Recap / Taskmaster Series Twelve

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

Cast

From left: Desiree Burch, Morgana Robinson, Greg Davies, Guz Khan, Alex Horne, Victoria Coren Mitchell, Alan Davies

• Taskmaster: Greg Davies
• Taskmaster's Assistant: Alex Horne
• Contestants: Alan Davies, Desiree Burch, Guz Khan, Morgana Robinson, Victoria Coren Mitchell
• Teams:^note The Assistant tried to say that there is a generational divide between the team of two and the team of three. However, if that were to be the case, then the team of three should have been Alan, Victoria and Desiree as they represent almost the entire span of Generation X, while Morgana and Guz are Millennials. Also, Alan and Victoria objected to being lumped together by age as there is a six-year gap between their births.
  • Alan Davies and Victoria Coren Mitchell
  • Desiree Burch, Guz Khan and Morgana Robinson

NOTE: Episode 5 was the 100th episode of Taskmaster.

ALSO: This series was the first filmed entirely under lockdown conditions due to the COVID pandemic, unlike Series 10^note which was in production when lockdown was imposed, resulting in the team of two being able to shoot in close contact while the team of three had to maintain social distancing and Series 11.^note which was in production at a time when lockdown conditions were being loosened and then re-tightened

As with prior recap pages, this page contains unmarked spoilers; you are strongly advised to watch the episodes before opening the folders or viewing this page. You have been warned.

Episodes

Episode 1 - "An Imbalance in the Poppability"

• Prize Task: The Thing That, If You Put It In A Bag And Sit On It, It Would Feel The Nicest
  • Winner: Desiree - chicken breast cutlet/fillet bra inserts (5 points)
  • Alan - an inflatable car-seat cushion, with an electric toothbrush as an "optional extra" (4 points)
  • Victoria - diamonds, in order to represent the concept of financial "comfort" (3 points)
  • Morgana - a spinning washing machine (2 points)
  • Guz - the Taskmaster chair he's currently sitting on, which he was forced to admit was simply a last-minute solution having not brought anything else in (1 point)

• Task 1: Strike The Taskmaster's Assistant With A Ball. He May Not Run, Hide Or Leave The Taskmaster Grounds^note Though the Taskmaster's Assistant was not permitted to hide, he was not in the same physical location as the task, meaning the contestants had to find him first. He was also wearing a headset with a screen connected to a camera worn by the contestants, meaning he could see where they were and move accordingly, within the aforementioned conditions. The contestants also had to find a ball to strike him with. Fastest Wins
  • Winner: Morgana - 2 min 04 sec (5 points +1 bonus point^note bonus point awarded not for setting a trap for the Taskmaster's Assistant during the task, but for calling him a rude word )
  • Desiree - 6 min 03 sec (4 points)
  • Victoria - 7 min 24 sec (3 points)
  • Guz - 7 min 29 sec (2 points)
  • Alan - 10 min 22 sec (1 point)

• Task 2: Paint The Most Flattering Picture Of The Taskmaster In Action On The Canvas In The Lab. The Canvas Will Either Be Six Inches Or Six Feet Above You. You Must Lie Flat On Your Back On The Car Creeper At All Times. You Have Ten Minutes, And Must Tell The Taskmaster's Assistant How High You Want The Canvas To Be With Ten Seconds Of Reading The Task Out
  • Winner: Guz (5 points)^note 6 inches; missed the brushes on his way through the hall and painted the entirety of his picture with his fingers
  • Alan (4 points)^note 6 feet
  • Desiree (3 points)^note 6 inches, or what a man would call 6 inches and what Desiree would call 5 inches
  • Morgana (2 points)^note 6 inches
  • Victoria (1 point)^note 6 feet; spent so long attempting to assemble a tool to paint on the canvas that she only managed a few marks before running out of time

• Task 3: Pop The Balloon. You Must Stay Behind The Rope At All Times. You Must Not Move The Rope. You May Buy The Tools You Need With Time^note a time penalty was added for each item used to pop the balloon. The Time Starts After The Taskmaster's Assistant Has Shown You The Tool Shop^note Items were: a slingshot and a bucket of stones costing 1 minute; pebbles costing 1 min 30 sec per pebble; forks costing 2 min per fork; darts costing 2 min 30 sec per dart; a bucket of forks costing 1 hour; rubber ducks costing zero time; portcullis scissors enabling the sting holding a spiked portcullis above the balloon to be cut, costing 8 min.
  • Winner: Alan - 9 minutes with penalties included^note 1 minute for thought and cutting; used only the scissors, having reasoned there was no chance of him hitting the balloon with anything else (5 points)
  • Victoria - 25 mins 30 seconds with penalties included^note time without penalties not specified; used nothing but darts and ducks to practice her aim. Victoria was the only contestant to pop the balloon without using the scissors. (4 points)
  • Guz - 36 mins 58 seconds with penalties included^note 8 minutes without them; used all the darts, a slingshot and finally the scissors (3 points)
  • Morgana - 56 mins with penalties included^note time without penalties not specified; used 13 darts, 4 pebbles, and the scissors (2 points)
  • Desiree - 2 hours 57 min with penalties included ^note used literally everything, including the bucket storing the forks. Having initially considered using the scissors early on after her first dart throw, she ended up talking herself out of it. To add insult to injury, there was a delay following her use of the scissors where the portcullis did not immediately fall due to the string having lost tension, adding a slight increase to her time. She defended herself by claiming she wanted to be entertaining over winning the task, but the Taskmaster nevertheless concluded it to officially be the worst attempt at any task throughout the series (1 point)

• Live Task: Write Down A Cool Hobby, A Fun Animal And A Famous Person In 30 Seconds. Once That Is Done, Strike A Pose To Represent First Your Cool Hobby, Then Your Fun Animal, Then Your Famous Person. You Will Have 10 Seconds To Strike Your Pose Then Must Hold It Until The End Of The Round. The Taskmaster Will Then Attempt To Guess What Your Pose Represents. You May Not Make A Noise Nor Move When Posed
  • Winner: Morgana (1.5 correct guesses) - Hobby = table tennis; Animal = sausage puppy^note half point awarded; Taskmaster guessed puppy, but when asked to specify the breed guessed a labrador; Celebrity = Cheryl Cole^note Taskmaster guessed Madonna (5 points)
  • Desiree and Guz (1 correct guess) (3 points)
    • Desiree - Hobby = bowling; Animal = hamster^note Taskmaster guessed rabbit; Celebrity = Will Smith^note Taskmaster guessed Macaulay Culkin
    • Guz - Hobby = bobsleigh^note Taskmaster guessed trampolining; Animal = aardvark^note Taskmaster guessed a duck-billed platypus; Celebrity: = Jesus Christ
  • Alan and Victoria (0 correct guesses) (1 point)
    • Alan - Hobby = Surf-Gami^note a combination of surfing and origami; Taskmaster guessed model-making; Animal = zebronkey^note a cross between a zebra and a monkey; Taskmaster guessed orangutan; Celebrity = Tony Hart^note Taskmaster guessed Salvador Dali
    • Victoria - Hobby = ice sculpture^note Taskmaster guessed kayaking; Animal = otter^note Taskmaster guessed cat; Celebrity = John Craven^note Taskmaster guessed Neville Chamberlain

• Episode Ranking:
  1. Winner: Morgana Robinson (17 points)
  2. Desiree Burch (16 points)
  3. Alan Davies (15 points)
  4. Guz Khan (14 points)
  5. Victoria Coren Mitchell (12 points)

Episode 2 - "Oatmeal and Death"

• Prize Task: Most Awesome Square
  • Winner: Guz - a portrait of himself in LEGO, sent to him from a fan (5 points)
  • Alan - a three-litre carton of rosé decorated with the words "an awesome square" (4 points)
  • Victoria - a "triple word score" square from a Scrabble board (3 points)
  • Morgana - a snowglobe containing Albert Square from Eastenders (2 points)
  • Desiree - a paper fortune teller (1 point)

• Task 1: Team Task - Scale The Mountain^note "Mt Kasarest", a representation of a mountain in polythene on the ground. Your Attempt Must Last Exactly Five Minutes And Will Be Sped Up By 5x Afterwards. Most Thrilling Ascent Wins
  • Winner: Desiree, Guz and Morgana (5 points)
  • Alan and Victoria (3 points)

• Task 2: Work Out The Contents Of These Bags^note Nutella and Nachos; Cabbage and Caramel; Gravy and Granola; Banana and Bovril (or Marmite for vegans / vegetarians); Mayonnaise and Mustard. You May Not Open The Bags. You Can Either: (A) Ask the Taskmaster's Assistant To Make One Tiny Hole In Each Bag And Have Five Minutes Examination Time, During Which You Must Eat At Least One Big Spoonful From Each Bag; Or (B) Ask The Taskmaster's Assistant To Put All The Contents Of Each Bag Into A Blender For One Minute, And Then Have Ten Minutes Examination Time During Which Eating Is Optional
  • Winner: Victoria - 8 correct guesses^note Nutella and "Tortilla Chips" (Nachos), "Caramel Sauce" (Caramel), "Muesli" (Granola), Banana and Marmite, Mayonnaise and Mustard (5 points)
  • Desiree - 4 correct guesses ^note Nutella and "Corn", Mayonnaise and Mustard (4 points)
  • Alan and Morgana^note the only contestant to choose option B. Also made the Taskmaster's Assistant eat the combined result of the blended foodstuffs, much to his distress (and near vomiting). - 3 correct guesses^note Alan: Nutella, "Toffee" (Caramel) and Banana. Morgana: Marmite, "Toffee" (Caramel) and Nachos. (3 points)
  • Guz - 2.5 correct guesses^note Nutella and Mayonnaise, with a half point for "vegetable" instead of cabbage (1 point)

• Task 3: Completely Paint This Space Hopper Green Without Making Any Mess. The Entire Space Hopper Must Be Green And Must Remain Within The Dome. When You Are Satisfied You Have Finished, Put Your Hands On Your Hips And Bow Deeply At Your Space Hopper. Fastest And Least Messy Wins.^note Due to the fact that three different criteria had to be fulfilled — how fast the task was completed; how green the space hopper was at the end; and how clean the dome was at the end of the attempt — the Taskmaster decided to rank the contestants according to each separate criteria first, and then add up the total points to determine the final overall ranking for the task.
  • Winner: Morgana^note painting speed = 2, greenness of space hopper = 5, least mess = 4. Total score = 11. (5 points)
  • Guz^note painting speed = 5, greenness of space hopper = 4, least mess = 1. Total score = 10. (4 points)
  • Alan^note painting speed = 3, greenness of space hopper = 3, least mess = 3. Total score = 9. (3 points)
  • Desiree^note painting speed = 4, greenness of space hopper = 2, least mess = 2. Total score = 8. (2 points)
  • Victoria^note painting speed = 1, greenness of space hopper = 1, least mess = 5. Total score = 7. (1 point)

• Live Task: Put On The Medallion. You Must Not Take Off Your Jacket Or Break The Box^note The jacket contained various items within the pockets and lining, including keys to access the boxes the medallion was contained in. Fastest Wins
  • Winner: Guz (5 points)
  • Desiree (4 points)
  • Alan (3 points)
  • Morgana (2 points)
  • Victoria^note failed to locate the required keys before the final whistle blew (1 point)

• Episode Ranking:
  1. Winner: Guz Khan (20 points)
  2. Morgana Robinson (17 points)
  3. Alan Davies and Desiree Burch (16 points)
  4. Victoria Coren Mitchell (13 points)

Episode 3 - "The End of the Franchise"

• Prize Task: The Most Old-Fashioned Thing That You Still Use
  • Winner: Desiree - her chaise longue (5 points)
  • Guz - an old-school mobile phone (4 points)
  • Alan - a VCR player and a VHS cassette of Jonathan Creek^note which, for the unaware, he starred on (3 points)
  • Morgana - her grandmother's "whizzer" (a handheld kitchen mixer) (2 points)
  • Victoria - a bottle of Tippex correction liquid (1 point)

• Task 1: Copy The Taskmaster's Assistant. The Taskmaster's Assistant Will Demonstrate His Actions Twice, Then You Will Have One Attempt To Copy Him. Closest Copy Wins^note There were ten overall actions, spelling out the letters of 'TASKMASTER'. As revealed by the Taskmaster's Assistant, they can be remembered with this 'simple' mnemonic: Tiptoe; Ankles slapped; Stop and shake; Karate chops; Magic trick; Arty snake; Sexy moves; Toss up a treat; Elastic band; Return to seat. Points were awarded for timing, number of correct moves, moves in the correct order and a "bang on bonus" anytime they exactly matched the original moves, for a total of 142 points.
  • Winner: Victoria^note 64.5 points, including five bang-on bonuses (5 points)
  • Desiree^note 55.5 points; (4 points)
  • Morgana^note 48 points; bang-on bonus for the elastic band move (3 points)
  • Guz^note Amount of points unspecified; bang-on bonus for the elastic band move (2 points)
  • Alan^note 26 points; earned a high score for number of moves, but no bonuses. Earned a negative score for timing. (1 point)

• Task 2: Make The Highest Sand Bridge Across The River. You May Not Leave The Lab. Your Sand Bridge Must Support The Egg, And The Egg Must Be Able To Pass Under The Sand Bridge. There Are Two Bonus Points For The Most Extravagant Sand Bridge. You Have 15 Minutes^note the display contained a model of a raven with the word "Troy" written underneath it; this was a reference to the Trojan Horse, hinting that there were building materials hidden within the display
  • Winner: Alan^note while not technically the tallest bridge at 11 inches, it was the only one made entirely out of sand. The Taskmaster split the bonus points, awarding Alan 1. (5 points +1 bonus point)
  • Morgana^note 21 inches. Morgana was the only contestant to discover the hidden building materials, albeit after heavy prodding from the Taskmaster's Assistant. While the tallest structure and most decorated, her bridge was relied mainly on the building materials and utilised little sand. The Taskmaster split the bonus points, awarding Morgana 1. (4 points +1 bonus point)
  • Desiree^note 10 inches; her construction was almost identical to Victoria's except for size. (3 points)
  • Victoria^note 9 inches; her construction was almost identical to Desiree's except for size.(2 points)
  • Guz^note 9.5 inches, but the Taskmaster deemed his construction not a bridge, but a "mess" that he'd pushed an egg through. (1 point)

• Task 3: Film The Most Thrilling 30 Second Sequence Wearing The Wellie-Cam^note a camera strapped to a pair of wellington boots. You Have 30 Minutes
  • Winner: Desiree - an ordinary day in the Taskmaster House is interrupted by sinister messages warning Desiree that she is about to die, before she, the Taskmaster's Assistant, and Linda the Cow are attacked by an army of savage rubber ducks (5 points)
  • Morgana - Morgana discovers ghosts around every corner and screams, culminating in the discovery of a headless Taskmaster's Assistant in the caravan (4 points)
  • Guz and Victoria (3 points)
    • Guz - an escalating battle of 'ooh-arrs' between himself as a farmer and a yokel farmer played by the Taskmaster's Assistant, culminating in Guz throwing a boot into the yokel's groin and drinking a glass of milk
    • Victoria - a picture flipbook version of a James Bond film
  • Alan - the adventures of a pair of woolen puppets going for a boat ride in a bath, being menaced by lizards and giant ducks before being helped by a friendly octopus, after which they suddenly die^note The Taskmaster acknowledged that the effect of Alan's film was somewhat ruined by the inclusion of a wide-shot showing Alan standing in a bath playing with toys, which undercut the intended effects somewhat (2 points)

• Live Task: Team Task: Correctly Guess Your Teammate's Object. Your Teammate Will Represent Their Object Through The Medium Of Shadows On The Screen. Fastest Correct Guess Wins Two Actual Points Per Round
  • Winner: Desiree, Guz and Morgana^note Winning guesses in bold. Round 1 = a tank; Round 2 = a worm ; Round 3 = a wrecking ball. (4 points)
  • Alan and Victoria^note Winning guesses in bold. Round 1 = a dragon; Round 2 = a blanket; Round 3 = a microscope. (2 points)

• Episode Ranking:
  1. Winner: Desiree Burch (21 points)
  2. Morgana Robinson (18 points)
  3. Alan Davies and Guz Khan (14 points)
  4. Victoria Coren Mitchell (13 points)

Episode 4 - "The Customised Inhaler"

• Prize Task: The Best Thing That Has Quite A Few Layers
  • Winner: Alan - a 'layered' wig replica of his own hair, circa 1997^note presumably for a shooting double on Jonathan Creek (5 points)
  • Desiree - a Nilla pudding (4 points)
  • Guz - a collection of Guz's jackets in layers, as demonstrated by the Taskmaster's Assistant (3 points)
  • Victoria - a toy poultry farmer with lots of 'layers' (as in, ducks, geese, chickens, etc.) (2 points)
  • Morgana - a vegetable lasagna (1 point)

• Task 1: Complete The Course As Slowly As Possible. You Must Be Riding A Bicycle Forwards Through The Limits Of The Course At All Times. Every Time You Put A Foot On The Ground The Clock Will Be Paused And Your Final Time Will Be Halved. If You Leave The Course Or Miss An Instruction^note Instructions: Burst a red water balloon in this bucket. Take the hat from the mannequin and put it on the other mannequin. Read [aloud] and post this letter on the bicycle. Your Time Will Also Be Halved And The Clock Will Be Paused Until You Are Back In Position. Slowest Wins
  • Winner: Desiree - 2.625 seconds^note 84 seconds riding, five mistakes (5 points)
  • Alan - 2.5 seconds^note 78 seconds riding, five mistakes (4 points)
  • Guz - 0.5 seconds ^note 64 seconds, seven mistakes (3 points)
  • Victoria - 0.124 seconds^note 95 seconds, eight mistakes. This was also the first time Victoria had ridden a bike, having never learned how to as a child (2 points)
  • Morgana - 1/16th of a second^note 68 seconds riding, nine mistakes (1 point)

• Task 2: Spread Jam On A Slice Of Toast In A Really Cool Way. You Have Twenty Minutes
  • Winner: Guz (5 points)
  • Alan (4 points)
  • Victoria (3 points)
  • Desiree and Morgana (2 points)

• Task 3: Team Task - Solve The Riddle^note What is greater than the Taskmaster, more evil than the Devil, the Taskmaster's Assistant has it, the Taskmaster needs it, and if you eat it you'll die? Answer: Nothing. The riddle was written in an encrypted code. The key to the code was contained on the back of a jigsaw with the pieces split between contestants; the contestant in the lab had the jigsaw in front of them, but the jigsaw was hidden for the contestant in the living room. To decode the riddle, the contestant in the living room had to look like Charlie Chaplin (a bowler hat and moustache were provided under the table, following which a letter in the lab was opened containing a map of the living room that revealed the location of the jigsaw. Contestants were able to communicate via walkie-talkie. Each Team Member Must Stay In Their Rooms. Fastest Wins. If You Are Morgana Robinson, You Will Also Get Two Bonus Points If You Manage To Make One Of Your Teammates Say 'Submarine'. You May Not Say Submarine At Any Point, And If Your Teammates Believe You Have Tried To Make Them Say 'Submarine' You Will Lose Two Points
  • Winner: Alan and Victoria^note Victoria managed to almost single-handedly crack the code before Alan had completed his part of the key, although Alan was able to provide the answer "J = C" (5 points)
  • Desiree, Guz and Morgana^note Took 1 hour and 33 minutes to complete the task, making it apparently the longest recorded task in the show's history. It took Guz, who was provided the actual riddle, 41 minutes to even locate it; for contrast, this was 12 minutes longer than it took the other team to complete the task entirely. Guz also had time to write and play a song, perhaps appropriately titled "This Task is Shit". (2 points)
    • Morgana^note By evoking "Yellow Submarine" by the Beatles, she managed to get Desiree to say the word within the first two minutes (+2 bonus points)

• Live Task: Get The Most Forks In Your Bucket. You May Only Throw A Fork After A Full Spin In Your Chair. You Must Stay Seated In Your Chair At All Times And May Not Move Your Chair. Other Contestants' Forks In Your Bucket Count Towards Your Score. You Have 100 Seconds
  • Winner: Morgana - 10 forks^note one of which was Guz's (5 points)
  • Victoria - 7 forks^note two of which were Morgana's (4 points)
  • Alan - 6 forks^note all his own forks (3 points)
  • Desiree - 4 forks^note two of which were Alan's (2 points)
  • Guz - 2 forks^note had 7 in total, but didn't spin in his chair for the last five throws and so they were discounted (1 point)

• Episode Ranking:
  1. Winner: Alan Davies (21 points)
  2. Victoria Coren Mitchell (16 points)
  3. Desiree Burch (15 points)
  4. Guz Khan (14 points)
  5. Morgana Robinson (13 points)

Episode 5 - "Croissants Is Croissants"

• Prize Task: The Most Elegant Thing Beginning With "G".^note This task is a callback to the prize task from Series 7 episode "The Perfect Stuff," which was the most exciting thing beginning with the letter "G." The Taskmaster stated that he did not feel great about handing out scores for the prizes on offer, but nevertheless did award everyone a score according to the 1 to 5 scale.
  • Winner: Guz - a portrait of himself (5 points)
  • Alan - a dressing gown gifted to him by the now-defunct London Studios^note where QI used to be recorded (4 points)
  • Morgana - a giraffe ornament dressed like a ballerina (3 points)
  • Victoria - a homemade Mr. Greedy doll (2 points)
  • Desiree - a gardenia (1 point)

• Task 1: Sit On A Cake. Fastest Wins. There Are Five Bonus Points For The Best Cake.^note This task is both a Milestone Celebration birthday task for the 100th episode, and a Call-Back to a Series 6 task in which the Assistant was made to sit on a cake.
  • Winner: Victoria - 25 seconds^note sat on a flapjack she'd brought with her to the Taskmaster House as a snack (5 points)
  • Desiree - 2 minutes 45 seconds^note found a celebratory cake hidden in the shed behind the caravan^alsothe cake was mostly made out of shaving foam, but the Taskmaster decided to mark it as a legitimate attempt, resulting in him needing to accept Guz and Alan's attempts as legitimate after pondering if he should disqualify them (4 points)
  • Guz - 7 minutes 27 seconds^note decorated a croissant with frosting (3 points)
  • Alan - 11 minutes 55 seconds^note fashioned a cake out of paper (2 points)
  • Morgana - 1 hour 45 minutes^note actually baked her own cake (1 point + 5 bonus points for the best cake)

• Task 2: Team Task - Get The Most Balls In The Net. Everyone Must Stay On Their Spots At All Times. If Anyone Other Than The Task Reader Touches Or Handles A Ball, You Lose Five Balls From Your Ball Total. Also, The Person On The Middle Spot^note the Taskmaster's Assistant took this spot for the team of two Must Sit For Ten Seconds And Then Stand Up Straight For Ten Seconds On Repeat. Any Balls Remaining Between The Task Reader And The Middle Person Will Be Deducted From Your Ball Total.
  • Winner: N/A
  • Everyone - 0 points
    • Desiree, Guz, and Morgana - got all but one ball into the net, but the net was on the wrong side, resulting in a negative total
    • Alan and Victoria - too many balls hit the Assistant or were on the wrong side, resulting in a negative total

• Task 3: Prevent The Taskmaster's Assistant From Scoring A Goal. The Ball And Goalpost Must Be On Their Spots When Alex Attempts To Score a Goal. You Must Be 12 Yards From The Ball When Alex Attempts To Score. Slowest Goal Scored By Alex Wins.^note Unlike most other tasks, the Assistant actively combated the contestants' attempts
  • Winner: Morgana - 10 minutes 45 seconds (5 points)
  • Alan - 9 minutes 47 seconds (4 points)
  • Guz - 6 minutes (3 points)
  • Victoria - No time stated^note bet the Assistant £100 he couldn't make the shot and immediately lost (2 points)
  • Desiree - No time stated (1 point)

• Live Task: Pop The Most Balloons. You May Pop Between One And Ten Balloons Each Turn. If You Pop One Of The Five Bad Balloons^note filled with colored powder, You Are Disqualified. The Eventual Winner Gets Ten Actual Points.^note Although the task rules stated that those who popped a bad balloon would be disqualified, the four contestants who did were simply stopped from participating further and given scores
  • Winner: Guz - 26 balloons^note Guz edged out Alan because he didn't pop any of the bad balloons (10 points)
  • Alan - 26 balloons (4 points)
  • Morgana - 14 balloons (3 points)
  • Desiree - 4 balloons (2 points)
  • Victoria - 3 balloons (1 point)

• Episode Ranking:
  1. Winner: Guz Khan (21 points)
  2. Morgana Robinson (17 points)
  3. Alan Davies (14 points)
  4. Victoria Coren Mitchell (10 points)
  5. Desiree Burch (8 points)

Episode 6 - "A Chair In A Sweet"

• Prize Task: The Most Desirable Thing For The Contestant Below You In The Alphabet (Or, If You Are The Lowest Alphabetically, The Highest Contestant In The Alphabet)^note with "A" being highest and "Z" being lowest. Essentially, each contestant chooses a thing for the next person alphabetically by first name; Alan chooses something for Desiree, Desiree something for Guz, and so on until it reaches Victoria, who chooses something for Alan
  • Winner: Desiree - a painting of a bully kutta for Guz^note a breed of dog Guz has always wanted to own (5 points)
  • Morgana - a monogrammed velvet smoking jacket with matching slippers for Victoria (4 points)
  • Guz - one of his long coats for Morgana, which she had admired during a previous day's filming (3 points)
  • Alan - a book of etiquette for English ladies for Desiree (2 points)
  • Victoria - a season ticket voucher for Manchester United for Alan^note who actually supports Arsenal; Victoria, who doesn't really follow football, claimed that she had assumed that he would simply enjoy going to the football regardless of team and would want to see "the best team". The Taskmaster, who had been quite disgruntled with the genuinely thoughtful and considerate gifts given thus far, was quite thrilled with this development, but had to put her last. (1 point)

• Task 1: Land The Iron On The Ironing Board From The Furthest Distance. The Ironing Board Must Be Standing At Its Maximum Height When The Iron Lands On It, And The Iron Must Remain On The Board For The Attempt To Count. You Have Twenty Minutes
  • Winner: Alan - 14m 10cm (5 points)^note despite the iron disintegrating over the course of the task; placed the ironing board against the fence as a backstop and additionally placed the ironing basket atop it to catch the iron
  • Guz - 12m 40cm (4 points)^note at first used the ironing basket like Alan, then got the Taskmaster's Assistant's help to move the bathtub atop the ironing board to catch the iron
  • Victoria - 8m 60cm (3 points)^note used bamboo and rope to create a pulley system and lowered the iron onto the board
  • Morgana - 8m 44cm (2 points)^note tied several things together into a long pole and dropped the iron onto the board from a foot above it
  • Desiree - 4m 80cm (1 point)^note did not attempt anything special aside from throwing the iron

• Task 2: Make A Cute Toy For A Cute Dog^note Marco. You Have Twenty Minutes. The Dog Will Have Five Minutes With Your Cute Toy. Most Engaged Dog Wins
  • Winner: Guz (5 points)
  • Morgana (4 points)
  • Alan (3 points)
  • Victoria (2 points)
  • Desiree (1 point)

• Task 3: Sit On The Red Chair In The Secret Tower. You May Only Step On Circles On Your Way. You May Only Stand On Each Circle Once Unless It Is Black. You May Step On A Black Circle Twice, But Never Twice In A Row. Also, You Must Put This Task In The Shredder Within The First Minute. If You Fail For Any Reason, The Taskmaster's Assistant Will Blow His Whistle, Return Everything To The Starting Position, And You Must Start Again. Fastest Wins
  • Winner: Desiree - 3 min 5 sec (5 points)
  • Morgana - 3 min 45 sec (4 points)
  • Alan - 5 min 37 sec (3 points)
  • Guz - 6 min 45 sec (2 points)
  • Victoria^note failed to spot the red chair to be used, as she had forgotten her glasses; she instead made a "red chair" using the remaining red circles in her possession. Due to her musing about whether the chair was located within a sweet, as immortalised in the episode title, the Taskmaster took pity on her and decided to allow it as a chair. - time not specified, probably roughly 10 minutes^note Alex stated that if an hour was treated as an average human life span, it would have taken her "eleven years and eleven months" (1 point)

• Live Task: Part A - Choose The Number Of Sheets (Of Paper) You Want For The Second Part Of The Task. Each Sheet Will Reduce Your Points Total In The Game By Five. You Have Thirty Seconds To Select Your Sheets. Part B - Make Paper Airplanes. Your Paper Airplanes Must Look Like Airplanes. You Will Have Two Minutes To Make Your Airplanes, And Then Thirty Seconds Each To Throw All Your Airplanes Into The Receptacles^note toilet cistern = 1 point; toilet bowl = 2 points; sink = 3 points; waste paper bin = 4 points; bath = 5 points; bucket = 10 points. Most Points Wins^note no contestant managed to get a plane into a receptacle, effectively meaning the result was determined solely by how many sheets of paper each contestant took
  • Winner: Desiree and Guz = -10 points (5 points)
  • Morgana = -30 points (3 points)
  • Victoria = -35 points (2 points)
  • Alan = -40 points (1 point)

• Episode Ranking:
  1. Winner: Guz Khan (19 points)
  2. Desiree Burch and Morgana Robinson (17 points)
  3. Alan Davies (14 points)
  4. Victoria Coren Mitchell (9 points)

Episode 7 - "The Integrity of the Product"

• Prize Task: The Most-Ridiculous Thin Thing
  • Winner: Victoria - the same Mr. Greedy doll she'd submitted in "Croissants Is Croissants" (5 points)^note she successfully argued that the Taskmaster had labelled it the most-ridiculous thing he'd seen in the previous episode, therefore it must come first in this instance
  • Desiree - a pair of swim trunks that dissolve in water (4 points)
  • Alan - a copy of Wet Wet Wet's Popped In Souled Out on vinyl (3 points)
  • Morgana - one beard hair taken from Vic Reeves (2 points)
  • Guz - a standee of Wally with the Assistant's head^note reasoning that the Assistant would set a task where contestants would have to find him in a crowd whilst wearing that outfit if given the chance (1 point)

• Task 1: Put Up A Shelf For All The Taskmaster's Snooker Balls. All The Balls Must Be At The Taskmaster's Eyeline. Only The Taskmaster's Snooker Balls May Be On The Finished Shelf. Fastest Wins^note The final score was calculated by giving everyone a score based on time and a score based on height and then averaging the two.
  • Winner: Alan (4 points)
  • Desiree, Guz, Morgana, and Victoria (3 points)

• Task 2: Write And Perform A 30-Second Jingle. You Must Reach Into The Barrel To Find The Subject Of Your Jingle, Then Pop A Balloon To Discover The Instrument That You Must Play Under Your Jingle.
  • Winners: Desiree and Morgana (5 points)
    • Desiree - crab sticks and mini drum kit
    • Morgana - snakes in a tube and Swanee whistle
  • Alan and Guz (4 points)
    • Alan - laminator and stylophone
    • Guz - laminator and mini drum kit
  • Victoria - snakes in a tube and Swanee whistle (2 points)

• Task 3: Either Get The Pipe Through The Box And Everything In It Then Get The Box And Everything In It Through The Pipe. Or Get The Box And Everything In It Through The Pipe Then Get The Pipe Through The Box And Everything In It. Fastest Wins.^note The box contained: a sponge, a pair of tights, a pair of underpants, and an elastic band ball.
  • Winner: Desiree - 10 minutes 15 seconds (5 points)
  • Morgana - 12 minutes 48 seconds (4 points)
  • Victoria - 19 minutes 16 seconds (3 points)
  • Alan and Guz - Disqualified (0 points)^note Both failed to put the pipe through all of the items; Alan threaded the pipe through the box while it was still full, while Guz put the pipe through the box while the contents of the box were inside the pipe.

• Live Task: Each Person Must Direct Their Fellow Contestants To Draw An Image. The Drawing Director May Only Use The Following Words: Line, Circle, Square, Big, Small, Up, Down, Left, Right, Middle, Please, Bendy. At The End Of One Minute, The Drawers Must Write Down What They Think The Image Is^note in order, the images were: a banana, a castle, the Taskmaster, a harp, and a spider. The Drawers Will Receive One Point Per Correct Guess. The Drawing Director Will Also Receive One Point Per Correct Guess. Most Points Overall Wins.
  • Winner: Alan and Victoria^note Alan correctly guessed the spider Victoria was describing (5 points)
  • Desiree, Guz, and Morgana (0 points)

• Episode Ranking:
  1. Winner: Victoria Coren Mitchell (18 points)
  2. Desiree Burch (17 points)
  3. Alan Davies (16 points)
  4. Morgana Robinson (14 points)
  5. Guz Khan (8 points)

It was noted that at the end of this episode that the series scores were the closest they had ever been in the show's history. Morgana, in first place, was only three points ahead of Alan, Guz and Desiree. Victoria, in last place, was nineteen points behind.

Episode 8 - "A Couple of Ethels"

• Prize Task: The Best Thing You Use For Something Other Than Its Actual Purpose.
  • Winner: Desiree - a litter box enclosure that she uses as a regular cupboard because her cat refuses to use it (5 points)
  • Alan - a child's toothbrush with a suction-cup base that he uses to pull out recessed light fixtures (4 points)
  • Guz - a wire hanger that he claims to use as a phone holder^note caved under pressure from the Taskmaster and admitted that he only ever used it a few times (3 points)
  • Morgana - arse cream (anal ointment) that she uses as eye cream (2 points)
  • Victoria - a bread bin that she uses as a bread shelf because she keeps forgetting about the bread she puts inside (1 point)

• Task 1: Make And Wear A Popcorn Necklace With At Least Five Pieces Of Popcorn And Then Do The Opposite Of The Following: You Must Under No Circumstances Not Avoid Not Making The Bell Not Ring^note This translated into "You must not ring the bell". However, the task told the contestants to do the opposite of that, so they had to ring the bell. The Task Is Over When You Have Either Rung The Bell Or Not Rung The Bell And Said "I Did The Right Thing" Three Times. Fastest To Not Do The Wrong Thing Wins. If You Don't Do the Right Thing, You Lose Five Points.
  • Winner: Guz - 5 minutes 37 seconds (5 points)
  • Alan - 11 minutes (4 points)
  • Morgana - 16 minutes (3 points)
  • Desiree and Victoria - didn't ring the bell (-5 points)

• Task 2: Team Task - Part A: Play The Most-Brilliant Minute Of Socially Distanced Sport. Part B: Provide The Most Iconic And Memorable Commentary For This Brilliant One Minute Of Socially-Distanced Sport. One Of You Must Commentate On The Action, Another Must Provide Analysis. Best Commentary On The Most-Brilliant Socially Distanced Sport Wins.
  • Winner: Everyone (5 points) ^note The task was judged in two parts. While the Taskmaster enjoyed Alan and Victoria's socially distanced sport of Multi Sports more, he also preferred the commentary that Desiree, Guz and Morgana provided for their sport, Guz Ball. This led to the Taskmaster's decision to give everybody five points.

• Task 3: Make Your Face Look Like Another Face When Your Face Is Turned Upside Down. Most-Expressive and Radically Different Upside-Down Face Wins.
  • Winner: Alan and Victoria (5 points)
  • Guz and Morgana (4 points)
  • Desiree (2 points)

• Live Task: Pop Up Before The Object, But Only Just. You Are Only Allowed To Pop Up Once. Closest To The Pop Before The Pop Wins The Round^note the rounds were: toast in toaster, jack-in-the-box, and large balloon. If You Pop Up After The Object, You Get No Points That Round.
  • Winner: Morgana^note last for the toaster, 4th for the jack-in-the-box, last for the balloon: 14 points (5 points)
  • Guz^note 2nd for the toaster, 3rd for the jack-in-the-box, 3rd for the balloon: 9 points (4 points)
  • Alan^note 4th for the toaster, 1st for the jack-in-the-box, 2nd for the balloon: 8 points and Victoria^note 1st for the toaster, last for the jack-in-the-box, 1st for the balloon: 8 points (3 points)
  • Desiree^note 3rd for the toaster, 2nd for the jack-in-the-box, did not pop up in time for the balloon: 5 points (2 points)

• Tiebreaker: Blow The Feather Across The Table Using Only Your Nose.
  • Winner: Alan 9.5 seconds (+1 Tiebreaker Point)
  • Guz - 28.7 seconds

• Episode Ranking:
  1. Winner: Alan Davies (21 points + 1 Tiebreaker)
  2. Guz Khan (21 points)
  3. Morgana Robinson (19 points)
  4. Desiree Burch and Victoria Coren Mitchell (9 points)

Episode 9 - "Nothing Matters"

• Prize Task: The Best Forty Things That Are All The Same And Can Fit On A Towel
  • Winner: Alan - 40 tiny glasses of fizzy "Blue Nun" win atop a towel commemorating Wem, the Taskmaster's home town^note Alan was the only contestant to focus on making the towel competitive as well as the objects that could fit on it (5 points)
  • Desiree - 40 tiny trophies, with a pound coin inside each one (4 points)
  • Guz - 40 tennis balls on "a massive towel"^note the competitive prospects of introducing a tennis ball into any situation were demonstrated by him bringing a couple into the studio and throwing them around (3 points)
  • Victoria - 40 cherry liqueurs (2 points)
  • Morgana - 40 french fries (1 point)

• Task 1: Have The Longest Telephone Conversation Without The Other Person Knowing You Are Trying To Have A Long Telephone Conversation. During The Call You Must Not Mention "Television" Or "Taskmaster". Every Minute You Must Reveal And Carry Out An Action From The Board^note Possible actions: 1 - Yawn loudly for ten seconds. 2 - Play three long notes on the harmonica. 3 - Run on the spot for one minute. 4 - Mention carrots three times 5 - Ask if they've seen a rainbow. 6 - Be silent for twenty seconds. 7 - Make the noise of a monster. 8 - Pretend you are much much older. 9 - Laugh at everything they say. 10 - Say your own name very slowly. 11 - Describe a problem with your tongue. 12 - Whisper for thirty seconds. . If The Person You Call Says Any Of The Key Words^note highlighted in red on the action board, and in bold above, You Must Hang Up Immediately
  • Winner: Desiree - 8 min 27 sec (nine actions completed) (5 points)
  • Victoria - 3 min 41 sec (four actions completed) (4 points)
  • Guz - 1 min 45 sec (two actions completed) (3 points)
  • Morgana - 53 seconds (1 action completed) (2 points)
  • Alan - 20 seconds (1 action completed [barely]) (1 point)

• Task 2: Strike The Soldier With Your Throwing Paint. The Soldier Will Say Your Name Every Five Seconds. You May Not Remove Or Tamper With Your Helmet^note contestants were wearing masks that limited their peripheral vision along with goggles that blocked the rest of their vision while also streaming live footage from a camera affixed to the backs of their helmets, meaning they could only see what was behind them.
  • Winner: Morgana - ^note admitted in the studio that, owing to the headset not being applied correctly, she could see slightly when looking forward. As the Taskmaster's Assistant was responsible for applying the headsets, the Taskmaster decided that her attempt was valid but that the Assistant would be punished in "the traditional way".(5 points)
  • Desiree - 8 min 30 sec (4 points)
  • Guz - 12 min 34 sec (3 points)
  • Victoria - 13 min 30 sec (2 points)
  • Alan - 19 min 20 sec (1 point)

• Task 3: Get Goosebumps^note copies of the children's horror book series Goosebumps were contained in the caravan, but no contestant found them. Your Goosebumps Must Be Revealed In The Lab. Fastest Wins
  • Winner: Morgana (5 points)
  • Alan (4 points)
  • Desiree (3 points)
  • Guz and Victoria (Disqualified)

• Live Task: Get The Highest Score By Sliding Ducks. Each Team Will Slide A Pair Of Ducks Three Times. Each Slider Must Smirk At The Taskmaster While Sliding Their Ducks. The Winning Team Receives 5 Points, The Losing Team Receives Zero
  • Winner: Desiree, Guz and Morgana (5 points)
  • Alan and Victoria (0 points)

• Episode Ranking:
  1. Winner: Desiree Burch (21 points)
  2. Morgana Robinson (18 points)
  3. Guz Khan (14 points)
  4. Alan Davies (11 points)
  5. Victoria Coren Mitchell (8 points)

Episode 10 - "Caring Uncle Minpict"

• Prize Task: Most Magnificent Floppy Thing
  • Winner: Desiree - an air dancer (5 points)
  • Alan and Guz (4 points)
    • Alan - a voodoo model of himself used in a TV show^note unnamed, but from context clues (was made about twenty years ago and involved his character's wife stabbing it) was perhaps A Many Splintered Thing, in which his character was having an affair containing "a floppy surprise"
    • Guz - a blood pressure monitor
  • Morgana - a wig replicating Claudia Winkleman's fringe (2 points)
  • Victoria - a copy of Battlefield Earth^note a notorious box-office flop on DVD (1 point)

• Task 1: Drink All This Drink With Your Mouth Open. Your Mouth Must Be Visibly Open Throughout. Fastest Wins
  • Winner: Desiree - 7 seconds (5 points)
  • Guz - 1 min 5 sec (4 points)
  • Alan - 2 min 8 sec (3 points)
  • Morgana - 3 min (2 points)
  • Victoria - 8 min 30 sec (1 point)

• Task 2: Team Task - If You Are Alan Or Morgana, Using Your Whole Body To Make Individual Characters, Describe The Taskmaster While Wearing Ear Protectors. Your Description Must Be A Minimum Of Twenty Characters Long. Most Vivid Description Wins. You Have Ten Minutes. If You Are Victoria and Desiree, Work Out What Your Teammates' Tasks Are. You Must Remain In The Caravan And Not Communicate With Your Teammates In Any Way. After Ten Minutes You Must Write Down What You Think Their Tasks Are. Best Guess Wins. If You Are Guz, Lick A Chocolate Button, Stick It To Your Head And Then Transfer It To Your Mouth Without Touching It With Your Hands Or Leaving The Tennis Umpire's Chair.
  • Winner: Alan and Victoria (5 points)
  • Desiree, Guz and Morgana (4 points)

This is the second team task that, owing to COVID restrictions, one member of the three-person team is essentially assigned their own task to complete.

• Task 3: Propose To The Taskmaster's Assistant In The Most Irresistible Way. You Have Thirty Minutes
  • Winner: Guz and Morgana (5 points)
  • Alan and Desiree (4 points)
  • Victoria (3 points)

• Live Task: One At A Time, Make A Noise^note in order, birdsong, beatboxing, and a "big, scary monster" Without The Taskmaster Identifying You. The Person Who Makes The Most Unidentified Noises Wins
  • Winner: Guz and Morgana (5 points)
  • Alan, Desiree and Victoria (3 points)

• Episode Ranking:
  1. Winner: Guz Khan (22 points)
  2. Desiree Burch (21 points)
  3. Alan Davies (19 points)
  4. Morgana Robinson (18 points)
  5. Victoria Coren Mitchell (13 points)

Episode Tally

• Guz Khan = 4 episodes (Episodes 2, 5, 6 and 10)
• Alan Davies and Desiree Burch = 2 episodes
  • Desiree (Episodes 3 and 9)
  • Alan (Episodes 4 and 8)
• Morgana Robinson and Victoria Coren Mitchell = 1 episode
  • Morgana (Episode 1)
  • Victoria (Episode 7)

This is the first occasion since Series 6 that the series' overall winner did not win the most (or joint-most) episodes, and the first time since Series 4 that they won only a single episode.

Task Tally

A breakdown of the tasks as won by the contestants is as follows:

• Desiree Burch: 17 tasks (5 prize tasks, 7 video tasks [1 joint with Morgana], 2 video team tasks [1 joint with the other team], 1 live task [joint with Guz], 2 live team tasks)
• Guz Khan and Morgana Robinson: 15 tasks
  • Guz: 2 prize tasks, 5 video tasks [1 joint with Morgana], 2 video team tasks [1 joint with the other team], 4 live tasks [1 joint with Desiree, 1 joint with Morgana], 2 live team tasks)
  • Morgana: 7 video tasks^note In one further video task in episode 5, Morgana scored 1 but was awarded 5 bonus points promised in the task, meaning she scored higher on the task than the winner, Victoria [1 joint with Desiree, 1 joint with Guz], 2 video team tasks [1 joint with the other team], 4 live tasks [1 joint with Guz], 2 live team tasks
• Alan Davies: 12 tasks (2 prize tasks, 5 video tasks [1 joint with Victoria], 3 video team tasks [1 joint with the other team], 1 live task [joint with Victoria], 1 tiebreaker)
• Victoria Coren Mitchell: 9 tasks (1 prize task, 4 video tasks [1 joint with Alan], 3 video team tasks [1 joint with the other team], 1 live task [joint with Alan])

One video team task in episode 5 had no winner, as nobody earned any points.

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: Guz Khan (describing his failed attempt to pop the balloon with a slingshot during the "pop the balloon from behind the rope, paying for supplies with 'time'" task: "That balloon deserved to pop! There is an imbalance in the poppability of the balloon.")
• Episode 2: Desiree Burch (describing the contents of one of the bags of unappetising food in the "work out the contents of these bags" task, which the Taskmaster's Assistant paraphrased into the episode title: "And this shit is like, oatmeal and... I don't know, death." "Oatmeal and death?" "Yeah.")
• Episode 3: The Taskmaster (challenging Victoria Coren Mitchell's assertion that a James Bond villain storing nuclear weapons in cats, as depicted in her submission for "best thirty second 'wellie-cam' film", is "the sort of thing they do": "It's not the sort of thing they do, and I think if they did do that, honestly, I think it would be the end of the franchise.")
• Episode 4: Victoria Coren Mitchell (referring to her ability to solve the riddle in the "solve the riddle" task almost single-handedly, combined with her bemoaning in an earlier task that her teenaged ideas of cool were to customise her inhaler: "It's very much a task drawn from the world of the customised inhaler...")
• Episode 5: The Taskmaster's Assistant (when the Taskmaster questioned whether Guz Khan had sat on a cake or not, the Taskmster's Assistant read out a definition of a cake, which Guz then tried to challenge: "A cake is usually a round mass of food that is baked or fried." "Croissants is baked, hey?" "Yeah, but also croissants is croissants.")
• Episode 6: Victoria Coren Mitchell (when trying to locate "the red chair" to be sat in during the "sit on the red chair in the secret tower" task, after discovering a sweet tied to balloons within said tower: "There can't be a chair in a sweet, can there?")
• Episode 7: Victoria Coren Mitchell (when questioned by the Taskmaster's Assistant as to why she was returning the snakes to the snakes in a can after having released them: "Why are you putting them away?" "I don't know, really - for the integrity of the product." Afterwards repeated back by the Taskmaster's assistant when she gave up: "Right, I'm going to leave it there." "What about the integrity of the product?")
• Episode 8: Guz Khan (when discussing the possibility that there were ghosts of nuns in the church during the "double negative" task, and the Taskmaster’s Assistant repeated his words for clarification: "You know there’s a couple of Ethels still walking around here." "A couple of Ethels?")
• Episode 9: The Taskmaster's Assistant (when asked by the Taskmaster whether Alan Davies' creative loophole in the "get goosebumps" task matters due to his lengthy completion time: "Well, nothing matters.")
• Episode 10: Victoria Coren Mitchell (her guess for what Alan was trying to spell in the team task: "I think Alan was trying to spell out the well-known phrase 'Caring Uncle Minpict'.")

Series Ranking

1. Winner: Morgana Robinson (168 points)
2. Guz Khan (167 points)
3. Alan Davies and Desiree Burch (161 points)
4. Victoria Coren Mitchell (121 points)

This is the third series that the difference between the eventual winner and the runner-up has come down to a single point, and the third series in which two competitors within the same series earned the same amount of points. It is the first ten-episode series where the latter has occurred.

This is the first time since Series 2 that the winner didn't come first in any of the prize tasks. It's also the first time in a ten episode series where the winner only won a single episode.