I've cobbled together some of my previous posts about TM:
S2 was still fun, but less lolworthy. It feels a bit more comfy, the tasks don't lend themselves to as much mayhem/improvisation.
I'm enjoying S03E01 a bit more. I think it is the comedians mainly, as the tasks haven't been hugely inspired.
One a day or so definitely makes a big difference, not a show to binge. Agree with Paul, S4 is very good.
S4 finale - the sandwich task was brilliant, one of the best things the show has done.
S5 finale was legitimately quite touching, I'm actually a bit sad to move on to a new group.
Overall enjoying S6. Good tasks, good host banter. I like Tarby, Asim and Alice. Tim Vine, predictably, leans too hard on puns and silly outfits, but he does at least have a nice 'befuddled dad just happy to be allowed to hang out with the cool young people' vibe. Russell Howard is 100% a hateful swaggering prick, and I spend every task hoping for him to fail and/or get physically injured.
S7: enjoying this again, agreed it's a strong line-up but Rhod does that one thing a lot. Funnily enough, I'm binging it again no problems - I think it's to do with the quality of the tasks. I noticed that Tim Key has been getting a 'task consultant' credit on recent seasons, so that may be helping.
Finished S7, another good one! Rhod was a bit irritatingly aggressive, but also generally good value. The whole line-up felt a bit more argumentative, in fact, but that did lead to some really good moments where the show managed to troll them beautifully or they got stuck in a team with Rhod and he totally screwed them over.
S8. They're all pretty much equally enjoyable at this point, tbh. I didn't like how arguey this one got occasionally, but it wasn't too big a deal.
S9 has got a very recognisable line-up, for me - Baddiel and Brand were huge comedy names when I was a teenager, and I actually kind of know Katy Wix!
Enjoying S9, but it feels a little staid - it reminds me of S2 (I think), where the tasks and contestants all feel a little unadventurous. I can see why when I first tried to get into TM, S9 didn't work very well and I didn't really get it until I tried S1.
Finished S9, my opinion's about the same. Entertaining enough, but not as exciting as the others. Baddiel and Brand are the slower ones, which is fine, but then the others don't have enough energy to balance them out. Plus the tasks felt a bit less manic as well, and there were a fair few 'make a short film' or 'record a song' type tasks, which made it all feel a bit more like a drama club having a giggle.
S10 is fantastic, one of the best.
So I guess 1, 4, 5 and 10 are the stand-outs, but they're all good.
S11E01
That was perfectly pleasant. The contestants aren't bowling me over, but I did cackle out loud a couple of times (Lee's feast and Jawali's plates).
S11E02
I thought this episode was pretty bleh. Don't think I laughed out loud once. The contestants are all still quite bland (I'm not seeing the value in Wozniak, myself) and the tasks were bad this week. The balloon one was frustrating because they had these seemingly incredibly strict rules, and then in the studio just ignored them. The argument one didn't pay off. I tend not to like the ones like the haunted house one where it's an excuse for them to let out their inner film school student - and it was a shame here because it would have worked better if they'd all done it as a live experience like Lee did. The studio task was dull too.
Interesting that they said the audience is in a cinema down the road. All last season it was ambiguous as to whether the audience were watching live ("in another room" I think was Greg's line), then last episode he said they were watching it later, but this episode he's back to a more ambiguous statement. Are they in a cinema down the road watching a live stream of the entire multi-hour studio shoot, or watching the 45 minute edit weeks later? I hope it's live, even though it really only makes a difference to my perception of it, as I assume even if it is watched live that they don't pipe the audience audio back into the studio or anything like that.
I knew that when I said this season definitely wouldn't be shit I was going to jinx it :(
S11E03
It was okay, just the whole thing feels very gentle this season, like it should be on at 3pm. I've finally started listening to the podcast and they mentioned that in S10 the lack of audience was made up for by Johnny and Daisy being such big laughers. Rich is a giggler too, so I think that adds to it. But in this season, you don't have that - all the contestants are having fun but tend to just smile or chuckle. That combined with task choices, especially this week (the coals one is clearly just going to be them all chucking water at it in one way or another, and the luggage one is just going to be them all doing the maze to varying levels of success), that don't lend themselves to wildly different approaches drains it of the usual anarchic feel. The studio task was good, though.
S11E04
Best so far, if nothing spectacular. Good tasks and fair amount of energy from the contestants.
S11E05
This week's was okay! A fair few laughs. I think if I'd gone through some of the other middling seasons and reacted episode by episode I'd be saying much the same stuff. This season is like season 2 or 3 level.
S11E06
Very good episode! I wasn't sure if it was the contestants warming up or me just getting used to them, but the studio segments do definitely feel livelier.
S11E07
no notes
S11E08
Enjoyed this ep. Nice and gentle. I like how they wringed a lot of comedy out of some simple kids games, like the picture consequences (or whatever it's called where you're from) or the leg game.
S11E09
Really enjoyed this week's ep! Lots of great tasks, lots of energy and invention from the contestants.
S11E10
no notes
S12E01
Really strong episode! I like all the contestants so far. Morgana's got a bit of a 'look at me, I'm tough' thing which I'd normally find annoying but actually worked here, I instinctively want to find VCM annoying but she's given me no solid reason to yet, and Guz is a little closer to that persona I mentioned previously than I'd like but a bit softer so not too bad. Alan isn't doing his annoying QI thing, and I really liked bucket of forks person.
S12E02
I didn't think much of this one. None of the tasks really lent themselves to the unexpected.
S12E03
I enjoyed this week more than last. It was a bit dull but also somehow felt a bit more chill and charming? Dunno. I'm glad that VCM didn't win, because her getting anything more than 1 point for that wellycam task was bullshit. It's interesting that the contestants this year seem to all be really relaxed and modest and inter-supportive. It doesn't lend itself to hilarity but also I think I prefer it to everyone having an angry/moany persona.
S12E04
This season is reminding me of seasons 2 and 3 (I think) - not dreadful, just none of the anarchy and invention that really makes TM.
S12E05
This was a good ep, for this season at least. Nothing spectacular but nothing too weak either. Prize task was good, even if they mostly seemed to purposely bring shit things in. I thought the cake task was quite good, it allowed for a variety of approaches and I love that they brought back a weird bit of off-the-cuff thinking by a contestant in a previous season as an entire task. Shame they didn't have the contestants wear something a bit thinner so you knew they were really feeling that cake. The footy one was okay, but the rules were a bit too vague. Also annoying they didn't call VCM out on the £100. She's got too much of a Boris Johnson vibe. The ball/net one didn't work out, mostly because the contestants were too thick. The studio task was great, and I fully expect ITV to nick that and make an entire daytime game show out of it.
S12E06Now I've identified VCM as having Boris Johnson energy, I firmly don't like her. She actually wasn't as bad as usual this episode, though.
Prize task - I really enjoyed this! It was sweet seeing all the nice presents, and then funny that one person decided to do a really mean one. (And I absolutely think she intended it to be so - she knowingly got him a voucher for part of something he won't want to make up the rest of the cost of.) The only thing I didn't like about the mean gift was that it hinges on the whole 'I care so much about football that anything to do with any other team than my own makes me angry and physical sick' thing, which I find incredibly tiresome and childish.
Task 1 - iron task. Fun to watch but very mild. Not much scope for people going crazy with it, though they could potentially have created massive contraptions. The two that did do that ended up worse off than just someone throwing it, so half the task's fault half the contestants' faults.
Task 2 - dog toy. Mostly dull. Again, not much scope here unless they found something that would be amusing to watch a dog play with. Like if they dressed Alex up as a cat or something.
Task 3 - Spots/chair. The only possible fun outcome for this would be someone continuously getting it wrong, right? And yet if someone messed it up, they got a new copy of the task! This should have been a test of whether they bothered to think it through beforehand and if they didn't they got stuck there for an hour trying random stuff. And yeah, the glasses thing is a bit shit of VCM.
Live task - yeah, badly designed. Though at least you get to see how good they are at making and throwing paper planes, so it's not the worst live task ever. I never considered that there might be people out there who never learnt how to make paper planes...
Maybe what they should have done for the live task was something like make it seem like the whole challenge is 'make as many paper planes as you can in one minute, five points for every one (that is deemed to be an actual plane by Alex, so no cheating)', maybe with a red herring of them having to do it one handed or something, then reveal the second part afterwards. So people who did a half-arsed job are at a disadvantage because their planes don't fly well.
Yet again for this season, it's not unpleasant to watch, it's just very mild. The tasks don't lend themselves to anarchy and the contestants aren't seeking it out.
S12E07
Prize task: mostly a bit rubbish but VCM's move was great.
Shelf task: meh. Song task: I normally hate the drama school ones but this worked well. VCM not giving a shit as always, though.
Pipe/box task: meh.
Studio task: good idea, and had some fun moments, shame they were almost completely rubbish at it. Maybe could have done with one more joining word to give them a little bit of a hand...
Overall, the banter was fun but the tasks were crap. It's getting to the point where I'm worried that if I go back and watch the best seasons, I'll realise that they were mediocre too, all along.
S12E08
THIS WAS A GOOD EPISODE! Not season 10 good, but it certainly would have held its own in one of the quieter seasons.
prize task - okay, this was rubbish, but they often are.
Popcorn - good! A fun mix of smart people failing to do simple stuff, and intentionally convoluted instructions. Also satisfying to see VCM's smug intellectual superiority get deflated.
Sport - Very good! Strong task idea - basically Calvinball, which is open to lots of possibilities, and with the commentary thing to give it an extra comedy level. And the contestants all put a lot of effort in, even VCM was good. Definitely scored correctly - Guzball didn't get anarchic/violent as it should have.
Upside down faces - very good! A good low-key idea, and fun to watch the contestants. I like these more intimate ones where you can imagine playing it at home.
Studio task - great fun, even if it's a bit of a shame the contestants didn't get quite as dramatically close to each other as they could have. Still ,the balloon round was fantastic.
S12E09
prize task - fine. Alan's choice was good, Desree and Guz put in effort. VCM with her annoying Boris bluster as always.
phone - very fun, enjoyed VCM's uptightness working against her.
soldier - cool idea, nice little puzzle. Would have been a lot more interesting if they'd been forced to use their backwards sight/walking a little more, somehow.
goosebumps - not great, doesn't lend to much variety in response. Guz putting in a lot of effort to make it entertaining, as always. Bullshit that Alan got 4 points.
studio task - mediocre.
S12E10
This was a moderately good episode with some highlights.
prize task - fine, mostly dull as always.
drinking task - confusing. I actually had to skip back and listen to the instructions again in case I'd missed something. Down half a pint of Ribena? I don't understand why any of them except Gus had an issue with it. I'm completely flummoxed how such a boring task led to a higher level of energy from the contestants than most. Was it the size of the glass?
Characters task - mild, but good fun to watch (Morgana and Guz anyway). VCM cheated by communicating and the scoring was off imo.
Proposal task - good fun, allowed for invention without too many drama school moments. VCM with her lazy blustering bullshit as usual, got 2 points too many.
Studio task - excellent! Great idea, came out very funny.
S13E01
Really enjoyed ep 1!
prize - I got a bit confused by the concept, but it allowed for fun banter. Good!
ducks - very fun. Loved the timing of Ardal and the hens, and the buildup throughout was great. One thing I love about this show is that they can say something like "Chris found seven ducks" and get a genuinely impressed reaction from the audience.
painting - didn't seem to have much comedy potential, but the contestants made the most of it in the house and the studio. Very promising for this season's line-up!
duel - I was a bit worried at first, but it turned out that the editors and the Taskmaster agreed with me and it was just that the shittest ones went first. The joust was quite funny, and I loved basket-ball and the rap.
studio - a good solid party game, better than the average studio task.
S13E02
prize - good idea, very funny (again, a very strong line-up this season). TM's decision at the end was utterly bizarre, but that doesn't bother me as long as it's not someone like Russell Howard or VCM getting rewarded. Wasn't sure if I liked Judi or not but she definitely comes down on the right side of loud and bolshy for me.
maypole - love Alex's 'patient dad' energy. Very simple task idea but I was crying with laughter.
photos - nice set-up, one of those 'why didn't I see this coming?' twists. Good fun!
goals - meh. Not particularly interesting task, and no one was hilariously awful or anything. Odd scoring again - the girls did come up with the 'pick the ball up' idea, but they lost by a wide margin and they also touched the ball while not driving (I don't remember anything in the rules about that being okay if it was outside the pitch lines!).
studio - solid idea, entertaining if not hilarious. Above-average studio task!
Another good one! Very relieved at the continued return to form.
S13E03
prize - idea that I thought would fall flat but again was made great by the contestants. Again, weird TM decision - pickles was clearly the worst. (I feel like I've said the same thing every episode!)
history - very funny, I was crying by the end of it. I often don't like overuse of post-effects or studio nitpicking but it all came together really well here!
synchronised - nice idea for a task, requires planning and allows for some sneakiness, plus amusing frustration. Good!
duck - Good fun! It almost fell flat thanks to the misdirect - which I didn't even consider, so I was pretty confused by the bonus point thing at first - but the boys rescued it.
studio - this was okay, but no one got really inventive with it. I was hoping people would start putting their boots on upside down and stuff.
Another good ep!
S13E04
Another top episode! The great thing about this season is that there's so much energy in the studio, you can really feel everyone bouncing off each other and even Greg and Alex seem to have a bit more crackle.
prize - very funny, and correctly scored!
shoes - pretty funny, worth it for Ardal at the end, and "Shoe Who" (I love that they made that the episode title!)
stag - very good, I love how mad all the contestants' thought processes are and how they combine together. When the cat started twerking that was magnificent. Fair scoring, too.
letters - not huge amounts of scope for comedy, but the personalities carried it through. Bit of a boring decision to just score them on length, though.
studio - solid. Love that the extension is called The Knappett.
S13E05
not the best (though this season is a high bar) but still very good.
prize - this was okay, some nice banter.
keys/call - nice 'brick joke' set-up. It didn't lend itself to a lot of weird solutions, but it was fun to watch the contestants getting trolled. And it's great seeing Alex get so wound up by Bridget again.
high five - decision to video comp them together at first was really confusing, and then when they made it clear I thought it might be dull, but it turned out to be hilarious and tense, especially when they comped them back together again. Perfect TM making so much of so little.
water tank - quite clever and quite fun. Nothing amazing happened but still some good moments.
studio - really good. Loved how by the end they were all so confused and Sophie was there just screaming and dancing with her tongue out constantly to cover all bases. Really nice little final moment with the kimono as well.
S13E06
prize - not great - no good items (though I wanted to know more about the fish fountain) or big laughs
cement - great! Good task idea, lots of variety in the responses, and very funny. Great build-up in the weirdness levels
steps - very good - again, funny and surprisingly varied responses
meeting - bad - a risky 'drama school' idea and they didn't have any props or anything so they all came out pretty dull
studio - a bit dull
Bit of a mixed bag this week, although as always the line-up carries it through.
S13E07
prize: Fine.
show off - Very good! Nice simple but broad task, and the mix of impressive and rubbish worked really well. The juxtaposition of Sophie reciting Shakespeare from memory and doing underwater escapology, with Judi talking about how she got something free from Lidl once, was superb.
cocktail - Quite good. Nothing outrageous but the team dynamics were fun.
food - Good! I finally guessed one of these twists ahead of time! It was fun having the reveal happen before seeing most of the contestants, so there's a lot of tension in just how gross they're going to make theirs.
studio - Really good! Don't know how such a simple task ended up so entertaining but there it is. Sophie is VIP.
Overall very good ep!
S13E08
Enjoyed this week's a lot!
prize - very good! Good idea, good prizes, good banter.
swedish - Fred! Very good - good idea, nice range of competence, Ardal's move from seemingly blagging well to straight up singing a full song was amazing. I was a tiny bit disappointed when Bridget got left for after the break that hers wasn't better but for a bit of a boring workaround it still played out quite nicely.
lick - very good! Nice idea, entertainingly gross. Sophie was amazing.
door - pretty good. Not much scope for variety but some fun choices nevertheless.
studio - quite good. Nice idea, didn't come off amazingly.
S13E09
prize - Dull - the entries were all bad, and the banter didn't make up for them this week.
delivery - Fine. Very gentle, nothing amazingly inventive. Bridget's was weird, but a bit Rhod Gilbert lite. Good 'end of part 1' sign off, though!
cup snake - Boring. No scope for variety, it's just five people getting cups out of a barn. At least Bridget did something a bit weird again.
body part - gently amusing. Again, not huge scope for variety. Felt like a slightly more extravagant studio task.
studio - Pretty good. Might just have been good luck with how the points were falling this ep, but these felt like surprisingly good mechanics.
Not a great episode. I don't think this season has quite managed to knock the mighty season 10 off its perch. Close, though.
S13E10
no notes
CoC 2
Brilliant. Loved how, even when they were doing badly, every single contestant was at the top of their game. Like when Godliman starts to complain and Gamble immediately shuts her down because everyone can see the way things are going, or how Herring perfectly guessed the scores, or how they all just put so much effort into every single thing. I'm going to have to watch that title sequence in slow-mo a few times..!
S14E01
Prize task - high effort prizes and pretty funny, though I wanted more info on most of them!
film task - very good, I enjoyed the increasingly awful clues, classic Alex
toilet task - weirdly basic concept, though they managed to get some pathos and comedy out of it. Felt a little bit of a waste of the impressive location (which I assume they got during lockdown?)
bird paint task - really enjoyed it, good task design (especially the accidental bird naming), and the team dynamics were very funny
Studio task - not hilarious but an interesting idea
A good but not great episode, but promising as most of the ideas were good and I like the contestants. Munya is the stand-out for me so far.
S14E02
Excellent episode!
Prize task - very funny, good choices and banter
Laminator task - Great. Even the first part was good, then the twist was great, can't believe these still surprise me. Nice variety of responses. Love the return of the laminator and everyone's (rightful) excitement over it
grapes task - Another good one. I thought the rule was going to be most flour on the plate when five grapes are in the bowl so clever contestants would have to put the flour back on before putting their last grape in, though. So good that the contestants all think to check for twists but don't look hard enough, and Dara came up with a different one instead. The camera ops do such good work on this show, love how they framed the shot of Dara leaving the garage so the grapes on the door would come perfectly into shot.
Duck task - Good task design - simple but not too simple, with lots of sneakiness less hiding the ducks/socks, socks with duck patterns, or with ducks in them etc (wondering if that was intended to come into play for scoring if the task turned out too boring). Great contrast between John barely managing to get from one end to the other and Fern so good at it she's attempting trick shots. Dara is master of the twist.
Studio task - Possibly the best one ever, perfect combo of design and contestant skill levels, could have watched that one for another five minutes.
S14E03
just fine this week.
prize - fine. Solid prompt, okay responses.
sand trolley - task was just okay up until the twist, definitely needed it. It was briefly unclear whether, if they lost, only John would get 5 points or the whole team would, but thankfully Alex's post-break recap cleared it up. It still didn't turn out amazing but it was fun.
ice-cream - okay, but it's so similar to previous tasks that it didn't really grab me. Dara and John had some fun reactions.
catch - good task, combo of invention and skill. John and Munya were great. ALways a bit disappointing when someone does a little drama school effort or just says "get post-production to do something, yeah?"
studio - fun task idea though it didn't work out in a particularly exciting way! The design depended on the contestants all being vaguely good at it, which they weren't!
S14E04
Good episode. Not amazing, but very enjoyable.
prize - good! Good prompt, prizes were all a bit crap but the banter was good.
bubbles - really enjoyed this one. Great dense design where there were so many different variations of solving it. it was really fun and satisfying to see everyone get there in different weird ways. That shot of Sarah triumphantly basking in the bubbles was glorious.
tarpaulin - And then there was another bizarrely simple task! Thankfully the contestants made it really fun - this series is reminding me of 12, where almost any mediocre task was elevated to greatness by the contestants (not that cup-snake one though).
song - These creative ones are always risky, and the choice to only give them classical music was a risk as well. It kiiind of paid off. Most of them were fine, I liked Fern's the most. Another surprisingly touching moment for Sarah! Fuck you, ex-partner.
studio - This was fine.
S14E05
Bit of a ropey episode.
prize - Fine! Good prompt and items, banter was solid.
fun - Pretty good! Nice to see all the different approaches, and lots of Alex torture.
routine - Terrible. Both teams interpreted "routine" as "shit pastiche"
trolleys - Pretty bad. Quite boring except for a couple of moments of luck.
studio - Good, especially for a studio task! Not as good as the 'two words each' one, but still.
And I'm being a little generous to one of those, tbh.
S14E06
Really strong episode! This season is all over the place.
prize - good! Good prompt, good items and banter. There was a little confusion over the "good" prompt but it worked out.
milk peas - Really good! Excellent combo of red herrings, secret solutions and naughty Alex psychology.
travelator - Really good! Solid combo of the old favourite 'repeat your actions' and 'be stylish'.
paint - Great! Deceptively tricky task, so many sneaky little reveals! Crying with laughter at this one.
studio - Okay. It was basically that 'paint on the ceiling' task from S12(?) but with some fun presentation.
S14E07
Excellent episode!
prize - very good. Good prompt, good items, good banter.
Balloons - Love the misguidingly atmospheric set-up. And just a very weird task that brought out the contestants' personalities, very enjoyable. I think Dan doesn't like these 'no contestant invention' tasks so much, and I agree the design isn't as strong, but the result still can be thanks to the contestants. I was very happy that I spotted Sarah's Ash-style miscount at the time.
Feather - Amazing. Just brilliant design, and it worked so well with two separate established team dynamics. The bath fake-out was incredible. The bit where Munya complained about the pump smell and Sarah cringed at the camera and then once he was out of the room Alex asked her about it was all amazing too. The leafblower bit where Sarah is like a cheeky gnome. And then that pipe scheme! And the times reveal! I normally roll my eyes at people talking about how they got out of their chairs, clapped, yelled etc at a tv show, but I was doing all the way through this one.
Bernard - Great! Again, very good design. Simple and narrow yet lots of possible tactics. Alex's quick reactions to everything are admirable - he not only works out on the fly what level of his own participation would be fair (you can manipulate me but I can't directly interact) but also knows exactly when it would be funny to remind John how long he's got left. Again, I was almost out of my seat on this one, John's victory was incredible.
Took me a long time to work out why he's called Bernard.
studio - Unusually strong design. Whenever they bring out the Knappett, it's normally a good sign. It's great to see Munya's confidence slowly getting dismantled, and shoes continually dropping on Dara.
Even the prize play by the winner was great.
Final note: I only just noticed that they put Dara saying "What?" in the opening titles. Perfect.
S14E08
Very bland episode this week.
prize - Okay. Fairly bland prize choices.
langauge - Bland. Fun idea but it needed some extra restrictions to prevent what ended up happening, the contestants just drawing stuff or counting out letters.
tail - Bland. Again, only really one way to approach this task. I didn't mind it last week when there were lots of little tricks and stuff but here it really is just 'lay stuff out to help you walk from A to B blindfolded'.
hands - Quite good. Some fun hidden solutions.
studio - Okay. Not as tense as I thought it might be!
S14E09
Thought it was... fine.
prize - Fine. Good idea, bad prizes, good banter.
Intl SRW - Pretty good. Very slight but surprisingly entertaining.
play - Really disappointing after such a tantalising build-up. The only one I really enjoyed was Dara's performed by John. A clever structure and John really put his all into it, going big without winking at the camera too much.
paint - Good! This could have flopped but it came out well thanks to good art and banter.
studio - A bit dull, and easily gameable.
S14E10
The finale was, for me, an episode of good ideas that didn't quite pan out:
prize - fell flat. Pretty good prompt but low effort from the contestants and no amazing banter.
esgrape room - I generally enjoy these, and it was fun to see the different levels of skill, but it wasn't wildly entertaining, it felt like that hidden book grape came down to chance, and Dara revealed a bit of a design flaw in the whole thing. Also, we didn't get to see where the other hidden grapes were!
clay - liked it! Fun idea and the team dynamics were funny. It was good enough that I wanted it to go on a bit longer/be a bit more complex, though!
pick some items - Quite good. Great opening concept, really funny choices. A shame that the task itself was too simple and all the items lent themselves fairly easily to it, but Fern's came out perfectly and she was great.
studio - Pretty good for a studio task. Dara's last shot was incredible, surprised there wasn't a bigger reaction to that!
New Year's Treat 2023
It was quite good! Contestants weren't particularly interesting or funny on the whole, but they we re okay and there were some good tasks. Prize task was fine, dot task was boring, painting massage task was good, fish pellets task was good, studio task was good for a studio task.
S15E01prize - very good! Good items, good banter.
dance - Bad. Two people doing slightly rubbish dances silently, and they didn't manage to make good comedy out of it.
string - Pretty bad. Boring task, managed some okay banter.
barge - okay. Crashes and the tight ending livened it up a bit, but it was a very linear task.
studio - very good! Solid concept, drama, mischief and good banter. Not a good sign when the prize and studio task are the best of the episode...
So, overall, bad episode but I really like the line-up.
S15E02prize - Very good! Good banter even if some of the prizes were lazy.
tune - Very good! A very slight task but really fun to watch. (I thought it was going to be that all the tunes would get layered up, glad they went for something else.) Should have been scored Frankie < Jenni < Ivo < Kiell = Mae, though.
bridge - Okay. A fairly dull task, but rescued by contestant dynamics. Very much enjoyed Jenni coming like some batty old lady at a jumble sale and baffling Mae and Kiell.
breath - Very good! Nice task idea, wide variety of attempts, fun banter.
studio - Quite fun, but a weird structure. Also, Mae's was clearly better than Jenni's.
So, a good episode and definitely better than last week's, but I still feel like the tasks are slightly weak so far this season and are being pulled up by a really strong line-up.
S15E03
prize - Fun! Although I am disappointed whenever someone basically prints off an internet meme as their prize, and this is the second time Frankie's done it.
time - Okay. boring task that came out quite well thanks to the contestants and a fortunate amount of drama
potatotal - Good! Nice combination of brains and physical skill with a sneaky hint thrown in. They absolutely should have been disqualified for using pens, though - I think Alex swayed that by reading the non-disqualification scores out first.
fight - Very good! Risky task idea, but it came out really well. Loved Jenni's drunken fist vibes. I thought Frankie and Ivo's fell a bit flat at the end.
studio - Okay. Glad Frankie's 'write it down' tactic was just as useless a second time this episode.
A solid episode. Again, some rum tasks rescued by the line-up.
S15E04 prize - okay. Solid idea, okay entries, okay banter.
drums - Excellent! I thought I was going to say "good - fairly basic task but with at least some possibility space, and some funny, varied attempts." And then Mae came along and elevated it massively. That litigation at the end was great, and when Frankie thought he'd cleverly dismantled Mae with the cast thing only to accidentally validate them it was a perfect Taskmaster moment.
egg boat - Great! Very good task, funny attempts. The race itself wasn't super-exciting, though watching Mae's go from first to last was gutting and there was the nice bit of drama with Frankie's egg. I do wish the release of the boats had been a little more precise, though, it didn't really feel fair.
bingo - Good! A very basic set of mini-tasks, but I found it enjoyable anyway. The banana litigation was very good, and Ivo was great (even though this was one of those times when he seems to be going about things in an odd way purely for comedy value). I'm happy with the banana decision as Ivo got an "are you sure" from Alex about the shed thing and they didn't.
studio - Good! Good task - requires tactics, nerves and physical coordination - and a funny ending.
Really enjoyed this one! Tasks were stronger this week even if some were still a bit basic, and lots of really funny contestant stuff.
S15E05
prize - Pretty good. Good prompt, some good entries. Frankie's one was a step up from 'internet meme' even though 'weird fan gift, probably involving a portrait' is a well-trodden path. His nitpicks are a bit tiresome but they do lead to some good comebacks.
fake - Great! Strong prompt, very funny attempts.
one-person band - Okay. Funny for the presentation but not much to it. Fun to see Kiell Nish it.
spoons - Excellent! Very funny set-up and the team dynamics came out great.
studio - Fun, although another weirdly structured one!
Good episode! Feels like the series has picked up a bit over the last couple.
Unless there was something I missed, wondering if Alex's winking meant something - maybe some ARG type thing?
S15E06prize - Fine. Solid prompt, good prizes from Ivo and Mae.
invisible friend - Okay. These 'drama school' tasks are always a bit risky, and four of them going for tragic more than poignant was a bit dull, especially as they were all very similar even within that. Thank god for Ivo, even if he didn't really try to do any acting.
eggs - Have to agree with Greg, this one was rubbish. Not much possibility space, the attempts aren't particularly funny and the twist fell flat.
bowling bell - Great! So many little options and tricks, and different approaches from everyone. The spray can trick was incredible.
studio - This was solid, good for a studio task I reckon.
S15E07prize - Pretty good. Lack of effort but fun banter. Frankie's prize was random shit as always.
egg pulper - Really good! Obviously not much in the way of tactics available (outside of Ivo's sneaky solution, which was great), but it's a really funny troll and I enjoyed watching the comedians making hay out of it.
jelly babies - Great! Perhaps the edit was misleading but I was in awe of how quick the threesome got the method, and it's really fun watching them interact too. Ivo getting co-piloted was amazing too.
list - Amazing! Really clever twist on the usual twist - every contestant immediately knows whatever they pick is going to come back and bite them but they don't know how. Some brilliant Alex moments too, like Kiel hitting his timer to start his 1m21s off and Alex immediately saying "you've got just over a minute left". Top-notch studio banter too.
studio - Excellent! Very funny, brilliant moment from Ivo and it's one of those where the viewer can essentially play along (as Greg this time).
A very strong episode!
S15E08
prize - Fine. Boring prompt, boring prizes except Mae's, fun banter. I guess Frankie is doing a bit by bringing in a picture every week, but it's pretty dull regardless.
pineapple - good! Not much variety but there was a little and it was fun to watch. Plus good quibbling afterwards.
brolly - Can't believe Alex stole my 'probrolly' joke from the official LOTCG hint-through! Task was okay, thanks to Mae and Kei mostly.
jelly - Not that good, there's only so much that's going to happen. Al Murray already did the 'heavy' joke.
studio - Very good! Fun to see Mae and Frankie break down in different ways.
An okay episode.
S15E09
prize - Very good! Frankie crap as always, but Ivo and Jenni at least put some thought in, Mae's was fun and Kai's was spectacular.
paint - Okay. A nice gentle one. Entertaining to see Ivo & Frankie come up with smart solutions and then absolutely screw themselves. Fun post-task negotiation too.
history - Very good. Less of a drama school task and more a reflection of the contestants' personalities. The analysis afterwards was good too.
holes - Very good. Almost entirely made up of sneakiness, and Alex was so mean, love it.
studio - Good. One of those weirdly tense ones.
Strong episode!
S15E10
prize - Great! Very smart prompt, as it eliminates the 'suck up to Greg' tactic, and very good entries except for you-know-who.
pint - Great! Nice open prompt, and loads of crap and brilliant attempts. Perfect ending with Kiel.
chess - Really good task, such a good collection of mini-tasks with extra smugness from Alex who clearly has been practicing all this stuff, and that Kiell/Mae music was perfect. Brilliant trap set with the gloves, vaseline and balloon. I tested myself at the maths and managed to do it in about 20 seconds.
lullaby - I don't always like these drama school tasks, but this one came out pretty well.
studio - It was nice to see Jenni win, but I don't think this was as effective as the other similar studio 'Greg must guess' tasks we've had. Happy to see Mae win, they was my pick throughout.
S16E01prize - good! Interesting objects, solid banter.
can tower - Thought this was good for a couple of comedy moments but outside of that not a particularly strong task.
connections - Dan mentioned to me the other day how they always keep the awkward initial meetings in the edit, and for this one it seemed like they've now started engineering them just a little, with Alex encouraging the first person to start on the task card! Also, I cannot believe these surprise two-parters still get me. Anyway, again this was geared towards one comedy moment and didn't have much else to it.
duck - boring, very narrow possibility space and not even centred around a big comedy moment! Some lateral thinking from Sue but even then it was just more 'moving things a bit'.
studio - okay, but I felt the tricks worked against it because it basically made it random and you couldn't play along at home like with the 'louder or quieter' task from S14.
Overall: A bit of a poor episode task-wise, and the contestants were all fine but none of them really stood out either.
S16E02
First things first, I've just realised that Sue is wearing a matching house outfit to Mel's from season 4, and that is adorable.
prize - okay. Fairly mild, felt like a daytime chat show.
sword - Interesting. I normally really enjoy these escape room ones. This was a bit weird because it was just a load of different single-level clues all pointing directly to the answer - broad but shallow. So there was the potential to just see one of the easier ones and get it immediately. Also, I wonder if they gave them the hint that they had to say a word before pulling out the sword, because that's the kind of thing my mind wouldn't jump to as it's not in the original Arthurian myth (and this is why I suspect I would actually find escape rooms very frustrating in real life, I'd always be trying to project adventure game logic and narrative onto them). I'll be going to Reddit for a full explanation of (or at least guesses at) all the clues (e.g. the Greg's foot one)
cheeky - meh, not really very funny or interesting. The sand-timer element didn't add much to it, and the cheeky element came off as a failed attempt at injecting some life into the whole thing.
mischief - Loved 60% of this and then it fell flat with the last two. Finding Sam and Julian a bit disappointing in general tbh, and they haven't even got a particularly strong line-up to compete with.
studio - meh. I think this one fell apart because it was too difficult to draw the two things at once without looking. It needed some different twist.
Not a very good episode, this one.
S16E03Pretty good, this one, with a few provisos. I also got a few more laughs from Sam and Julian.
prize - pretty good, some effort put in and a few laffs
golf - good fun. Bit of a shame that two of the contestants spotted the twist quickly and didn't struggle with the actual task, as they had to show them first and it kind of dampened the other funnier threee attempts.
under - surprisingly good! I didn't think this task had much potential, but the contestants (and editing) really made it.
nickname - pretty good - Sue and Lucy went a bit drama school, but the other attempts were quite funny.
studio - this fell a bit flat. For all the set-up, it was just throwing cushions almost at random.
S16E04prize - Quite good. Some bizarrely dreadful prize choices, but some good banter came out of it. Shame they didn't go into Sue's more, I imagine there was a lot on the cutting room floor!
SAUSAGE - Dammit, the first time I realise ahead of time that it's a 'now they have to eat it' task, and it's not! Anyway, this was quite good. Not as amazing as some of the food preparation tasks, but still gently amusing. Sidenote: such a small thing, but I love that when Julian comes in saying "What nonsense have you got for me now?", Alex's response is "What do you mean?" as if he has never even considered that the tasks are silly. It's not the sharpest on-the-spot joke he's ever made, but it's still great how in character and quick-thinking he is.
flexibuckets - Pretty good, some very funny moments, but I felt like the mini-tasks could have been funnier. All the 'shake hands' were wasteful.
memo - More brilliant chemistry between Alex and Julian. Otherwise, not great. Didn't come out particularly interesting or funny, it's a less good version of that one in the Baddiel season.
studio - Worst studio one for a while, I think. Just zero skill or tension involved! Plus, why the hell does Greg think a stick insect is a better pet than a giant squid?! Giant squid are cool, they're as smart as dogs and they communicate by displaying different patterns of light on their skin! As long as you don't get in the water with it, you're fine.
Another rough episode. This is looking to be a pretty low-ranking series.
S16E05
prize - pretty good for a prize task
balloon - This one was okay. Good set-up but the outcome wasn't hilarious and only Sue really pushed the boat out.
eyes - Okay. Came out better than I expected seeing as it was just 'stick eyes on some stuff', as Julian, Lucy and Sam were funny.
red water - Pretty good! Classic TM, with hidden clues and different methods, plus the old 'they messed it up' reveal.
studio - soooo nearly good. Felt like it was going to be one of those surprisingly tense ones, but then a couple of people were good and a couple were bad three times. The Sue moment was sweet, though.
Okay. Probably one of the better ones of this series but it'd be a slow one in a lot of the other ones.
S16E06prize - quite enjoyed the weirdness of this one, but it didn't feel like it was mined for full comedy. I think the trouble with the prize task now is that the banter gets cut so short it's barely worth doing. If a prize is boring then there's nothing to save it, and if it's interesting then it's disappointing that we don't get much banter about it.
robots - gentle fun but not much to it. It was amusing to see the contestants so wigged out by it, shame that wasn't capitalised on a bit more by the design.
garage - Really good! The contestants and their team dynamics really made it. Only slight niggle was that I would have liked Greg to pay a bit more attention to which recreations were better rather than taking Alex at his word that they were equally good. And Julian did Dan's favourite ever Julian Clary joke!!!
performance - Sigh, a drama school task. The juxtaposition between Susan going full modern art and Julian not giving a shit was pretty funny, the other three were bad sketches.
studio - This turned out okay through sheer force of comedy instincts, but it was a terrible task design. It was just that one where Greg had to guess if they were carrying something heavy again, except this time it was utterly arbitrary.
Mixed bag. Started off okay, kept improving through the first half then deteriorated in the second.
S16E07prize - Pretty good! Some fun entries with thought and effort put in. Barely any time for banter as seems the standard now, so from now on I'm just going to consider the opening introduction and banter part of the prize task - the botox stuff was great and lifted this up a lot. Four points!
switches - Loved this one! I really enjoy the ones that have this psychological aspect of trying to balance the chance of unknown dangers and unknown aids, and their reactions were brilliant. My instinct would have been to obey the DON'T and not flick that switch, so I think that was a lovely bit of classic Alex meanness.
Wayne - quite good. It was fun to watch the contestants, but this was a pretty basic 'either have a bit of patience and throw a pie at the right moment, or get just about any object and use it to turn him off or pull him down' task, there weren't any surprises.
cut-outs - Oof, a bad one. This wholly relied on the contestants doing interesting, inventive, charismatic things and turned out as a reflection of how boring they all generally are. Only Sam did anything vaguely interesting and he still didn't bother with the 'being weird' bit at all. In most other series, they would have been quibbling over whether they should take the median point between Sam's head and body as his actual location because all the other contestants had done stuff like folded their cut-outs up and stuffed them up the chimney, but here he got away with it because it was the only vaguely inventive thing done in the whole task.
studio - incredibly, the contestants broke the rules in order to make the task more boring. Also a bit disappointing that the production didn't consider it as a possibility.
S16E08prize - okay. Basically just 'wacky stuff' but it was fun enough.
secret - After all that build up, this didn't feel very special. Just a fairly basic treasure hunt, and the naming stuff worked out almost neutral which was bad luck but also not accounted for by the task design. The two Sues were fun.
fortune - Weak. It was just doing things that any adult shouldn't give a shit about. The coin thing was cool, but it needed like three more things like that.
sleep - Bit of a mess. The big reveal with Sam was great, but outside of that such a vague task. Like, they've got almost no chance of convincing a kid if they have to sleepwalk (seemed that Susan only managed it because the kid had been told one person was sleeping). Plus maybe I just failed to follow but it seemed like they gave up on the sleep walk/talk mistake and also that Sue should have scored because she convinced the kid she was there, which was one option.
studio - Great! Just a bog-standard parlour game with some silliness thrown on top, but often that's all you need for a good studio task.
So overall Still a pleasant enough watch as always, but a pretty disappointing episode albeit with a great ending.
S16E09
prize - Good! The 'lazy' prompt allowed for some fun stuff. Also, the 'Littles group' banter was great.
lights - Pretty good. I enjoyed it, but I was already done with it by the time we got to the fifth contestant. Felt like it needed something else to widen the possibility space. I also felt bad for them having to work out which was yellow, amber and red each time, as they looked really similar to me!
gift - For a moment I thought they were saying "GIF" and got excited because it was a really clever prompt! Sadly, it was the standard gift one instead. Anyway, it was... okay. I liked Sue's picture of Alex. (Would have been better as a GIF though.)
clown - Frustrating. I know that there perhaps wasn't a huge amount of variety open to them here, but it really does speak volumes about this line-up that most of them just tried 'throwing' and nearly all of them didn't pay attention to the clearly important rule.
studio - Good! It felt a bit different, it was funny and I could play along. (I got either 4 or 5 out of 5 - I missed the satsuma, but I guessed it was a trick question and the answer was "prompt cards" so maybe I would have got a point for that as it was technically true!)
Weirdly, I felt like the whole was worse than its parts - I came away very disappointed even though looking back my reaction to the individual tasks wasn't that bad. I guess it was pretty meh overall but dragged down by the clown one.
S16E10prize - Good! A fun variety of stuff, pretty funny. And they totally got me with the live finale trolling. Also a nice touch that Sam's scoreboard pic updated to match his new hair.
Doughnut - To be fair, this was a tough prompt, but the attempts were: put it in mouth then spit it into Alex's mouth (indirectly), put it in mouth then spit it into Alex's face, put it into mouth with some other food, fling it at Alex with a rubber band, put some cocktail sticks and paper on it and put it on a wall. Susan's was fun to watch, but yet another example of unimaginative attempts.
exercise - This was a really weird one, it almost didn't feel like a task, more like a montage from a bigger task. It was enjoyable, though, and Julian and Sam especially did some fun stuff - finally got to find out what that boxing glove clip from the intro was!
hotel - Brilliant! Such a great idea to just drop them into a bad 70s sitcom, and the two Sues were absolutely perfect. So many unscripted moments of brilliance along with the prepared stuff. I was worried that the second half would fizzle out, but the other group being the worst hotel ever worked brilliantly. Giving the guest all the room keys at once in case he wanted to change room again was peak-Fawlty.
studio - Good! Good design and pretty tense, just a shame that they all did so badly that it only went for one round.
Overall, got to be my favourite episode of the series.
New Year's Treat 2024
Pretty good! From memory the best NYT, and probably stands up with some of the lower-end actual episodes. Lenny was adorable and I liked Kojey too.
CoC 3
overall really enjoyed it, though it dipped a little at the end.
Prize - Very strong, except Kendall. You can see why this lot are champions/champion-stand-ins. Also, perfect outfits (and the contrasts between them), strong banter and great title sequence (I really enjoy these bespoke dramatic ones, they always work well).
Service - Really good! Very simple, but the right level of cruelty and the contestants were a lot of fun. Kiell pushed it over the top.
Hat - Really good, though some of the disabilities were quite cheaty and some of the attempts a little lacklustre. Alex getting to be mean to Sophie and a bit to Kiell as well was great. For both these first two tasks I was like "mmm, okay" at first and then by the end I was cackling away.
stupid - meh, bit of a drama school task, this one. Dara's was amusing in its simplicity, I didn't think much of the rest.
Studio - Okay. Quite a good party game but didn't really lend itself to humour or drama.
S17E01
prize - okay. Good idea but didn't lead to anything spectacular. I would have found someone who works at Greggs and is called Davis and brought them in - live person is always good and Greg loves Greggs.
danger - bit shit. Good concept squandered, Nick was really the only one who understood it.
painting - Good! Really good concept once it was made clear that they all had access to the task and the criteria, very funny to see one team (seemingly) doing so well and one falling apart. Such a shame that Nick and Steve miscommunicated over the rotation thing! Can't be bothered to go back and check but I wonder if the task could have clearer about how the sections would be slotted together. Now I think about it, Nick did seem confused about Steve's "lying down" bit!
Gary - Jesus Christ, not only did Channel 4 ruin the set-up for a task, they ruined the one surprise twist set-up. FUCKING BRAVO. Anyway, not very good. No one did anything remotely interesting, probably because there weren't many ways to approach it and very little time anyway. But even so, no one went to look at the scarecrow, no one decided to just wade in and put the hoop over him in 5 seconds flat risking the doubling.
studio - okayyyy but very slow. Could have done with it being edited down, even though that normally doesn't happen with the studio task. Tie-break was satisfying, though I think it might have been better if there were only one colour in there so you had to know your pieces.
Overall: mid at best, but a bit disappointing. Really hope this is just a weak start to a strong season, and also that I don't end up wishing they'd got Shearsmith in instead.
S17E02
prize - Fine. Some vanilla old-school attempts from Steve and Sophie. Nick's didn't quite make sense, and the other two were clearly results of a two-minute google search.
patatas - Okay. Some moments of fun, and the nice picker-upper twist. But otherwise nothing too interesting happened. I think the big hook on the cat made it a bit too easy, should have just put a collar on her or something at most.
greenscreen - enjoyed the team of three, they put some thought into it and had some BTS calamity comedy. Very disappointed in the other one, though. What's the point of getting Pemberton in if he's not even going to liven up the drama school tasks?
stick - okay. There was at least a little variety in the attempts, even if it did really boil down to people sticking an object to a wall and it sticking or not.
studio - quite good, third round made it more fun and less open to cheating. Good party game, which is always a good sign.
overall - A bit better than last week's, but still a very mid episode.
S17E03
prize - not great, not much banter generation.
blobby - surprisingly fun! A very very simple game dressed up with lots of silliness and confusion. Wish they'd banned the alphabet technique, though.
baby - quite fun, I chuckled at some of the contestants, even though it was pretty much the same basic thing over and over.
tension - fun! I enjoyed all of them except John's which was bleh. Great to see Pemberton finally bringing some LoG vibes.
studio - not great. I can see the thought process behind it, but it just didn't turn out that exciting. Maybe would have worked better just watching one person do it (tie-breaker?). Also a bit irritating that Sophie was just allowed to cheat.
overall - best episode so far imo, even if it wasn't an absolute cracker. I can understand people not enjoying this one but for me most stuff luckily fell into place.
S17E04
prize - Excellent! The best prize task in ages.
gloves - Very enjoyable. Felt like a variation of ones we've had before, but it's an old reliable.
dot to dot - Very enjoyable. Again, we've seen it before but the entries were good and the luck of having the horses there eating and farting their way through the place helped it.
half task - Not great. The design of this one was frustrating - easily broken by just walking around and looking at stuff, but also that was basically the prime route to solve it correctly - just find that cake and find the note in it then follow the steps. Bit of a let-down after the previous versions of this with UV lights and melting candles and what have you.
studio - Quite fun. Lots of weird approaches when I would have simply unravelled it as quickly and safely as possibly into a pile on the floor, then pulled it all back through the tube. Really harsh judgement at the end there but I think fair and classic Taskmaster strictness - the task card said all your toilet roll and I would have been making sure to get that last attached piece even if I had to pick it off in bits.
overall - I think maybe the joint or second best so far? Nothing spectacular and let down by the treasure hunt one, but solid and enjoyable.
S17E05
prize - pretty good - lots of laughs, even though at least two of the things were just off the internet they at least had some personal connection.
load - Very good! Lots of amusing bits and pieces (like Alex chasing John to interrupt him, Steve's joy at the secret costume room), a variety of attempts and some good reactions from Greg. This felt like a classic TM task.
mid-air - Excellent! Another classic TM task, lots of great attempts and I was crying laughing at Sophie. Only tiny downer is that it felt a little similar to the load-bearing one that came just before it, but that's a real nit-pick. (And yes, I noticed the reflection removal.)
ties - Very fun, lots of different approaches. The terrible tie/Welsh thing was a little weak. Also, again, this feels of a fairly similar type to the previous two tasks!
studio - Pretty good. Very similar to ones we've seen before, but the different space for each round plus the simultaneous push on the final round gave it a new twist. The last round was very tense!
overall - really good episode! This could stand up to some of the better seasons, I reckon, just by going back to basics. If this had been the first episode of the season I would have been very excited.
S17E06
prize - very good, despite some dreadfully lazy attempts. Good to see Steve get his beloved crosswords in there!
picnic - pretty good. A variation on an existing theme, but getting both ends of it to rely on one contestant making comments about the other was smart.
thumb - pretty good. Didn't get up to the heights of sausage-on-a-concrete-mixer, but lots of variety and fun.
darts - meh. Not much scope for anything unexpected here and nothing particularly funny happened.
studio - good! Fun visuals, tense at the end. Cannot believe Steve fluffed it like that!
overall - solid to good episode. No mind-blowing moments, and let down a little by the Twister task, but I was smiling throughout.
S17E07
prize - solid
fishing - 'You go through lots of stuff to find out it's the obvious answer' works a lot better as an ingenious meta adventure game puzzle than a task, because here it was just very boring. What a waste of the sound guy trick!
music - interesting rather than hilarious. Surprised they didn't all just do what Nick did. I would have gone for Beethoven's 9th (maybe with a Die Hard costume as a hint), or the one with the cannons.
orange - Mehhhh, okay. There was a little variety there, obvs, but in the end it was just all five contestants squeezing some oranges.
studio - Okay. It was fun seeing a couple of them chasing after their balls on stage, and then seeing the rubbish faces was kind of funny.
overall - mediocre at best, but a bit weak really.
S17E08
prize - Fun! For a week where everyone seemed to have put half the usual effort in, this came out pretty funny.
flip - Fun! I think part of the reason why the simple tasks work on this season are because in the more structured ones this line-up don't have the instinct to break it for comedy, but they do have the competitive instinct so they end up doing stuff like duct-taping oars to their arms. A shame that two of them misunderstood the task, Sophie just being a bit thick and Nick falling victim to some ambiguous task phrasing - one is good, two is a waste.
umbrella - Very fun, a nice escalation of the classic Kearns task, and it worked really well to distract them all from managing an incredibly easy task. Also, nice to see a melon on a plinth, that was a lynchpin of our task designs on the game!
mannequin - Okay. Sophie's and Steve's were great, John and Nick's were boring and Joanne's had that drama school task 'I've written a shit sketch' feel that I dislike so much. Oh, you thought I was having sex but I was doing something else, ah ha ha! (Though at least it had some energy - this line-up just seem to forget they're on a comedy show sometimes.) Sophie was robbed, should have got 4.
studio - Solid. Not massively dramatic or funny, but a good party game you can join in with.
overall - Pretty good episode! A lot of high points, and no task was a complete fail.
S17E09
prize - Fine. Middling entries, solid banter.
Celebration - Fine. Drama school task, no one did anything amazing though that paper suit was pretty cool and the song was nice.
socks - Fine. Some nice tricks on both sides, but still five fairly similar performances. Fun to see John being unapologetically competitive. I do feel sorry for Steve because I think that was another confusingly phrased task, but also common sense got everyone else there!
deah - Quite good. The creative tasks are better when they've got restrictions and there was some fun surreal stuff going on. Can't argue with Steve doing his LoG voices.
studio - Good! Simple party game, very tense. Shame they weren't all a bit better, could have been immense. Probably needed an extra life each, in retrospect.
overall - Fine.
S17E10
prize - okay. Not loads of banter but some interesting entries. Good opening chat from Alex!
peg - Okay. This is a remix of one from the Australia version - this one's better, though. I was going to say it ended up being too easy but then we had the reveal!
hug - Quite good. It's just another bunch of clues, but it's quite fun to see them all have different skill levels at them. The moment with Steve's hug was great, I like how they kept bringing these friends back. Nice to see Sophie doing well at these tasks!
gameshow - Meh. Drama school task, though it's a group one and they're sometimes a little better. The group of three had a nice mix of actually vaguely good gameshow idea plus some weirdness (though the 'cheesy American' approach is very tired), the group of two didn't have much to it except 'lol poo'.
studio - Okay. Similar to that Jo Brand laminator one.
overall - a middling end to a middling season.
S18E01
prize - good prompt and some okay-ish prizes. Andy made some good quips. Rosie's was great and I should not have been eating during it.
silent - a nice simple fun one to start off, good way to experience the contestants' personalities. The seal misdirection and the last minute reprieve for Jack were good too.
cans - another fun simple one that works nicely to make the contestants all look like idiots. I felt like there should have been disqualifications for throwing balls more than once and possibly retugging strings, but maybe I misremembered the task wording. When one contestant's been disqualified, I always want them to start nitpicking and taking others down with them!
bubbles - this one was okay, nothing hugely unexpected. Rosie's was quite fun but needed to go further.
studio - I feel like this was a risky one where it could have gone amazingly or very slowly, and it ended up going slowly until Rosie's amazing coup. Think it needed to alter the clue structure so that everything moved a bit quicker.
overall - Really solid, fun first episode. I really like the line-up, finding everyone very entertaining.
S18E02
prize - okay, some slightly too sensible choices. Rosie's was very good.
fine people - a lot of business for what is a basic memory game. The multiple sneaky solutions were welcome as always, though.
beasts - not the most inventive task in the world, or the most outrageous attempts, but the team groupings are great and everyone was really funny.
doorbell - not great - drama school task with barely any restrictions and I think very similar to at least one previous one (iirc VCM did a shit cheaty entry for it as usual), and the entries were all a bit dull. Rosie's got close to being good but again was very similar to a previous thing of Alex being born (Sally Phillips?)
studio - one of those ones that is, somehow, very tense despite being 100% luck-based. Would make a good drinking game.
overall - Not as good as last week's, a few more duff tasks and attempts, but still getting by on its line-up.
S18E03
prize - good - lots of stuff to take the piss out of. Was hoping that Greg would comment that Baba's soul drum was essentially an old-school Furby.
rocket - fun, if a little simple. The little twists, reactions and arguments made it.
recreation - great! Good task, amazing efforts. If I had to rank them, I think I'd go Emma > Andy > Jack > Baba > Rosie, but I can't really argue with the 5s across the board. I suspect Greg might have given Rosie a 4 or 3 if he hadn't thought it would have been a massive downer...
pub quiz - great! Really good idea and lots of invention and comedy from the teams. Quite similar to an idea Dan had for the VR game where you'd be taking a test at school!
studio - good - the chaos was fun even it wasn't an inherently comedic setup, just a logic puzzle.
overall - Very good episode! I think this season is shaping up to be a good one with solid tasks elevated by a strong line-up.
S18E04
prize - good! Interesting entries, fun banter.
envelope - fine. a good range of responses but nothing outrageous or hilarious.
maze - Okay. Funny concept, but watching it five times was a bit wearing, and surely Baba should have been disqualified for running pretty much the whole time?
locket - Fine. Quite a narrow concept, but a good range of approaches and success. Itching to know what all the clues were - can't believe no one emptied out that spice jar!
studio - Not a great result, obvs, but it is kind of fun when a studio task just collapses like that.
overall - solid, lots of smiles and a few laughs, nothing special. Classic mid-season episode.
S18E05
prize - Fine. Two people put effort in, some good banter.
robot - Pretty good. Not much variety or inherent challenge, but entertaining. Feel like something more could have been made of this idea, a bit more depth/breadth to the task could have made it an all-timer.
smell - Very good. Essentially an extended prize task where they've been forced to put some effort in (and in fact didn't someone bring in a smell in a jar as a prize once?), fun variety of attempts, fun responses from Greg.
news - Meh. Drama school task, cycling one was okay, hedgehog one was weak.
studio - Good. Solid old-school studio task with some very close calls and some dreadful attempts.
overall - Averages out to a good episode. Second best of the season so far?
S18E06
prize - unusually regimented. I liked it - not hilarious, but interesting at least.
fish - I didn't really understand this one. Seemed like much ado about nothing.
puppet - the worst example of drama school task. Nothing surprising and yet Greg was forced to act like he was surprised that the children's puppets were incongruously dark. Also, enforced Alex involvement made them all feel even more samey.
bomb - very good, just pure cluedom with a tense framing.
studio - One of those gambles that unfortunately turns out to be a damp squib.
overall - The first bad episode of the season.
S18E07
prize - pretty good, effort put in by 3/5 (I assume Andy's was just some internet clip), but not much banter
ropes - okay. Pretty simple task (which I guessed the solution of 'ignore the ropes and wander around until you find one' to straight away, which I don't normally manage) but some fun reactions.
mystery box - very good! Enough elements to the task to keep it entertaining, lots of fun behaviour and studio banter, and some good twists and turns
fortune cookies - great! Baba and Rosie were hilarious, Emma was adorable and then it was fun to watch Jack and Andy get messed around even thought they came up with a clever loophole.
studio - good! A classic 'simple but tense' studio task, and kind of similar to our watermelon skittles VR task!
overall - Very good! Bit of a slow start but no clunkers and I was crying with laughter at points.
S18E08
prize - Good! Effort put in by everyone, if we give Baba's the benefit of the doubt of being clever.
glasses - Meh. I enjoy the treasure hunt/escape room ones, but this was far too simple ("read the sign backwards" is essentially the whole thing) even before it was easily broken by a conspicuously pointless pillar and contestants predictably forgetting they can leave the lab and so just looking at all three items in that room.
barrels - Meh. No scope for anything particularly funny to happen, it's not like one of those previous mini-task tasks where they could get stuck in a loop or screw themselves over.
sequence - Great! A very simple set-up (and my immediate thought was 'there'll be a second part, choose things that will be easy and perhaps helpful') but still incredibly funny, and the studio banter was great.
studio - Good! Another fun party game that's entertaining to watch.
overall - Balances out as an okay-to-good episode. As with a lot of this season, some spotty task design is rescued by a great line-up.
S18E09
prize - Fine. Some effort put in, moderately funny. Greg telling Jack his joke as if he hadn't thought of it was a bit irritating, though. (Greg also messed up the banter section by saying "please" after his first "£10 cash" answer.)
Measure - Good. A nice mix of task elements with some gently amusing results. Think Jack & Emma should have been disqualified for using technology, though.
Dirty - Very good! Nice open art challenge, funny and varied entries, and good banter.
Balls - Fine. Task was far too easy, though. I was expecting a hidden rule about tennis ball colour or something. Also, 5 vs 3 points far too generous. I don't generally care about scoring on this show, but it is a shame that it's lost a bit of that cruel rigor.
studio - Good! Join-in-at-home fun.
overall - Another 'quite good' one.
S18E10prize - good! Funny, and thought put into pretty much every entry.
chairs - Meh. No room for variety and the tricks never really figured into it.
either - Okay. Some room for comedy and different approaches. Surprised more people didn't decide to take a quick look for the haystack! I'd like to think I'd have tried that first, but if not I would have gone onion and die roll at the same time.
goose - Very good! A good drama school task! Good open prompt, a wide variety of takes, all funny. And the juxtaposition of Baba's with the preceding two was brilliant. I've found him funny throughout but he also is fucking terrible most of the time.
studio - Pretty good. Another fun party game one with a bit of tension, though it didn't work out quite as tensely as it could have. The threeway stand-off was great.
overall - A fairly good episode, shame it didn't have at least one more very strong task to really bolster it as the season finale.
Re. the potential rule break, I think Jack actually said "one" at one point in a similar fashion as well, earlier than his "three", so perhaps the order wouldn't have been affected. It is weird and a bit disappointing when they don't pick up on this stuff, though, you'd think they'd be hyper-focused on it. I wonder if there was debate in the studio and Greg decided that only calculation numbers should count. Not sure it's worth getting furious about though, it's only a silly gameshow...
NYT 2025
A bit crap as always. No big celebs (to my eyes anyway) and none of them did anything particularly funny or embarrassing.
S19E01
prize - a fine start. The prompt clearly angling for some basic observational comedy but it got everyone warmed up nicely.
vinegar - Okay. Not much to it except the silly joke as they all mostly managed the hand jar thing with little fuss.
cool - Good! Fun idea, well-placed double-task trick, and all the contestants were pretty good. Nothing hilarious or astounding, but effort was put in.
pealympics - Great! Perfect combination and escalation of mini-tasks, and everyone's reactions were very funny.
studio - Good! Messy fun. I suspect there was some non-penalised rule breaking and it was a bit rubbish of Fatiha to not bother trying anything but it didn't really matter. Surprised that no one copied Matthew's trick, wonder if they didn't see it or were told not to or just decided not to for entertainment's/sport's sake. [edit: saw it pointed out that Fatiha might have not been able to physically do the task and came up with a joke reason instead, in which case fair enough.]
overall - Was a bit worried at first, but a strong finish made this a good opening episode.
S19E02prize - Good! Good prompt, entries and banter. Must say, I thought the butler was a shoo-in for first place.
RTT - Good! Interesting idea, lots of effort put in. I wasn't crying with laughter or wowed by anything, though, and I feel like there's some tweak that could be made to get this task idea there but I can't immediately work out what it is. Maybe surprise them by swapping commentaries and making them act out someone else's on the hoof, something like that?
jump sit clap - Good! Classic set-up, fun to watch, the team of 3's meltdown at the end was great.
liquid - Very fun! I like these densely packed ones, and there were lots of funny moments.
studio - Okay. A fun idea, but almost everyone's item combinations happened to work out too easy.
overall - A good, solid episode. This season is the best one in quite a while iirc, even if it's not yet up there with the classics. Only needs a little nudge upwards to get there, though.
S19E03
prize - very good! Fun ideas and banter.
cheese phone - quite good. Fun idea that didn't amount to very much in practice.
cape - very good! Lots of physical comedy, a really harsh reveal and then Fatiha sticking the knife in beautifully.
easel - very good! Lots of different approaches and chaos.
studio - very good! Classic 'would make a good party game'/'should be easy but is tricky enough to get them frustrated with themselves' stuff.
overall - A strong episode! I didn't feel I could rate anything more than very good, no all-time-great moments, but funny all the way through.
S19E04
prize - good! Weirdly well thought out prizes so it was more interesting than hilarious, but that's still good!
shhh - Good! Nakedly designed just to make them run around looking silly, but it worked and the line-up are good enough to spin gold out of it. Plus they threw lots of wrinkles in there, even if the mannequins under the tree weren't theirs. That's another great thing about TM, that it's now been going for so long in the same location that it has this archaeological feel where they're stumbling on old stuff from years ago, like that extra hidden duck.
acting - Great! Really cool idea, very different, and heavy investment from the teams, lots of fun in the studio too. I was fooled by a few of the things.
bulb - Pretty good! Bit of a re-run of that squash court one from I think S2, but I always like these puzzley ones even if there's not much of a possibility space. The contestants are fun again. I don't know what raisins had to do with it, though - "raisin' a smile"?
studio - Good! I liked the tactics to it and how almost none of them seemed to actually understand it enough to employ any.
overall - Another strong one, maybe best of the season so far?
S19E05
prize - Good! The entries weren't amazing, but the banter was fun.
campfire - Very good! The task itself was okay, the studio section really made it.
monster - Great! Very fun task, great studio banter.
pencils - Very good! Lots of funny moments. Surprising that they didn't specify to get the pencils as short as possible for more comedy, but I guess they were hoping for people to make the assumption that Stevie did.
studio - Great! Very simple task but all the antics really brought it up. Amazing that we went in moments from Matt getting awws for chivalry to Jason managing to get boos as he wins the episode.
overall - Fantastic episode. It's so good to be back at a point where we can regularly say "an okay task, made amazing by the contestants".
S19E06
prize - Pretty good! Okay prizes, okay banter. Pop-up book was impressive, I wonder if he commissioned it.
head - Okay. For some of them it was essentially just a 'get this high thing' task with a bunch of long sticks scattered about the place. The nerdy tricks were pretty good (I worked the prime numbers thing out right at the very end when Alex said "2 or 3 or 5 or 7"), and Jason was pretty fun as always, but nothing amazing happened.
home video - Okay. Drama school task, first entry was not bad, second was a bit rubbish.
lesson - Good grief, two drama school tasks in a row. This one was at least better than the previous one - Mathew and Rosie's attempts were pretty good, Stevie's was just a fun visual and Fatiha's was really sweet. Jason was a bit rubbish.
studio - Good! A classic 'weirdly tense' studio task.
overall - Bit of a mid episode. Still a nice watch because of the line-up, but probably the weakest one so far.
S19E07
prize - Good! Especially Mat's. I guessed someone was going to pull that trick, and yet his storytelling was so good he still managed to fool me.
yellow box - Bit of a flop. I often like these puzzley ones, but they all acted fairly sensibly and cleverly and there weren't really any laughs.
yoghurt - Bit rubbish. Drama school task with three weak entries, one quite good one (Fatiha) and one good one (Mat). They should have had more than one task word to be chosen, because it was pretty obvious what everyone would do with either of the two options here.
buckets - Okay. A classic 'obstacle course with some traps built in' task, some funny moments.
studio - Amazing! Unbelievably tense and I love Javie Martzoukas' energy.
overall - Seemed like this was going to be the first rubbish ep of the season, but just pulled out of it in the second half. Still the worst one so far, though. Hopefully they stashed the two weak ones in the middle and the last three will be good again.
S19E08
prize - Very good, some really funny prizes and banter, and they even got laughs out of Fatiha's serious prize. (Felt a little bit of a cop out for Greg to pay lip service to rating the more interesting/funny ones above it, then giving it 5, but I guess he does fairly regularly get won over by genuine sentiment.
skittles - Really good! I was honestly just enjoying the task as a back-to-basics 'throwing funny objects to knock things over, in funny ways' one, then I got genuinely concerned for Stevie, then the reveal was great. Enjoyed Jason not deigning to take part in the kayfabe, too. Rosie's and Fatiha's 'fail' attempts were almost a bit of a letdown, but Rosie winning by mistake was great. Sidenote: I forgot to say this in a previous episode, but - our TMVR dialogue got rewritten after we finished to explain to Americans what skittles are, which I thought totally unnecessary and not very TM. Thanks to this season, I feel vindicated!
easel - Pretty good. Solid idea, though I think the 'scene'/'three words' concept was a bit too fuzzy, it needed some extra guide rails. Sidenote: not hugely similar to our TMVR task, but nice to see a rotating pair of easels. I like to think that Alex was at least inspired by the visual of ours!
autocue - Great! Really strong idea, funny attempts, brilliant editing. That cut immediately after Jason says "I was lost at sea" killed me. Loved Stevie's noises, and Fatiha plus balloons is always amazing.
studio - Very good. Nice and simply, fun to join in with. I especially liked the last one as you had to pay attention to stuff said in previous episodes plus use a bit of lateral thinking.
overall - Great episode! Good task design, great line-up.
Also, have to say, I'm loving the studio outfits this season. Rosie coming as '90s girl just out of the shower about to watch Friends with a big glass of wine' last week and bank teller this week, and Stevie as sailor last week and goth girl this week, plus Fatiha's Batman colours a few weeks ago.
S19E09Ah bollocks, just realised I typed up all my thoughts then forgot to actually paste them in here! Lost, like tears in the rain!
The main takeaway was that I kept rating tasks as just about okay, and then Mathew would come in and do something amazing and knock them up to 'pretty good' status.
S19E10
prize - Pretty good! A kind of hard to define prompt, but some fun entries.
sand - Pretty good. The task was really fun when people were bad at it, though they were all bad in basically the same way and it was also weirdly easy to be good at it by just not seeing (or ignoring) the "living room" note and wandering over to the stage.
power - Excellent! I was crying with laughter at this. Was thinking it was pretty dull until the second task (I almost never spot those coming!), and what a simple yet amazing twist. Worked out really well, and Fatiha managed to make not bothering very funny. Great studio banter too.
Drive Thru - Very similar to a task that we designed for TMVR! (It got cut, Alex almost certainly wouldn't have seen it.) Ours was a pub, though, and Greg was also there ordering weird pedantic stuff. Anyway, I like that since the hotel task, having one in that vein has kind of become a tradition (the pub quiz one kind of felt adjacent). This one was excellent, and I was crying with laughter again, so many great little details, and brilliant moments. Also love that again we got one team that was pretty good and managed to push through the obstacles and one that just utterly collapsed.
studio - Good! Fun to watch, different approaches taken. Only negative is a silly nitpick, but with this kind of studio task I always worry that they're all just going to copy whoever clearly has the best approach, but when that doesn't happen I have a nagging feeling that they've all decided not to do that for entertainment's sake and it therefore feels a little fake.
overall - I was a little worried to start that it would go out with a bit of a shrug, but this turned out to be a great episode! Excellent series all in all, possibly in my top five, almost certainly top ten.
S20E01
prize - Very good! Effort put in almost across the board, and good banter.
QR - Very good! Just good simple classic fun, and very promising for the contestant line-up. I love the horn being there on the table right from the start, classic Horne cheekiness - I thought to myself when I saw it "probably best to honk that immediately, but it might be a double-bluff and the longest to resist it benefits", so if I were doing the task I probably would have left it alone until I came back in and saw LAH was gone and then would have honked it just in case (and checked under the table too). Also, I audibly gasped and put my hand to my mouth in shock when Maisie broke that gargoyle!
curling - Very good! Another good basic classic task type with the contestants all being fun.
DxN - Okay. An interesting idea, but the contestants didn't really understand or make the most of it.
studio - Great! Absolute chaos, can't believe they went with that task and how dangerous it got at several moments, also very funny to watch.
overall - Very promising start, only a bit of a wobble with the curtain task but otherwise a really good back-to-basics intro to the season. I reckon this is going to be another one where any deficits in task design or outcome are going to be covered by the strong line-up.
S20E02
prize - Okay. Medium effort and banter.
glory hole - Good! Classic task set-up with some amazing visuals and some fun guesses.
powers - Okay. The superpower gimmick wasn't very well matched to the challenge, I thought, and didn't encourage many antics. (Also, surprised no one suggested just taking one scoop out and then finishing, in the hope that the other team would disqualify themselves!)
surprise - Okay. It's basically just 'cobble together a weird thing', which now I come to think of it was pretty much how the prize task shook out too, and they all did an okay job of it. Reese's was best and pulled it all up a bit, Ania's was pretty good and kept on giving in the studio.
studio - Solid 'sneaky tricks guessing game' task. Felt like they could have given it a bit more pomp on the reveals and maybe some more sneakiness.
overall - Just about okay. Quite a dip from last week.
S20E03
prize - Good! Solid prompt, fun entries, good banter.
mascot - Pretty good. Weirdly structured but fun attempts and good banter.
name - Great! Was crying with laughter at this, brilliant set-up and amazing attempts.
snakes - Excellent! Crying with laughter again, it worked out perfectly and Reese was amazing.
studio - Very good! Short but sweet, with Ania using a clever tactic and poor old Reese getting punished again.
overall - Great episode! Some great task design and even the slightly wobbly bits were made up for by the strong line-up. They're really good at quipping in the studio as well. Glad to get some of the big Reese energy I was hoping for.
S20E04
prize - Bad. Not often I go beneath 'fine' on these, but this was a bad prompt with boring entries that were presented to deathly silence from the audience and most of which didn't really make sense. Plus, and I don't normally care about this, but as I'm complaining anyway, the points allocation was bizarre.
number - Not great. Bit of a boring set-up and nothing fun came of it.
heart - Okay. The task idea was pretty good, but no one fucked up enough for it to be funny. No Herring/Cooper drama here, sadly. Reese was good value, obvs.
horses - Not great. Outside of the horsey gimmick, bit of a boring task. The clever tricks by Ania and Phil livened it up a little but not enough.
studio - Okay-ish, just because I was impressed by Greg's guessing, but inherently less entertaining than previous, simpler guessing ones like 'was the thing they carried heavy'.
overall- Pretty rough episode, this one. Fairly dull with very few good contestant moments. Hopefully they know this and are just hiding the rubbish one in the middle of the series.
S20E05
prize - Okay. Good prompt, Maisie's entry was great, the rest were a bit lacklustre. I mean, alien baby skeleton or something, right?
drag - Quite good. Some chaos, some invention, a classic bit of Al Murray bribery. Nothing too wild or hilarious.
awkward - Pretty good. Team of two was rubbish, even if they were (so they claim) supposed to be, it didn't come across. Team of three was all a bit route one but undeniably some funny moments in there.
four part word call - Okay, but the choice of 'a boring man in chef's uniform' as the subject scuppered it a bit.
studio - Almost very good, but some of the contestants, most of the audience, and I couldn't remember all the rules so the little twists didn't mean anything as they happened. And I was surprised there was only one round as well.
overall - Just about okay. Better than last week but probably worse than the first three.
S20E06
prize - Very good! Good prompt, good entries (Reese seems to always go too low-key with his, though) and a bonus for the end of the show! Was hoping Greg would give them all joint first so Alex would have to wear all of the outfits.
string - Quite good. Strong prompt, first two attempts were pretty dull, Maisie at least put some thought in even if it clearly wasn't going to work, Sanjeev's was very clever (though I don't believe for a second that he expected the egg not to break, and it did mar his attempt a little that it didn't, and I wouldn't normally like a sketch entry like Reese's but it was very good and also in light of how bland some of the regular attempts were it lifted the whole thing up a bit.
story - Bit of a dud, but so close to being good. The ten word thing really scuppered it, they all just went with something clever-clever which ended up being dull in the second part. Should have given them thirty seconds to tell an interesting story, then like a minute to act it out. Maybe in the house so they could use props, but with only two minutes prep time or something, not sure.
flippers - Very good! Lovely tricksy task, and very enjoyable that it tripped up Maisie even after she knew the full rules. Great to see smug Sanjeev and pleased-with-himself Phil get some comeuppance, a shame that Reese was disqualified as he really was acting in the spirit of the show.
studio - Great! Basically a rerun of the original Quentin task, and just as good, plus the self-aware return of Quentin and the series-long hints in the house (which I did not put together, kudos to Ania) were fantastic.
overall - Really solid one, just a bit of a shame about the nearly-great ones in the middle.
Have to say, I'm finding Phil fairly annoying. He feels like the kind of 70s end-of-the-pier comedian that did one good joke and found themselves with a tv show that Filthy Rich & Catflap mocked so brutally, a proper Jimmy Cricket type. And he's so pleased with himself the whole time. At least Tim Vine seemed to have the sense to realise that he was hanging with the cool kids and he should hold back and casually drop only the strongest of his cheesy gags. Phil is the kind of contestant that John Kearns was worried Dara thought he was being.
S20E07
prize - Solid.
heist - Okay, but neither team was impressively sophisticated and neither team was comically awful enough that it reached the heights of the hotel or food van tasks.
dribble - Solid if a bit tired. Making them do something gross plus making them do a shit drawing works, but there was nothing new here. Phil and Maisie livened it up a bit, though.
mole - Good! Very simple, but satisfying to watch, lots of fun personality moments, and some good sneaky elements. Sidenote: we almost had a 'whack-a-mole with Greg and Alex puppets' task in the VR game! It was a studio task, with a more typical w-a-m setup but you were doing it with a trombone. Couldn't get it fun enough, though.
studio - Weak. No tactics involved really, but also not particularly funny or entertaining.
overall - Just about okay.
S20E08
prize - Good! Fairly interesting attempts, good banter.
questions - Frustrating. I was enjoying the first bit of this, with the contestants getting wound up, it was good old 'simple task, contestants react in funny ways' goodness. Then Sanjeev pissed all over it. I don't mind the 'I can't be bothered' personas when they actually do bother really, but this is just not fun to watch. And the twist was kind of fun, double bluffing that the thing it can't be as simple as was in fact the thing, with a big complicated yet meaningless system running at the same time, but they presented it all in the wrong order. It should have gone Sanjeev and Reese, then the other three, then the reveal of the spaceship code, then the reveal that meant nothing and then the reveal of the ducks. Even so it would have been annoying rather than fun that Sanjeev won by not getting into the spirit of things. Bit of a shame.
easel - Okay. Another very standard 'difficult painting' task, some funny contestant bits, that's about it.
five letters - Mostly very good! A juicily cruel task and loads of amazing moments. Just a shame that Sanjeev broke it again by not giving enough of a shit to lift his foot two inches off the floor for more than two seconds.
studio - Great! Strong idea, lots of ups and downs, Maisie doing terribly and then suddenly pulling it back, Greg indignantly yelling "Get fucked am I!" And Sanjeev didn't spoil it!
overall - Mixed bag, could have been a great one if it weren't for Sanjeev. I don't think I've ever seen one person sink an episode like that.
I think this series is going in my 'do not rewatch' pile unless it really picks up in the last two. It's really sputtered out. Whereas I could pretty easily watch S19 again right now.
S20E09
prize - Pretty good. Utterly bizarre prompt, mostly good entries (except Sanjeev, though I suppose his wasn't too bad, just very route one and a bit misconceived).
bricks - Good! A pretty basic task with some silly distractions on top and some fun contestant moments.
jockey - Pretty good. Weird task, some funny moments. Surprised no one went about it in a logical way (weigh Alex, use a fuckload of weights to get the mannequin as close as you can estimate, weigh the mannequin, then remove/add weights from there).
face - Good! Everyone did cool stuff, oddly enough Reese's was the most predictable. My score would be Ania > Phil > Reese > Sanjeev > Maisie, but it's surprisingly tricky, no wonder Greg just gave up.
studio - Good! Just lovely cosy fun.
overall - A really solid episode, good cosy telly. Well-pitched tasks, gently amusing attempts. If the episodes had all been at this level, this series wouldn't be in the top tier but it wouldn't be a skip either. If you replaced Phil and Sanjeev with really strong contestants, like Johnny Vegas level, it could have pulled the whole thing up to top tier.
S20E10
prize - Good! Nice open prompt, either effort put in or at least interesting things brought. Can't even begrudge Sanjeev going for the obvious runner. Plus pirate costumes and a bonus bit of prop comedy from Alex!
drinks - Good! Maisie and Reese very funny, the other team sweet to watch (and came up with a smart solution rather than just repeating the other team, though I'm surprised no one on production thought of that, seemed immediately obvious to me!). And then the classic gutpunch, though slightly spoiled by Sanjeev seeming to genuinely not care, which is a shame. Maybe I blinked and missed a genuine regretful reaction from him immediately after reveal, but I don't think so. (Okay, later on he does seem to sincerely feel bad about it. Still pissed on the moment initially, though!)
Pythagoras - Bit dull. I don't know what else they were expecting to happen with this task.
squirt - Very good! I was baffled by the prompt but the end results were great. Loads of effort put in by everyone (yes, everyone!), enough personality from each contestant to avoid it feeling repetitive, and a brilliant end montage.
studio - Very good! Classic party game studio task, fun to play along with, tense at the end, and they were all having fun with their characters and banter. And then HOLY FUCK that ending! A threeway tie! I had my hands on my head the whole way through that tiebreak. Very glad Phil didn't win it off that, happy that Maisie got it.
overall - Mostly very good! The apple juice one was a bit weak, and Sanjeev was mildly irritating, but apart from that a really strong final episode! I'm still not sure if I'd bother with this series on a rewatch, though - maybe just the best few episodes...
CoC 4
That was great! Didn't bother taking notes, but every task was good, lots of funny moments, and happy with the result.
NYT 2026Ep 1: that was great! Good tasks, good contestants, no pricks, no one too boring. The music guy (Sam?) came very close to 'look at me I'm wacky, me' annoyingness but it worked well for the show. Rose was adorable.
Ep 2 opinion spoilers: Not quite as good as 1, started off a bit dodgy - not as good tasks, not as many laughs, and Sam was a bit more annoying - but it improved as it went and I still enjoyed it overall. I want to say best NYT yet, but also I think I maybe say that every year without really being sure.
S21E01
prize - If I include the egg thing, very good! No Alex banter, presumably to make time for it. Love the idea that in every task throughout the entire season Joel has a hidden egg. Prompt and entries also all pretty good, Joel and Kumail slightly lazy.
worm - Good! A solid invention-inviting task, even if it wasn't hilarious. A nice starter.
food - Very good! Team dynamics were great, and the mood swings with the first team very funny. I can't believe how long it took some of them to realise there might be an added layer of complication to it! Bit of a shame that the team that fluked their way through won it, but that's going to happen sometimes I guess.
cannon - Great! Fun task, lots of fun reactions and chat with Alex.
studio - Amazing! Classic studio task - so simple, so tense, and loads of great contestant (and TM, LAH and audience) reactions.
overall: really strong episode! I can't see the season suddenly crashing, so I reckon this'll be a good to great one.
S21E02
prize - Okay. Good open prompt, not very imaginative responses.
bowling - quite good, a little anti-climactic because everyone was pretty similar and once the skittles have all toppled over that's the funny bit done with but you've still got the rest of the attempt to watch.
mirror - Pretty good. It's always fun to learn a dance with Alex, and there was some inventive stuff as well like Kumail's and Armando's (which felt like something out of his tv show). Nothing incredible though.
present - Fine. Not as fiendish as previous tasks of this type, and didn't get them doing anything particularly funny.
studio - Good! Pretty tough but weird and fun. I got one or two of them!
overall - Bit of a comedown from last week. It was fine but no big laughs at all. Kumail's deadpan snark isn't working as well as I'd hoped. Armando's quite interesting - he's the old one but he's putting effort in and showing enthusiasm. Joel and Amy are fun. Joanna is at least infectiously giggly.
S21E03
prize - Okay. Bit of a rubbish prompt that most of them didn't engage with, but there was at least some fun banter.
tower - Pretty good. Obviously a bit limited, but it's fun to see them get tortured.
grunt - Okay. I'm a bit tired of these 'recreate the painting' ones now unless there's a brilliant extra layer to them. This just did not reach 'Kerry Godliman saying banana banana banana' levels.
steps - Bit irritating. The rules were a bit fiddly in a bad way, presumably because they expected it to be too easy otherwise but three of them inexplicably struggled with a pretty simple challenge. But also it wasn't amusing frustration like Reese getting stuck on a game of snakes and ladders, it was just a bit dull.
studio - okay. Quite fun, not as manic as it could have been, and not one you can play along with.
overall - Some limited task concepts elevated by contestants who are reliably entertaining if not amongst the top-tier line-ups. I now suspect this series is going to average out at 'quite good'.
S21E04
prize - Okay. Strong prompt, not much effort put in even for the entries that weren't just the first thing they saw in their kitchen. Rescued by general banter and Sting/Shaggy.
boring - I only just got the drill/boring joke after writing it down! Oh Alex. Anyway, this one was very good! Good open prompt, lots of fun entries with variety and contrast. Jo intercut with Armando was great. And yes there was one with post-production help, but at least they made sure to show him running around in the green onesie carrying stuff about so it felt like effort had gone into it. (Not sure what the boring thing was in that entry, though. The caravan, the ostrich or Alex?
cloche - Not sure! On the one hand, a fun brain-melting task design with some guaranteed physical torture at the end and a great 'kick yourself perfect solution reveal', and lots of the actual correct task bits were great. But on the other hand it was very frustrating that Alex fucked up so badly with the instructions (should have predicted some people would assume they'd guessed it and lift the cloche prematurely, and put in a rule about wait to be told or hear Alex ring a bell or whatever) and then with Jo. But then again, it is quite interesting to see him fuck up a task, doesn't often happen so completely and get left in!
yellow sweet - Good! Lots of fun attempts and mild torture, and I enjoyed the admission at the end that they often let the little extra bits like repeating words slide. Jo was especially adorable, not only being super chuffed at herself for figuring out a sneaky solution (I would have been just the same) but also deciding not to go with a resigned-sigh-style shake and exhale but instead a horsey one.
studio - Quite good. Can't go wrong with a bit of charades but it was pretty tame. The runner with Kumail and the rules was good.
overall - Strong episode! Maybe the best of the series so far, or tied with ep 1.
S21E05
prize - Good! Some of the attempts were a bit confusing and crap, but Greg managed to make a lot out of them anyway.
prediction - Pretty good. Nothing incredible, but all the attempts were charming. I still don't understand why Kumail also did everything upside down as well as reversed!
sardines - Okayish. A weirdly simple and bland task, and no one seemed to pay attention to the 'out of sight of each other' rule. I was sure Alex would have a sneaky trick up his sleeve. Made okayish by the contestants being naturally funny.
balls - Very good! Classic simple but tricky task where at least one contestant takes the route one approach and the rest are more inventive, with lots of frustration along the way. Very similar to our 'drop the egg down the pipe and get it in the pan' task from the VR game, so no wonder it was good.
studio - Okay. Somehow didn't have that tension that the best 'simple game' studio tasks have.
overall - Quite good. I think this continues the series' pattern of slightly uninspired tasks elevated by a good line-up.
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