Taskmaster

2015 | International

Taskmaster is a British comedy panel game show originally created by British comedian Alex Horne during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2010, and transferred to television on Dave in 2015. The TV series stars comedian and actor Greg Davies now in the titular role of the Taskmaster, issuing simple comedic and bizarre tasks to five regular contestants – usually comedians – with Horne acting as Davies's assistant and umpire during the challenges.

The game consists of simple and bizarre challenges, ostensibly set to the contestants by Davies in his role as the Taskmaster, with assistance provided by Horne. The tasks – usually performed in isolation, but occasionally in teams – are designed to encourage the players to think laterally and creatively to complete the task.

Each episode starts with the Prize Task, where each contestant donates a prize to offer up following a given theme – e.g. the contestant's most unusual item; their most treasured item; their trendiest item of clothing etc – and are all awarded to the winner of the show.

Three or four pre-filmed tasks follow, usually taking place in and around the Taskmaster house.Normally the winner of the task gets five points, with second place score four points and so on. Some episodes feature team tasks, in which one group of two contestants and a second group of three contestants work together. The groups remain the same throughout each series. Generally, five points are split between the teams, with each member getting the same number.

The final challenge is performed live in the studio. In the event of a tie, the winner is decided by a special tie-breaker task, which may either be pre-filmed or performed live.

In addition to the prizes for each episode, at the end of each series a trophy is presented to the contestant who has scored the most points over the course of the entire series. From the second series onwards, the trophy took the form of a golden bust of Davies.