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Leatherhead posted:6 seems to be the consensus for 'worst' season (and lots of people are down on 10, which I actually like pretty well), but even then I never thought 'I should stop watching this.' I just kept hoping it would get a little better. I thought 3 was? If you cut 3 out entirely it wouldn't matter 6 has Liza Tarbuck and she was great even if the rest of it was kinda flat
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Jul 18, 2023 16:02
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10 and 15 are my least favourite series. 10 because of the weird plague-affected atmosphere, and 15 because it was just a bit dull. 6 was good (I’ve got a bit of a thing for Alice Levine), but that shadow between the heights of the Bob Mortimer/Sally Phillips and James Acaster/Rhod Gilbert series is very very deep.
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Jul 18, 2023 16:18
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10's got Hippogate which I feel at least partially redeems it.
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Jul 18, 2023 16:44
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Guz Khan is responsible for a meme in my household of "There's been a revelation... in the lab" that persists to this day.
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Jul 18, 2023 18:21
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Taear posted:I thought 3 was? If you cut 3 out entirely it wouldn't matter What? 3 has Al Murray and Paul Chowdhry. You can't lose that.
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Jul 18, 2023 18:43
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Personally I think 8 was the weakest but even a bad season of taskmaster is pretty fun TV
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Jul 18, 2023 18:46
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10 is the inarguably the weakest. Flat in the studio due to covid, badly designed tasks throughout.
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Jul 18, 2023 19:00
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I think the studio interactions in 10 are lovely, everybody is giggly and clearly excited at being around other people. Agree that a lot of the tasks were poo poo. I'd probably say 3 is the weakest of the lot, even though Paul is a treasure and I like Al Murray more than most people. But Rob Beckett's maybe the most boring winner and Dave Gorman's probably the most boring contestant of all time.
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Jul 18, 2023 19:44
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If you put any stock in the userbase of imdb, 6, 8 and 10 are the consistently weak series. https://www.ratingraph.com/tv-shows/taskmaster-ratings-57614/
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Jul 18, 2023 19:57
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Kaiho posted:Guz Khan is responsible for a meme in my household of "There's been a revelation... in the lab" that persists to this day. drat I didn't know I had an alt
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Jul 18, 2023 20:15
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Series 10 was the only series I struggled to get through due to the weird atmosphere in the studio. But I've never disliked any series just because of the emotional journey you go on, wondering who the gently caress these five twats are, to then never wanting them to leave my screen at the end. It's very effective. Case in point, I think a lot of us thought John Kearns didn't start off well, I didn't find him very funny and he seemed a bit lost in the banter. Then two episodes later everything kinda clicked for everyone involved and I was laughing at basically every word he said. But for argument's sake, let's say the worst series is, uhhhhh, 5, or whatever.
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Jul 18, 2023 20:34
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Pablo Bluth posted:10 is the inarguably the weakest. Flat in the studio due to covid, badly designed tasks throughout. But then it has the "make a cocktail without exceeding 60dB" which is my all-time favourite task Unrelated, I've just rewatched S1 and it's really good. It's surprising how little the format has changed since then.
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Jul 18, 2023 20:58
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SixFigureSandwich posted:Unrelated, I've just rewatched S1 and it's really good. It's surprising how little the format has changed since then. Going straight to S1 after S15 was a trip, just felt immediately timeless. Fun to see how it doesn't take long for Little Alex Horne to be established in S2. Something I noticed in the past couple series I've been going through (S12/S13) is that The Horne Section has been upping their music with more interesting and bombastic compositions during some task montages.
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Jul 18, 2023 21:09
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Being in the middle of series 8 and seeing people say seasons I’ve already seen have been the worst is encouraging since I’ve liked all of them so far 
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Jul 18, 2023 21:09
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There are no unwatchable series.
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Jul 18, 2023 21:49
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Someone didnt see taskmaster us
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Jul 18, 2023 22:44
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Grassy Knowles posted:Someone didnt see taskmaster us It doesn't exist.
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Jul 18, 2023 22:53
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Rochallor posted:I think the studio interactions in 10 are lovely, everybody is giggly and clearly excited at being around other people. Agree that a lot of the tasks were poo poo. Yeah a lot of people are down on 10 but honestly I feel like the weird nervous energy in the studio from being the first covid season actually works really well with the show. I do think that TM doesn't really have any "bad" seasons but a few of them are "forgettable". Like you can enjoy them while watching but after finishing there aren't many moments that really stick with you.
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Jul 19, 2023 00:34
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10 also had some of the worst tasks. Just in episode 1 there was a task where everyone DQed and another where DMC got a solitary pity point. And there are plenty others that are just complicatedly bizarre without actually being funny. Scanning through the list, it's like they tacked on puzzle components to what should have been simpler physical or craft tasks. There are a few all-timers in there, but it's mostly a snoozefest.
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Jul 19, 2023 00:55
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10 has a pregnant lady as a villain, though. I thought that was pretty great. "There are no more swearwords left, as far as I know..."
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Jul 19, 2023 01:30
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"Am I the spider?"
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Jul 19, 2023 01:55
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oh jay posted:10 also had some of the worst tasks. Yeah, the difficulty level of a lot of the tasks was insane, and while some of them ended up being pretty fun TV, like the eggs in the pan one, there were others like whatever that one with the opening and closing doors was where it was both really hard and incredibly tedious to watch. I do wonder if the beginning of the lockdown ended some of the filming prematurely and they had to use virtually every task they had shot so far, whereas in a regular season you'd leave some of them on the cutting room floor. I remember they specifically pointed out that the ball counting task was a "practice" task, but also they filmed it so they must have suspected they might end up using it.
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Jul 19, 2023 02:03
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Phigs posted:"Am I the spider?" Katherine Parkinson is another reason why I can't hate S10 too much, she's probably my favorite "bad" contestant that's ever been on the show. Like there have been a lot of good bad contestants, but she has a particular brand of weirdness where she not only is she incompetent but it doesn't even seem to occur to her in the moment that she could be incompetent, so she just has this great sense of completely unjustified confidence in all her tasks, while also being a good sport about it in the studio and being fully aware of how ridiculous she was being with the benefit of hindsight.
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Jul 19, 2023 02:07
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Rochallor posted:Yeah, the difficulty level of a lot of the tasks was insane, and while some of them ended up being pretty fun TV, like the eggs in the pan one, there were others like whatever that one with the opening and closing doors was where it was both really hard and incredibly tedious to watch. I actually like the eggs in a pan one. I came into very eager thinking "Oohh, this sounds impossible. Wonder how they'll manage" and then in the end it was "Oh, it was impossible and that was a waste of time." Phigs posted:"Am I the spider?" But that was the good poo poo.
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Jul 19, 2023 02:29
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On 6 I agree both with Tarbuck being great and with having a bit of a thing for Alice Levine. In particular 6 has the cake sitting scene which is my favorite thing that has ever happened on Taskmaster.
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Jul 19, 2023 12:33
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If you judged a series by how good the final filmed task is, S10 and S3 go way down the bottom. While S6 and S8 both punch above their weight...
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Jul 19, 2023 13:56
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Crosspeice posted:Series 10 was the only series I struggled to get through due to the weird atmosphere in the studio. But I've never disliked any series just because of the emotional journey you go on, wondering who the gently caress these five twats are, to then never wanting them to leave my screen at the end. It's very effective. Case in point, I think a lot of us thought John Kearns didn't start off well, I didn't find him very funny and he seemed a bit lost in the banter. Then two episodes later everything kinda clicked for everyone involved and I was laughing at basically every word he said. Are you not British? Because for the most part everyone in the series is famous - I guess there's maybe one or two AT BEST who you won't have heard of but especially with the early ones it's quite hard to be wondering who they are Series 3 has al murray who is an enormous IRL bellend and series 6 has Russel Howard who is a bellend even in the show tbh
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Jul 19, 2023 14:44
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As a not-British, every series has always had maybe one name I know, and I know stuff they've been in, maybe two names that I know because I've seen clips of them on panel shows, and two others whose names are ephemeral, something I've heard on the breeze but never seen before. Like seeing Hugh Dennis on there after seeing him only as the Bank Manager in Fleabag was a real trip.
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Jul 19, 2023 15:51
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Outside of Taskmaster I don't really watch any British TV; sometimes I'll recognize somebody from QI which I watched a lot of in college, but that's about it. In this most recent series I realized after it ended that Kielle was the guy from Ghosts, but I only watched maybe one or two episodes of that.Morpheus posted:Like seeing Hugh Dennis on there after seeing him only as the Bank Manager in Fleabag was a real trip. Hugh popped up for like ninety seconds in the last James Bond movie, which was the last place I expected to see him.
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Jul 19, 2023 15:55
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Alright no one asked for this but it's as good a way to spend the interim as any. My thoughts on each season (light spoilers, no winners): Series 1 - The OG, of course, but surprisingly rewatchable, without the growing pains you might expect. The Greg and Alex personas aren't quite fully formed, but otherwise the show mostly leaps onto screen intact (helped no doubt by Alex's previous testing of the format). The thing I miss most of all from these early days are the competition in the prize tasks, where people seemed much more motivated to out-do each other and win, rather than simply provide a decent joke and move on. Series 2 - A tremendous cast, and some of the show's most iconic moments (potato, 'I chaaanged it' etc.). This and series 7 are the series I use to get people into the show. If it had the full ten episodes of later series, it might just be my favorite season. I like Richard Osman, but he probably benefits from being one of the first contestants to laterally out-think the tasks, something which has become less entertaining 15 series in. Series 3 - Honestly five episodes seems about right for this cast. I don't dislike anyone, there's just not quite enough friction/contrast between 4 of the 5 personalities, and accordingly Paul Chowdhry steals every moment he opens his mouth. Underrated runners are Rob and Sara as weird posh incest twins, and Dave Gorman's repeated cheating. Overall though, not surprising (and obviously good) that this is the last season with only one woman on the cast. Series 4 - Possibly the most universally charming cast? The worst I've ever heard anyone say is that Noel maybe gets a little overscored, but that's hardly his fault. Hugh, on the other hand is the first of Greg's whipping boys, a running tradition which does introduce some tension between entertainment value and enjoying the show as a contest of (silly) skills. Lolly gets a little lost amid the other personalities but certainly never detracts. For some reason I came into this the first time irritated by Mel, I guess because she wasn't a real comedian or something, but I couldn't have been more wrong about her. She's delightful, and 'Ohhh gang' has become something I say in moments of resignation. Series 5 - Hard to talk about this one without indirectly spoiling the outcome, unspoiled beware. Another great cast, but the season hinges on the polarity of Nish and Bob. One tries so hard and reaps (almost) nothing but failure, while the other couldn't care less and iconoclastically shrugs their way to victory. Contains imo the all-time musical task, with two absolute bangers, and the fact that it provides a much-needed moment of redemption for our season disaster ends the whole series on a surprisingly sweet note. It's easy to remember Mark as a screw-up because of his anxiety and discomfort the whole season, but its easy to forget how tight the winner's race was (at the top anyway). Champions 1 - Won't say much except the winner of season 2's attempt at 'make a mess and clean it up' makes my soul leave my body every time I watch it. Series 6 - Based on comments above, more fondly regarded than I thought, but still my choice for worst series. Not bad. Not unwatchable. Just not as good as the others, and the first time I can recall losing interest in some of the tasks. The winner feels tremendously overscored by Gregg, who really seems to be playing favorites, but I don't like anyone else on the cast enough to really care about them getting 'robbed'. As the first series with 10 episodes, some of the fault is likely production's, who may not have yet figured out how to stretch the format quiiiite that far. Series 7 - They sure figured it out afterwards though! The closest thing to a consensus 'best season' that the show has. Certainly my favorite, with possibly my favorite contestant, Rhod. I was sorry to hear later that the show gave him such anxiety, but it makes for great TV as his panic causes him to lash out with questionable instincts at Alex, Greg, and the tasks themselves. Absolutely killer tension/chemistry between the cast, great in-studio banter. Even the 'boring' member of the season, Kerry, is more entertaining than the standouts of some seasons. Phil is the first whipping boy since Hugh that I feel a bit bad for, but he mostly takes it on the chin, and it helps that this might be the most adversarial season, especially in terms of Greg and Alex vs the contestants. Too many great moments to list, but it's also easy to forget how tight this season was, with only 11 points between 1st and 4th place. Series 8 - I'm always sad to hear people down on this season, as it probably makes my top third, but I can see what they don't like. The first time I watched it, Iain annoyed the hell out of me, but he's clearly playing up a character and softens quite a bit partway through the season when he realizes how he's coming off (compare to Guy in NZ series 1, who rides the character all the way through). Knowledge of Paul's physical struggles makes some of his incompetence less amusing in hindsight, but he maintains a great attitude throughout and Greg isn't too harsh about it. Joe is the most rootable sadboy and I love his 'mad as hell' moment toward the season end. Lou is my taskmaster crush and I love her in everything I've seen her on. Sian is similar to Lolly in season 4, not standing out too much on her own but providing a nice anodyne presence for others to play off of. I also want to call out how great the train yard task early on is; I'd love to see more tasks like that, even if I don't know exactly what 'like that' means. It just feels a bit different and special. Series 9 - My second least favorite series. Ed and Rose are good. Jo I like in a lot of things but boy is she barely trying. David sucks and his only good moments are getting ripped on by Ed or Greg. Katy is, to me, the single most forgettable contestant the show has ever had, and it's absolutely damning how much I perk up when she's gone for two episodes with Kerry and Katherine subbing in for her. I won't belabor it because I know some people like this season, just not for me. Series 10 - Similar to 8, a season many dislike which I'm much higher on, though I'd still rank it only middle-of-the-pack. I agree that the task design could use work this season, although the almost hostile difficulty of some of them lead to entertaining meltdowns from Daisy, Katherine and Johnny, each in their own way. The entertainment value here hinges on Mawaan and Katherine for me. Mawaan's blithe optimism makes a great contrast to some of the others' desperation, and when it comes to desperation, hoo boy. Katherine is my favorite 'bad' player of all time, and a lot of that lies in the fact that she's not playing up a character. She really wants to win these tasks and that mounting desperation makes her solutions more and more unhinged as she tries to overthink her way out of it. I will say though, that Greg's treatment of one of her prize tasks (you know the one) is the one time I think he may have crossed a line into genuinely hurting a contestant. It's still funny though. New Year's One - For these I'll just say which contestant I think should have got a full season. For this one, Rylan Clark-Neal. Series 11 - From here forward I've only seen the seasons once, so my feelings might be less well defined. The only person I knew going into 11 was Lee Mack, but I came out of it with a lot of love for Charlotte, Jamali and Mike. Charlotte spins straw into gold by leaning into the 'children's show presenter' gag. Mike is just a delight with a face that's just viscerally fun to watch. Jamali manages to neg his way into Greg's good graces (something he repeats on Outsiders with David Mitchell); if there's a 'bad boy' of taskmaster, he's it. This isn't the best format to highlight Lee's talents, and according to Alex they had to cut out tons of in-studio content because otherwise it would just be 45 minutes of Lee riffing on things. Sarah seems to know she's the boring one this season and leans into it in a good-natured way. Series 12 - Not my favorite. I probably owe this a rewatch because I can remember so little of it. This was the second series I watched week-to-week after catching up with the show, and maybe I was getting a little burnt out, but I remember disliking the tasks for this season mostly. I'm a big fan of Victoria from Only Connect, and I found how ill-suited she was for most of the tasks, and Greg's hostility to her prize entries, more disappointing than funny. Morgana's undeniably splashy but in a way that just doesn't quite work for me personally. I can only remember like a single thing Alan, Desiree, and Guz did the whole series. (The puzzle task, sand eating, and the paint-covered hopper respectively). New Year's Two - Adrian Chiles needs a full season. Also, not a fan of including Sayeeda Warsi - big 'politician on SNL' vibes. Series 13 - Maybe the consensus for best of the last third? I'm really looking forward to re-watching this season full of weirdos and their big weirdo energy. The only person I knew at all going into this was Judi Love, but Ardal and Sophie probably came out as my favorites. I think I said in this thread during airing that the sausage machine would be Chris' defining moment, but in retrospect it probably takes a back seat to 'No Waaay!' playing on repeat in the back of my skull. Champions 2 - Fine, I guess. Mostly just disappointed we only got one episode this time. Winner was predictable for the same reasons they won the first time. Series 14 - I'd mostly just be repeating good things I said in this thread a year ago. John's a completely unique player, Fern's a revelation. Sarah seems particularly suited to this format, and this is the most I've liked her in anything I've seen (not that I disliked her before, she just shines here). I'm particularly on board for Dara's schtick, so I don't share the negativity some people had about him - my wife and I loved him. Maybe it helps that I never watched Mock the Week and his sense of humor isn't played out for me? I don't know. New Years 3 - Self Esteem needs a full series. Did a double take looking at the cast because I have no memory of Greg James whatsoever. Series 15 - Based on posting this last season I'm higher on this than most. Poorly aged material aside, I love Frankie, and his gleeful nihilism made for some all-time studio banter. I came in with mild negativity toward Ivo and left feeling pretty good about him. Had never heard of Jenny or Kiell but really enjoyed them both. Most controversially, apparently, I found Mae really charming. Their sort of wide-eyed incredulity at their own competence worked for me, and I thought it was funny how they managed to play the embattled underdog in the studio while clowning all over everyone in points. I get why they don't work for everyone, but I think this thread has been too harsh on them. That's it! Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk etc. etc. Leatherhead fucked around with this message at 16:01 on Jul 19, 2023 |
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Jul 19, 2023 15:59
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I'm British and usually I've only heard of one or two of the contestants in the more recent ones. I just don't follow the UK comedy scene much and then if they're adjacent to that there's even less chance I've heard of them. Usually means I'm pleasantly surprised by seeing some new people turn out to be really funny and enjoyable at least.
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Jul 19, 2023 16:05
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Leatherhead posted:Katy is, to me, the single most forgettable contestant the show has ever had Mods?
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Jul 19, 2023 18:23
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thebardyspoon posted:I'm British and usually I've only heard of one or two of the contestants in the more recent ones. I just don't follow the UK comedy scene much and then if they're adjacent to that there's even less chance I've heard of them. Usually means I'm pleasantly surprised by seeing some new people turn out to be really funny and enjoyable at least. I think they have made more of an effort in recent series to try to get a mix of known and unknown people, the former for obvious reasons and the latter because the show has become a great way to launch a comedy career and Alex wants to use that platform to help give people more exposure rather than just being an all celebrity show.
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Jul 19, 2023 18:28
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Leatherhead posted:I can only remember like a single thing Alan, Desiree, and Guz did the whole series. (The puzzle task, sand eating, and the paint-covered hopper respectively). Look at this person who forgot about The Wow Monster. Seriously, series 12 for me is probably in the top 5 if not top 3.
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Jul 19, 2023 18:29
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Guz being a contestant makes me want to binge my way to 12 even faster
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Jul 19, 2023 18:34
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Trabant posted:Look at this person who forgot about The Wow Monster. Season 12 has my favorite bit of Alex pre-show banter with the meditation music.
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Jul 19, 2023 20:08
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Leatherhead posted:New Year's Two - Adrian Chiles needs a full season. The truest thing ever written. What a revelation that episode was. 20 years of being the most anodyne and bland presenter on the TV, and then within five minutes of Taskmaster he's crawling trouserless over tarmac with an egg in his mouth, and expounding on the delights of descaling a tea urn as a method of therapy. Absolutely gold-tier lunacy.
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Jul 19, 2023 22:16
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Rochallor posted:Mods? Clearly got involved with her cult, that's where the hostility comes from.
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Jul 19, 2023 22:22
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Irisi posted:The truest thing ever written. What a revelation that episode was. 20 years of being the most anodyne and bland presenter on the TV, and then within five minutes of Taskmaster he's crawling trouserless over tarmac with an egg in his mouth, and expounding on the delights of descaling a tea urn as a method of therapy. Absolutely gold-tier lunacy. If you ever read his Guardian column, it wasn't that surprising. He's an exceptionally weird person, just not in the way that some comedians are weird.
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Jul 19, 2023 22:25
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Irisi posted:The truest thing ever written. What a revelation that episode was. 20 years of being the most anodyne and bland presenter on the TV, and then within five minutes of Taskmaster he's crawling trouserless over tarmac with an egg in his mouth, and expounding on the delights of descaling a tea urn as a method of therapy. Absolutely gold-tier lunacy. Although if you look at his Guardian article headlines, it makes perfect sense.  Edit: Beaten to the wild world of Chiles' columns. I continue to insist that man has mastered the art of the headline.
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Jul 19, 2023 22:25
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