and Josh did actually go over, then Alex joined them for a few hours the next day, and Tim remembers the trip fondly on the podcast.
* The show appears to have gained a large influx of fans internationally during 2020-2021, amid the chaos, uncertainty and frustration of the COVID-19 pandemic (among other things) and the numerous lockdowns and economic upheavals that resulted from it. A common refrain is that it's surprisingly relaxing and comforting to watch something unabashedly, joyfully silly and lighthearted as an escape from all the stress and misery.

* During the live task of the season finale, the contestants had to do a series of tasks including "eat a whole banana, correctly put on a tie" which Katherine correctly argues puts her in a distinct disadvantage compared to her male counterparts. Richard defused the situation by altering the task by moving a single comma. "Eat a whole banana correctly, put on a tie."

** Paul being NotSoStoic and smiling in disbelief when he finds out he won the episode, to everyone's enthusiastic congratulation.

* In a task clearly set up to look like a team task in theory but cause the contestants to get in each other's way in practice, Mel and Hugh nonetheless figure it out and work together to fill a tub with random objects before wrapping it in clingfilm (and Mel even wraps Alex's feet in clingfilm so they won't get cold after Hugh stole his shoes and socks). Greg puts on a show of crying TearsOfJoy at their cooperation... especially in comparison to the other team, who unleashed chaos and broke stuff.

* Nish's sheer joy at learning that he made it to triple digit points, after being the "loser" for much of the series. He still came in last, but he was so happy that he made it to triple digits. That's the right attitude to have.

* During the live task of "Stuck in a Mammal Groove", which required the contestants to zip themselves up in two modified sleeping bags, Paul Sinha struggles with even getting into the first sleeping bag due to an injury to his right arm which required him to use it as little as possible. Even after the whistle is blown (signalling the end of the task) and Greg tells him that he doesn't need to, he still insists on completing the task. The other four contestants then gather round to help him suit up inside his sleeping bags.

* Since Series 10's studio parts were filmed in the middle of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic without a live audience, there were concerns on how it would impact the atmosphere of the show. Any fears were assuaged by the cast's chemistry in the premiere, as they often leave each other crying with laughter. Alex said on the ''Taskmaster Podcast'' that everyone was so glad to interact with others after being in lockdown that they started on a great mood.
* In the finale, Greg makes fun of the allegedly poor quality of a set of home-made clay masks that Creator/KatherineParkinson brought in for the prize round. Katherine appears to be genuinely a little bit hurt by the mockery, so later in the episode Greg gives her a bonus point for another task that she did poorly on, admitting that he thinks he went a bit too far and feels a bit bad about it. The episode winner Richard Herring also audibly makes a point of complimenting them when collecting the prizes at the end.

-->'''Victoria:''' I’m so happily married, I’m so besotted with my husband, I genuinely worried about proposing to another man even as a joke. I thought maybe that’s not nice. It’s ridiculous.

* The final shot of the finale shows all five contestants holding hands and doing a dance inspired by Bridget Christie's strange walk from the pedometer task. Despite all the times they mock others' attempts at the tasks, it's clear this cast genuinely got along and had fun during the series. This is also the first opportunity since Series 9 where the contestants have all celebrated the champion in close proximity because of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

-->'''Greg:''' [Staring dead into the camera] Fuck you, ex-partner.

* During the canalside task in "The Curse of Politeness" which involves collecting watermelon float rings by operating a barge, Ivo's rudder becomes unattached and they have to wait for a handyman to fix it. It isn't initially clear whether the time spent fixing the rudder would count towards Ivo's overall time, and while Greg is mulling over this decision, Jenny jumps in to his defence, arguing that because she and Frankie had filmed before Ivo (and crashed the barge many a time), he shouldn't have the extra time added. Ivo (who has been scoring quite poorly in the episode) leans in to hug Jenny. Greg initially teases that the defence would push him the other way, but he ultimately allows Ivo the time spent without the repairs in between, and ultimately earns 4 points.

* As with the line ups of series 9, 12, and 13 before them, the group quickly seem to form a very genuine camaraderie. In particular, whereas other line up's are prone to bickering over points, this batch of contestants is more prone to helping each other out or arguing on their competitor's behalf.
* Sue and Susan in particular quickly become fast friends with a touching dynamic. When they first meet, Susan seems genuinely delighted to be paired with Sue, a beloved figure in British pop culture, and Sue is clearly charmed by her new teammate's positive and fun-loving attitude. Throughout the series they can often be seen giggling to or supporting each other, with Sue at one point even joining in on Susan's spontaneous dancing.

* When tasked with making mischief, Susan's idea is to create a trick task for another competitor, namely Sam. Upon the reveal she's quick to apologise and offer him a handshake, and Sam genuinely admires her creativity and the amount of thought put into her attempt.

* Following Sue helping Julian in the episode 5 live task above, it seems this group take an increasingly collaborative approach to the live tasks; they all work together to hide the pineapples from Greg in "Brother Alex", and then help each other put balls in their hats in "I'm Off to Find a Robin".

[[folder:Champion of Champions 2]]

* Sue and Susan in particular quickly become fast friends with a genuinely touching dynamic. When they first meet, Susan seems genuinely delighted to be paired with Sue, a beloved figure in British pop culture, and Sue is clearly charmed by her new teammate's attitude.

* As with the line ups of series 9, 12, and 13 before them, the group quickly seem to form a very genuine camaraderie.
* Sue and Susan quickly become fast friends with a genuinely touching dynamic. When they first meet, Susan seems genuinely delighted to be paired with Sue, a beloved figure in British pop culture, and Sue is clearly charmed by her new teammate's attitude.

* Nish's "most incredible" footage was of him quickly and incorrectly filling out a Sudoku puzzle. Greg is so underwhelmed, he finds it necessary to go into "teacher mode" and pull Nish aside and encourage him as if he were an underperforming student.

* In the pedometer task in "The 75th Question", Chris Ramsey spends a large portion of his twenty minutes inside the very hot dome in the yard, mistakenly believing it to be a requirement of the task. At the end of the task Alex presents him with a glass of ice water and an ice lolly to make sure he doesn't overheat.

* Sue rushes to help Julian retrieve his glass to help him win the live task (and consequently, episode 5), accidentally disqualifying herself. The two hug after Julian wins, and he proclaims it an example of solidarity within the LGBT community.

* Sue voluntarily disqualifying herself to help Julian win Episode 5's live task (and resultantly, the episode).

** In particular, in episode 4, one task requires that one team member look at the other for the entirety of the task's duration. Sue makes a self-deprecating remark that Susan wouldn't want to look at her for that long. Susan 'will not here of it'', and ends up taking on that part of the task herself, seemingly just to prove Sue wrong.

* In general, there seem to be very few contestants who haven't genuinely enjoyed their time on the show.

** During the "ride a bicycle" task, Victoria manages fourth place despite never having ridden a bicycle before. As comical as her attempts are, one can only cheer her determination and pluck in the face of her obvious anxiousness (and indeed that's the attitude in the studio).

** During the "ride a bicycle" task, Victoria manages fourth place despite never having ridden a bicycle before. As comical as her attempts are, one can only cheer her determination and pluck in the face of her obvious bewilderment (and indeed that's the attitude in the studio).