Ep 203. Sophie Duker - Series 19 Ep.3

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Hello, and welcome to the Taskmaster podcast.

It's me, Ed Gamble, sitting in my caravan.

Not my caravan, of course, it's Alex's caravan.

He lives here, he's been very clear about that.

We are talking about another brand new episode of Taskmaster, Taskmaster Series 19, episode 3.

Another amazing episode.

We are joined by a wonderful special guest a former champion no less the incredible Sophie Duca will be joining me in the cat oh there's two ladybirds mating there it's a very weird podcast studio this cannot wait to see Sophie cannot wait to get her opinion on this new series and this particular episode episode three so let's get into it this is taskmaster series 19 episode 3 as discussed by Sophie Duca

Welcome back Sophie to the Taskmaster podcast thank you for having me in your very hot sauna.

Sauna, it feels like a sauna today.

It's a very sauna.

Yeah, it's really when the regret kicks in of deciding to record it in the caravan.

And it's quite warm today.

It's warm.

We're hitting over 20 degrees today.

Which is lovely outside, but in what is essentially a glass box.

It's quite a lot.

I've also realised there's a colony of little ladybugs in the city.

The ladybugs hang out, yeah, but they were here before us, so I don't feel like we can do anything about them.

And that's the rule.

Yes, that's the rule.

How do you feel about Ladybirds?

I feel good about it.

I'm really charmed by them.

I feel like they'll whisper to me during the podcast.

Yeah, well, they've seen the whole series, so hopefully they don't give any spoilers.

Because they were here when it was being filmed.

Oh, yeah, of course.

They didn't go to the studio, to be fair.

We are, of course, talking about Taskmaster series 19, our brand new lineup, episode 3.

How do you feel about this new lineup?

I feel...

I think it's the first time, and I was saying this to you before, that I've watched an episode of Taskmaster and been like, hey, I'm not involved.

It's not my, like, I realized it was series 13 when I was on it.

So that's a long

five series for me to be like, why didn't I look under the table more?

Why didn't I bring better gifts?

Gifts?

Gifts.

Prize Taskmaster.

Yeah, Alex does not like it when they're referred to as gifts.

Yeah, I just watched it and I was like, this is an absolute delight.

I think they're such a good mix of people.

So now you feel sort of removed enough from the process.

Yeah.

I'm like, oh,

what's this show called?

Task.

Yeah, I'll check it out.

They are an excellent group of people.

And yeah, I think even though I do the podcast, I'm now at the stage where I can relax and not even think, How would I have done that?

I would have done better.

Oh, you've transcended.

You've become Taskmaster Zen.

You're like, exactly.

Because that is the fun of, I think, people watching it to be like, how would I do it better?

I don't do that.

I should do it for this podcast.

But now I just let it happen.

I watch people mess up.

I mean, we do have in this episode probably

the thing that made me laugh the most,

an accidental, literal slip-ups but we will get we will get to that we will get to that oh so let's talk about the prize task for this episode the best thing for a middle-aged man to keep on his bedside table yeah a lovely category and you do think how does alex come up with these yeah how he's really digging deep yeah

but this one feels like he reached for something on his bedside table and he didn't have all the things he needed maybe and he was like okay that's a that's a task yeah yeah i think constantly it must be like that that's a task.

If something happens to it, someone says, yeah.

Yeah.

How does he turn it off?

That must be so awful day to day, just constantly having to think about tasks.

Yeah.

I mean, I don't know.

I think Alex actually has a lovely life.

I was going to say there would be other things in his life that are more terrible than thinking about tasks, but I think he's just

like it's a constant joy.

Yeah.

Another task,

post, another task.

Why not?

Also, he's probably loaded.

This is a good category, this.

I mean, I feel like as a man who is is in middle-aged slash approaching.

Approaching.

Approaching.

Approaching.

Creeping towards.

I feel like, you know, the sorts of things I'd like on my bedside table.

I'm not sure any of them are covered here, to be honest.

How do we feel about their efforts this time, Sophie?

Okay, Stevie the quill.

Yes.

I think that could have gone either way.

Do you?

I think, yeah, because it's kind of like the vinyl of pens.

It's kind of like, I was like, oh, you dumb bitch, but also I see it.

I was like, I really, I feel like quite an affinity with Stevie.

Yeah, I think she's got cool hair.

Yes.

And I was like, I see what you were going for, but it was so instantly, obviously, crap.

Yeah.

But I think it could have, like, I think it could have appealed.

I was like, I see where you're, I think, yeah, I see it.

I understood that her motivation was mystery and intrigue.

Yeah.

But I don't see how a quill provides that.

Yeah.

Surely a scroll, a scroll.

A scroll, but then she was even saying, oh, and then you can look over and be like, oh, that's mysterious.

But But it's not because you've put it there.

Yeah.

Right.

So you like to put a quill here.

Yeah.

But it's not, a quill is not mysterious.

Yeah.

It's only mysterious if you did not put if someone else put the quill away, you'd have to put the quill on there.

A bad one point.

A bad one point.

And also, I really feel like the source of middle-aged man who might have a quill on his bedside table is not ideal.

Yes.

I think I have a name for this genre of man.

I don't know.

I think you might have been formerly this kind of man.

I don't know if you're going to be able to do it.

Yeah, yeah.

I might be currently.

It's a methinks.

It's a methinks.

It's a trilby.

It's a methinks.

Yes, a methinks.

It's tipping the peak of the trilby.

It's a little bit steampunk.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

It's a waistcoat in summer.

Yes.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, and no, I wasn't.

You weren't, okay.

But yes, I think we all agree that Stevie sort of missed the mark here a little bit.

But Stevie is very funny when she's messed up.

Yes.

Constant chaos swirling around her.

But so just yelling, fuck.

Yeah, fuck.

A lot of those.

Let's talk about Rosie, who got the two points.

Let's go from the bottom of the league table up.

I really liked Rosie's.

I was surprised it got the two points because it made me laugh a lot.

Yeah.

The sex curtain over the picture of the picture.

The sex curtain really saved it because the picture was, why was she playing piano?

Such a weird picture.

Also, I think it's like, I think it was kind of charming that her picture of middle-aged men is her boys.

Yeah, it's sweet, but also, yeah, worrying that they would not speak to her anymore was quite sad.

Yeah.

Quite emotional.

But I know she was joking about like the sex curtain and putting the photo next to them, but I think she also really meant it.

I think she would absolutely do that.

Do you have any photos of loved ones who are not the loved one that you're in the bedroom with?

Actually in the bedroom.

In the bedroom.

No, I don't think I do.

No.

No, I think it's just a couple of wedding pics and then smart.

Face down before, I've been like, yeah, I've just been like, no,

this is a house of forgetfulness.

I've also had Greg in there.

Have you?

Yeah.

Did you face?

Have you faced down?

Well, it's a 3D.

It's sort of just like a gold-headed roller coaster.

Of course, yeah, yeah.

You can't face down the trophy, can you?

Yeah, they've got to stare him in the eye.

I think it helps some people.

Yeah.

Also, it's a powerful object to have it there as well, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, you can't face down the trophy, though.

But no, I thought this was very funny, but

creepy if a middle-aged man has a picture of his mum mum next to his bed.

Creepy picture, creepy, creepy vibe.

Creepy vibe.

Creepy lady.

Everyone's creepy.

It was three points for Matthew Bainton, a book of poetry.

And it really struck me in this moment when he was talking about the book of poetry, how similar he is to his character from Ghosts.

Okay, yeah.

Sweet.

Sweet.

like poetic thoughtful nerd um

and the yeah the book is devotions by mary oliver and when Death Comes was the only poem we could think of.

That was beautiful.

How are we feeling about that?

A middle-aged man having a book of poetry?

Because I hate this, it's probably me being

anti-intelligentsia or deliberately a thicko.

Yeah.

But I feel like a middle-aged man with a poetry book by his bed.

That's a little creepoid to me.

It's very affected.

It's very affected.

Yeah.

It's very affected.

It was like doing, it was like, tell me you've got a quill without telling me you've got a quill.

It's quill-coded.

it's quill coded it's like hey i'm a normal guy but open some of these drawers you might find a feather with a nib on it

i think it was actually the one thing that he maybe did this episode that made me dislike it

i believe that he loves poetry i believe that he loves that poetry book and it sounds good yeah i was just like don't be so uh don't be don't do something don't put something you actually love the i mean i don't know but also i think the i the act of leaving a book of poetry out on the bedside table is very much like,

look at the sort of guy I am.

It feels, it's a bit icky, isn't it?

Yeah.

But it got through.

Creep number three.

Creep number three.

God, they're all creeps this year.

Three points, but it's good.

We got it out of the way.

That's the only thing that made you dislike him.

We're fine.

Oh, I loved him this episode.

Fatia,

this is one of my favourite prize tasks ever, I think.

Because it is weird, like Greg says.

An orange with the word audacity written on it.

Because middle-aged men have so much audacity.

They should juice the orange and then drink it in the middle of the day.

And then drink the audacity

to keep it inside them.

This made no sense and should have got two points.

But with the fervor with which she said it, it was almost like a

drinking something, you get less of it.

That

makes sense.

Obviously, it's an orange, the most audacious fruit.

I think it's internalizing it though.

So instead of letting it out during the day,

you've drunk it.

So you're not carrying round.

Or like a poke ball of audacity.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So you're not carrying round the orange of audacity.

Yeah.

You've juiced it and you've drunk it.

Yeah, I'm not, I'm not, I, I won't, I won't, I won't back it.

I back for it.

I back for tia.

Yeah, of course.

But I think they're now picking their battles with her.

Yeah.

Because they know that if they take her on, they're getting absolutely cut down.

They're being scythed.

And also you can't be audacious in response to

men of too much audacity.

Yeah, she absolutely hamstrung them there.

That was great.

And the five points goes to Jason, who really appealed to Greg, I think.

I think he knows what a middle-aged man is.

I was impressed by that.

Yeah, it's a torch to go to the toilet so you don't wake yourself up in the night.

For a while, I thought Jason was being really

kind to whoever he's in the bedroom with.

Oh, yeah, that's what I thought as well.

It's like, you don't want to wake them up.

Yeah, but it's to not wake himself up.

Even though then the logic of it of you don't want to wake yourself up by turning the light on, but this torch has 200,000 lumens.

Yeah, the power of a thousand iPhones.

It It doesn't quite make sense.

I also think I don't want to see my toilet in like high definition.

No.

It's a clean toilet, I think, as they go, but also just...

Yeah.

It's like going to the toilet in the middle of the night with a UV light.

That would be a worse option.

Oh, God.

I sometimes go in the dark.

I know where my train is.

You banked it.

I could go with the sleep mask on.

You could do it with just the sense of your nose.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It stinks.

It stinks.

But it was five points for Jason.

Greg also loves gadgets, and I think that's a good way to go.

It was good.

Yeah.

So, one point, Stevie, two points to Rosie, three points to Matthew, four points to Fatia, and five points to Jason.

I think the best thing for a middle-aged man to have on his bedside table is a book of poetry.

Devotions by Mary Oliver on a pretentious easel.

There's something about middle-aged.

Your back hurts.

your children don't respect you

your partner even less so do you need your mum whatever humble achievement

so so far so this hypothetical middle-aged man okay he reaches over he opens the book he reads a poem and something speaks to his heart and his heart opens and there's a little bit more magic in his world.

Are they uplifting?

Are the poems up?

Really uplifting.

Can you name some of her poems?

Well the one that springs to mind doesn't support my argument but it's called When Death Comes.

Task one.

Here we go.

Answer the cheese phone.

Every time you move Alex will play the French horn.

If you choose to only use your sense of smell Alex will not play the French horn and your final time will be halved fastest wins.

Now this is mad.

Yeah.

I feel like the prize tasks have gotten more like, say what Alex immediately sees when he wakes up out of bed, and the tasks are just incomprehensible.

Chaos.

I mean, it's brilliant.

I mean, this is brilliant because I think he must have worked from it would be funny if every time someone walked, a French horn played.

Because that is funny.

That is funny.

Like, no matter which way you look at it.

But the cheese phone.

The cheese phone.

And then all those puns of the bees phone and the knees phone.

And he's doing that a lot this series where he's doing puns deliberately to annoy people because people hate them when they're doing it.

When they're doing it.

Would you have enjoyed this one, Sophie?

I think

I've liked to think I'd have been a nose guy.

Yeah.

But I'm often congested right now.

The ladybugs know.

It's hay fever season.

I would be, if I chose to go only with the nose,

I'd be a sack of flesh rolling around.

No senses whatsoever.

Well, I suppose if you were filming in the winter, you go nose.

Summer, you've got to use the other senses.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, it's a it's a tricky one.

I think I might have gone nose out of just a sort of bold feeling of like, I think I can.

I think I can smell my way to the side.

I've got a good nose.

I think I can.

Even though my nose is small, it's sensitive.

Yeah, and I can smell cheese.

Yeah, I...

Yeah.

I worry that I would have chosen the French horn.

Because that looked a lot harder.

The French horn would have

driven me up the wall.

Yeah.

I would have.

I think I would have have physically attacked Alex with the French horn.

It would have really, really annoyed me.

And I think as a viewer, I found the B's and K's

and P's phone really funny.

Yeah.

I think as a contestant, I would have gone absolutely apeshit at him.

That would have been really bad.

Quite a few people choose the horn.

So Fatia, Jason,

and Rosie choose the horn.

That was a beautiful pullback and reveal.

Of Rosie.

The edit was so funny.

I was like, that surprised me.

Yeah.

When she got it, I was like, wow.

Okay.

She's suddenly competent.

Yeah.

She's entirely different from how I assumed.

But, I mean, she eventually nails it.

Like, she eventually gets there.

But after answering the phones 22 times, answering the same phone more than once is the definition of madness when it's clearly a pun and a joke.

Yeah.

Just incredible.

And also what really made me laugh the first time she answers the phones, she always says, hello, Rosie speaking, which was so sweet.

Hey, it's Big Bob Energy.

Yeah, I I was like, she's got a landline.

That is a lady with a landline.

But then eventually starts to get very annoyed and just says, hello.

Yeah.

I saw a little bit, I think, a bit of like, she knew it wasn't right when they showed her first edit.

That little sadness where it's like, ha hardy, ha ha.

That's not how I remember it happening.

But there's always that hope in that situation as well that you might be like, maybe that's just what they're going to do.

Yeah.

Maybe they're shown the edit just because it's more interesting.

Maybe that, maybe I've just got to pretend that's what happened.

Yeah.

And then, no, gutted.

Absolutely gutted.

Jason continues to be, I think, he's heading towards the most psychopathic contestant.

Yeah, what did he do with this one?

I mean, he tries to, he runs away from Alex for a start.

He's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Just get away from him as much as possible.

But he stumbles across this new thing for this year, which is a task under the table.

Yes.

That they can find at any time.

That would have...

I would have been, that would make me furious.

Yeah.

It's because Alex has now obviously caught wind of the fact the advice is from previous contestants, always look under the table.

Yeah.

So he is punishing people for looking under the table with this incredibly long thing that you have to read out loud.

I sort of enjoyed it, but I was like, okay.

Yeah.

We've reached Pete's table.

Yeah.

It was Pete.

It was the end of the table.

Yeah.

That's it now.

You can't ever look under the table again.

And the magic mustache, which we've not seen before as well.

You've got to wear a magic mustache.

That was nice.

Kind of, I think it was less

less

alarming for him to wear the mustache out of all of the contestants, I think.

Well, I'd forgot he put it on.

Yeah.

Because it just blended in perfectly with his current mustache.

But yes, very good.

Fatia chooses the horn as well.

Again, I thought she was going to get more angry than she actually did.

But they all eventually find the cheese phone.

Stevie and Matthew both choose just the sense of smell.

We'll talk about Stevie quickly because she smashes it.

Yeah.

It's incredible.

It's straight, straight to the...

Straight, straight to the cheese.

Six minutes, 44, and she smashes some stuff up, but high risk, high yield, as she says.

Yeah.

And the yield is huge.

The yield was some disgusting cheese.

I feel like I'd be quite scared without all my senses.

But she, like, both she and...

Well, no, but I think Matthew was rolling around lucky.

Yes.

Yes.

I mean, I'm a little bit hedgehog.

Save Matthew till last.

Yeah, save it.

Yeah.

For a very good reason.

So

cool and calm.

And yeah.

She's almost more competent with only her sense of smell.

This is true.

I feel like she should have proceeded throughout the rest of the tasks with just a nose.

With just a nose.

With just a nose.

I think that would have worked even better for her.

But yes, she finds it.

She's very proud of herself, as she should be, and her time is half to three minutes, 22.

Matthew finds it 21 minutes, so quite long, but we need to talk about the wardrobe malfunction.

Oh boy.

Hey.

He did not know, but we had him on the last episode.

We couldn't talk about this yet.

Okay, all right.

But he did not know that this had happened until he was in the studio watching himself back on the screen.

Incredible.

So this is the first time he realised his nuts fell out was the same time the nation, well, the studio certainly saw his nuts.

Oh, that is incredible.

That is incredible.

Yeah.

Because I've thought of it before.

Taskmaster crew, what a bunch of little perves.

What a huge bunch of perves.

You listeners don't know.

It's unbelievable.

Yeah.

We've all got our nuts out all the time.

They're always watching.

They're always watching.

They're always like, oh, never make the edit.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like, you're going to just pop them out because it's not going to go in the edit.

It's just

to get the camera grading right.

They make up some technical stuff, don't they?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Get your nuts out.

But yeah, mortifying.

Yeah.

I don't know how I would have felt if that was me.

It's very funny.

Hey, I feel like if, hey, if we want a charity auction off that footage, we could change the world.

Yeah, the unedited footage.

Yeah.

The director's cut.

I want to see it real bad.

Yeah.

Add me?

Well,

I tell you who I feel good for is Phil Wang.

Oh, yeah.

For years, Phil Wang was the genitalia-based taskmaster contestant.

Just because it was very bulged.

Very bulged.

Very tight-made.

Very bulged, and you can see shapes.

But was that intentional?

We don't know.

No, it wasn't.

Because the first time Wang found out about that was when he did the team task day.

And Rod and James said, have you been wearing that the whole time?

We can see your problems.

And by then it it was far too late.

And obviously, Matthew never got that opportunity because the Team Tar State, they stayed in place.

Yes.

So, but I think now he is the

king of the TM.

The king of swing.

The king of swing.

The king of the TM journeys.

I think he handled it with Grace at the studio.

He did, absolutely.

I would have walked off or got them out again.

But yeah,

it remains to be seen.

We may, well, no, it is very much seen, but we might, will we see them again?

I never know.

I hope so.

I hope so.

Will there be another cameo?

They are dangerously short shorts.

But he finds the cheese in 21 minutes, halved to 10 minutes 30, which means it's one point for Jason, two points for Rosie, three points for Fatia, four points for Matthew.

I think Alex says that was worth it.

And five points for Stevie.

Hello, Rosie Speakin'.

Hello, this is the knees hotline.

Hello?

Oh, so cute.

Hello, Rosie Speaking.

Hello, Rosie Speaking.

Oh, Jesus.

No.

They're just gonna be sneezing again, aren't they?

What is it?

It's not a prank called.

Hello!

Oh, shut up.

No, stop it.

Still sneezing.

Stop, sorry, I'm sneezing.

Hello.

Hello.

Hello.

Hello?

I just can't leave a phone ringing.

Peas have melted.

Budden.

Hello, hello.

Where's the cheese fawn?

There's a bit of cheese.

Task two.

I think this is one of, well, given the results, one of the hardest tasks

that there's been this series so far.

Move the most cushions from one bin to another bin without Alex correctly seeing what colour cape you're wearing.

This is insane again.

You must be wearing a cape on the outside of your clothes throughout.

You may not move the bins.

If a cushion touches the ground, the task is over.

Alex will alternately open and shut his eyes for as many seconds as there are letters in each of the words in the tasks.

You have six minutes.

Your time starts when Alex blows his whistle.

Baffling.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Didn't understand this at all.

Didn't remember any of the rules.

I was basically like, it's grandmother's footsteps.

Yes.

Yes.

Alex is granny.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So it's very, it's a very basic children's game with so many caveats and weird extra rules added to it to baffle them a little bit that I don't think anyone was ever going to get this.

I just, it was

okay.

Okay.

It's all coming back to me now.

It was amazing watching them fail though.

Yeah.

It was so amazing.

Because they all failed in completely different ways.

Yeah.

Can we talk about Rosie?

Yeah, let's talk about Rosie straight away because this made me scream laughing.

It's so good.

It is so, I hate this because this is like our job, but it's so funny to watch people fall over.

Well, it's the funniest thing out there.

We'll never be able to do it because it always has to be accidental, but it's funnier than any comedy anyone can ever write.

I was like,

this is the genre.

This is it.

Yeah, pure slapstick.

Dropping one cushion, slipping on it, and then falling face first into a pile of other cushions.

Perfect.

Perfect and so safe.

So safe.

Although she does mention that she has a really bad bruise on her hip.

Oh, no.

And that she wanted to send to Alex, but she didn't know if she could because he's married.

I will, a little exclusive.

I have seen, I have received the picture of the bruise.

Oh my god.

It is, it's a big bruise.

Oh no.

She really did hurt herself.

And I want to say, yes, I am married.

I think it's fine because the picture of Rosie's hip came through Chris Ramsey, her husband.

Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So it's all.

It's a classic cuck bruise situation.

I've cuck bruised him.

But yeah, it is, it's, it's a big old bruise.

So she did, she did get a little bit injured, but it was so funny.

It was totally worth it.

Yeah.

And failed so quickly as well, like, because she dropped all the cushions.

Yeah.

So it was a little bit.

It was like wasn't like the second window.

Yeah.

Just been boom, gone.

Task over.

So funny.

I feel very different from Chris in the,

while in the success ring.

Yeah.

And in like the general approach.

Yeah.

Very, yeah.

Yeah, very different.

And competitiveness, I think, as well.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

But outstanding.

I think it's so worth it.

And I wanted to watch that be replayed over and over again.

Yeah.

And I can.

I'm going to go back.

I'm going to go back to channel4.com and I'm going to watch it all over again.

But yeah, a lot of failures.

Everyone failed.

Fatty, can we talk about Fatia's lean around the corner?

Oh, what the little

peek.

Hey.

If I walk down any corner, I see Fatia doing that.

I'm like, it's a party.

Yeah.

It was so very cool.

Very cool.

Because Alex couldn't see the cape or whatever, and she needs to check to see if he's looking.

Just a little peek around, so slow, and then back again.

I think that was the peek of someone who didn't understand the looking rule.

Is he looking now?

I don't.

Yeah.

Well, I wouldn't have done because you've got to remember the

amount of letters in the world.

That's how I feel like the other two of the others got caught.

Yeah.

Because I'll just go on a whistle and hope it's the one where his eyes are shut.

That's certainly what happens with Stevie because so confidently she walks across the middle window, the big doorway.

She's like, right, whistle, here I go.

And he's just watching her do it.

Yeah.

It's so funny.

But yes, failure for Fatia and Stevie.

Jason, this was frustrating to watch.

Yeah, oh because it was so smart.

Yeah, but I think I may have done it.

Well, you're just like, you're smart for one moment.

Yeah, yeah.

And you enjoy all the being smart while forgetting the basic thing.

Because, yeah, the idea that he could have stood behind Alex to taunt him, which was joyous to watch, and then carried on walking and just put it straight in the bin would have been amazing, wouldn't it?

That would have been incredible.

But instead, for some reason, he panicked, thought it wasn't going to work,

through the cushions.

Really, really just.

I mean, he says as much, it's very frustrating to watch, but almost worth it just for the bit where he's standing right behind Alex and Alex doesn't know that he's there.

Really good.

He could have, no, I was like, he could have tied the cape around his eyes, but then he would have immediately known what colour it was.

I was thinking that, but he could have taken one of the other cape.

Oh, true.

And draped it.

I wouldn't have thought of this in the moment, but when you're watching it for the third time, for example, you do think, maybe go around the back of Alex, drape a cape over his eyes.

There's nothing to say that Alex can't just remove that straight away.

Yeah.

There's also, I think, Rosie was trying to carry them all at once, using a spare cape as a bindle situation.

And then they never touched the floor.

And then they never touched the floor.

So you've got a bindle of things around.

I can't believe you use the word bindle without even, I mean, I know it's more cut, without even batting an eyelid.

Hey, I think about the word bindle a lot.

Stick and bindle.

Like Dick Whittington.

Yeah, I think there's other things they could have done, but in the panic of this moment, you they had six minutes Yeah, so you're not gonna stand there.

Okay, you're not gonna stand there and go maybe a bindle maybe maybe a bindle you would have

like Dick Whittington the famous

May I'll Whittington this one and then maybe I'll go around the back of Alex and put a cape over his head No, I think I think you you just do whatever the first thing is in your head

Matt again very frustrating to watch because he comes up with

I mean, not a perfect system.

I'd hate to do that.

It looked really painful to go across the floor on your back.

I was watching that.

I was like, this man is stupendous.

Yeah.

This is incredible.

Really good.

All of that grossness from the poetry just gone in the wind at that moment.

Yeah.

It was amazing to sort of scoot along on his back

and gets four cushions in, does really well.

And then that brutal,

the brutal, we've got another video to show you.

And he just moves the bin for no reason.

He just moves it for no reason.

When I watched that, I was so angry.

I was like, well, no one gets any points.

Does that mean we did all this for nothing and then I was like oh that's the premise of the show yeah that's the premise of the show yeah what no points for anyone

nothing means anything everything we have done on Taskmaster is for nothing regardless if we get points that's still for nothing overall yeah yeah

but yeah that was that was disappointing to see and I think I think Matt really engenders quite a protective feeling from the audience yeah quite a lot because he does have that fawn-ish quality to him so if something goes wrong for him they are they do want to protect him yeah But hey, there's no protecting that man.

No protecting that man or his nuts.

So it was easy.

It was nought points for everyone.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Felt unjust.

I felt sad.

I felt sad, but it was a beautiful task to watch.

Yeah.

I feel like, you know, an incredible location, this, this series.

Gorgeous.

Yeah.

Yeah.

A little abandoned church.

Fantastic.

Jason, I thought you'd nailed it as well.

This one

made me furious afterwards.

Only because I knew that if I'd just followed through on my initial idea, that it would have worked.

Yeah.

And I just talked myself out of it.

Ah, well.

You did really badly.

I did.

I did quite poorly.

Unlike Matthew, who didn't touch a fool with his cushions, I didn't catch sight of the colour of the cape, which is why it's so sad that I do have one more video

to show you.

What's going on?

Those are the only two impossible information.

Well, we're either going to see something you've done wrong or we're going to see the full testicles.

Good luck.

Task three.

Paint the best picture of the taskmaster and his assistant having fun on the canvas in the lab.

You may only enter the lab when there are 30 seconds left in the task.

You have 15 minutes.

Your time starts now.

A great task, I think.

I don't think I would have done well in this at all.

No.

I think I would have ended up just waiting 15 minutes and then running in and trying to paint something.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I wouldn't have thought you've given me 15 minutes.

Yeah.

That must be to plan something.

So in that sense, I think everyone did quite, quite well.

I want to talk about what Rosie and Fatia did.

Oh, yeah.

They sort of immediately needed to do that.

Yeah.

Like a little stamp.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The stamp, the stamp system.

What I did think is with both of them is like when they did the stamp and they put it on, they were both like, yeah, that's it.

And I was like, no, that is still bad.

It's a bad painting.

Yeah.

You still have paint.

You've got time to do stuff around it.

Yeah, but then yeah, just one.

But I think with Rosie's, it was quite good.

And the satisfaction of just going boop onto the canvas and then it's.

It's very elegant.

It's a flourish.

Yeah, it really is a flourish.

And it was sort of the same system that I think Stevie was trying to use, but she was trying to do it at distance with a duck.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

A potato print by throwing a duck at it.

I think she had the same thought train at me, which is like, what's artist?

Okay, Pollett, that didn't work.

Yeah.

Potato printing, that's a second artist.

Can't think of any more artists.

Yeah, I know.

Yeah, just all over the place.

Would you have thought of the stamp system?

No.

100% no.

No, I think I would have tried to get the easel towards me.

Yeah.

And I think I'd probably have failed at that and then had to run in.

And I can't remember who did.

Wait, it was Matt.

Matt managed to pull the easel towards him.

He didn't use the easel retrieval system, which was up there.

Frustrating.

This feels like a very ha ha ha ha camera angles.

How are they meant to see it?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

There's no way.

It's literally there.

It's not there for people to see it.

It's there for Alex to feel smug about it afterwards and show one of those shots where everyone goes, what a bunch of idiots.

I did love Fatia's story about painting her room in Batman colours.

Oh my god.

Because this is a layer to Fatia I did not realise.

We've got her on the next episode, so I will ask her about her Batman obsession.

But she painted her room in Batman colours and had...

And yellow, add black.

Yeah, black and yellow and black.

Whoa.

Which are Batman colours, to be fair.

Yeah.

But then had a lot of Batman memorabilia as well.

Would you have thought this of Fatia that she was?

I would never have.

I feel like she'd fit in goth.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

She'd be a super villain, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But I find that so charming.

Yeah, really charming.

I love it.

And I, you know, I absolutely loved her painting as well.

That it was dripping down.

Yeah.

It's a thing that's been used in Taskmaster in the past where you pivot.

when something's bad and say it's about climate change.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

That has happened.

It did feel

like there was a crisis going on.

Well, it certainly feels relevant now being sat in this caravan.

Oh, yeah.

Whoa.

In in April.

And it is roasting in here.

It feels like we're in a

pizza oven.

So, um, but yeah, I thought the stamp system was excellent.

But Rosie's, she does it, she's so proud of it.

Yeah.

And as she walks out, the easel falls to the floor and ruins the painting a little bit.

I think it's lucky that happened because it wasn't that good and it was embarrassing.

She was that proud.

I think it was a perfectly executed idea.

Yes.

I think she was so smart to think of it and I think it did sort of work, but it just wasn't, it wasn't good enough in any iteration.

She seemed to think it was better after it had fallen off the easel.

I think that was saving face in the studio.

I think it is heartbreaking.

I had something fall off Greg's head during my series.

Yeah.

And I thought I'd smash that task.

I thought it was like melt some, or no, it it was like get something to fall on something really quickly.

And I like left a hairdryer and it melted, but it just fell wrong.

And so it didn't.

Like it was so, it was such a great scheme.

It's so annoying, isn't it?

But they're kind to her.

They show her painting before it fell and after.

And she seems to think it's better after.

But yeah,

it's pretty gutting.

But that is an interesting way of looking at it.

Thank God it fell off because it was rubbish.

Thank God.

She would have been so embarrassed to present that, present that work.

So Stevie does go slightly insane and squeeze once you've squeezed the bottle the first time it's all over really isn't it i think but alex also agent of chaos like she was like should i stop the answer was yes you're creating a mess and lots of work for everybody he was like he's starting now yeah yeah he started i think you've always got to imagine that alex is not helpful

Because Alex is thinking about the edit.

He's thinking about what other people have done so far.

He's thinking about if someone's doing something different, that's what he wants.

Yeah.

So I remember sitting in this caravan

and saying, I'm gonna, I had to make my knees look like a famous couple.

Right.

And I said, Mitchell Brothers, like that.

And

his eyes widened.

And I went, oh no, I shouldn't go with my first thought.

And he just nodded for ages because he was like, yeah, that would be funny.

Do the Mitchell Brothers.

That's not helpful.

Yeah.

And I think he, I shaved my knees.

I think it was him who suggested it.

Do you want Johnny to go and get a razor and you can shave your knees?

Oh, wow.

So he's he's working behind the scenes in his mind, you know.

He is a total agent of chaos.

Do you ever see how many points you got for that?

It wasn't five, I'll tell you that.

Maybe three.

But my knees bled really badly.

So it had to be the Mitchell brothers after they'd been in a fight.

Yeah, a raw shave.

Yeah, I'm not used to

shaving your knees.

Shaving beneath.

My knees, you know, my knees remain fairly smooth on a daily basis.

Thank you for saying that.

Thank you.

No, that's actually very brave, and thank you for saying it.

Yeah, I don't.

Oh, yeah, I don't shave my legs.

Goodness knows what women have to go through when they shave my legs.

Alright, okay, this is getting a bit fat on the prize task.

And I'm going to go home and I'm going to read my poetry by a female poet.

We don't say poetess.

We don't say poetess, no.

Everyone says.

Sometimes I just call them poets.

I barely even notice the poems aren't about war.

No, I don't even like war poetry, actually.

Oh.

like poems about um horses.

No, horses is a bit.

Horse is a bit male, isn't it?

Yeah, a bit male.

Depending on if they got one of those ones with bows in their hair.

No, alright.

Yeah, yeah, good.

We've done what we can for you.

Yes,

Stevie's was mad throwing the duck at it.

But as has happened a lot this series, you think Stevie's going to be the most chaotic?

And then Jason enters the chat?

He scared me in this.

he

ah wait i'm trying to remember what it looked like i can't i can only remember him moving around what did his look it looked his was like his painting was terrible

well he said he gave greg a big dick and he gave oh yes that's what he kept saying i was like there was something there was something i needed to remember yeah yeah yeah he gave greg a big dick and he was like give me points because i gave you a big dick but he got a boom thing oh yeah the telescopic telescopic boom boom and ran through he's got no concern for anyone's safety absorbed it yeah yeah yeah and like shoved it in there and he was like painting I mean, it's sort of, he was mad.

It was like watching a mad scientist at work.

It was very sort of, you know, Dr.

Brown from Back to the Future and the clown.

But yeah, chaos.

Yeah.

He's,

I've enjoyed him a lot.

Very much.

I feel like I'm always like half madly impressed and then he ruins it.

Yeah.

But I love the energy.

What's good about Jason is he he goes for everything, full tilt, guns it, but he's also quite bad.

Yeah, this is.

And he doesn't seem to mind he's i think he even says maybe in this episode maybe it's uh i mean matt said this to us as well it was his aim to destroy the house yes yeah yeah yeah yeah that's all he wants

to have a a side quest

a series side quest

i don't think it was a side quest i think it was the main quest

i think the side quest may be getting some points or whatever but i think that the main aim for him is to destroy the house he's tried to get on the roof numerous times already boy he really wants to do that so it's impressive to watch but i do i do find it quite scary.

We already know he keeps a lockpick set in his bag.

What an interesting man.

He's a very interesting man.

And a lovely man, I should say.

On screen and on podcasts.

Definitely got a persona of slightly crazed gentlemen.

Yeah.

I like a crazy American.

Maybe this is not fully called Live, but I should be saying that.

To a certain degree.

To a certain degree.

Depending on

how they illustrate their crazy.

And Matt, very clever.

He does what the others really should have thought about doing, getting the canvas closer, and just very delicately paints a lovely camping trip.

He finds out that Alex and Greg have been camping before.

It's a beautiful scene,

the detail, it says fun on it, he's thought that through, and a really lovely moment where the time gets to a certain point, and Alex says, You can go inside the lab now, and he goes, Okay, and takes one tiny little step inside the lab.

Yeah, so nice.

But I am struggling now.

Every task I watch him in since since the start of this episode i am thinking are your balls in or out

every time he bends over

yeah yeah are they in or out on anything he's doing no yeah

and it's sort of like watching like a hawk yeah it sort of made me very aware of my own balls as well quite a lot

are they in or out because normally i'm like obviously just live my life right but after watching that i'm like my balls are there

i hope i can get over that because it's really going to have a an adverse effect on my day-to-day.

A constant present.

Are they a constant or remain today?

It's

51, 49.

Is that...

Okay, I'm just going to ask you, and I don't assume you know about any other person's balls.

Are they usually the same size?

Could it be a 50?

I mean, that would be pretty simple.

No,

I think it would be acceptable if they were slightly different sizes.

It'd be weird if they were exactly the same, I think.

Okay.

There's always,

I think there's normally, I don't want to speak for all bibald people, but one hanging lower than the other.

Okay.

For me, left.

So

it was one point to Jason.

It was a bad painting, but I think he was very proud of it.

Two points for Stevie, deserved.

Three points for Rosie.

Four points for Fatia.

How do we feel about Fatiha's getting more points than Rosie in this situation?

It had an artistic justification, I guess.

Whereas it was clear that even if it was better,

it wasn't

actually

no.

Yeah, they were both shit.

Fair enough.

How are your painting skills?

Very good.

I painted my whole room when I was a teenager in Batman style.

My mum was very upset because the ceiling was black

and the floor was black and then the walls were yellow.

And I had all this Batman memorabilia and then one time we had a guest and my mum, we were short of cups, so she made me open the memorabilia and give my Batman cup to one of the people.

I'll never forgive her.

When are you going to start painting, Fritz?

Let's talk about the live task.

Take it in turns as teams to obey Greg's previous order.

If you hesitate, your team loses the round.

Highest score after five rounds wins.

Now, I found this quite confusing to watch.

Yeah.

I got it eventually that you're doing the thing after, but then I didn't realise it was in turns for ages.

Yeah.

Oh, was it in turns?

I thought they were just doing it like sort of...

Oh,

I thought it was in turns initially.

Yeah.

But then they were doing it.

I thought they were just like sort of trying to confuse the other team.

No, I think it was in turns, but

I would have been bad at this.

I would not have been as bad as Rosie was.

Yeah, this is a classic.

Who I don't don't know.

I was not as bad as Rosie.

Yeah, I don't think she ever understood the game.

She was always doing what was said to her in that moment.

Yeah.

Jason and Stevie, they're a good team.

They are a good team.

They seem to be on the same level.

And I think there was a real Stevie was so upset.

And I think because there's just two of them as well,

it's kind of like,

I've let the team down, I've ruined this, I've fucked this.

And it's like, it's fine.

Yeah.

Rosie.

Rosie's here.

Never worry that you're going to do badly at this because Rosie's here.

And I do, I mean, Matthew to me, he's a very nice man, but he seems like he's very competitive.

Yes.

And he's very efficient as well.

And I think being in that team is perfect for him because Fatty does not care.

Yes.

Fatty is there just to have fun, but sometimes she doesn't.

seem like she's having fun at all.

Rosie is having a lovely time.

She doesn't really care and she's useless at this particular task.

So it must be frustrating for him, but I think he's doing a good job of hiding that.

Yeah, he's doing a good, I would say not perfect.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I don't think he's annoyed, but I think he is like, oh,

I understand.

Yeah.

I understand this.

I just want everyone to know that I definitely understand this.

Maybe all his anger goes to his balls.

Yeah, that's why they've got to pop his...

Just he's like the Hulk, but in one specific area.

Don't make me angry.

My balls wouldn't like you if I'm angry.

I'm so sorry, Matt, if you're listening to this, that we're just talking about your balls extensively, but

you got them out.

um so it was it was one point allegedly allegedly for matt fatia and rosie i mean just incredible so funny to watch rosie every time yeah uh smell okay smell no that's not how it works um jason and stevie three points each they won three rounds very very good there was of course a five round draw where everyone did something wrong meaning It's another victory for Matt.

This third episode in a row.

This is the hat trick,

Which is great because he is good.

But we want someone else to win now, don't we?

Yeah, we do.

Because we're only three episodes away from the winter.

And I didn't want to say that, but I do.

Yeah.

It looks like he might do as well.

Yeah, well, I think if when you're good at everything, which is not the case when I won.

So everyone was very happy for me.

Yeah.

But when you're good at everything, it kind of is a bit like...

Oh, come on.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I had a thing on.

Because I certainly didn't win three in a row when I did Taskmaster, but House of Games,

I won the first three, and you start to feel like a prick.

Yeah.

You really do, because you're sat there going, well, these people have, you know, they're here to.

Yeah, but

they want a bit of Richard Osmond's face on something.

Did they, did that stop me answering all the questions really quickly?

Of course it didn't.

No, but you felt bad.

You continued to win.

It felt bad in my head, and then my mouth answered all the questions.

Wow.

I think on.

I think, yeah, I think that's fine.

I don't think we need need to talk too much about House of Games, but I think it's fine.

Were you on with people that weren't as clever as you?

No,

also I'd say

someone's going to say that it's your duty to crush them and expose their inferior intelligence.

What I'd say is being good at House of Games is no measure of genuine intelligence.

That is true.

Yeah.

I think comics do very well on it because certainly the answer smash thing appeals to people who write jokes because of the way that it's constructed.

No, I'd say everyone on mine was probably more intelligent intelligent than me in the grand scheme of things.

Because I had Kate Thornton, lovely lady, very intelligent, but just not a house of games.

I had Adrian Edmondson, who is leagues ahead of me in intelligence.

And Makita Oliver, who's definitely sharper.

Yeah, yeah.

Maybe they just didn't need it as much.

I think that's what it is.

Makita wanted it, but she, but bad luck, Makita.

Anyway,

you'll have to tune into my House of Games podcast to hear more about that.

So this episode won by Matt with 13 points.

Very closely behind was Fatia with 12.

Then Stevie on 11, Jason on 10 and Rosie on 8.

Still all to play for.

We're only three episodes in, but Matt's on 55 and second is Stevie with 41.

So the lead is extending.

We do need someone to come through and win an episode that isn't Matt, I think.

I think that would be nice now.

Yeah, I think he'd enjoy it as well.

Sophie, thank you so much for coming back on the Taskmaster podcast.

Thank you for having me.

You are touring still.

Yes, I still have some tour of Bad Daddy, I love her, which is why let us show.

Bad Daddy, I love her.

Sorry, it's pronounced Ba Daddy, I love her.

I know, you've made me do that before.

It makes me feel uncomfortable as you won't know.

Hey, it's fun.

You're going to Australia to do some dates.

I'm going to Australia.

I'm going to be in Sydney, I think, around the 14th and 15th of May.

You should check that.

But I'm doing a bunch of

the 18th of May.

15th and 18th of May.

And this episode, now, if you're listening to this on the day it comes out, it's the 14th.

So, oh my god.

If you are in Sydney, we do have Australian listeners.

Go and see Sophie.

Okay, people in Sydney,

you've got to come.

You've got to come to those shows.

Yeah.

Well, you're going to have a lovely time.

The Australian audiences will love you.

There's lots of Taskmaster fans out there.

Yeah, yeah.

I think you're going to have a wonderful time.

Now, we always ask our guests to rate their experience on the podcast between one and five points.

Please, Sophie Duca.

Ah, okay.

So this has been a lovely chat.

Yes.

I've enjoyed recapping this episode.

One side of my body has been on fire

for four years.

You are sat directly in the sun.

I'm sat directly in the sun.

I was advised to move, but

I like the caress of the sun on my thigh.

But there's less caressing going on.

It's sort of active punches today, I think.

It's sort of spanking.

Yeah.

And I also feel like I'm sweaty on one side as well.

Oh, me too.

I'm going to say, can I do half points or just...

You can do half points if you want.

I think a...

A 3.2.

That's not a half, is it?

No, no, no, no, no.

No, no, no.

Not traditionally.

3.2.

3.2.

Look, we'll take 3.2 because it is warm in here.

Yeah.

I'm wearing a jacket for some reason.

So we're going to.

That's nuts.

Yeah, it is nuts.

But I'll tell you what, we're recording another episode after this.

And in my head, I thought, well, if we're filming it, we're putting clips out.

I don't want people knowing it was the same day.

So maybe I'll wear the jacket for this one and then pop it off.

That's what I'm really sweaty.

Yeah, so unfortunately, I'm wearing a purple t-shirt, so there'll be huge patches on it.

So look forward to that next week, guys.

But thank you so much, Sophie.

Let's go outside and cool down.

Thank you.

Thank you so much to Sophie for coming into the Caravan Studio.

We'll be back next week to discuss episode four of Taskmaster Series 19.

We are joined by the wonderful Fatia El Ghori, of course, a current contestant, Taskmaster Series 19.

She is absolutely fantastic.

I love hanging out with Fatia.

So come back here next week, straight after the main show, to listen to me chat to Fatia Elgori, and probably have some strips torn off me as well.

Bye-bye.