Recap / Taskmaster

An overview of the tasks and winners of the British panel-game show Taskmaster. Each episode is hosted by Greg Davies as the Taskmaster, with Alex Horne as his assistant (and the creator of the tasks).

Series 1-9 were broadcast on Dave, and following Series 1 debuted twice a year (except for 2020 due to a combination of a channel move and the COVID-19 pandemic). Series 10-onwards were broadcast on Channel Four.

1. Series 1: 6 episodes, first UK broadcast 28/07/2015-01/09/2015. Contestants were:
   • Frank Skinner, Josh Widdicombe, Roisin Conaty, Romesh Ranganathan and Tim Key
     • Winner: Josh Widdicombe
2. Series 2: 5 episodes, first UK broadcast 21/06/2016-19/07/2016. Contestants were:
   • Doc Brown, Joe Wilkinson, Jon Richardson, Katherine Ryan and Richard Osman
     • Winner: Katherine Ryan
3. Series 3: 5 episodes, first UK broadcast 04/10/2016-01/11/2016. Contestants were:
   • Al Murray, Dave Gorman, Paul Chowdhry, Rob Beckett and Sara Pascoe
     • Winner: Rob Beckett
4. Series 4: 8 episodes, first UK broadcast 25/04/2017-13/06/2017. Contestants were:
   • Hugh Dennis, Joe Lycett, Lolly Adefope, Mel Giedroyc and Noel Fielding
     • Winner: Noel Fielding
5. Series 5: 8 episodes, first UK broadcast 13/09/2017-01/11/2017. Contestants were:
   • Aisling Bea, Bob Mortimer, Mark Watson, Nish Kumar and Sally Phillips
     • Winner: Bob Mortimer
6. Champion of Champions 1: A two-episode Christmas Special, first UK broadcast 13/12/2017-20/12/2017, featuring the winning contestants of Series 1 through 5. Contestants provided in spoilers:
   • Josh Widdicombe (Series 1), Katherine Ryan (Series 2), Rob Beckett (Series 3), Noel Fielding (Series 4) and Bob Mortimer (Series 5)
     • Winner: Josh Widdicombe
7. Series 6: 10 episodes, first UK broadcast 02/05/2018-04/07/2018. Contestants were:
   • Alice Levine, Asim Chaudhry, Liza Tarbuck, Russell Howard and Tim Vine
     • Winner: Liza Tarbuck
8. Series 7: 10 episodes, first UK broadcast 05/09/2018-05/11/2018. Contestants were:
   • James Acaster, Jessica Knappett, Kerry Godliman, Phil Wang and Rhod Gilbert
     • Winner: Kerry Godliman
9. Series 8: 10 episodes, first UK broadcast 08/05/2019-10/07/2019. Contestants were:
   • Iain Stirling, Joe Thomas, Lou Sanders, Paul Sinha and Sian Gibson
     • Winner: Lou Sanders
10. Series 9: 10 episodes, first UK broadcast 04/09/2019-06/11/2019. Contestants were:
    • David Baddiel, Ed Gamble, Jo Brand, Katy Wix and Rose Matafeo
      • Winner: Ed Gamble
11. Series 10: 10 episodes, first UK broadcast 15/10/2020-17/12/2020. Contestants were:
    • Daisy May Cooper, Johnny Vegas, Katherine Parkinson, Mawaan Rizwan and Richard Herring
      • Winner: Richard Herring
12. Taskmaster New Year Treat 2021: a one-off New Year special, first UK broadcast 01/01/2021. Contestants were:
    • John Hannah, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Nicola Coughlan, Rylan Clark-Neal and Shirley Ballas
      • Winner: Shirley Ballas
13. Series 11: 10 episodes, first UK broadcast 18/03/2021-20/05/2021. Contestants were:
    • Charlotte Ritchie, Jamali Maddix, Lee Mack, Mike Wozniak and Sarah Kendall
      • Winner: Sarah Kendall
14. Series 12: 10 episodes, first UK broadcast 23/09/2021-25/11/2021. Contestants were:
    • Alan Davies, Desiree Burch, Guz Khan, Morgana Robinson and Victoria Coren Mitchell
      • Winner: Morgana Robinson
15. Taskmaster New Year Treat 2022: a one-off New Year special, first UK broadcast 01/01/2022. Contestants were:
    • Adrian Chiles, Claudia Winkleman, Jonnie Peacock, Lady Leshurr and Sayeeda Warsi
      • Winner: Adrian Chiles
16. Series 13: 10 episodes, first UK broadcast 14/04/2022-16/06/2022. Contestants were:
    • Ardal O'Hanlon, Bridget Christie, Chris Ramsey, Judi Love and Sophie Duker
      • Winner: Sophie Duker
17. Champion of Champions 2: A one-episode special, first UK broadcast 23/06/2022, featuring the winning contestants of Series 6 through 10. Contestants provided in spoilers:
    • Liza Tarbuck (Series 6), Kerry Godliman (Series 7), Lou Sanders (Series 8), Ed Gamble (Series 9), Richard Herring (Series 10)
      • Winner: Richard Herring
18. Series 14: 10 episodes, first UK broadcast 29/09/2022-01/12/2022. Contestants were:
    • Dara Ó Briain, Fern Brady, John Kearns, Munya Chawawa and Sarah Millican
      • Winner: Dara Ó Briain
19. Taskmaster New Year Treat 2023: a one-off New Year special, first UK broadcast 01/01/2023. Contestants were:
    • Amelia Dimoldenberg, Carol Vorderman, Greg James, Sir Mo Farah and Rebecca Lucy Taylor
      • Winner: Sir Mo Farah
20. Series 15: 10 episodes, first UK broadcast 30/04/2023-01/06/2023. Contestants were:
    • Frankie Boyle, Ivo Graham, Jenny Eclair, Kiell Smith-Bynoe and Mae Martin
      • Winner: Mae Martin
21. Series 16: 10 episodes, first UK broadcast 21/09/2023-23/11/2023. Contestants were:
    • Julian Clary, Lucy Beaumont, Sam Campbell, Sue Perkins and Susan Wokoma
      • Winner: Sam Campbell
22. Taskmaster New Year Treat 2024: a one-off New Year special, first UK broadcast 02/01/2024. Contestants were:
    • Deborah Meaden, Kojey Radical, Lenny Rush, Steve Backshall and Zoe Ball
      • Winner: Lenny Rush
23. Champion of Champions 3: A one-episode special, first UK broadcast 14/01/2024, featuring the winning contestants of Series 11 through 15. Contestants provided in spoilers:
    • Sarah Kendall (Series 11), Morgana Robinson (Series 12), Sophie Duker (Series 13), Dara Ó Briain (Series 14) and Kiell Smith-Bynoe (runner-up of Series 15, due to series champion Mae Martin being unable to participate)
      • Winner: Dara Ó Briain
24. Series 17: 10 episodes, first UK broadcast 28/03/2024-30/05/2024. Contestants are:
    • Joanne McNally, John Robins, Nick Mohammed, Sophie Willan and Steve Pemberton
      • Winner: TBD

1,000,000 Subscriber Treat

As a reward for reaching a million subscribers to the official Taskmaster YouTube channel, the channel posted a longer version of the Beer Mats tiebreaker task that aired in Series 13, showing not only the unaired contestants' attempts but also attempts made by the contestants of Series 11 and 12, which were not used.

Subscriber Treat

• Tiebreaker: Turn Over The Most Beer Mats (Out Of 91) In Thirty Seconds
  • Winner: Victoria Coren Mitchell (Series 12) - 76 beer mats
  • Morgana Robinson (Series 12) - 66 beer mats
  • Ardal O'Hanlon (Series 13) - 64 beer mats
  • Alan Davies (Series 12) - 63 beer mats
  • Sarah Kendall (Series 11) and Judi Love (Series 13) - 60 beer mats
  • Lee Mack (Series 11), Chris Ramsey and Sophie Duker (Series 13) - 59 beer mats
  • Desiree Burch (Series 12) - 58 beer mats
  • Guz Khan (Series 12) - 57 beer mats
  • Mike Wozniak (Series 11) - 49 beer mats
  • Jamali Maddix (Series 11) - 39 beer mats
  • Charlotte Ritchie (Series 11) - 25 beer mats
  • Bridget Christie (Series 13) - 13 beer mats^note inexplicably swept most of the beer mats off the table before flipping them on the floor, where they didn't count

Show Rankings

The information in the following folders contains unmarked spoilers up to Series 16. If you haven't yet seen these series in their entirety, you are advised to watch them before opening the folders. Consider yourself warned.

Points Scored (Main Series)

Contestants ranked by amount of points won. Series champions are indicated in bold. For purposes of this listing, only main series episodes are included, but the points that participants in a Champion of Champions and how this would affect their ranking are indicated in a note next to the relevant contestant. Contestants who participated in a series with less than ten episodes are indicated with an asterisk (*). Contestants in a one-off special episode are not included in this list, but their rankings can be found in the "One-Off Contestants" folder below.

1. Dara Ó Briain (184 points)^note Dara earned 22 points in the third Champion of Champions, which would bring his score to 206 points, securing his first place position. This also makes him the first and, to date, only contestant to score more than 200 points from his appearances in the show.
2. Liza Tarbuck (181 points)^note Liza earned 14 points in the second Champion of Champions, which would bring her score to 195 points. This would secure her second place position.
3. Kerry Godliman (176 points)^note Kerry earned 12 points in the second Champion of Champions, which would bring her score to 188 points. This would put her in fifth place after Mae Martin.
4. Tim Vine and Jessica Knappett (175 points)
5. Sarah Millican and Mae Martin (174 points)^note Mae did not participate in the third Champion of Champions owing to clashing commitments, with Kiell Smith-Bynoe participating in their place. Kiell earned 15 points in the episode, which when added to Mae's score would bring their tally up to 189 points. This would put them in fourth place after Sophie Duker
6. Sophie Duker (173 points)^note Sophie won 21 points in the third Champion of Champions, which would bring her score to 194 points. This bring her up to third place.
7. Russell Howard and Chris Ramsey (170 points)
8. Morgana Robinson (168 points)^note Morgana won 18 points in the third Champion of Champions, which would bring her to 186 points. This would put her in sixth place after Kerry Godliman.
9. Ed Gamble, Rhod Gilbert, and Guz Khan (167 points)^note Ed Gamble earned 11 points in the second Champion of Champions, which would bring his score to 178. With the other C of C contestants factored in, this would move him to eighth place after Richard Herring
10. James Acaster (165 points)
11. Lou Sanders (164 points)^note Lou earned 12 points in the second Champion of Champions, which would bring her score to 176. With the other C of C participants factored in, this would bring her score to joint ninth place with Noel Fielding, ranking them after Ed Gamble.
12. Richard Herring (162 points)^note Richard earned 17 points in the second Champion of Champions, which would bring his score to 179. With the other C of C participants factored in, this would bring him to seventh place after Morgana Robinson 7
13. Sam Campbell, Alan Davies and Desiree Burch (161 points)
14. Asim Chaudhry and Rose Matafeo (159 points)
15. Katy Wix, Daisy May Cooper, Sarah Kendall and Kiell Smith-Bynoe (158 points)^note Both Sarah and Kiell participated in the third Champion of Champions, Sarah as Season 11 champion and Kiell standing in for Mae Martin, the Season 15 champion. Both also earned the same score of 15 points, bringing their points total to 173 points. Assuming Sarah keeps her points but Kiell's points are transferred to Mae's tally as champion, this would place Sarah at twelfth place, after Sarah Millican (Mae will have moved to fifth place). Assuming for the sake of hypothetical that the points Kiell earned are added to his tally, both would move to eleventh place after Sarah Millican and Mae.
16. Bridget Christie (157 points)
17. Iain Stirling (156 points)
18. Julian Clary (155 points)
19. Jo Brand and Mike Wozniak (154 points)
20. Ardal O'Hanlon (153 points)
21. Alice Levine and Jenny Eclair (152 points)
22. Mawaan Rizwan and Lee Mack (151 points)
23. Joe Thomas, Munya Chawawa and Frankie Boyle (150 points)
24. Noel Fielding*, Fern Brady and John Kearns (144 points)^note Noel earned 32 points in the Champion of Champions, which would bring his score to 176 points. With the other C of C participants factored in, he would be in joint ninth place with Lou Sanders, after Ed Gamble.
25. Sian Gibson (143 points)
26. Judi Love (142 points)
27. Susan Wokoma and Johnny Vegas (139 points)
28. Bob Mortimer* (138 points)^note Bob gained 24 points in the Champion of Champions, which would change his score to 162 points. With the other C of C participants factored in, this would move him to fourteenth place
29. Jamali Maddix and Sue Perkins (137 points)
30. Joe Lycett* and Paul Sinha (136 points)
31. Mel Giedroyc* (134 points)
32. Phil Wang (133 points)
33. Ivo Graham (131 points)
34. Sally Phillips* and Mark Watson* (130 points)
35. Lucy Beaumont and Hugh Dennis* (129 points)
36. David Baddiel (128 points)
37. Aisling Bea* (126 points)
38. Lolly Adefope* and Charlotte Ritchie (125 points)
39. Victoria Coren Mitchell (121 points)
40. Katherine Parkinson (118 points)
41. Nish Kumar* (107 points)
42. Katherine Ryan* and Josh Widdicombe* (94 points)^note Josh, the Champion of Champions, won 37 points, which would bring him up to 131 points; Katherine won 35 points, which would bring her up to 129 points. With the other C of C participants factored in, Josh would be in thirty-second place and Katherine in joint thirty-fourth place with Hugh Dennis
43. Romesh Ranganathan* and Frank Skinner* (93 points)
44. Jon Richardson* (90 points)
45. Tim Key* (88 points)
46. Rob Beckett* (87 points)^note Rob, who placed second in the Champion of Champions, gained 36 points, bringing him to 123 points. Factoring in the other C of C participants, he would be in thirty-eighth place.
47. Richard Osman* (86 points)
48. Dave Gorman* (81 points)
49. Al Murray* (80 points)
50. Doc Brown* (78 points)
51. Sara Pascoe* (72 points)
52. Joe Wilkinson* (69 points)
53. Roisin Conaty* (68 points)
54. Paul Chowdhry* (66 points)

Commentary

As of Series 16 (2023):

• No contestant who has participated in a series with more than eight episodes (Series 4 onwards) has managed to score less than 100 points. Of these contestants, Dara Ó Briain is the highest scoring and Nish Kumar is the lowest scoring.
  • As of Champion of Champions III, Dara is both the first and only contestant to have scored more than 200 total points.
• Katherine Parkinson is the lowest scoring contestant to appear in a ten-episode series, and Noel Fielding is the highest scoring contestant to appear in an eight-episode series.
• No contestant who participated in a series with six episodes or less (Series 1-3) has managed to score over 100 points. Of these contestants, Josh Widdicombe (Series 1) and Katherine Ryan (Series 2) are the highest scorers and Paul Chowdhry (Series 3) is the lowest scorer.
• Thirty-nine contestants have earned the same amount of points as a contestant competing in a different series (Josh Widdicombe [1] and Katherine Ryan [2]; Hugh Dennis [4] and Lucy Beaumont [16]; Joe Lycett [4] and Paul Sinha [8]; Lolly Adefope [4] and Charlotte Ritchie [11]; Tim Vine [6] and Jessica Knappett [7]; Russell Howard [6] and Chris Ramsey [13]; Asim Chaudhry [6] and Rose Matafeo [9]; Alice Levine [6] and Jenny Eclair [15]; Rhod Gilbert [7], Ed Gamble [9], and Guz Khan [12]; Joe Thomas [8], Munya Chawawa [14], and Frankie Boyle [15]; Katy Wix [9], Daisy May Cooper [10], Sarah Kendall [11], and Kiell Smith-Bynoe [15]; Jo Brand [9] and Mike Wozniak [11]; Johnny Vegas [10] and Susan Wokoma [16]; Mawaan Rizwan [10] and Lee Mack [11]; Jamali Maddix [11] and Sue Perkins [16]; Alan Davies/Desiree Burch [12] and Sam Campbell [16]; Sarah Millican [14] and Mae Martin [15]; four of the five contestants in both Series 11, 15, and 16 tied previous contestants, and since Series 16 every contestant in Series 11 shares their score with a contestant in a different series.
• Only eight contestants (Romesh Ranganathan and Frank Skinner [1]; Sally Phillips and Mark Watson [5]; Alan Davies and Desiree Burch [12]; and Fern Brady and John Kearns [14]) have ended with the same score as a contestant competing in the same series. Of these, Fern Brady and John Kearns are the only two who came joint last.
• No series has ended with at least two contestants tied with the most points at the top of the leaderboard. The closest winning margin has been by 1 point, which has been achieved thrice (Series 1, 7, and 12). Theoretically, had Josh Widdicombe not earned a point for his counting tasks assigned only to him, there would have been a three-way tie at the close of Series 1 between Widdicombe, Frank Skinner, and Romesh Ranganathan. Additionally, if Morgana Robinson had not earned herself a bonus point for cursing Alex in the very first task, there would have been a tie between herself and runner-up Guz Khan. The protocol to break a series-wide tie (if one even exists) is currently unknown.
• Within a series, the largest points margin between the winner of the series and the runner up is 16 points (Series 15). The smallest points margin between 1st and 5th place is 19 points (Series 4) and the largest points margin is 47 points (Series 12).
• Four contestants — Josh Widdicombe, Katherine Ryan, Kerry Godliman and Alan Davies — have earned points by participating in tasks that took place outside of both the main series they appeared in and any participation in a Champion of Champions episode. Alan Davies is the only non-champion to do so. Josh is the only contestant to do so in an on-location task as opposed to filling in for an ill contestant in a studio-recorded live task (Katherine and Kerry filled in for Katy Wix in Series 9; Alan filled in for Jonnie Peacock in the second New Year's Treat episode). Four other contestants — Romesh Ranganathan, Richard Osman, Al Murray and Dave Gorman — have appeared in episodes outside of their main series and technically participated in tasks, but these were unofficial and impromptu cameo appearances on behalf of other contestants rather than officially arranged by the production team, and so are not being counted as having earned points for the purposes of this discussion. As of 2022, no absent contestant has won an episode they were away for. While these points are officially added to the score of the contestant they were representing, how they would have affected the stand-in contestant's overall tally is discussed below.
  • Katy Wix is the only contestant who has had points scored on her behalf by more than one other prior contestant; Kerry scored two points in S9E5's live task, while Katherine Ryan scored five points in S9E6's live task. A deduction of these points (and assuming that Wix would otherwise score zero in these tasks for the purposes of the hypothetical) would bring Katy down to joint fourteenth place with Mawaan Rizwan and Lee Mack; assigning these points to the contestants who filled in for her would increase Kerry Godliman's total to 178 and leave her placing otherwise unchanged, while Katherine Ryan, with 99 points, would be in sole thirty-first place. Had Wix been present to compete and earned at least one point in each task, her maximum ranking would have been ninth place (161 points) and her minimum ranking would have been thirteenth place (153 points).
  • Jonnie Peacock is the only contestant who has had points scored on his behalf in a one-off episode. If the three points Alan earned in this episode were added to his series overall score, he would move to joint eighth place with Lou Sanders, but his overall placing within his series would remain unchanged (though Desiree Burch would move from joint third place to fourth). The possible effects on Jonnie's ranking are discussed below in the "One-Off Contestants" folder if you're interested.
  • If the five points Josh won in the team task he participated in were added to his total score, he would move up to sole thirty-first place with 99 points. Amusingly, if Katherine Ryan's "extra" points as discussed above are also factored in, this would mean the two would still be tied. The task Josh participated in was a team task that required a third participant in order to be fair to both teams; this is the only time this has occurred, meaning that Josh is also the only participant to technically be placed in two teams over the series.
• Katherine Ryan's series victory in Series 2 caused some behind-the-scenes contention due to a large amount of her points being accrued in a single live task (S02E03) which was not scored by the usual 5-1 points system; the task, involving collecting stuffed rabbits into a hat, was scored by amount of rabbits collected instead. This resulted in Katherine scoring 15 points in that single task — exactly 50% of her total points for that episode, 6.3% of her total score for the series, and to date the largest single collection of points in a task throughout the series. Her competitors claimed that this gave her an unfair advantage (matters were not helped by the fact that she stole rabbits assigned to other contestants, arguably sabotaging them) and arguably have something of a point; had the task been scored by the standard 5-1 system, then Richard Osman would have won that particular episode (Katherine would have come second), and Jon Richardson would have won the series with either 88 or 87 points depending on how he was scored for the task (with Katherine again coming second). This would have also brought Jon down in points, however, and he would either stay in 33rd place but would be joint with Tim Key, or would come joint 34th with Rob Beckett. Katherine herself would be brought down to 35th place, Richard Osman would still come 36th but with only 82 points, Doc Brown would go down to 40th and Joe Wilkinson, with 61 points, would become the lowest scoring contestant in the whole series.
• The second largest single collection of points in a task was Jo Brand in S09E08, who scored 13 points during the "Horse or Laminator" live task. Similarly to Katherine's example above, the task was scored on amount of correct guesses rather than according to the 5-1 system, though unlike the previous task this one appears to have caused no behind-the-scenes discord^note likely because it neither significantly altered the score of the episode or Jo's overall performance in the series (though it came close for the former; had Jo got 16 correct guesses, she would have overtaken Katy Wix to win the episode) and because the points were awarded due to the contestant's own performance with no real opportunity to undermine another. The contestants may also have feared triggering Jo's wrath with her apparent psychic powers.
• The lowest single collection of points in a task was achieved by Desiree Burch and Victoria Coren Mitchell in S12E08 during a task that involved deciphering a convoluted statement of Confusing Multiple Negatives, ringing or not ringing a bell, and stating three times that they have done the right thing, with anyone not ringing the bell having 5 points deducted outright; Desiree and Victoria did not ring the bells and so had 5 points deducted — Victoria even briefly had a negative episode score of -4.
• To date only Victoria, Desiree, Mel Giedroyc, Nish Kumar, Mark Watson, Julian Clary and Sue Perkins have managed to earn negative points on a task. In addition to the task outlined immediately above, Mel scored -4 points for the "Transfer the most water between the fishbowls" task. Unlike the other examples, this task was scored according to the 5-1 system but a secret clause in the task^note do not eat any of the provided chocolate that Mel fell foul of resulted in her being docked 5 points after initially only scoring 1. For the pair in Series 5, the task in question required contestants to vote for who should earn five points, with the rules stipulating that contestants who voted for themselves would lose two points if no one else voted for them; both Nish and Mark fell into this trap. Julian and Sue were penalised in a task where the contestants had to place a cardboard cutout anywhere inside a room, but the contestants whose cutouts end up physically closest earn a 2 point penalty. Sue also managed to have a point taken off as part of a Secret Task, making her the only contestant to earn negative points on more than one occasion.
• Series 5 is the only series where no contestant has ended an episode on single digit scores. Series 10 is the only series in which every contestant managed to end at least one episode on a single-digit score.
• Roisin Conaty has ended up with a single-digit score in the greatest number of episodes (4), followed by Katherine Parkinson, Victoria Coren Mitchell, Ivo Graham, and Lucy Beaumont (3).
• "A Pistachio Eclair" (S02E03) is the episode with the highest points total of any episode (in which the Series 2 cast earn a whopping 120 points), while "God's Haemorrhoid" (S10E01) is the episode with the lowest points total of any episode (in which the Series 10 cast earned an abysmal 47 points).
• All five contestants who appeared in Series 3 are in the bottom ten lowest scoring contestants of the entire series. The champion of that series, Rob Beckett, is consequently the lowest-scoring champion throughout the entire show's run. Of the other five, two are from series 1 (Tim Key and Roisin Conaty) and three are from series two (Richard Osman, Doc Brown and Joe Wilkinson).
• Of the contestants to occupy the top ten places for highest scores overall (including joint-placers - fifteen people in total), four are from Series 7 (Kerry Godliman, Jessica Knappett, Rhod Gilbert and James Acaster), two are from Series 12 (Morgana Robinson, Guz Khan), Series 13 (Sophie Duker and Chris Ramsey) and Series 14 (Dara Ó Briain and Sarah Millican), three are from Series 6 (Liza Tarbuck, Tim Vine, and Russell Howard), and one each is from Series 9 (Ed Gamble) and series 15 (Mae Martin). Eight are men, six are women, one is non-binary, and two are from a non-white ethnic background (Guz Khan and Sophie Duker). Three were born outside of the UK (Morgana Robinson, Dara Ó Briain, and Mae Martin), though Morgana was raised in the UK. Seven were the champions of their respective series, five were the second-place runners up, two came third, and one came fourth.
• If Champion of Champions scores are factored in, then the top five positions in the leaderboard would all be occupied by champions — Dara Ó Briain, Liza Tarbuck, Sophie Duker, Mae Martin (counting points scored for them by Kiell in Co C 3), and Kerry Godliman. Dara would be the only male contestant in the top five and Sophie would be the only contestant from a non-white ethnic background in the top five. If the points Kiell contributed towards Mae's total are attributed to him instead, Morgana would take fifth place instead.
• The most amount of points overall won in a series to date is Series 6, in which a combined 837 points were earned. The lowest amount was earned in Series 3, in which a combined total of 386 points were earned. Of five-six episode series, the highest amount won was in Series 1 (436 points); of eight episode series, the highest amount won was in Series 4 (668) and of ten episode series, the lowest amount won to date is Series 11 (725 points).
• Curiously, discounting sudden increases or decreases as a result of changing episode numbers (and thus opportunities to win more or less points overall due to more/less tasks), from Series 1 to Series 11 a consistent downward trend can be identified wherein with one exception the contestants of each series earn less points overall than the contestants of the previous series. The sole exception is Series 9, wherein the contestants earned a combined total of 766 points, 17 points more than Series 8 (749 points). From Series 11 to Series 14 contestants scored more points in subsequent series, though the contestants of Series 14 only scored one more point (796) than their immediate predecessors (795). This also makes the contestants of Series 14 the highest scoring of any series since Series 6. The contestants of Series 15 scored less than the preceding contestants (765), and Series 16 themselves scored fewer (721), though it is perhaps too early to tell whether a new trend has started.

One-Off Contestants

Contestants who have appeared only in one episode are ranked here in terms of total points scored. Winners of the episodes they appeared in are highlighted in bold.

1. Adrian Chiles (22 points)
2. Sir Mo Farah (20 points)
3. Lenny Rush (19 points)
4. Steve Backshall (18 points)
5. Shirley Ballas (17 points)
6. Jonnie Peacock (15 points)^note owing to illness, Jonnie was unable to take part in the studio recording, where his place was taken by Alan Davies; Alan won three points on Jonnie's behalf in the studio task. Had Jonnie participated, and presuming at least 1 point in the live task, he would either appear joint second on this table with 17 points at best, or would equal Krishnan Guru-Murphy and Lady Leshurr's 12 points at worst.
7. Amelia Dimoldenberg, Carol Vorderman, Greg James, Rebecca Lucy Taylor and Kojey Radical (14 points)^note Amelia, Carol, Greg and Rebecca are to date the only contestants to appear in an episode where everyone has scored the same amount of points apart from the episode winner
8. Rylan Clark-Neal, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Deborah Meaden and Zoe Ball (13 points)
9. Krishnan Guru-Murphy and Lady Leshurr (12 points)
10. John Hannah and Nicola Coughlan (10 points)
11. Claudia Winkleman (6 points)

Average Points per Episode

This list shows contestants by the average number of points per episode, removing the disadvantage for contestants in series with fewer than 10 episodes or the advantage for contestants who participated in "Champion of Champions." The points scored on behalf of Katy Wix and Jonnie Peacock by other contestants during their absences are tallied as theirs. Series champions are indicated in bold.

1. Adrian Chiles (22 points, 1 episode. 22 points per episode)
2. Sir Mo Farah (20 points, 1 episode. 20 points per episode)
3. Lenny Rush (19 points, 1 episode, 19 points per episode)
4. Dara Ó Briain (206 points, 11 episodes including CC, 18.7 points per episode)
5. Katherine Ryan (129 points, 7 episodes including CC, 18.43 points per episode)
6. Jon Richardson (90 points, 5 episodes, 18 points per episode)
=7. Steve Backshall (18 points, 1 episode, 18 points per episode)
8. Liza Tarbuck (195 points, 11 episodes including CC, 17.7 points per episode)
9. Noel Fielding (176 points, 10 episodes including CC, 17.6 points per episode)
=10. Sophie Duker (194 points, 11 episodes including CC, 17.6 points per episode)
11. Rob Beckett (123 points, 7 episodes including CC, 17.57 points per episode)
12. Jessica Knappett (175 points, 10 episodes, 17.5 points per episode)
=13. Tim Vine (175 points, 10 episodes, 17.5 points per episode)
14. Sarah Millican (174 points, 10 episodes, 17.4 points per episode)
15. Richard Osman (86 points, 5 episodes, 17.2 points per episode)
=16. Mae Martin (189 points, 11 episodes including CC^note counting points scored by Kiell on their behalf, 17.2 points per episode)
17. Kerry Godliman (188 points, 11 episodes including CC, 17.1 points per episode)
18. Joe Lycett (136 points, 8 episodes, 17 points per episode)
=19. Russell Howard (170 points, 10 episodes, 17 points per episode)
=20. Shirley Ballas (17 points, 1 episode, 17 points per episode)
=21. Chris Ramsey (170 points, 10 episodes, 17 points per episode)
22. Morgana Robinson (186 points, 11 episodes including CC, 16.9 points per episode)
23. Mel Giedroyc (134 points, 8 episodes, 16.75 points per episode)
=24. Rhod Gilbert (167 points, 10 episodes, 16.7 points per episode)
=25. Guz Khan (167 points, 10 episodes, 16.7 points per episode)
26. James Acaster (165 points, 10 episodes, 16.5 points per episode)
27. Josh Widdicombe (131 points, 8 episodes including CC, 16.38 points per episode)
28. Richard Herring (179 points, 11 episodes including CC, 16.27 points per episode)
29. Mark Watson (130 points, 8 episodes, 16.25 points per episode)
=30. Sally Phillips (130 points, 8 episodes, 16.25 points per episode)
31. Bob Mortimer (162 points, 10 episodes including CC, 16.2 points per episode)
=32. Dave Gorman (81 points, 5 episodes, 16.2 points per episode)
33. Ed Gamble (178 points, 11 episodes including CC, 16.18 points per episode)
34. Hugh Dennis (129 points, 8 episodes, 16.13 points per episode)
35. Alan Davies (161 points, 10 episodes, 16.1 points per episode)
=36. Desiree Burch (161 points, 10 episodes, 16.1 points per episode)
=37. Sam Campbell (161 points, 10 episodes, 16.1 points per episode)
38. Lou Sanders (176 points, 11 episodes, 16 points per episode)
=39. Al Murray (80 points, 5 episodes, 16 points per episode)
40. Asim Chaudhry (159 points, 10 episodes, 15.9 points per episode)
=41. Rose Matafeo (159 points, 10 episodes, 15.9 points per episode)
42. Daisy May Cooper (158 points, 10 episodes, 15.8 points per episode)
=43. Katy Wix (158 points, 10 episodes, 15.8 points per episode)
=44. Kiell Smith-Bynoe (158 points, 10 episodes, 15.8 points per episode)^note For completion's sake, had the fifteen points he scored on behalf of Mae Martin in the third Champions of Champions been added to his tally, his average would come down to 15.7
45. Aisling Bea (126 points, 8 episodes, 15.75 points per episode)
46. Sarah Kendall (173 points, 11 episodes including CC, 15.7 points per episode)
=47. Bridget Christie (157 points, 10 episodes, 15.7 points per episode)
48. Lolly Adefope (125 points, 8 episodes, 15.63 points per episode)
49. Doc Brown (78 points, 5 episodes, 15.6 points per episode)
=50. Iain Stirling (156 points, 10 episodes, 15.6 points per episode)
51. Frank Skinner (93 points, 6 episodes, 15.5 points per episode)
=52. Romesh Ranganathan (93 points, 6 episodes, 15.5 points per episode)
=53. Julian Clary (155 points, 10 episodes, 15.5 points per episode)
54. Jo Brand (154 points, 10 episodes, 15.4 points per episode)
=55. Mike Wozniak (154 points, 10 episodes, 15.4 points per episode)
56. Ardal O'Hanlon (153 points, 10 episodes, 15.3 points per episode)
57. Alice Levine (152 points, 10 episodes, 15.2 points per episode)
=58. Jenny Eclair (152 points, 10 episodes, 15.2 points per episode)
59. Lee Mack (151 points, 10 episodes, 15.1 points per episode)
=60. Mawaan Rizwan (151 points, 10 episodes, 15.1 points per episode)
61. Joe Thomas (150 points, 10 episodes, 15 points per episode)
=62. Jonnie Peacock (15 points, 1 episode, 15 points per episode)
=63. Munya Chawawa (15 points, 10 episodes, 15 points per episode)
=64. Frankie Boyle (15 points, 10 episodes, 15 points per episode)
65. Tim Key (88 points, 6 episodes, 14.67 points per episode)
66. Sara Pascoe (72 points, 5 episodes, 14.4 points per episode)
=67. Fern Brady (144 points, 10 episodes, 14.4 points per episode)
=68. John Kearns (144 points, 10 episodes, 14.4 points per episodes)
69. Sian Gibson (143 points, 10 episodes, 14.3 points per episode)
70. Judi Love (142 points, 10 episodes, 14.2 points per episode)
71. Amelia Dimoldenberg (14 points, 1 episode, 14 points per episode)
=72. Carol Vorderman (14 points, 1 episode, 14 points per episode)
=73. Greg James (14 points, 1 episode, 14 points per episode)
=74. Rebecca Lucy Taylor (14 points, 1 episode, 14 points per episode)
=75. Kojey Radical (14 points, 1 episode, 14 points per episode)
76. Johnny Vegas (139 points, 10 episodes, 13.9 points per episode)
=77. Susan Wokoma (139 points, 10 episodes. 13.9 points per episode)
78. Joe Wilkinson (69 points, 5 episodes, 13.8 points per episode)
79. Jamali Maddix (137 points, 10 episodes, 13.7 points per episode)
=80. Sue Perkins (137 points, 10 episodes, 13.7 points per episode)
81. Paul Sinha (136 points, 10 episodes, 13.6 points per episode)
82. Nish Kumar (107 points, 8 episodes, 13.38 points per episode)
83. Phil Wang (133 points, 10 episodes, 13.3 points per episode)
84. Paul Chowdhry (66 points, 5 episodes, 13.2 points per episode)
85. Ivo Graham (131 points, 10 episodes, 13.1 points per episode)
86. Rylan Clark-Neal (13 points, 1 episode, 13 points per episode)
=87. Baroness Sayeeda Warsi (13 points, 1 episode, 13 points per episode)
=88. Deborah Meaden (13 points, 1 episode, 13 points per episode)
=89. Zoe Ball (13 points, 1 episode, 13 points per episode)
90. Lucy Beaumont (129 points, 10 episodes, 12.9 points per episode)
91. David Baddiel (128 points, 10 episodes, 12.8 points per episode)
92. Charlotte Ritchie (125 points, 10 episodes, 12.5 points per episode)
93. Victoria Coren Mitchell (121 points, 10 episodes, 12.1 points per episode)
94. Krishnan Guru-Murthy (12 points, 1 episode, 12 points per episode)
=95. Lady Leshurr (12 points, 1 episode, 12 points per episode)
96. Katherine Parkinson (118 points, 10 episodes, 11.8 points per episode)
97. Roisin Conaty (68 points, 6 episodes, 11.33 points per episode)
98. John Hannah (10 points, 1 episode, 10 points per episode)
=99. Nicola Coughlan (10 points, 1 episode, 10 points per episode)
100. Claudia Winkleman (6 points, 1 episode, 6 points per episode)

The Median DuckThe following list shows the median points each contestant has earned of the episodes they have appeared and competed in, inclusive of specials such as Champion of Champions and the New Year Treats. Series champions are in bold.

• 22 points (Adrian Chiles, 1 episode)
• 20 points (Sir Mo Farah, 1 episode)
• 19 points (Richard Osman, 5 episodes; Dara Ó Briain, 10 episodes, Lenny Rush, 1 episode)
• 18 points (Doc Brown, 5 episodes; Mel Giedroyc, 8 episodes; Noel Fielding, 10 episodes including CoC; Liza Tarbuck, 10 episodes; Rhod Gilbert, 10 episodes, Steve Backshall, 1 episode)
• 17.5 points (Joe Lycett, 8 episodes; Iain Stirling, 10 episodes; Chris Ramsey, 10 episodes)
• 17 points (Josh Widdicombe, 8 episodes including CoC; Jon Richardson, 5 episodes; Katherine Ryan, 7 episodes including CoC; Dave Gorman, 5 episodes; Rob Beckett, 7 episodes including CoC; Jessica Knappett, 10 episodes; Kerry Godliman, 10 episodes; Lou Sanders, 10 episodes; Ed Gamble, 10 episodes; Rose Matafeo, 10 episodes; Shirley Ballas, 1 episode; Mike Wozniak, 10 episodes; Morgana Robinson, 10 episodes; Sarah Millican, 10 episodes; Mae Martin, 10 episodes)
• 16.5 points (Tim Key, 6 episodes; Bob Mortimer, 10 episodes including CoC; Asim Chaudhry, 10 episodes; Russell Howard, 10 episodes; James Acaster, 10 episodes; Daisy May Cooper, 10 episodes; Lee Mack, 10 episodes; Desiree Burch, 10 episodes; Guz Khan, 10 episodes; Bridget Christie, 10 episodes; Sophie Duker, 10 episodes)
• 16 points (Al Murray, 5 episodes; Sara Pascoe, 5 episodes; Hugh Dennis, 8 episodes; Aisling Bea, 8 episodes; Sally Phillips, 8 episodes; Tim Vine, 10 episodes; Mawaan Rizwan, 10 episodes; Richard Herring, 10 episodes; Sarah Kendall, 10 episodes; Frankie Boyle, 10 episodes)
• 15.5 points (Frank Skinner, 6 episodes; Mark Watson, 8 episodes; Alice Levine, 10 episodes; Sian Gibson, 10 episodes; Katy Wix, 10 episodes; Alan Davies, 10 episodes; Jenny Eclair, 10 episodes; Julian Clary, 10 episodes; Sam Campbell, 10 episodes)
• 15 points (Romesh Ranganathan, 6 episodes; Lolly Adefope, 8 episodes; Jo Brand, 10 episodes; Johnny Vegas, 10 episodes; Jonnie Peacock, 1 episode; Ardal O'Hanlon, 10 episodes; Munya Chawawa, 10 episodes)
• 14.5 points (Joe Thomas, 10 episodes; Kiell Smith-Bynoe)
• 14 points (Fern Brady, 10 episodes; Amelia Dimoldenberg, 1 episode; Carol Vorderman, 1 episode; Greg James, 1 episode; Rebecca Lucy Taylor, 1 episode; Susan Wokoma, 10 episodes, Kojey Radical, 1 episode)
• 13.5 points (Judi Love, 10 episodes; Lucy Beaumont, 10 episodes)
• 13 points (Phil Wang, 10 episodes; Rylan Clark-Neal, 1 episode; Jamali Maddix, 10 episodes; Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, 1 episode; Ivo Graham, 10 episodes, Deborah Meaden, 1 episode; Zoe Ball, 1 episode)
• 12.5 points (Nish Kumar, 8 episodes; Victoria Coren Mitchell, 10 episodes; Sue Perkins, 10 episodes)
• 12 points (Joe Wilkinson, 5 episodes; Paul Chowdhry, 5 episodes; Paul Sinha, 10 episodes; David Baddiel, 10 episodes; Krishnan Guru-Murthy, 1 episode; Lady Leshurr, 1 episode; John Kearns, 10 episodes)
• 11.5 points (Charlotte Ritchie, 10 episodes)
• 11 points (Katherine Parkinson, 10 episodes)
• 10 points (John Hannah, 1 episode; Nicola Coughlan, 1 episode)
• 9 points (Roisin Conaty, 6 episodes)
• 6 points (Claudia Winkleman, 1 episode)

Average points per task

Contestants ranked by the number of points scored per task. Bonus points scored are counted toward a player's total even if not awarded for a specific task; "trick" tasks where not all contestants had the opportunity to score points are not counted as tasks. Contestants who participated in a Champion of Champions event have their scores combined with their scores from their original series.

1. Adrian Chiles (4.4 points per task, 5 tasks)
2. Sir Mo Farah (4 points per task, 5 tasks)
3. Dara Ó Briain (3.5 points per task, 52 tasks)
4. Mae Martin (3.48 points per task, 50 tasks)
5. Shirley Ballas (3.4 points per task, 5 tasks)
6. Katherine Ryan (3.395 points per task, 38 tasks)
7. Sophie Duker (3.392 points per task, 51 tasks)
8. Morgana Robinson (3.36 points per task, 50 tasks)
9. Sarah Millican (3.35 points per task, 52 tasks)
10. Guz Khan (3.34 points per task, 50 tasks)
11. Chris Ramsey (3.33 points per task, 51 tasks)
12. Rob Beckett (3.32 points per task, 37 tasks)
13. Desiree Burch and Alan Davies (3.22 points per task, 50 tasks)
14. Jon Richardson (3.21 points per task, 28 tasks)
15. Liza Tarbuck (3.197 points per task, 61 tasks)
16. Richard Herring (3.196 points per task, 56 tasks)
17. Ed Gamble (3.179 points per task, 56 tasks)
18. Sarah Kendall and Kiell Smith-Bynoe (3.16 points per task, 50 tasks)
19. Noel Fielding (3.14 points per task, 56 tasks)
20. Tim Vine and Jessica Knappett (3.13 points per task, 56 tasks)
21. Josh Widdicombe (3.119 points per task, 42 tasks)
22. Rose Matafeo (3.118 points per task, 51 tasks)
23. Katy Wix^note Points earned on Katy Wix's behalf by Katherine Ryan and Kerry Godliman are counted toward her total. and Daisy May Cooper (3.10 points per task, 51 tasks)
24. Kerry Godliman (3.082 points per task, 61 tasks)
25. Mike Wozniak (3.08 points per task, 50 tasks)
26. Bridget Christie (3.078 points per task, 51 tasks)
27. Richard Osman (3.07 points per task, 28 tasks)
28. Jenny Eclair (3.040 points per task, 50 tasks)
29. Russell Howard (3.036 points per task, 56 tasks)
30. Lee Mack (3.02 points per task, 50 tasks)
31. Jo Brand (3.0196 points per task, 51 tasks)
32. Dave Gorman, Bob Mortimer, Ardal O'Hanlon, and Frankie Boyle (3 points per task; 27, 54, and 51, and 50 tasks respectively)
33. Lou Sanders (2.983 points per task, 59 tasks)
34. Rhod Gilbert (2.982 points per task, 56 tasks)
35. Al Murray (2.963 points per task, 27 tasks)
36. Mawaan Rizwan (2.961 points per task, 51 tasks)
37. Joe Lycett (2.957 points per task, 46 tasks)
38. Mark Watson and Sally Phillips (2.955 points per task, 44 tasks)
39. James Acaster (2.946 points per task, 56 tasks)
40. Mel Giedroyc (2.913 points per task, 46 tasks)
41. Frank Skinner and Romesh Ranganathan (2.906 points per task, 32 tasks)
42. Iain Stirling (2.89 points per task, 54 tasks)
43. Munya Chawawa (2.88 points per task, 52 tasks)
44. Aisling Bea (2.86 points per task, 44 tasks)
45. Asim Chaudhry (2.84 points per task, 56 tasks)
46. Ivo Graham (2.82 points per task, 50 tasks)
47. Hugh Dennis (2.804 points per task, 46 tasks)
48. Amelia Dimoldenberg, Carol Vorderman, Greg James, and Rebecca Lucy Taylor (2.8 points per task, 5 tasks)
49. Doc Brown (2.79 points per task, 28 tasks)
50. Judi Love (2.784 points per task, 51 tasks)
51. Joe Thomas (2.778 points per task, 54 tasks)
52. Fern Brady and John Kearns (2.77 points per task, 52 tasks)
53. Tim Key (2.75 points per task, 32 tasks)
54. Jamali Maddix (2.74 points per task, 50 tasks)
55. Johnny Vegas (2.73 points per task, 51 tasks)
56. Lolly Adefope (2.72 points per task, 46 tasks)
57. Alice Levine (2.71 points per task, 56 tasks)
58. Sara Pascoe (2.67 points per task, 27 tasks)
59. Sian Gibson (2.65 points per task, 54 tasks)
60. Rylan Clark-Neal (2.6 points per task, 5 tasks)
61. Paul Sinha (2.52 points per task, 54 tasks)
62. David Baddiel (2.51 points per task, 51 tasks)
63. Charlotte Ritchie (2.5 points per task, 50 tasks)
64. Joe Wilkinson (2.46 points per task, 28 tasks)
65. Paul Chowdhry (2.44 points per task, 27 tasks)
66. Nish Kumar (2.43 points per task, 44 tasks)
67. Victoria Coren Mitchell (2.42 points per task, 50 tasks)
68. Krishnan Guru-Murthy (2.4 points per task, 5 tasks)
69. Phil Wang (2.38 points per task, 56 tasks)
70. Katherine Parkinson (2.31 points per task, 51 tasks)
71. Roisin Conaty (2.13 points per task, 32 tasks)
72. John Hannah and Nicola Coughlan (2 points per task, 5 tasks)

Episodes Won

Contestants ranked by the amount of episodes won. For ease of reference, the tables have been divided between main series episodes (Series 1-13) and special events (Champions of Champions, New Year's Treats, etc.). Main series champions are indicated in bold; special event participants who won an episode but not the overall event are indicated in italics. For reference, main series contestants who participated in a series with less than ten episodes are indicated with an asterisk, and special event contestants have the relevant event indicated in parentheses.

Main series

• 5 episodes: Richard Herring
• 4 episodes: Ed Gamble, Guz Khan
• 3 episodes: James Acaster, Sophie Duker, Rhod Gilbert, Mel Giedroyc, Kerry Godliman, Russell Howard, Sarah Kendall, Mae Martin, Lee Mack, Sarah Millican, Bob Mortimer*, Dara Ó Briain, Sue Perkins, Sally Phillips*, Chris Ramsey, Lou Sanders, Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Iain Stirling
• 2 episodes: Lucy Beaumont, Rob Beckett*, Desiree Burch, Sam Campbell, Bridget Christie, Julian Clary, Daisy May Cooper, Alan Davies, Jenny Eclair, Sian Gibson, Ivo Graham, John Kearns, Alice Levine, Joe Lycett*, Rose Matafeo, Ardal O'Hanlon, Richard Osman*, Charlotte Ritchie, Frank Skinner*, Liza Tarbuck, Tim Vine, Mark Watson*, Josh Widdicombe*, Katy Wix
• 1 episode: Lolly Adefope*, David Baddiel, Fern Brady, Jo Brand, Doc Brown*, Asim Chaudhry, Munya Chawawa, Paul Chowdhry*, Roisin Conaty*, Victoria Coren Mitchell, Hugh Dennis*, Noel Fielding*, Dave Gorman*, Tim Key*, Jessica Knappett, Jamali Maddix, Al Murray*, Katherine Parkinson, Jon Richardson*, Mawaan Rizwan, Morgana Robinson, Katherine Ryan*, Paul Sinha, Joe Thomas, Johnny Vegas, Susan Wokoma, Mike Wozniak
• 0 episodes: Aisling Bea*, Frankie Boyle, Nish Kumar*, Judi Love, Sara Pascoe*, Romesh Ranganathan*, Phil Wang, Joe Wilkinson*

Special events

• 1 episode: Shirley Ballas (NYT1), Adrian Chiles (NYT2), Sir Mo Farah (NYT3), Lenny Rush (NYT4), Richard Herring (CoC 2), Dara Ó Briain (CoC 3), Katherine Ryan (CoC)^note episode 1, Josh Widdicombe (CoC)^note episode 2.
• 0 episodes: Steve Backshall (NYT4), Zoe Ball (NYT4), Rob Beckett (CoC), Rylan Clark-Neal (NYT1), Nicola Coughlan (NYT1), Amelia Dimoldenberg (NYT3), Sophie Duker (CoC 3), Noel Fielding (CoC), Ed Gamble (CoC 2), Kerry Godliman (CoC 2), Krishnan Guru-Murthy (NYT1), John Hannah (NYT1), Sarah Kendall (CoC 3), Lady Leshurr (NYT2), Greg James (NYT3), Deborah Meaden (NYT4), Bob Mortimer (CoC), Jonnie Peacock / Alan Davies (NYT2), Kojey Radical (NYT4), Morgana Robinson (CoC 3), Lou Sanders (CoC 2), Kiell Smith-Bynoe (CoC 3)^note Competing on behalf of Mae Martin, Liza Tarbuck (CoC 2), Rebecca Lucy Taylor (NYT3), Carol Vorderman (NYT3), Baroness Sayeeda Warsi (NYT2), Claudia Winkleman (NYT2)

Commentary

• Of series champions who participated since Series 6, Liza Tarbuck, Morgana Robinson and Sam Campbell have failed to win three or more episodes. Richard Herring holds the record for most episode wins at 6, including his run of Champion of Champions. Guz Khan has won the most episodes (4) without winning his series. The longest winning streak is 3 episodes, which has occurred twice (Richard Herring in Series 10, episodes 8 to 10; and Kiell Smith-Bynoe in Series 15, episodes 7 to 9). Richard's streak extends to 4 episodes if you define it as 'episodes he competed in' rather than 'episodes as they aired'.
• Katherine Ryan and Dara Ó Briain recorded the highest episode scores (30 points in "A Pistachio Éclair" and "Enormous Hugeness," respectively) while Mel Giedroyc has scored the lowest amount (3 points in "Hollowing Out A Baguette"). If discounting episodes with tasks not scored on the regular 1-5 scale that skewed those scores (such as having a live task where each rabbit in a hat counted for an individual point and the infamous fishbowl task having points deducted for eating chocolate, respectively), Dara would remain highest, Sophie Duker scored second-highest with 28 points in a single episode ("Heg") while Richard Osman and Charlotte Ritchie have the lowest with 5 points in a single episode ("Welcome to Rico Face" and "It's Not Your Fault," respectively).
• Ed Gamble and Richard Herring have both won an episode with the lowest winning score at 12 points ("Think About the Spirit," the Series 9 finale, and "God's Haemorrhoid," the Series 10 premiere, respectively). Both episodes also have the lowest points earned cumulatively by their respective casts across the entire programme. Inversely, Bridget Christie and Chris Ramsey are the contestants with the highest last place score in an episode (19 points each in "Heg").
• Chris Ramsey has the highest episode score on a series premiere (23 points), followed by Al Murray and Sam Campbell (21 points). If one-off contestants are concluded, Adrian Chiles (22 points) would have the second-best debut. Charlotte Ritchie has the lowest episode score on a series premiere (5 points), followed by Katherine Parkinson (6 points). If one-off contestants are included, then Claudia Winkleman would equal Katherine Parkinson's second-worst debut.
• Romesh Ranganathan holds the dubious honour of being the highest-placed individual (joint second) not to have won a single episode in his series.
• Victoria Coren Mitchell holds a second dubious honour of placing last or joint last in the greatest number of episodes (7).
• 15 contestants (Josh Widdicombe, Romesh Ranganathan, Doc Brown, Katherine Ryan, Dave Gorman, Rob Beckett, Mark Watson, Sally Phillips, Tim Vine, Lou Sanders, Ed Gamble, Alan Davies, Frankie Boyle, Mae Martin, and Sam Campbell) have never placed last or joint-last in an episode of their series. Five series (Series 4, 7, 10, 11 and 13) have seen every contestant come last or joint last at least once.
• Mike Wozniak [11] was the runner-up in the greatest number of episodes (6 episodes). This count includes an episode where Wozniak was tied at the top, but lost the tiebreaker. He only won 1 episode outright. Rose Matafeo [9], Morgana Robinson [12], and Sam Campbell [16] have the next greatest number of second-place rankings at 5 episodes.
• Out of 15 series, seven have included at least one contestant failing to win any episodes, including the first three series, Series 5, Series 7, Series 13, and Series 15. Both Romesh Ranganathan and Aisling Bea did tie with the most points in at least one episode during their respective series, but lost those tiebreakers. Of these series, only in Series 5 has more than one contestant failed to win an episode. Series 15 (Spring 2023) is the most recent one in which at least one contestant has failed to win an episode. Apart from Ranganathan and Bea who lost their tiebreaks, Frankie Boyle had the closest opportunities at winning at least one episode, placing 2nd in 4 different episodes of his series. Apart from Ranganathan, the non-winners eventually placed either 4th or 5th place in their series.
• 25 episodes have ended with at least two contestants tied with the most points, and a winner had to be determined through a tiebreaker task. Two episodes ("No Stars for Naughty Boys" in Series 4 and "The Barrel Dad" in Series 8) have ended with a 3-way tie. The majority of the tasks used to break the tie were prerecorded except on four occasions (S1E03, S7E02, S10E10, and S16E07) which were decided in-studio. Series 4, 10, and 16 are tied with the greatest number of episodes to break a tie (3 episodes apiece). Series 2, 3, and 14 did not air any tiebreaker tasks. Series 4 is the only one which saw every contestant compete in at least one tiebreaker task for a chance to win that episode. The longest gap between episodes featuring tiebreakers is 24 episodes (S13E06 to S15E10).
• 5 individuals (Hugh Dennis [4], Joe Lycett [4], Jamali Maddix [11], Katherine Parkinson [10], and Johnny Vegas [10]) have won their only episode(s) by winning a tiebreaker task. Joe Lycett is the only one to win more than one episode in this manner. Sue Perkins [16] is the only other contestant to win more than one tiebreaker task, though she won a third episode outright.
• 4 individuals (Chris Ramsey [13], Romesh Ranganathan [1], Mawaan Rizwan [10], and Lou Sanders [8]) have each lost more than one tiebreaker task. All but Ranganathan did manage to win at least one other episode outright.
• 15 episodes have ended with 2 contestants in joint-fourth place. 2 episodes have ended with 3 contestants in joint-third place, both of which were consecutive episodes in Series 13. The 2023 New Year Treat ended with 4 contestants in joint-second place, the only episode so far with this distinction.
• On 48 (arguably 49) occasions the winner of the prize task — the very first task of the show — has gone on to win the episode^note Tim Key (S1E6), Richard Osman (S2E5), Noel Fielding (S4E1), Lolly Adefope (S4E6), Sally Phillips (S5E2), Bob Mortimer (S5E3), Russell Howard (S6E4 and 7), Tim Vine (S6E6), Asim Chaudhry (S6E10), Jessica Knappett (S7E5), Rhod Gilbert (S7E8), Sian Gibson (S8E4), Iain Stirling (S8E5 and 10), Paul Sinha (S8E8), Lou Sanders (S8E9), Ed Gamble (S9E6), David Baddiel (S9E9), Richard Herring (S10E5, 8 and 9), Mawaan Rizwan (S10E6), Shirley Ballas (New Year Treat 2021), Sarah Kendall (S11E4), Jamali Maddix (S11E6), Lee Mack (S11E7; in E8 he tied all the other contestants, but they were only given 3 points each), Charlotte Ritchie (S11E9), Guz Khan (S12E2 and 5), Desiree Burch (S12E3), Alan Davies (S12E4), Victoria Coren Mitchell (S12E7), Ardal O'Hanlon (S13E4), and Bridget Christie (S13E8 tied with Sophie Duker), Dara Ó Briain (S14E2), John Kearns (S14E3 and 5), Sarah Millican (S14E4 and 6), Fern Brady (S14E9 tied with Dara and Sarah, but they were only given three points each), Sir Mo Farah (New Year Treat 2023), Mae Martin (S15E1), Kiell Smith-Bynoe (S15E9), Sue Perkins (S16E2 and 9), Sam Campbell (S16E3), Julian Clary (S16E10), Lenny Rush (New Year Treat 2024). 42 contestants have achieved this. Series 3 is the only main season where this has not occurred at least once, though if specials are counted it also did not occur during New Year Treat 2022 or either Champion of Champions special. Nine series champions (Noel Fielding, Bob Mortimer, Lou Sanders, Ed Gamble, Richard Herring, Sarah Kendall, Dara Ó Briain, Mae Martin, and Sam Campbell) have accomplished this. For 11 main-series contestants (Tim Key, Noel Fielding, Lolly Adefope, Asim Chaudhry, Jessica Knappett, David Baddiel, Mawaan Rizwan,Jamali Maddix, Victoria Coren Mitchell, and Fern Brady) this was also the only episode they won in the series; Shirley Ballas, Sir Mo Farah, and Lenny Rush can also be said to have achieved this, but each only participated in a one-off special. Seven contestants (Russell Howard, Iain Stirling, Richard Herring, Guz Khan, John Kearns, Sarah Millican, and Sue Perkins) have accomplished this more than once,^note arguably Lee Mack did too — see above; Richard is the only series champion to do so, and John Kearns is the only contestant to do so in every episode he won. Series 8 holds the current record for most joint prize-episode wins (5) while Richard Herring holds the individual record (3). Rhod Gilbert, Bridget Christie, and Fern Brady are the only contestants to accomplish this while being the joint-winner of the prize task in the relevant episode^note arguably Lee Mack did too — see above. Series 8, 11, 12, and 14 had four contestants all accomplish the feat. Five series finales — Series 1, 2, 6, 8, and 16 — have ended in this fashion, but to date no series champion has won the series finale in this manner.
• Nine series champions — Josh Widdicombe (1), Noel Fielding (4), Bob Mortimer (5), Kerry Godliman (7), Richard Herring (10), Sarah Kendall (11), Morgana Robinson (12), Mae Martin (15), and Sam Campbell (16) — won the first episode of the series they appeared in. Sophie Duker is the first series champion since the show moved to Channel 4 not to also win the first episode - indeed, five out of seven Channel 4 series have been won by the contestant who also won the first episode.
• Five series champions — Rob Beckett (3), Ed Gamble (9), Richard Herring (10), Sophie Duker (13) and Dara Ó Briain (14) — won the last episode of the series they appeared in. To date, Richard Herring is the only series champion to win both the first and last episodes of his series.
• Kerry Godliman is the only series champion to win both the first two episodes of the series she later went on to win. Five other champions won at least two of the first three episodes (Bob Mortimer, Sarah Kendall, and Sam Campbell won episodes 1 and 3, while Liza Tarbuck and Lou Sanders won episodes 2 and 3).
• Only three times has a winner of the first prize task of episode 1 of a main series (in other words, the very first task of the series) gone on to win the series overall. These were Noel Fielding (Series 4), Lou Sanders (Series 8), and Mae Martin (Series 15). If special episodes are included, then Josh Widdicombe (Champion of Champions 1) and Shirley Ballas (New Year Treat 1) have also done this. However, on five occasions, the winner of the first location task of the series has gone on to win the series overall — Rob Beckett (Series 3), Bob Mortimer (Series 5), Kerry Godliman (Series 7), Ed Gamble (Series 9) and Morgana Robinson (Series 12). Adrian Chiles also accomplished this in the second New Year Treat. Only seven series winners have also won the first live studio task of their series, but to date this includes every champion since Series 6 with the exceptions of Series 7, 9, 13, and 15.
• It isn't until Series 14 in which a contestant earns the maximum points by winning every single task. Dara Ó Briain won 5 tasks (including a two-part task where each part was scored from 1-5 separately) and also earned bonus points in "Enormous Hugeness." The next closest to accomplishing this are Joe Thomas in Series 8's "This Is Trevor", who won/joint won every task but the prize task (in which he came joint second), and Sam Campbell in Series 16's "Languidly", who won/joint won every task but the first pretaped task (in which he came second), both for a score of 24 points. The third closest to almost win a perfect episode are all in Series 13 - Chris Ramsey in "The Noise That Blue Makes", Bridget Christie in "I Think I've Got This," and Sophie Duker in "Heg," who all were just 2 points off of the maximum available in their episodes (23 out of 25, 25 out of 27, and 28 out of 30, respectively); in each case they got full marks in all but two tasks. Next closest is Adrian Chiles in the second New Year Treat, who won all tasks except the prize task and the live task (in which he came third and second respectively) for a score of 22 points. Of main series contestants, Charlotte Ritchie is next due to her performance in Series 11's "Mr Octopus and Pottyhands"; she won the first three tasks, came second in the third, and then came joint last in the live task for a score of 20 points. She is tied with Sue Perkins in "Fagin at the Disco", who won four tasks but got disqualified in the other one to score 20 points as well.^note Indeed, had she not been disqualified, Sue would have won that task as well and matched Dara's perfect episode. Following her is Josh Widdicombe in Series 1's "The Poet and the Egg", who won 22 out of 30 points and came first in all but the prize task (2 points) and first task (disqualified).
• Josh Widdicombe and Lou Sanders are to date the only contestants to ever win an episode without winning or joint-winning any of the tasks in that episode (Josh won Champion of Champions episode 2, "I've Sinned Again" and Lou won Series 8 episode 2, "A Novel About Russian Gulags"). In Series 15 episode 4, "How Heavy is the Water?", Jenny Eclair won an episode without scoring five points in any of the tasks, though she did still win one task with just four points.
• Richard Osman, Mel Giedroyc, Joe Lycett, Russell Howard, Alan Davies, Desiree Burch, Guz Khan, and Sue Perkins won more individual episodes (2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 2, 4, and 3, respectively) than the eventual winner of their respective series (Katherine Ryan, Noel Fielding, and Morgana Robinson won 1 episode each and Liza Tarbuck and Sam Campbell won 2 episodes).
• In terms of ranking within episodes^note 1 for first place, 2 for second or the loser of the tiebreaker task, and so forth to 5 for fifth place, Lou Sanders and Ed Gamble share the highest mean ranking of 2 while Joe Wilkinson has the lowest mean ranking of 4.4. Richard Herring has the highest median ranking of 1.5 and Joe Wilkinson, Paul Chowdhry, Nish Kumar, and Victoria Coren Mitchell share the lowest median ranking of 5.
• Asim Chaudhry is the contestant who went the most episodes before eventually winning one, not winning his first episode until the tenth (and final) episode of Series 6. He is followed by David Baddiel and Fern Brady, who didn't win an episode until episode 9 of Series 9 and 14, respectively; and Paul Sinha, Munya Chawawa, and Susan Wokoma, who didn't win until episode 8 of Series 8, 14, and 16, respectively. Asim and Tim Key are the only two contestants who didn't win an episode until the finale of their respective series, although in Tim's case the series (1) was only six episodes long. Of series champions, Sophie Duker went longest without winning, not winning her first episode until episode 6 of Series 13.
• The smallest point margin between 1st and 5th place is 1 point, which occurred in S13E04 ("Shoe Who" - Ardal O'Hanlon and Chris Ramsey were tied at 17 points and Bridget Christie, Judi Love, and Sophie Duker were tied at 16 points). The largest points margin between 1st and 5th place is 20 points, which occurred in S14E02 ("Enormous Hugeness" - Dara Ó Briain had 30 points and John Kearns scored 10 points), followed by 19 points in S15E05 (Mae Martin scored 28 points compared to Ivo Graham's 9). The former episode also has the largest points gap between 1st and 4th place (16 points), which equals S11E04 (Fern Brady scored 14 points in the former, while Lee Mack scored 7 points compared to Sarah Kendall's 23 in the latter episode).
• The largest point margin between 1st and 2nd place is 11 points, which occurred in S08E07 ("This is Trevor" - Joe Thomas scored 24 points and runner-ups Lou Sanders and Paul Sinha tied at 13 points), followed by 9 points, which occurred in S13E03 ("I Think I've Got This" - Bridget Christie scored 25 points and runner-ups Judi Love and Sophie Duker tied at 16 points) and S14E02 ("Enormous Hugeness" - Dara Ó Briain scored 30 points and runner-up Munya Chawawa scored 21 points). The largest point margin between 4th and 5th place is 9 points, which has occurred in 2 episodes (S04E03 and S06E03).
• 11 main-series contestants have not had at least one episode score that was 20 points or more. This count includes one series champion (Morgana Robinson [12], 19 points, although her lowest episode score is 13 points), and 4 people who placed 5th overall (Nish Kumar [5], 19 points; Phil Wang [7], 19 points; David Baddiel [9], 19 points; and Victoria Coren Mitchell [12], 18 points).
• Sara Pascoe and Sian Gibson earned the fewest points in their highest-scoring episdes (17 points). Conversely, Rob Beckett and Sarah Millican earned the most points for their lowest-scoring episodes (15 points).
• Sir Mo Farah is the first person with a title to win an episode. Only two titled individuals have participated in the series thus far, both in a "New Year's Treat" episode.

Champions Ranking

The champions of each series and their main series scores are listed below. Champions who participated in a series with less than ten episodes are indicated with an asterisk (*).

1. Dara Ó Briain - Series 14 (184 points)
2. Liza Tarbuck - Series 6 (181 points)
3. Kerry Godliman - Series 7 (176 points)
4. Mae Martin - Series 15 (174 points)
5. Sophie Duker - Series 13 (173 points)
6. Morgana Robinson - Series 12 (168 points)
7. Ed Gamble - Series 9 (167 points)
8. Lou Sanders - Series 8 (164 points)
9. Richard Herring - Series 10 (162 points)
10. Sam Campbell - Series 16 (161 points)
11. Sarah Kendall - Series 11 (158 points)
12. Noel Fielding* - Series 4 (144 points)
13. Bob Mortimer* - Series 5 (138 points)
14. Katherine Ryan* and Josh Widdicombe* - Series 2 and 1 respectively (94 points)
15. Rob Beckett* - Series 3 (87 points)

Incorporating Champion of Champions scores into the ranking would change it thus (champions who have not at time of writing participated in a C of C indicated with an [X]):

1. Dara Ó Briain - 206 points
2. Liza Tarbuck - 195 points
3. Sophie Duker - 194 points
4. Mae Martin - 189 points^note Mae did not participate in the third Champion of Champions directly due to other commitments, but Kiell Smith-Bynoe participated in their place and earned 15 points. If the points he earned were added to his tally instead, Mae would be in ninth place on this list with 174 points
5. Kerry Godliman - 188 points
6. Morgana Robinson - 186 points
7. Richard Herring - 179 points
8. Ed Gamble - 178 points
9. Noel Fielding and Lou Sanders - 176 points
10. Sarah Kendall - 173 points
11. Bob Mortimer - 162 points
12. Sam Campbell - 161 points [X]
13. Josh Widdicombe - 131 points
14. Katherine Ryan - 129 points
15. Rob Beckett - 123 points

Commentary

• Dara Ó Briain has won the most points of any champion, both in a single series (184) and overall counting Champion of Champions (206), while Richard Herring has won the most episodes (six including Champion of Champions).
• Sarah Kendall won the fewest points (158), while Morgana Robinson has won the fewest episodes in a 10-episode run (one). Katherine Ryan and Noel Fielding also only won one episode each in their own series which ran for fewer episodes, though Ryan did also win an episode of the first Champion of Champions special.
• Of the champions, eight of them (Josh Widdicombe, Katherine Ryan, Rob Beckett, Lou Sanders, Ed Gamble, Dara Ó Briain, Mae Martin, and Sam Campbell) have never placed last in an episode in their series. However, Gamble did place last in his Champion of Champions special.^note If Kiell is counted as Mae for the purposes of Champion of Champions III, then Mae too has technically come (joint) last in an episode.
• Richard Herring, Sarah Kendall, and Sophie Duker are the only champions to have placed last more than once (Herring with joint 4th in "Toshwash" and 5th in "Legit Glass"; Kendall with joint 4th in "Slap and Tong" and "Activate Jamali", as well as joint 4th in Co C III "Spider In My Pocket"; Duker with 5th in "Birdy Hand Finger" and joint 3rd in "Shoe Who").
• Josh Widdicombe, Richard Herring and Dara Ó Briain are the only champions to have scored single digits in at least one episode (9 points each in "The Last Supper", "Legit Glass," and "The One That Bats Do" respectively).
• Rob Beckett, Ed Gamble, Richard Herring, Sophie Duker and Dara Ó Briain have become series champions while also winning the series finale. Liza Tarbuck and Sarah Kendall, on the other hand, are the only champions to have placed last or joint-last in the series finale.
• Noel Fielding, Bob Mortimer, Kerry Godliman, Richard Herring, Sarah Kendall, Morgana Robinson, Mae Martin, and Sam Campbell are series champions who also managed to win the first episode of the series in which they appeared, which also makes Richard Herring to date the only champion who has won both his first and last episodes.
• It took Sophie Duker the longest to win her first episode in her series (episode 6). She subsequently went on to win two more episodes. Sophie is also the only series champion to not win one of the first three episodes of her series; of the others, only Josh Widdicombe and Katherine Ryan didn't win one of the first two.
• Rob Beckett [3], Bob Mortimer [5], Kerry Godliman [7] Richard Herring [10], Morgana Robinson [12], Dara Ó Briain [14], and Sam Campbell are champions who have won or joint-won the final live task of their series — for Beckett, Godliman, Herring, Robinson, and Campbell, winning the final live task was crucial to their victories. Noel Fielding [4], Liza Tarbuck [6], Lou Sanders [8], Ed Gamble [9], and Mae Martin [15] did not earn any points in the final live tasks for their respective series, although Noel did earn a bonus point (the Series 4, 9, and 15 final live tasks were scored on a winner-takes-all basis and both Tarbuck and Sanders were disqualified in their final live tasks).
• Of main-series champions, Katherine Ryan and Morgana Robinson are the only two not to have won a prize task while Kerry Godliman has won the most at 4. No champion has failed to win at least one live task. Dara Ó Briain has won the most live tasks (8, including joint wins and live team tasks).
• As of Series 15, Rob Beckett is the youngest champion while Bob Mortimer is the oldest champion (30 and 58, respectively, at the time of broadcast).
• Josh Widdicombe has been awarded three out of four different trophies that contestants could win on the show, though technically he has only won two; he won the original karate trophy in Series 1 and the Taskmaster's Body Trophy of the first Champion of Champions. In addition, he was also given the now-standard Taskmaster Trophy after the Champion of Champions to replace the karate trophy. The fourth trophy, the Taskmaster's Eyebrows Trophy, was only awarded to contestants in the one-off New Year's Treat episodes.
• As of November 2023, five series have been won by the contestant sitting in the fifth seat (Noel [4], Richard [10], Sarah [11], Sophie [13], and Mae [15]), four series have been won by the contestant sitting on the third seat (Liza [6], Kerry [7], Lou [8], and Sam [16]), and three series each have been won by the contestant sitting on the the second (Josh [1], Bob [5], and Ed [9]) and fourth seats (Katherine [2], Rob [3], and Morgana [12])^note that is, the contestant whose first name is either second, third, fourth, or fifth in alphabetical order respectively. Dara Ó Briain [14] is the only main series contestant who has won their series from the first seat; if one-offs are included, however, then the "first seat" curse was finally broken in the second New Year Treat episode, which was won by Adrian Chiles. If one-offs and specials are counted, then the contestants on the first seat (Adrian [2022 New Year Treat] and Dara [Champion of Champions II]) have won three times, contestants on the second the second seat (Josh [Champion of Champions]) and on the fourth seats (Sir Mo Farah [2023 New Year Treat]) have each won four times, contestants on the third seat (Lenny Rush [2024 New Year Treat]) have won five times, and contestants on the fifth seat (Shirley Ballas [2021 New Year Treat], Richard [Champion of Champions II]) have won a whopping seven times.
• As of Series 16, thirteen series champions (Josh, Katherine, Noel, Bob, Liza, Lou, Ed, Sarah, Morgana, Sophie, Dara, Mae, and Sam) have been in the three-person team for team tasks, while only three series champions (Rob, Kerry and Richard) have been in the two-person team.
• As of Series 16, eight of the champions have been men, seven have been women, and one has been non-binary. Sophie Duker is so far the only champion from a non-white ethnic background, although five champions have also been from a non-UK background (Katherine Ryan [2] and Mae Martin [15], Canadian; Sarah Kendall [11] and Sam Campbell [16], Australian; Dara Ó Briain [14], Irish; Morgana Robinson [12] is Australian-born but grew up mainly in the United Kingdom). As of Series 16, Canadians have a 100% win record in UK Taskmaster, as do Australians.
• Mae Martin was unable to participate in CoC 3 due to scheduling problems, and Kiell Smith-Bynoe participated in their place. There has been no indication whether Kiell is counted as 'officially' competing in his own right or on Mae's behalf for purposes of point attribution (though to the relief of some statisticians, Kiell failed to win, erasing the question of whether he or Mae would compete in a hypothetical Co Co C if he had won).
• Josh Widdicombe, Liza Tarbuck, Richard Herring, Dara Ó Briain, and Sophie Duker are to date the only participants in a Champion of Champions episode to be seated in the same chair that they occupied during the main series they competed in. Every male contestant with this distinction eventually went on to win their Champion of Champions special.
  • Mae Martin would have been the first contestant to move more than one chair away from their original main series chair, moving from fifth seat to second seat; every other contestant has been in or adjacent to their original seat. By a weird coincidence, Mae's replacement Kiell Smith-Bynoe sat in the same seat Mae would have had, and also moved more than one seat (having been originally in fourth). In fact, the champions' seating positions in Champion of Champions III were known even before the S15 winner was revealed, as every S15 contestant's name came alphabetically after Dara and before Morgana, Sarah, and Sophie.

Factoring in the average scores of each main series champion (including special episodes) would arrange the leaderboard thus:

1. Adrian Chiles (22 points, 1 episode, 22 points per episode)
2. Sir Mo Farah (20 points, 1 episode, 20 points per episode)
3. Lenny Rush (19 points, 1 episode, 19 points per episode)
4. Dara Ó Briain (206 points, 11 episodes including CC, 18.7 points per episode)
5. Katherine Ryan (129 points, 7 episodes including CC, 18.43 points per episode)
6. Liza Tarbuck (195 points, 11 episodes, 17.7 points per episode)
7. Noel Fielding (176 points, 10 episodes including CC, 17.6 points per episode) and Sophie Duker (194 points, 11 episodes, 17.6 points per episode)
8. Rob Beckett (123 points, 7 episodes including CC, 17.57 points per episode)
9. Mae Martin (189 points, 11 episodes including CC^note counting points scored by Kiell on their behalf, 17.2 points per episode)
10. Kerry Godliman (188 points, 11 episodes, 17.1 points per episode)
11. Shirley Ballas (17 points, 1 episode, 17 points per episode)
12. Morgana Robinson (186 points, 10 episodes, 16.9 points per episode)
13. Ed Gamble (167 points, 10 episodes, 16.7 points per episode)
14. Josh Widdicombe (131 points, 8 episodes including CC, 16.38 points per episode)
15. Richard Herring (179 points, 11 episodes, 16.3 points per episode)
16. Bob Mortimer (162 points, 10 episodes including CC, 16.2 points per episode)
17. Sam Campbell (161 points, 10 episodes, 16.1 points per episode)
18. Lou Sanders (176 points, 11 episodes, 16 points per episode)
19. Sarah Kendall (173 points, 11 episodes, 15.7 points per episode)

Title Droppers

With only three exceptions to date, each episode title is a Title Drop delivered by either Greg Davies, Alex Horne, or one of the series contestants. Of the 138 episodes broadcast through June 2023:

• 38 episodes have been named by Greg Davies
• 15 episodes have been named by Alex Horne
• 5 episodes each have been named by Liza Tarbuck (including her CoC episode) and Judi Love
• 4 episodes each have been named by Bob Mortimer (including one of the CoC episodes), James Acaster, Mike Wozniak, Victoria Coren Mitchell, Fern Brady and Ivo Graham
• 3 episodes each have been named by Joe Thomas, Ardal O'Hanlon, Frankie Boyle, and Sam Campbell
• 2 episodes each have been named by Roisin Conaty, Jon Richardson, Aisling Bea, Johnny Vegas, Guz Khan, Dara Ó Briain, John Kearns, Kiell Smith-Bynoe (including his CoC episode), Julian Clary, and Lucy Beaumont
• 1 episode each has been named by Tim Key, Richard Osman, Joe Wilkinson, Paul Chowdhry, Hugh Dennis, Lolly Adefope, Sally Phillips, Alice Levine, Asim Chaudhry, Tim Vine, Phil Wang, Paul Sinha, Sian Gibson, David Baddiel, Ed Gamble, Jo Brand, Katy Wix, Daisy May Cooper, Mawaan Rizwan, Sarah Kendall, Desiree Burch, Adrian Chiles, Bridget Christie, Sarah Millican, Carol Vorderman, Mae Martin, and Susan Wokoma

Of the three exceptions:

• 2 episodes have been named by individuals who were not cast members (S2E2 was named by an unidentified pizza store employee who interacted on the phone with Doc Brown, while S10E4 was named by Richard, a security guard who participated in one of the tasks)
• 1 episode has not taken its name from a line of dialogue (S1E6 was named "The Last Supper", a reference to both the fact that it was the last episode of the series and the final pre-recorded task, which involved the contestants preparing an alphabetical meal for Alex Horne)

Commentary

• Only one series — Series 2 — has not had an episode named by either Greg Davies or Alex Horne.
• Greg Davies has named at least one episode in every other series except for Series 5 and Series 13. Of those series, he has named more than two episodes in every series except for Series 6, Series 14, and Series 16. He also named one of the episodes in the first Champion of Champions. He named the most episodes (6) in Series 4; this is also the most episodes named by any one participant in any single series.
• To date, thirty-three main series contestants have never named an episode. This includes nine champions, and two of the three Champion of Champions winners. Adrian Chiles is the only New Year's Treat episode winner to date to name his episode.
• Alex Horne has named episodes in Series 3, Series 5, Series 6, Series 7, Series 9, Series 12, Series 13, and Series 16.^note Albeit this latter only in the guise of 'Qrs Tuvwxyz'. He also named the 2020-2021 New Year Treat episode.
• To date, no series has had an episode named by every single contestant. The closest has been Series 6, Series 9, Series 14, Series 15, and Series 16 in which four out of the five contestants named at least one episode.
• Every main series has had a least one episode named by a contestant of the show. However, Series 3 is the only main series in which only one episode was named by a contestant (Paul Chowdhry, S3E1 - "A Pea in a Haystack").
• Bob Mortimer, Liza Tarbuck, and Kiell Smith-Bynoe are the only contestants to name an episode outside of the main series that they appeared in, having each named a Champion of Champions episode ("I've Sinned Again", "The Alpine Darling", and "Spider In My Pocket" respectively). Bob is also the only participant in the first Champion of Champions (and thus the only champion of the first five series) to name at least one episode.
• In addition to Bob and Liza, Ed Gamble, Sarah Kendall, Dara Ó Briain, Mae Martin, and Sam Campbell are the only series champions to also name at least one episode. Liza is the series champion who has also named the most episodes within her series (4). Bob, Liza and Sarah named the last episode of their series (and the last episode of Ed's series was named after a line from Greg during an exchange with Ed).
• Conversely, thirteen of the lowest-scoring participants of their series — Roisin Conaty, Joe Wilkinson, Paul Chowdhry, Lolly Adefope, Alice Levine, Phil Wang, Paul Sinha, David Baddiel, Victoria Coren Mitchell, Judi Love, Fern Brady, John Kearns, Ivo Graham, and Lucy Beaumont — have directly named at least one episode of the series they appeared in. This includes the bottom three lowest scoring contestants in series history (Roisin, Joe and Paul Chowdhry). Twenty-seven episodes have been named by the lowest-scoring contestants, more than any other rank.
• (As of November 2023) If we count contestants whose attempts give rise to episode titles (whether from their own or another person's comment), a large plurality are derived from attempts by last-place finishers in their series: 37 (28.5 %). The fewest (21, or 16.2%) are derived from attempts by champions, with 22 each (176.9%) derived from second- or third-place finishers and 28 (21.5%) from fourth-place finishers. (These figures only count episodes whose names clearly arise from a single contestant's attempt at a task, although it may include a single contestant's involvement in a team task.)
• (As of November 2023) A large plurality of episodes named by contestants are named by the winning contestant of the relevant task: 27 of 84 (32.1%), not counting Mike Wozniak naming "Absolute Casserole."
• Although he has only directly named four episodes, Mike Wozniak has been involved in naming more episodes than any other contestant; two other episodes of his series are named in reference to his attempts at tasks and responses to conversations the Taskmaster was having with him. This means that he has either named or been involved in naming six episodes, over half the episodes he appeared in. Judi Love has directly named more episodes, however, having named five in total.
• Jamali Maddix is the only contestant to have his actual name used in an episode title: Series 11 finale "Activate Jamali." Jamali himself never named an episode. Alex Horne's actual name was used in "Brother Alex."
• (As of November 2023) When looking at the tasks from which the titles derive (i.e. the source or subject of the comment used for the title), 132 (89.9%) have been from video tasks, 12 (8.4%) from live tasks, two (1.7%) from trick tasks ("Welcome to Rico Face" — if counted as a trick against Jon Richardson — and "Absolute Casserole"), and only one from a prize task ("Aquatic Sewing Machine"); one more came from no task, but rather came while the final scores were being read out ("Having a Little Chuckle"). No titles have emerged from tie break tasks.^note Unless you count David Baddiel's lassoing attempt in "Another Spoon" which was intended to be a tie break task but aired as a video task. Among video tasks, tasks later in the episode are preferred (as with the scarcity of titles from prize tasks): 27 episodes (18.6%) are named for the first video task, compared to 52 episodes (36.1%) for the second and video task and 44 (30.8%) for the third.[note]The other 9 (6.3%) were from the fourth video task; episodes with four video tasks are rare.[/note] In Series 16, seven episodes' titles derived from the second video task, and the remaining three were all derived from the third.
• Two episodes owe their titles to the same joke: both Series 8's "A Novel About Russian Gulags" and Series 10's "A Documentary About A Despot" were both named by the Taskmaster after a contestant described a task as 'dehumanising', with the Taskmaster's response being that the title source was the sort of place he'd expect to hear that word rather than Taskmaster itself.
• Three episodes arguably share their names with one of the teams: "The House Queens," "The Natural Friends," and "Dynamite Chicks." (In this view, both teams in Series 16 were named in episode titles.)
• To date, eleven contestants have named an episode they also won — Richard Osman (S02E01 - "Fear of Failure"), Liza Tarbuck (S06E02 - "Tarpeters"), Tim Vine (S06E06 = "We Met At Mealtimes"), James Acaster (S07E10 - "I Can Hear It Gooping"), Victoria Coren-Mitchell (S12E07 - "The Integrity of the Product"), Adrian Chiles (New Year's Treat 2 - "Basic Recipe 28"), Ardal O'Hanlon (S13E05 - "Having A Little Chuckle"), Dara O'Briain (S14E02 - "Enormous Hugeness"), Sarah Millican (S14E04 - "Crumbs in My Bralette"), Ivo Graham (S15E03 - "I Love to Squander Promise") and Lucy Beaumont (S16E06 - "Brother Alex"). This has occurred twice in only two series - 6 and 14. It has only occurred once in a series with less than eight episodes, twice in a series with eight episodes (albeit in the same series), seven times in a ten episode series, and once in a special episode. It occurred only four times in the series aired on Dave, seven times in a series or special aired on Channel 4, and to date has occurred once a series since Series 12. Only two series champions (Liza Tarbuck and Dara O'Briain), one special episode champion (Adrian Chiles) and three last-place contestants (Victoria Coren-Mitchell, Ivo Graham, and Lucy Beaumont) have accomplished this. No contestant has accomplished this more than once.

The Folder of the Damned

In order of total points scored, the lowest scoring contestants of each series are:

1. Alice Levine - Series 6 (152 points)
2. Fern Brady and John Kearns - Series 14 (144 points)
3. Judi Love - Series 13 (142 points)^note Wrongly stated onscreen to be the highest-scoring last place contestant in the show's history; she was, regardless, at that point the highest-scoring last place contestant since the show moved to Channel 4
4. Paul Sinha - Series 8 (136 points)
5. Phil Wang - Series 7 (133 points)
6. Ivo Graham - Series 15 (131 points)
7. Lucy Beaumont - Series 16 (129 points)
8. David Baddiel - Series 9 (128 points)
9. Lolly Adefope - Series 4 and Charlotte Ritchie - Series 11 (125 points)
10. Victoria Coren Mitchell - Series 12 (121 points)
11. Katherine Parkinson - Series 10 (118 points)
12. Nish Kumar - Series 5 (107 points)
13. Joe Wilkinson - Series 2 (69 points)
14. Roisin Conaty - Series 1 (68 points)
15. Paul Chowdhry - Series 3 (66 points)

Commentary

• As of Series 15 (2023), Alice Levine, Charlotte Ritchie, John Kearns, Ivo Graham, and Lucy Beaumont are the only last-place contestants who have managed to win more than one episode; Alice Levine and Lucy Beaumont required a tiebreaker to win at least one of their episodes. Lolly Adefope won one episode and lost a three-way tie in another episode. Four last-place contestants (Nish Kumar, Judi Love, Phil Wang, and Joe Wilkinson) have failed to win any episode at all; Phil Wang, Judi Love, and Frankie Boyle are, to date, the only contestants to take part in a 10-episode series and never win an episode, although Frankie did not place last in his series.
• Due to competing in six episodes or less, the last place contestants of the first three series are the final-ranked contestants in both this list and the overall series leaderboard.
• Nine of the lowest scoring contestants are women, six are from a non-white background, and two (Lolly Adefope and Judi Love) are both.
• With the exception of Fern Brady, every last-place contestant came last or joint last in at least three episodes of the series in which they appeared (and Fern came last / joint last in two). Victoria Coren Mitchell placed last or joint last in the greatest number of episodes (seven out of ten episodes), followed by Nish Kumar and Charlotte Ritchie at six episodes. This also means that Nish Kumar has the highest percentage of last or joint-last finishes of his season (75%), followed by Victoria Coren Mitchell (70%), Roisin Conaty (67%) and Joe Wilkinson / Paul Chowdhry / Charlotte Ritchie (60%).
• Roisin Conaty, Joe Wilkinson, Lolly Adefope, Paul Sinha, Victoria Coren Mitchell, Judi Love and Fern Brady are to date the only last-place contestants to also come last or joint last in the finale of the series they appeared in. Alice Levine, however, is the only last place contestant who has won the first episode of the series she appeared in (albeit by tiebreaker).
• Four last-place contestants (Lolly Adefope, David Baddiel, Nish Kumar, and Judi Love) have never ended an episode on single-digit scores. Their respective lowest scores were 12 (in one episode), 10 (in 4 episodes), 12 (in 4 episodes), and 10 (in 2 episodes) points. Four last-place contestants (David Baddiel, Victoria Coren Mitchell, Nish Kumar, and Phil Wang) never ended episodes with scores of 20 points or more. Their respective high scores were 19, 18, 19, and 19 points.
• Eight last-place contestants earned single-digit scores in more than one episodes (Fern Brady, Charlotte Ritchie, and Phil Wang in 2 episodes; Victoria Coren Mitchell, Katherine Parkinson, Ivo Graham, and Lucy Beaumont in 3 episodes; and Roisin Conaty in 4 episodes).
• Victoria Coren Mitchell placed low enough that she has both the greatest points deficit between herself and the winner of her series (47 points between herself and Morgana Robinson) and the biggest deficit from her nearest competitors (40 points between herself and Alan Davies and Desiree Burch, who placed joint third). Next closest are Katherine Parkinson (44 points behind the winner, 21 points behind 4th place), Phil Wang (43 points behind the winner, 32 points behind 4th place), and Ivo Graham (43 points behind the winner, 19 points behind 4th place). Conversely, Lolly Adefope scored high enough that she had the smallest points deficit from her nearest competitor (4 points below Hugh Dennis, who placed fourth) and from the winner of her series (19 points below Noel Fielding).
• As mentioned above, a slightly controversial live task in Series 2 resulted in Katherine Ryan winning both that episode and the series owing to the unusual scoring system (points were awarded due to items accumulated rather than the standard 5-1 points system, which some fellow contestants argued gave her an unfair advantage). As it happens, Joe Wilkinson also has reason to be thankful for this task; had it been scored by the standard system, he would have only earned 61 points overall, and thus would become the lowest scoring contestant in the entire series. His average point total would also go down from 13.8 to 12.2, bringing him to 55th place overall and 9th out of the lowest scoring contestants.
• Series 14 is the only season to date where two contestants have tied for the bottom ranking of the show. This means that technically Fern Brady and John Kearns technically did not lose the series, as they both came joint fourth; however, as rather bluntly pointed out by the Taskmaster's Assistant, this also means the series technically had two losers depending on how you view it.
• Katherine Parkinson is to date both the lowest-scoring contestant of a series with ten episodes, and the lowest-scoring contestant since the show moved to Channel 4. David Baddiel is the lowest-scoring contestant of a pre-Channel 4 ten-episode series.
• When average scores of each contestant are calculated, Lolly Adefope, Alice Levine, Fern Brady, John Kearns, Judi Love, Joe Wilkinson, and Paul Sinha are the only lowest-scoring contestants not to appear in the bottom ten. Calculating the lowest scoring contestants' average scores would rearrange the ranking thus:

1. Lolly Adefope (125 points, 8 episodes, 15.63 points per episode)
2. Alice Levine (152 points, 10 episodes, 15.2 points per episode)
3. Fern Brady and John Kearns (144 points, 10 episodes, 14.4 points per episode)
4. Judi Love (142 points, 10 episodes, 14.2 points per episode)
5. Joe Wilkinson (69 points, 5 episodes, 13.8 points per episode)
6. Paul Sinha (136 points, 10 episodes, 13.6 points per episode)
7. Nish Kumar (107 points, 8 episodes, 13.38 points per episode)
8. Phil Wang (133 points, 10 episodes, 13.3 points per episode)
9. Paul Chowdhry (66 points, 5 episodes, 13.2 points per episode)
10. Ivo Graham (131 points, 10 episodes, 13.1 points per episode)
11. Lucy Beaumont (129 points, 10 episodes, 12.9 points per episode)
12. David Baddiel (128 points, 10 episodes, 12.8 points per episode)
13. Charlotte Ritchie (125 points, 10 episodes, 12.5 points per episode)
14. Victoria Coren Mitchell (121 points, 10 episodes, 12.1 points per episode)
15. Katherine Parkinson (118 points, 10 episodes, 11.8 points per episode)
16. Roisin Conaty (68 points, 6 episodes, 11.33 points per episode)

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