Series 15- the challenges aren't S-tier, but the contestants are...
Taskmaster: UK Series 15
Year: 2023
Channel: Channel 4
Contestants:
Number of Episodes: 10
Notes:
What a strange and wonderful cast. Series 15 has...
- A competent player who is really trying to win (Mae Martin)
- A semi-competent player who is really trying to win (Kiell Smith-Bynoe)
- A competent player who is far more interested in being snarky than trying to win (Frankie Boyle)
- A man who seems to have little idea what is going on, but is happy to be here (Ivo Graham)
- And a strange old bird who is having the time of their life, results be damned (Jenny Eclair)
The bantering are great- sniping at each other good-naturedly, arguing over points, sniping with Alex and Greg. I don't think the tasks are great (nowhere near as awesome as Series 14, IMHO). But the banter is brilliant...
A special shout out to Kiell Smith-Boyle. Not only is he having a great time, but he's so locked into doing well that it drives him crazy when it falters. Both the Taskmaster and Alex seems to really enjoy poking at Kiell throughout the series, enough so that...
Portrait Decor:
Series 15 went with a psychadelic theme, and the portrait of the Greg Davies looked like an ad for a concert from the 60's...
"Bash the big bell with the bowling ball. Fastest gets five points. Slowest gets four points. Nobody else gets any points. You must stay off the grass unless you are wearing gold shoes. If anything other than the bowling ball or gold shoes touches the grass, you are disqualified." Unlike the worst task, this was sneaky but not unfair. Very inventive, and the banter among the contestants was excellent.
Worst task of the season:
"Make exactly 99 holes in this piece of paper. Your holes must have a diameter of at least three millimetres and form a recognisable picture or pattern. If you make more or fewer than 99 holes, you are disqualified. Also, if you look at Alex or speak to Alex at any point, you are disqualified."
Alex Horne and the Taskmaster team are sneaky- they hide the answer in plain sight, they give you a followup task right after completing a task, they give tasks to encourage people to sabotage their team. But the show has always been fair. This is the one task I think they went too far. Saying the contestants couldn't look or talk to Alex is tough enough. But having Alex then shout random numbers (to disrupt their counting) and try to provoke them to talk to him was unfair. Three of the contestants were disqualified, and I'm amazed all five weren't.
Trivia:
* The location tasks were at the Frogmore Paper Mill
* In Series 12, Alex got engaged. In Series 13, he had a stag do. The first show of episode 15 has him with his first wedding dance...
* Pineapples are everywhere
* Episode 2 might be the closest episode of the entire show; 3 points separated the winner from the lowest score.
* To celebrate the last episode, the contestants dress looking like they were the Beatles on the Sergeant Pepper's album.
Contestant Rankings:
- Dara O'Briain (Series 14)
- Kiell Smith-Boyle (Series 15)
- Mel Giedroyc (Series 4)
- Rhod Gilbert (Series 7)
- Ed Gamble (Series 9)
- James Acaster (Series 7)
- Sarah Millican (Series 14)
- Mike Wozniak (Series 11)
- Rose Matefeo (Series 9)
- Sophie Duker (Series 13)
Season Ranking:
- Season 14
- Season 9
- Season 7
- Season 15
- Season 13
- Season 12
- Season 4
- Season 11
- Season 5
- Season 10
- Season 8
- Season 6
- Season 2
- Season 1
- Season 3
