Recap / Taskmaster New Year Treats and One-Offs

aka: Taskmaster New Year Treat 2020

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

This page collects together the recaps for one-off episodes of Taskmaster (UK), including the "New Year Treats" episodes. Unmarked spoilers are contained throughout. If you haven't seen the episodes yet, you are recommended to leave the page now. You have been warned.

Taskmaster's Assistant: The winner of this special will win all the surprising things plus your giant golden eyebrows! What a way to kick off a new year. Wowee!
The Taskmaster: The trophy we use in the series is bad enough, but this is truly worthless, isn't it?

Unless otherwise noted, the following roles are consistent throughout all New Year's Treats:

• Taskmaster: Greg Davies
• Taskmaster's Assistant: Alex Horne

New Year Treat 2021 (first broadcast 01/01/2021)

Cast

From left: Shirley Ballas, John Hannah, Greg Davies, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Alex Horne, Nicola Coughlan, Rylan Clark-Neal, Rylan's Suggestive Costume Of Greg Giving Him A Piggy-Back Ride

• Contestants: John Hannah, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Nicola Coughlan, Rylan Clark-Neal and Shirley Ballas
• Teams: N/A - No team tasks were arranged.

This is the first televised episode to feature a panel of new contestants for only a single episode. It is also the first episode to debut the Taskmaster's Eyebrows Trophy^note which is the fourth separate trophy that contestants have competed for on the series; the standard Taskmaster Trophy, the karate trophy won by Josh Widdicombe in Series 1, and the Taskmaster's Body Trophy won by Josh in the first Champion of Champions. As with the full series that immediately preceded it, there was no studio audience, with a virtual one watching the finished episode instead.

"The Fastest Duck"

• Prize Task: Best Thing To Bring To A Party
  • Winner: Shirley - a drinks trolley with a record player (5 point)
  • Nicola - a real human skeleton with a bottle of tequila (4 points)
  • Rylan - a robot vacuum (3 points)
  • Krishnan - a disco light generator (2 points)
  • John - a Bop-It toy (1 point)

• Task 1: Get The Biggest Thing Through The Donut Without Breaking The Donut^note The task envelope had a caveat on the back stating that anyone who wrote down "The Biggest Thing" and passed it through the hole would be disqualified. Although the writing on the back of the envelope is plainly visible to the viewer, this wasn't mentioned onscreen because none of the contestants attempted this nor did any of them think to look on the back.
  • Winner: Rylan - the Taskmaster cow^note named "Linda" by Rylan, through the use of camera trickery^note it was pointed out that this was technically not putting the actual cow through the donut, but the Taskmaster allowed it partly to annoy Nicola, and partly to annoy the many viewers who would go to the internet following the episode to complain about it (5 points)
  • Shirley - a length of pipe, after the donut had been carefully altered to fit it (4 points)
  • Krishnan - a length of rope attached to a pole at one end and a white opera glove at the other (3 points)
  • John - a large cup of tea^note after trying numerous other items (2 point)
  • Nicola - the tip of a cactus branch^note Nicola, under the impression that the entire cactus counted, instead focussed on decorating the cactus (1 point)

• Task 2: Sculpt The Scene On The Other Side Of This Wall^note a lollipop man/crossing guard holding a rubber duck Using Playdoh. Most Accurate Sculpture Wins. You May Only Touch What Is On The Other Side Of The Wall While Wearing Long Black Gloves
  • Winner: Rylan (5 points)
  • Krishnan (4 points)
  • John (3 points)
  • Nicola (2 points)
  • Shirley (1 point)

• Task 3: Build The Lightest Tower On This Set Of Scales. You May Not Move Or Tape Anything To The Scales, And You May Not Tamper With Or Block The Fan. The Fan Will Be On For One Minute Every Other Minute. At The End Of Ten Minutes Your Tower Must Be Taller Than A Wolf, And Must Stand By Itself For Ten Seconds. Lightest Tower Wins. If You Are Rylan Clark-Neal, Then Every Time The Taskmaster's Assistant Rings His Little Bell, You Must Also Pretend You Have Had A Brilliant Idea
  • Winner: John (5 points)
  • Krishnan (4 points)
  • Shirley (3 points)
  • Nicola and Rylan (Disqualified)^note Nicola failed to complete her tower, and what was standing on the scales (a roll of blue roll) was not taller than a wolf. Rylan strung up a thread of Christmas lights, but this was deemed — in the face of his intensely compelling car-salesman-like ability to sell himself — to not be a tower

• Live Task: Without Your Fellow Contestants Seeing, Select One Object^note an anchor, a balloon, a cabbage, a diagram, and an equilateral snooker triangle From Your Box. If You Select The Same Object As One Of Your Fellow Contestants, You Will Both Lose One Actual Point. You Have Thirty Seconds. Then, Strike The Most Balls In Your Bin Into The Bathtub Using Your Actual Object. If Any Of Your Balls Hit The Taskmaster, You Will Lose One Actual Point
  • Winner: Shirley - a cabbage (5 points -1 point)^note chose the same object as John, but managed to get two balls into the bath
  • Nicola - a triangle (4 points -1 point)^note chose the same object as Krishnan, but managed to get one ball in the bath
  • John - a cabbage (4 points -5 points)^note although managing to get one ball in the bath, which was enough for second place, he chose the same object as Shirley and hit the Taskmaster four times, for a total of -5 points. While the Taskmaster was initially inclined towards leniency, as John was the only contestant who had the Taskmaster in his immediate line of fire, John conceded that he had been aiming several balls at the Taskmaster deliberately
  • Rylan - a diagram (0 points)^note the only contestant who chose an object that no other contestant chose, but failed to get any balls into the bath
  • Krishnan - a triangle (0 points -1 point)^note chose the same object as Nicola and failed to get any balls into the bath

Episode Ranking:

1. Winner: Shirley Ballas (17 points)
2. Rylan Clark-Neal (13 points)
3. Krishnan Guru-Murthy (12 points)
4. John Hannah and Nicola Coughlan (10 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:

• The Taskmaster's Assistant (describing Nicola Coughlan's duck in her sculpture for the "sculpt what is on the other side of this wall" task, in which she heavily emphasised speed: "It was the fastest duck.")

New Year Treat 2022 (first broadcast 01/01/2022)

Cast

From left: Sayeeda Warsi, Claudia Winkleman, Greg Davies (seated), Adrian Chiles, Alex Horne (seated), Jonnie Peacock, Lady Leshurr

• Contestants: Adrian Chiles, Claudia Winkleman, Jonnie Peacock, Lady Leshurr, and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi
• Teams: N/A - No team tasks were arranged.

NOTE: Owing to illness, Jonnie Peacock was unable to participate in the studio recording. His place in the studio recording was filled by Alan Davies. This was also the first episode broadcast since the Series 9 finale to be filmed in front of a live studio audience.

"Basic Recipe 28"

• Prize Task: The Most Beguiling Unwieldy Shiny Thing
  • Winner: Leshurr - a MOBO Award she won in 2016 (5 points)
  • Jonnie - a copper petal which was part of the cauldron of the 2012 Olympic Flame (4 points)
  • Adrian - a tea urn, which he has descaled and restored (3 points)
  • Sayeeda - a fully decorated Christmas tree (2 points)
  • Claudia - a tiered, large scale fountain (1 points)

• Task 1: Put The Egg In The Egg-Cup In The Most Daring Way. If The Egg Breaks You Are Disqualified. You Have Thirty Minutes
  • Winner: Adrian - crawled over the concrete driveway without trousers on with the egg in his mouth (5 points)
  • Sayeeda - dressed in a superhero costume, piloted the egg on a basket on the back of a (slow-moving) remote controlled rat, then used a vacuum cleaner to suck the egg and put it into the cup "the right way up" (4 points)
  • Leshurr - rolled the egg into the cup using a specially-bought salmon and lemon juice^note the Taskmaster challenged her that she had simply wanted to eat some salmon and used the task as an excuse to get some (3 points)
  • Claudia - put the egg-cup on the back of the cow then threw the egg at it... then calmly placed the egg into the cup after it had bounced on the grass (2 points)
  • Jonnie - constructed a ramp where the egg would exit over an open flame before bouncing it into the cup with a tennis racket (Disqualified)^note the egg was broken during descent

• Task 2: Drink All The Vinegar. Fastest Wins. Your Time Stops When You Shout "I Have Drunk All The Vinegar"^note there was only one shot of vinegar provided amongst many glasses; not all the liquids were drinkable
  • Winner: Adrian - 9 min 5 sec (5 points)^note took longer to find the vinegar, but drank it quicker once he had done so
  • Jonnie - 10 min 36 sec (4 points)^note found the vinegar first, but spilled it; it took him 1 min 58 sec to find a straw to enable him to drink the rest. Jonnie was also the only contestant to discover the clues identifying the correct shot-glass containing the vinegar.
  • Claudia, Leyshurr and Sayeeda (Disqualified)^note gave up before finding the shot-glass with vinegar; ironically, all of them came within a few glasses of doing so

• Task 3: Choose A Length For This Pole And Then Guide It Through The Course. The Person Who Completes The Course With The Longest Pole Wins. Every Time Your Pole Touches Something Other Than Your Hands, 10cm Will Be Removed From Its Length. You Have A Maximum Of 10 Minutes
  • Winner: Adrian - 302cm pole minus 40cm (4 strikes) = 262cm (5 points)
  • Jonnie - 700cm pole^note the maximum length the pole could be extended minus 480cm (48 strikes) = 220cm (4 points)
  • Leyshurr - 360cm pole minus 150cm (15 strikes) = 210cm (3 points)
  • Sayeeda - 237cm pole minus 30cm (3 strikes) = 207cm (2 points)
  • Claudia - 420cm pole minus 410cm (41 strikes) = 10cm (1 points)

• Live Task: Part A - Choose A Ball. You Have 30 Seconds. Part B - Turn Your Ball Into A Head. Your New Head Must Be The Head Of One Of Your Fellow Contestants. Best Head Wins. You Have 200 Seconds
  • Winner: Sayeeda - Adrian (5 points)
  • Adrian - Claudia (4 points)
  • Alan - Leshurr (3 points)
  • Claudia - Adrian (2 points)
  • Leshurr - Claudia (1 points)

Jonnie Peacock is the second contestant to have had points won on his behalf by another person, and the first to have required this in a one-off episode. Alan Davies is the third former contestant to stand-in for another contestant in a live task, the fourth former contestant to win points in an episode outside of a series he starred in, and the first non-champion main series contestant to earn points in a one-off episode.

Episode Ranking:

1. Winner: Adrian Chiles (22 points)
2. Jonnie Peacock (15 points)
3. Baronness Sayeeda Warsi (13 points)
4. Lady Leshurr (12 points)
5. Claudia Winkleman (6 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:

• Adrian Chiles (reading from an old cookery book he found in the Taskmaster caravan and requested to keep: "Basic recipe 28 - plain pudding mixture. That's what you like, no dicking around.")

New Year Treat 2023 (first broadcast 01/01/2023)

Cast

From left: Carol Vorderman, Amelia Dimoldenberg, Greg Davies, Greg James, Alex Horne, Sir Mo Farah and Rebecca Lucy Taylor ("Self-Esteem")

• Contestants: Amelia Dimoldenberg, Carol Vorderman, Greg James, Sir Mo Farah and Rebecca Lucy Taylor ("Self-Esteem")
• Teams: N/A - No team tasks were arranged.

"That's A Swizz"

• Prize Task: The Thing That The Taskmaster Would Be Most Surprised That You Own
  • Winner: Mo - his hairdryer^note for full context, Sir Mo Farah is famously bald (5 points)
  • Carol - the "Vorder-van", a "serial killer" van which she claims to live in for three-four months of the year (4 points)
  • Amelia - a coffin for a fly (3 points)
  • Rebecca - a (somewhat crudely-made) ashtray sculpture of herself in the bath, made during the pandemic (2 points)
  • Greg - a unique piece of religious-inspired artwork with the Virgin Mary played by Jonathan Ross and "fat baby Jesus" played by Chris Moyles (1 point)

• Task 1: Count All The Dots On This Card. You May Not Mark Or Touch The Card. You Must Give An Answer In Ten Minutes, And Must Answer The Door And Obey The Instructions Every Time The Doorbell Rings^note the instructions, in order, were: wear these goggles until the doorbell next rings; stand behind the barrier until the doorbell next rings; shout until the doorbell next rings (during which a phone would ring); wear boxing gloves and an eyepatch and count like a pirate until the doorbell next rings; feed the [person dressed as a] blackbird all the seeds; put on a swimming hat and swimming goggles and giggle until the doorbell next rings. Most Accurate Final Answer Wins^note the card was turned over every time the contestants left the room. The colour patterns were inverted on both sides, Both sides had to be counted, and there were 871 dots on both sides, for a total of 1742 dots total
  • Winner: Greg - 1724 (difference of -18) ^note was the only contestant who answered the ringing phone during one of the secondary tasks, which when answered played a voice reciting the correct amount of dots. He subsequently reversed the last two digits when delivering his guess, but it was still close enough for the win (5 points)
  • Carol - 1683 (-59) (4 points)
  • Amelia - 752 (-990) (3 points)
  • Mo - 2880 (+1138) (2 points)
  • Rebecca - 293 (-1449) (1 point)

• Task 2: Recreate The Picture That The Taskmaster's Assistant Is Holding. Your Face Must Not Move From This Position^note the contestants were seated in a massage chair. The Taskmaster's Assistant Will Show You The Picture For Five Seconds When You've Finished Reading The Task And Then For A Further Three Seconds Every Time You Land A Ball In A Bucket^note located directly behind the contestants. Best Recreation Of The Picture Wins. You Have Ten Minutes
  • Winner: N/A^note The Taskmaster refused to give anyone five points as the results were, in his words, "an absolute crime against art"
  • Greg and Rebecca (4 points)
  • Mo (3 points)
  • Amelia (2 points)
  • Carol (1 point)

• Task 3: Put The Most Carp Pellets In The Fish Bowl. You Must Not Bend At The Waist Or Knees At Any Point. You Have Fifteen Minutes^note cans of pellets were concealed in the rooms of the Taskmaster House, but were boobytrapped to collapse onto the floor upon the contestants entering. A concealed message on the task alerted them to this
  • Winner: Mo - 24546 pellets (5 points)
  • Rebecca - 24038 pellets (4 points)
  • Greg - 23292 pellets (3 points)
  • Carol - 23250 pellets (2 points)
  • Amelia - 9000 pellets (1 point)

• Live Task: Obey The Taskmaster's Instructions. You Must Only Obey Instructions That Begin With "Greg Says". Greg Says The Person Who Obeys The Taskmaster's Instructions Best Wins^note According to Greg James on the podcast, there was a list of where everything should be at the end somewhere on the jackets, which was not indicated in the actual broadcast
  • Winner: Amelia and Mo - 4 items in the correct pockets (5 points)
  • Carol and Rebecca - 2 items in the correct pockets (3 points)
  • Greg - 1 item in the correct pocket (1 points)

• Episode Ranking:
  1. Winner: Sir Mo Farah (20 points)
  2. Amelia Dimoldenberg, Carol Vorderman, Greg James, and Rebecca Lucy Taylor (14 points)

This is the first episode where all but the winning contestant has received the same score.

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:

• Carol Vorderman (on triggering one of the boobytraps when completing the "carp pellet" task: "That's a swizz!")

New Year Treat 2024 (first broadcast 02/01/2024)

Cast

From left: Steve Backshall, Zoe Ball, Greg Davies, Deborah Meaden, Alex Horne, Kojey Radical, Lenny Rush

• Contestants: Deborah Meaden, Kojey Radical, Lenny Rush, Steve Backshall, Zoe Ball
• Teams: N/A - No team tasks were arranged.

"Huh?"

• Prize Task: The Most Fun Thing To Be Carrying When You Enter A Room Full Of People You Don't Know
  • Winner: Kojey and Lenny (5 points)
    • Kojey - six robot puppies, trained by Kojey to perform a dance
    • Lenny - candy cigarettes and squash, disguised as beer and cigarettes
  • Steve - an Irukanji, "the world's most venomous animal", in a jar (3 points)
  • Zoe - a one-man band (2 points)
  • Deborah - a bingo cage (1 point)

• Task 1: Eat These Poppadoms. After Each Mouthful You Must Lose A Letter Of The Alphabet From Your Vocabulary. Then Either Compliment The Taskmaster Or Insult The Taskmaster's Assistant. Your Insults And Compliments Must All Be Different. If You Use A Lost Letter At Any Point, 10g Will Be Added To Your Final Poppadom Weight. Most Poppadoms Eaten Wins^note in practice, as all contestants made more mistakes than they consumed poppadoms,which resulted in a net-increase in amount of 'poppadoms', the task was ultimately scored on who made the fewest mistakes
  • Winner:Deborah - 24 mistakes (5 points)
  • Steve - 38 mistakes (4 points)
  • Zoe - 56 mistakes (3 points)
  • Lenny - 85 mistakes (2 points)
  • Kojey - 131 mistakes (1 point)^note but achieved a long-held ambition of feeding the Taskmaster's Assistant on the show, to the point where he had it commemorated on a T-shirt

• Task 2: Draw A Picture Of Yourself Eating Some Fruit On This Tablet. You May Not Touch The Touch Screen With Any Part Of Your Hands. You Have As Long As It Takes You To Eat An Orange^note The contestants were asked how long it takes them to eat an orange prior to opening the task. Also, Throughout The Task, You Must Become Increasingly Angry
  • Winner: Kojey^note 6 minutes 23 seconds (5 points)
  • Zoe^note 3 minutes (4 points)
  • Lenny^note 10 minutes (3 points)
  • Steve^note 45 seconds; failed to include any fruit (2 points)
  • Deborah^note 3 minutes (1 point)

• Task 3: Make These Things Pop When The Timer Hits Zero.^note toaster, (party) popper, monster, Jack (in a box), gum, (cat) feeder, cuckoo (clock), bubble and balloon. Shortest Time Between First And Last Pop Wins. You Have Fifteen Minutes
  • Winner: Steve - 18 seconds (5 points)
  • Lenny - 50 seconds (4 points)
  • Deborah - 72 seconds (3 points)
  • Kojey - 3 min 31 sec (2 points)
  • Zoe - 24 minutes (1 points)

• Live Task: Say Whether The Item Will Fit Through The Hole Or Not Fit Through The Hole. If You Get It Right You Lose An Egg. Fewest Remaining Eggs Wins
  • Winner: Lenny (5 points)
  • Steve (4 points)
  • Deborah and Zoe (3 points)
  • Kojey (1 point)

• Episode Ranking:
  1. Lenny Rush (19 points)
  2. Steve Backshall (18 points)
  3. Kojey Radical (14 points)
  4. Deborah Meaden and Zoe Ball (13 points)

Episode Title

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:

• Kojey Radical (After the Taskmaster's Assistant had finished explaining the "you must make all these items pop at the same time" task: "... Huh?")