History Taskmaster / TropesAToF

* BigGuyLittleGuy: Greg Davies and Alex Horne play this straight-ish behind the scenes (albeit without the "big dumb muscle" angle), as Alex is the actual "Taskmaster"; he's the showrunner and the one who devises and runs the tasks. On stage, however, the typical "little guy's in charge" dynamic is inverted, with Greg lording it over "Little Alex Horne" despite Alex's frequent protests that he's actually 6'2 and Greg, at 6'8 as mentioned above, simply towers over pretty much everyone.

* TheCameo: Former contestants have at times popped up to help out in challenges in later series. See TheBusCameBack above for the full list.

** For the final task in "There's Strength In Arches", nobody notices the three separate clues that there was useful building materials attached to the underside of the table; one as mentioned above for BilingualBonus; a button that Jon presses which lights up a clue under the table; and a sign above the doorway that tells the contestant to look under the table.

*** Mark Watson discusses an example related to his infamous solo task in Series 5. Despite the long-standing friendship between him and Alex Horne, the two respected the show's rules about not discussing tasks outside of filming, but on one occasion while Mark was staying at Alex's house Alex casually asked him whether he was keeping up with the task where he was asked to send the Taskmaster a cheeky text message every day for 150 days. While Mark didn't think much of it at the time, in hindsight after the big reveal he realised that this was actually a clue that he actually was the only person doing the task -- not only because of the rule mentioned above, but because if the others were completing it as well there'd be no need to check up on him.

* AllForNothing:

** "Your time starts now" is one due to it's frequent use in the show's task letters.

* BriefAccentImitation: During the prize task in "Shaqinahat", Greg imitates the way it sounds to him when Rose says "shed" in her New Zealand accent, and Rose retaliates by demonstrating how it sounds to her when Greg says "shed".

** All of the competitors in the Series Nine finale "Think About the Spirit" were dressed in matching formal tuxedos. Amusingly, Greg and Alex also sported "coordinated" fake tan sprays, which is explained away as the two of them lying in Greg's sunbed together over the weekend.

** In "Bready, Bready, Bready," there is a task where the contestants need to push a watermelon up a slide into the caravan using breadsticks, with the provision that the slide cannot be adjusted from its position and that only breadsticks can touch the watermelon. David, Ed and Rose all dropped their watermelons on the ground, but Ed was the only one able to get the watermelon back on the slide with only breadsticks (Rose used her hands to get the watermelon back on the slide, and David struggled using breadsticks but eventually gave up). Jo and Katy attached breadsticks to gloves to push the watermelon into the caravan. [[spoiler:In the end, Greg judges that only Ed successfully pushed the watermelon into the caravan using only breadsticks and would receive the full 5 points while everybody else is disqualified.]]
** The final pre-recorded task of Series 9 was made up of seven intersecting mini-tasks, and failing in one of them meant you had to start from the beginning again. This happened to [[spoiler:Ed Gamble]], who was the only one who had to restart, and took ''far longer'' to finish than any of the rest of the contestants... except ''all of the other contestants'' were disqualified, as the rest all failed because they should have restarted but didn't, and so the other contestants failed to complete one of the tasks ([[spoiler:Jo took items out of her wheelbarrow, Rose's brick tower was 23 inches, not 26, David kept removing his hand from his hip, and Katy did not have enough items in her wheelbarrow]]), meaning that not only did [[spoiler:Ed Gamble]] take first place by default but was the only one to score '''any''' points on that task at all.

* DagwoodSandwich: For the "create an exotic sandwich" task in "Tony Three Pies", Mel opts for a multi-decker sandwich with ingredients including Nutella chocolate spread, chocolate orange slices, various chocolate bars, [=M&Ms=], maltesers, and marshmallows. She describes the end result as a "Japanese pagoda" of a sandwich. Alex then hands her the instructions for part 2 of the task: "Eat your exotic sandwich, fastest wins"...

--->'''Iain:''' "You may not touch the sand, done that. You may not move the bucket, done that. You may not leave the room, fuck it, let's do that as well! What a waste of everyone's time, you '''IDIOT!'''"
** In "Rock [='n'=] Roll Umlaut", A task had contestants shoot a ball into a goal from the furthest distance, with a possible bonus point for the best goal celebration, which they '''must''' perform, even if they miss. Iain got out a massive goal net from behind some trees, and places it at the other end of the field. He places the ball 35 metres away, and kicks the ball. He misses the goal completely, does a stilted conga dance to "celebrate" his goal, and got zero points for his endeavour. Nobody got a bonus point either.

** The golden bust of Greg only appears from series two onward; the winner of series one won a trophy designed for a karate competition.

* AdBumpers: Each section ends with specially filmed ad bumpers; the first series used the same ones each week, the second and third series used a mix of ad bumpers, but the fourth series onward has a different set of bumpers for each show. The common link is that each bumper leading into a break will feature Alex waving goodbye, and each bumper starting a new section will have Alex showing which part of the show this is (usually by holding up fingers).

* AbsurdlyHighStakesGame: The contestants have a clause in their contracts saying that they are genuinely giving up ownership for their submissions for the Prize Tasks, and are only allowed to request that the winner returns them if they lose. Prizes (particularly in the early seasons) can be of absurdly high value (sentimental or monetary) for a comedy show, including marriage certificates, wedding rings, Guinness World Record certificates and blank cheques. This has gradually been downplayed over the years as contestants have caught on and decided not to risk their prized possessions, with most prizes being either overtly absurd novelty items or, it's hinted, things that the contestants have specially bought from sites like eBay.

'''Greg:''' ''(furiously)'' Three points to Jo Brand!

* DrunkWithPower: On the rare occasions when Alex is placed in a superior role — hiring a sub-assistant in "BMXing," portraying the hotel guest who must be satisfied in "Always Forks and Marbles" — he usually plays the role as [[BadBoss abrasive and demanding]] as his normal self is meek and subservient.

*** Many people think the HomoeroticSubtext, particularly of Greg and Alex's relationship, is a recent development, and it has become only stronger over time; but in the very first episode, Greg introduces Alex by saying "And as always, I am both aided and [[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fluffer fluffed]] by my assistant, Alex Horne." Also, the widely circulated GIF of Greg saying, "Powerful homoeroticism. I really liked it." is from series 1, episode 5, when all the male contestants' strategy to make [[SixthRanger Fred]] blush is to hit on him.

** Greg was about to award David an extra point in "Join Our Cult" for his dramatic entrance (David materialising in a phone box à la ''Series/DoctorWho'', but in which Greg noted David seemed to lose all conviction), but David promptly refuses the pity point, to which Greg acquiesces and David is only awarded the initial 1 point.
** For the Mt. Rushmore task in "A Cuddle," Greg initially awards Jo 1 point, and then he offers a pity point that she indignantly refuses. Greg, just to be contrary, ''ups'' her total: