Recap / Taskmaster Champion of Champions

Taskmaster recap index
British series:
Series: One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nine | Ten | Eleven | Twelve | Thirteen | Fourteen | Fifteen | Sixteen | Seventeen
Specials: Champion of Champions | New Year Treats and One-Offs
New Zealand series:
Seasons: One | Two | Three | Four
Australian series:
Seasons: One

NOTE: By the nature of the episodes, this page contains unmarked spoilers for Series 1 to 15 of Taskmaster (in addition to unmarked spoilers for the episodes themselves). If you have not seen these series, it is highly recommended you turn back now. You have been warned.

Champion of Champions 1 (Series 1 to 5)

Cast

The Cast

There can only be one Champion of Champions.

• Taskmaster: Greg Davies
• Taskmaster's Assistant: Alex Horne
• Champions: Bob Mortimer, Josh Widdicombe, Katherine Ryan, Noel Fielding, Rob Beckett
• Teams: N/A - No team tasks were arranged.

Josh Widdicombe was the only contestant to be seated in the same chair that he occupied for his original series.

Episodes

Episode 1 - "Wiley Giraffe Blower"

• Prize Task: The Thing That Genuinely Causes You The Most Embarrassment
  • Winner: Josh - a DVD recording of his "ill-judged" appearance on This Week^noteA late-night political discussion show in the UK (5 points)
  • Katherine - a video she produced as a child starring her sister as Adolf Hitler (4 points)
  • Rob - a pair of silk underpants with elephants on, purchased at an airport after soiling himself (3 points)
  • Bob - a picture of "dog dirt" that his son had drawn and which was displayed in the school's student art exhibition^noteBob admitted that it didn't genuinely embarrass him (2 points)
  • Noel - a childhood photograph of himself and his younger brother with Tigger while on holiday in Florida (1 point)

• Task 1: Either Throw An Exercise Ball Into The Bath Or Put All The Coconuts In The Shopping Trolley. If The Former, You Must Be Under A Roof When Throwing And May Not Move The Bath. If The Latter, You Must Not Touch Any Coconut With Your Hands And May Not Touch The Trolley
  • Winner: Noel (5 points)
  • Rob (4 points)
  • Katherine (3 points)
  • Bob (2 points)
  • Josh (1 point)^noteJosh was the only champion to complete the coconut variant.

• Task 2: Blow The Most Substantial Thing Off This Table
  • Winner: Rob - his contact lenses (5 points)
  • Katherine and Josh (4 points)
    • Katherine - an umbrella
    • Josh - a yoga ball
  • Bob - a can of lager (2 points)
  • Noel - a bag of "Cheeto Puffs" (1 point)

• Task 3: Perform A Miracle
  • Joint Winner: Josh and Katherine (5 points)
    • Josh - bouncing matchsticks on his fingers
    • Katherine - using a candle to "levitate" wine into an upside-down wine cup, turning water into wine (by allowing wine to seep into an upside-down cup of water), giving a random person £100, and getting a plumber to arrive in under thirty minutes
  • Bob and Noel (4 points)
    • Bob - catching and balancing a ping-pong ball on his nose before setting a mannequin head on fire
    • Noel - ran across a (clearly visible) table hidden in a paddling pool while dressed as a lizard
  • Rob - had 100 pizzas delivered to the Taskmaster house (3 points)

• Live Task: While On A Staircase, Write Down A Word Beginning With "T" Every Time The Taskmaster's Assistant Blows His Whistle. First To Reach The Floor Wins^noteThe person who writes the longest word misses a turn, the person who writes the second longest word advances a step, and anyone who writes down one of the Taskmaster Assistant's "special words" advances an extra step. The task was also delayed due to the contestants accidentally being provided permanent markers to write on their whiteboards, which was not realised until after the first round.
  • Winner: Noel (5 points)
  • Josh, Katherine and Rob (4 points)
  • Bob (1 point)

• Episode Ranking:
  1. Winner: Katherine Ryan (20 points)
  2. Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe (19 points)
  3. Noel Fielding (16 points)
  4. Bob Mortimer (11 points)

Episode 2 - "I've Sinned Again"

• Trick Task: Sing Along To The Taskmaster Theme Tune In The Most Powerful And Champion-Like Manner
  • Victim: Josh Widdicombe (0 points)

• Prize Task: The Best Thing
  • Winner: Rob - the ring worn by David Jason as Del-Boy in Only Fools and Horses (5 points)
  • Noel - Kasabian singing "You're The Best Thing" to the Champion of Champions (4 points)
  • Bob and Josh (3 points)
    • Bob - a "broccoli delivery and rotation unit" shaped as an elephant on a scooter, similar to his "sausage presentation unit" from Series 5
    • Josh - a set of keys to his house
  • Katherine - a jacket embroidered with a less-than-flattering pattern depicting Romesh Ranganathan (1 point)

• Task 1: Find Out What Is In A Locked Metal Briefcase^noteThere were various clues around the house pointing to the 3-digit code on the two locks (201), which included algebra equations on the chalkboard, a prompt asking for the number of grains of rice in a drawer, a tape ticker stuck to the edge of the lab table, and large numbers painted on the roof of the shed. The significance of that number is that it is the sum of the ages of the 5 champions at the time of the recording (in alphabetical order 58 + 34 + 34 + 44 + 31). The contents of the briefcase were frozen peas.
  • Winner: Noel - 3 mins 19 seconds (5 points)^noteUsed a hammer to break open the lock
  • Josh - 5 mins 30 seconds (4 points)^noteDetermined the lock combination from the maths equations on the chalkboard.
  • Rob - 5 mins 45 seconds (3 points)^noteDetermined the contents of the briefcase by guesswork.
  • Bob - 7 mins 42 seconds (2 points)^noteFound a tape ticker with the lock combination on the opposite side of the table in the lab.
  • Katherine - 14 mins 3 seconds (1 point)^noteUsing a clue from the chalkboard, went to a drawer in the living room and counted the number of rice grains inside.

• Task 2: Make The Most Delicious Edible and Wearable Mask^noteThis task is a Stealth Pun by way of Significant Anagram: The Taskmaster's Assistant becomes the "Masktaster".
  • Winner: Bob (5 points)
  • Josh (4 points)
  • Katherine (3 points)
  • Noel and Rob (2 points)

• Task 3: Make The Biggest Mess And Completely Clear It Up In Ten Minutes
  • Winner: Katherine (5 points)^notewhereas the other contestants made physical messes, Katherine decided to make an emotional mess and called up members of her family to stir up drama
  • Noel and Rob (4 points)
  • Josh (3 points)
  • Bob (1 point)^notedidn't tidy the mess up

• Live Task: Record The Highest Numbers Of Steps On The Pedometers You Are Wearing While Blindfolded
  • Winner: Katherine - 1,263 steps (5 points)
  • Josh - 1,095 steps (4 points)
  • Rob - 840 steps (3 points)
  • Bob - 730 steps (2 points)
  • Noel - 627 steps (1 point)

• Episode Ranking:
  1. Winner: Josh Widdicombe (18 points)
  2. Rob Beckett (17 points)
  3. Noel Fielding (16 points)
  4. Katherine Ryan (15 points)
  5. Bob Mortimer (13 points)

This episode is the first time that the winner of the episode has done so without winning any of the tasks in the episode.

Episode Titles

Each episode is a Title Drop made by either a participant in the show, the Taskmaster, or the Taskmaster's Assistant. In this series, the titles were provided by:

• Episode 1: The Taskmaster (used in response to Noel Fielding, having attempted to blow a giraffe off a table during the "blow the most substantial thing off the table" task and only succeeding in doing so with a bag of Cheetos, attempting to claim that the Cheetos were "substantial" because he used them as contact lenses: "You wiley giraffe blower.")
• Episode 2: Bob Mortimer (while his character, apparently a simultaneously guilt-tormented and intensely masochistic Geordie alien, was having pieces of his "face" eaten off by the Taskmaster's Assistant: "Ah, more! Please! Absolve me, ha-way! I've sinned again! I've sinned again, man!")

Champion of Champions

Championship Tally

1. Champion: Josh Widdicombe (37 points)
2. Rob Beckett (36 points)
3. Katherine Ryan (35 points)
4. Noel Fielding (32 points)
5. Bob Mortimer (24 points)

Three of the five champions (Josh, Noel and Bob) scored in the numerical order of the series in which they appeared and won.

Champion of Champions 2 (Series 6 to 10)

The Cast

Correction: It turns out there can be two Champions of Champions (but only one from this lot).

• Taskmaster: Greg Davies
• Taskmaster's Assistant: Alex Horne
• Champions: Ed Gamble, Kerry Godliman, Liza Tarbuck, Lou Sanders, Richard Herring
• Teams: N/A - No team tasks were arranged.

Liza Tarbuck and Richard Herring were both seated in the same chair that they occupied for their original series.

"The Alpine Darling"

A preliminary, unrewarded^noteAccording to the podcast, at the time it was filmed the producers hadn't decided if it would be marked or if it would be solely for the purpose of the opening titles, but in the event they decided on the latter task was to "Look The Most Like A Champion In The Taskmaster Titles. You Must Do Five Different Heroic Things For Five Seconds. You Have Twenty Minutes". The subsequent efforts were used to form the opening credits montage.

• Prize Task: The Thing That Makes Everyone Go "Wow, That Really Is The Greatest Thing"
  • Winner: Ed - his Taskmaster trophy, after it had been sent into space and returned (5 points)
  • Richard - an all-expenses paid trip to the ancient ruins of Pompeii for the winner (4 points)
  • Liza - a photograph of herself with David Bowie and Johnny Vaughn (3 points)
  • Kerry - a short play written by herself entitled The Greatest Thing with dialogue for everyone present, including the studio audience saying "wow, that really is the greatest thing!" (2 points)
  • Lou - a heart in a jar (1 point)

• Task 1: Feed Yourself A Grape In The Most Elaborate Way. Most Elaborate Self-Feeding Of A Grape Wins. You Have One Hour
  • Winner: Richard (5 points)
  • Kerry (4 points)
  • Liza (3 points)
  • Ed and Lou (2 points)

• Task 2: Cut Holes In And Create A Scene On This Board So That When You And The Taskmaster's Assistant Stick Parts Of Your Body Through The Holes, It Looks Wonderful. Most Wonderful Scene Wins. You Have Twenty Minutes
  • Winner: Liza (5 points)
  • Lou (4 points)
  • Ed (3 points)
  • Kerry (2 points)
  • Richard (1 point)

• Task 3: Get This Duck Into That Pond. The Duck Must Be Launched From Behind This Rope, And You Must Stay Behind This Rope During Its Journey. You May Not Move The Rope Or The Pond. Fastest Wins
  • Winner: Lou - 15 min 45 seconds^noteRigged up a pulley system to pull the duck into the pond (5 points)
  • Kerry - 16 minutes 40 seconds^notePut the duck in a cable spool and rolled it into the pond (4 points)
  • Liza - 23 minutes 10 seconds^noteAttached the duck to Alex's van and pushed it down the driveway (with Alex steering) (3 points)
  • Richard - 24 minutes 20 seconds^noteDiscovered a key that unlocked the caravan, where he found the remote control for a rat, which he used to transport the duck to the pond (2 points)
  • Ed - Did Not Complete^noteafter spending 97 minutes and 7 seconds attempting and failing to construct a 'river' to the pond, eventually gave up in frustration, decapitated the duck and buried it in separate locations around the garden, asking "What duck?" as he walked away. Point awarded largely out of sympathy. (1 point)

• Live Task: Pack Either Five Bricks Or Five Balloons In Your Bag, One At A Time. You Must Then Walk Across The Stage And Place Your Bag On The Circle Near The Taskmaster, Who Will Guess If You Were Packing Bricks Or Balloons. If He Guesses Correctly You Are Eliminated. If You Deceive Him You Qualify For Another Round. Most Deceptions Wins. You Will Have 100 Seconds To Pack Your Bag. Last Person Standing Wins^noteAlthough not stated onscreen, had all five contestants been eliminated in the first round they would have restarted the task
  • Winner: Richard (5 points)^notethe only contestant to make it through the first round
  • Ed, Kerry, Liza, Lou^notethe Taskmaster claimed that she was the only contestant he couldn't immediately guess, though he still guessed correctly (0 points)

Episode Ranking:

1. Winner: Richard Herring (17 points)
2. Liza Tarbuck (14 points)
3. Kerry Godliman and Lou Sanders (12 points)
4. Ed Gamble (11 points)

This is the first and only time that Ed Gamble placed last in an episode of Taskmaster and earned his lowest episode score to date. Kerry Godliman also earned her lowest episode score in the programme, and she becomes the first former champion not to win a task in a Champion of Champions special. With this win, Richard Herring increased his record of most episode wins at 6 episodes.

Episode title

With few exceptions, almost every episode of Taskmaster is a Title Drop from either a contestant, the Taskmaster, or the Taskmaster's assistant. In this episode, the title was provided by:

• Liza Tarbuck (naming her entry for the "create the most wonderful 'body parts' scene", which involved an Alpine landscape and the Taskmaster's Assistant sticking his be-stockinged leg through a hole: "It's the Alpine Darling.")

Champion of Champions 3 (Series 11 to 15)

The Cast

All right, three Champion of Champions (but again just one from this lot, except Kiell; he's playing for Mae).

• Taskmaster: Greg Davies
• Taskmaster's Assistant: Alex Horne
• Champions: Dara Ó Briain, Kiell Smith-Bynoe,^notesitting in for Mae Martin Morgana Robinson, Sarah Kendall, Sophie Duker

Dara Ó Briain and Sophie Duker were seated in the same chair they occupied for their original series.

Mae Martin couldn't participate due to scheduling issues so Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Series 15's runner-up, took their place. This makes them the first contestant to have points earned by others in their stead in both taped and studio tasks. Also, had Mae been able to participate it would have made CoC 3 the first time there was only one male contestant on the panel.

"Spider in my Pocket"

As with the previous "Champion of Champions" episode, an unscored task was shown in the opening titles: "Star In The Best Chase Sequence. Alex Will Chase You. You Have Ten Minutes. Your Time Starts Now."

• Prize Task: The Thing That You Would Wish For If You Had One Wish From A Genie
  • Winner: Morgana - a second pair of hands (5 points)
  • Kiell - an Assistant, represented by a hand puppet made by Mae's dad (4 points)
  • Dara - hair, represented by a wig and a montage of him wearing said wig^notecreated by the Taskmaster NZ team, as he was on tour there when he received the prize task and had no time to do anything back in England before the recording day (3 points)
  • Sophie - a "Taskmaster Couples' Cosplay Kit", consisting of Greg and Alex's shirts (but no pants), a rubber duck dummy for Alex, and a pixelated penis for Greg ("the Taskmember") (2 points)
  • Sarah - a black belt in karate, implicitly coming with the skills to have earned it (1 point)

• Task 1: Be The Best Waiter. You Must Serve Alex All His Food, Drink, And Cutlery As It Is Currently Set. If You Drop Or Spill Any Items, You Must Clap For A Full Minute Or Else You Will Be Disqualified. No Running. Fastest Wins. Your Time Starts Now^noteContestants were presented with near-overflowing plates of chickpeas and eggs (some rubber, some real), a near-overflowing chalice of some drink, and giant novelty cutlery. Several decoy Alexes, consisting of producer Andy Cartwright and several mannequins all wearing Fun Hats a la Season 16, were seated around the park in which the task took place; Alex was lying down next to the wall of a seating area with a table resting on top of him. Contestants were also provided with an egg timer, but it went for two minutes, not the one minute required. This task possibly took some inspiration from TMAU, which also had a task requiring contestants to deliver food to the Taskmaster's Assistant, with a decoy being present
  • Winner: Sophie - 18 minutes 20 seconds^noteskipped for some of the task, on the basis that skipping isn't running, and decided to bring Alex to his meal rather than the other way round. Deliberately "displaced" some of the food without clapping, which Greg allowed (5 points)
  • Dara - 18 minutes 42 seconds^note"pouched" some of the drink in his mouth, then spat it back into the chalice before delivering so as not to spill it (4 points)
  • Sarah - 52 minutes 26 seconds^notedespite wearing a watch, never realised that the egg timer ran for two minutes, and thus spent more time clapping than any other contestant took to complete the whole task (3 points)
  • Kiell^note served the food to a mannequin, on the basis that if a drawing of a pineapple could be a pineapple, a mannequin serving as a decoy Alex could be Alex. Disqualified on the basis that he initially stated "that's not Alex", and only later decided that it in fact was and Morgana^note greatly underestimated how long a minute was, spending only around 30 seconds clapping each time she spilled anything (Disqualified)

• Task 2a: Give Yourself A Disadvantage For The Next Task. Most Severe Disadvantage Wins. You Have Two Minutes To Announce Your Disadvantage. Your Time Starts Now
  • Winners: Kiell and Morgana (5 points)
    • Kiell - Had a bunch of satsumas stuffed in his mouth and had to keep one hand in his pocket
    • Morgana - Had her hands cuffed behind her back
  • Dara, Sarah, and Sophie (3 points)
    • Dara - Had one hand tied behind his back, and had the other hand clicking out a "jazzy rhythm"^note Greg noted that he wasn't clicking for much of the footage as he was using that hand to complete the task. Dara successfully argued that he specified a "jazzy" rhythm, and that the task simply took place between the notes
    • Sarah - Was gagged and not allowed to speak
    • Sophie - Told Alex to give her low self-esteem^note accomplished with a bunch of negative signs outside the door, such as "Unlucky Series 13" and "Ramsey should have won", and Alex booing, insulting, questioning, and nitpicking her for the entire task

• Task 2b: Choose A Hat. Then, Put Your Hat On The [Statue Of] The Taskmaster's Head From The Furthest Distance. The Person Furthest From The Taskmaster When Their Hat Settles On The Taskmaster's Head Wins. You Have Twenty Minutes. Your Time Starts Now
  • Winner: Dara - over 17 metres with a pilot's cap^note balanced the cap on a toilet roll on top of the Taskmaster's head, then used a pulley system to pull the roll away (5 points)
  • Kiell - 5.4 metres with a baseball cap^note pulled the statue off its throne, then created a funnel system and threw the cap at the statue, leading to it just barely touching the head (4 points)
  • Sophie - 3.6 metres with a propeller hat^note placed the hat on a block of ice on top of the head, with a hairdryer pointing at it, then ran away as soon as the hairdryer turned on. While she got much further in her second attempt, it ended with the hat overshooting the head, leading to her first, successful but much poorer, attempt being counted (3 points)
  • Sarah - 2.5 metres with a soft crown^note used grabby claws (2 points)
  • Morgana - 1.8 metres with a top hat^note also used grabby claws, but her hands being behind her back severely limited her reach compared to Sarah (1 point)

• Task 3: Do Something Really Stupid. Most Really Stupid Thing Wins. You Must Not Hurt Yourself Or Anyone Else. You Have Twenty Minutes. Your Time Starts Now^note based on an untelevised TMNZ task, which didn't have the part about not hurting anyone and thus led to contestants doing actually dangerously stupid things
  • Winner: Morgana - Smeared paint over her head and squirted it into her mouth, then threw feathers over her face while spitting the paint out again (5 points)
  • Dara - Spent the entire 20 minutes wrapping rubber bands around his head and contorting it to make them ping off, while making funny faces. Finished by attaching a piece of paper to a band and covering his face with it, so he was revealed when the band pinged off (4 points)
  • Sophie - Insulted the Taskmaster and messed up a cardboard cutout of him (3 points)
  • Sarah - Covered her face with a bucket, spun round a bunch, threw away her keys, spun round some more, then went to find them while carrying a bike with her. It took her 80 minutes to find them again (2 points)
  • Kiell - Passed various objects to the Taskmaster's Assistant through the spokes of a wheel, pretending it was a magic trick, then finished by passing him two large bottles labeled "Alex's Tears - Do Not Drop", with the intent that Alex would be stuck holding the bottles, unable to drop them or pass them through the spokes, looking stupid. However, he miscalculated and Alex was able to easily free himself without dropping them. While this did end up accidentally making him look stupid, Greg decided that as the task was "do something stupid" and not "be stupid", Kiell would not be rewarded (1 point)

• Live Task: Don't Say The Taskmaster's Favourite Thing. Alex Will Say A Category^note vegetables, animals bigger than a chair, parts of the body, names beginning with "G". One At A Time, You Must Shout A Thing That Falls Into That Category Within Two Seconds Of The Previous Person. If You Pause, Repeat, Make A Mistake, Or Say The Taskmaster's Favourite Thing^note spinach, rhino, perineum, Georgina, You Are Eliminated. Last Player Standing Wins
  • Winner: Sophie (5 points)
  • Sarah (4 points)
  • Dara (3 points)
  • Morgana (2 points)
  • Kiell (1 point)

Episode Ranking:

1. Winner: Dara Ó Briain (22 points)
2. Sophie Duker (21 points)
3. Morgana Robinson (18 points)
4. Kiell Smith-Bynoe and Sarah Kendall (15 points)

Episode title

With few exceptions, almost every episode of Taskmaster is a Title Drop from either a contestant, the Taskmaster, or the Taskmaster's assistant. In this episode, the title was provided by:

• Kiell Smith-Bynoe (when musing about what his handicap could be, he suggested having a handicap which was secretly actually an advantage. When Alex asked for an example, his response was "Spider in my pocket.")

This whited-out text is an attempt to fix a problem with ^note[[white: notes