Ep. 189. Rose Matafeo - Junior Taskmaster S1 Ep.8

Hello and welcome to the Junior Taskmaster podcast with me, Ed Gamble.

Today, of course, we'll be talking about Junior Taskmaster, the final of Junior Taskmaster.

Very, very exciting.

What a great series it's been.

We now know who the champion of Junior Taskmaster is.

If you do not know, you should go and watch the episode on channel4.com.

But today, we are delighted to be joined to talk about this episode by the Junior Taskmaster herself, the wonderful Rose Matafeo.

Very excited to speak to Rose about the show, this episode, the whole series, her experience on the show.

It's going to be a great chat.

So here's what you need to do.

You need to have seen the episode tick.

You've done that.

You need to go and watch Rose's new special On and On and On, which is on now TV, Sky.

If you're in the UK, you can watch it on HBO Max in the US, and I'm sure it's available some other places too.

Surely in New Zealand, surely that's where Rose is from.

But enough of that, don't go and watch that yet.

You can watch it after because you have to listen to me talk about Junior Taskmaster episode 8, aka the grand final with the Junior Taskmaster, Rose Matafeo.

Welcome, Rose, to the Junior Taskmaster Podcast.

It's such a pleasure to be here finally, Ed.

Thank you for having me.

Look, it's such a delight to have the Junior Taskmaster on the Junior Taskmaster podcast.

What a fun thing.

Do you get a kick out of hearing yourself described as the Junior Taskmaster?

A little bit.

Yeah, a little bit.

I think, especially when we're not in sort of in season for a Taskmaster, Adult Taskmaster series, I feel like

Pibby Lonstockings, like there's no adults around.

So I can be the junior taskmaster.

And I think I'm being treated with a little bit of respect, actually.

Yeah.

Now, finally, finally.

You say no adults around and all of that as if the title junior taskmaster means that you yourself are junior and

so young.

But as we all know, it relates to the contestants, Rose.

Not the contestants.

Ever heard of a double meaning?

I have, but this is not one of those.

I don't know.

It just kind of is though, because like I'm a lot younger than Greg, let's be honest.

Sure, within the terms of Greg.

Mike, though, the junior taskmaster's assistant, are we describing him as junior or young?

Well, he's,

I mean, he's got a youthful spirit.

He does.

Is he older than Alex?

He might be older than...

If anything, he makes me look younger.

Yeah, that's true.

He makes me look like baby.

I should be baby taskmaster.

That's next.

Yeah, that's like in Mario Kart, where there's always baby Luigi, but yeah, baby Taskmaster.

That's what I should be.

I think that is definitely the next part of the franchise, isn't it?

Baby Taskmaster, just

rolling around on a rug.

I think that could work.

I think there's this sort of

really like sort of Japanese vibe, you know, game show vibe to that, you know?

Yeah.

Like old enough or whatever that's on.

I love old enough so much.

It's so good.

It's so good.

Just send a two-year-old to go get some steak at a supermarket three miles away.

All good.

If anyone listening hasn't heard of old enough, I would recommend watching it on Netflix.

It's the most stressful show you will ever see.

They send very small children to do tasks like buying some steak from a supermarket.

Yeah.

And all the cameramen are like hidden as gardeners and stuff, and they have secret cameras.

And it is so stressful.

It's so stressful.

But those kids, they get that steak and they come home.

It's pretty good.

Yeah.

Well, apart from the kid who drops the apples down the hill twice, that's one of the worst

pieces of telly ever.

That is bad.

Yeah, no, that's, that's more.

I think, I think people are, on Junior Taskmaster, I think the the contestants have a bit more duty of care.

I think they're taken care of a little bit better.

Definitely.

And I think the age of the contestants is perfectly cast, I think.

Yes, yes, yes.

And look, we've absolutely loved the series.

We're going to be talking about the final episode today.

Something we discuss a lot, and we haven't had a chance to ask you directly, is how difficult was it?

having to give out the scores initially, that first episode you recorded, and you knew you had to give one of the kids one point.

How did that feel?

Well, I mean, I've spoken about this before in that we did a pilot obviously for the show.

So, the pilot of it, I found it brutal.

I found it really hard.

As soon as you're in a room with five kids who are, you know, I'm going to say, I'm quite rather antagonistic, going in, they're coming in hot.

Yeah.

When you were surrounded by those, that kind of energy becomes very easy to dole out points from one to five.

You really sit into it.

Like, I really, I don't, I honestly uh felt a bit tortured about it when we were in prep and you know being like how am i going to do this how am i going to you know be kind and you know do all this all this worry and then as soon as we start shooting like you know all the episodes back to back i was like this is easy if not a joy to give some people one point and it's i i think it was underestimating the kids a bit to be honest about their

obviously the production team and especially mike and myself like we don't want them to have a bad time.

That's the main thing.

But I don't think being scored is actually the worst part of it.

It's, yeah, they're used to being at school and, you know, being assessed on stuff.

And truly, they took it better than so many adult contestants I've seen on the,

I can't believe how supportive they are to each other.

Like, it's incredible.

It gives you quite a lot of hope.

So, yeah, I think I have been watching back episodes, though, and I have been watching myself going, oh, Rose, you seem a little bit too happy about giving that person one point.

That was maybe a bit too much.

Well, what we noticed on the podcast is that maybe in the first few episodes, you were very good at like a compliment sandwich, where you'd be like, oh, yeah, that was so good.

And maybe not quite as good as this one.

So, but brilliant job anyway, one point.

And then by the time you met the kids again in the semifinal, you were like, that's rubbish.

One point.

I completely, I was.

I got, I felt more confident in my role.

Also, um,

yeah, I mean, I got to know them a bit better and I got to know what they could, what they could handle.

Um, there are points in the show where I'm like,

they get a clap and you can hear me underneath going, don't clap that, don't clap that,

no, no, no.

Just

actively try to.

Well, yeah, in this episode, I think, someone gets some claps for something they brought in and you go, yeah, it deserved that golf clap.

Like, yeah, there she is.

maybe it was jamie maybe

goodness goodness me i mean what what a lot what a lineup uh we have i have a question here for you um that was uh actually put in by the producer and i think i know the answer so i wouldn't have asked this yes and it's um would you have done junior taskmaster when you were 10

100 no i because i mean i started out my my entire career started out on kids television when i was about 11 or 12.

i um there were auditions at the intermediate school of um wanting children to be on a some sort of agony art advice panel on a local show called sticky TV.

Obviously, I went to the audition, obviously, um, started doing that from the age of 11.

Uh, and so I, yeah, I'm the worst.

I mean, I'm

probably

like, because these kids came at it from a

quite wonderful and wonderful ways, either through, you know, Taskmaster education system, you know, program or,

you know, they, they genuinely, they were cast, they were cast as people who weren't necessarily fans of Taskmaster.

Some of them are, some of them aren't.

But yeah, I would have been straight in there because I was such a nerd.

And I honestly think I would have been one of the more

difficult contestants.

I think so.

I mean, what about you?

I mean, do you think

you would have bugged your parents, to be honest, show like this, if you saw it?

Yeah, I think so.

Almost certainly.

I mean, I've been texting you throughout me watching this, and there's been at least three contestants where I'm like, yeah, there I am.

I know.

Me too, yeah.

Yeah, Scottish Reuben was the one where I was like, yeah, just causing trouble, like absolutely loving it the whole time.

His, his, um, I think that that task was one of my favorite ones, the piano one, right?

Yes.

Yes, and, and the doing the compliments and the insults, and his insults,

like it makes it like, I know I'm biased, but when I watch these clips, I just, they make me laugh so much.

His comic timing on that one was so, so good.

Yeah.

And there's definitely a lot of him in you.

And then leaving the room and giving when the task's over and giving Mike a compliment just to show that he can do it.

Just perfect.

But we must talk about the contestants in this big final.

It is the final of Junior Taskmaster.

It means so much because we've had, you know, this has been tournament style, which makes it very exciting.

And the finalists were Anita, Gwen, Jamie, Persia, and Shanaya.

Gwen, of course, scraping through as the highest third place scorer, but was actually a joint scorer with Scarlett, who we love as well.

But it was all down to a tiebreaker that we didn't even get to see.

We didn't even get to see.

I mean, yeah,

that felt very

quite

T's and C's must apply kind of announcement.

I felt quite like...

felt like a telethon or something.

And you can watch that at home.

But, oh, I mean, it's gutting when things come down to tiebreaks.

I mean, we had Tim tiebreaks all throughout the series.

And I think the live tie break was one of the most brutal because it's just so much stress.

You know, that was a stressful one.

But, you know, and the whole tournament style does make it make the stakes weirdly higher for children.

But again, I mean, I think they all, they all,

you know, dealt with it well.

And I do think that everyone in the final are people who really wanted to be in the final.

And I love that.

Like, they were all people in their own episodes

who really were thirsty for it, I think.

Yeah.

Yes.

And Gwen is absolutely wonderful and definitely deserves to be in the final, as did Scarlett.

It's a shame we couldn't see both of them.

Let's talk about this prize task, the final prize task of Junior Taskmaster Series 1.

The most unusual thing that begins with a J, a T, or an M.

Yeah.

Very broad category that gives them a lot of room to work with.

Yeah, it really shows their creative,

sort of how their minds work, each of these contestants.

Well, it gives them, it shows their creativity, it gives them an opportunity to show their creativity.

I would argue that there's a couple here.

We've already mentioned Jamie.

I absolutely loved the price task entry, but it wasn't to your taste.

It was trousers, which are unusual for him.

Yeah, this is the key.

Smacks of a didn't know what to bring the night before, you know, book book, like whatever book day outfit that appears forgotten.

Trousers, trousers.

So I saw through that.

I saw through that.

Yeah, but I got it from his perspective.

Trousers are unusual in his life because he always wears shorts.

But it's the most unusual thing that begins.

So it's for everyone.

And trousers are not unusual for anyone else.

I think that was fair scoring.

I think that was pretty fair scoring.

I think

maybe I could have done it a little

kind.

He didn't mind.

He had no problem with that whatsoever.

I think it's a good thing.

And I love that.

And he got you.

He got you straight away because you were like, you will have to wear trousers in later life.

What job do you want to do?

Footballer.

Yeah, exactly.

He obliterated you.

You're gone.

I love Jamie's vibe.

He's so good.

The Alice band, so sweet.

There was a moment in a previous episode where some toast popped up and he said hello to it.

You know, there's a lot going on with Jamie that I absolutely adore.

And he made a good point.

Your skin's wet proof.

100%.

These kids come out with some incredibly, incredibly wise

bumper sticker slogans, I think.

See, yeah, like bumper stickers.

I would definitely put a bumper sticker on my car that said, your skin's wet proof.

I think I'd be stopped by the police more.

I think so, yeah.

Yeah.

More, even more than that.

Even more, yeah.

Anita,

Anita brought in Mike, leaves a big pause.

Because we think she's going with Mike Wasnyette.

We know she likes Mike.

She wrote a poem about him.

Mike the headless chicken.

This is a rubber chicken with no head, but this was to tell a story, a real story, I'm assuming, about Mike the chicken, who was able to survive with no head for 18 months.

Quite a lot of blood on there as well.

This is a real shift from the David Attenborough Prize, I felt.

It certainly was.

And I mean, I think it was such an interesting, cool story.

And I think in any other context, you know, incredibly worthy of points.

But I think it fell into the trap, I think, of prize tasks, really, where that I often fell into.

That was, you know, you can have a good story, but the thing has to be like it can't, if she'd have brought in him, actual Mike, somehow have brought in Mike,

or even just, you know, I mean, how was I going to know?

If she just brought in headless chicken, I would have been like, that is unusual.

And I would love to speak to these parents after the show.

But, but yeah, so I mean, I had to, you know, I couldn't give that to that really high scoring, high-scoring point.

Well, you gave it four, Rose.

Let's not, you know, let's not mess around.

I mean, I mean, yeah, but when you compare it to what I gave five to, I mean, it's kind of like, where is the rhyme or reason in this?

Well, look, Anita is constantly surprising, I think.

So smart, so funny, so sweet.

And just, and then suddenly out of nowhere, she'll bring in a headless chicken that's got the neck covered in blood or do that target task where she had a murderer put their hand up.

That was really good.

She is a girl of the backstory, isn't she?

Yeah, she is.

Yeah.

Let's talk about Gwen, who brought in toilet paper with Mike's face on it

I mean honestly I can't believe this has not been on sale as Taskmaster merch already it surely it's it's it's coming

you can't release it before the finals been out that's true that's actually true yeah god I mean that's them if Mike sold that on his tour shows I think it would go it would sell like

hot cakes.

Yes.

Lots of middle-aged ladies.

Exactly.

And I'm glad that Gwen went with the Mike option rather than the me option.

Well, her point was, I thought you'd be offended by the toilet paper's destiny.

Exactly.

It's not a phrase I'd expect out of anyone over the age of 40, let alone at Gwen's age.

A toilet paper's destiny.

Just a really third-rate sort of fantasy novel.

I, yeah, I'm thinking about this now, and I'm like, I did say I'd prefer it not to be my own face, but to be honest, I do think I'd prefer it to be my own face than to Mike's face.

I think that's actually a bit marsh.

Do you think you would have given it more points, maybe, if it had been your face?

Potentially, because I mean,

I'm a bit like,

I always look at that, that Andy Warhol print in the back of the task and go.

So

where are they storing that?

Is it something I could maybe have?

Like Goldie Horn First Wives Club?

I don't know.

If you'd have space, I could take that.

So I wouldn't say I'm a narcissist, but I am certainly interested in having, you know, toilet ball with my own face on it.

The picture will be in the Avalon offices, Rose.

I'm going to take it.

Yeah.

No, it'll be for the next series.

No, no, no.

If they say we're sending it over, I've got very bad news.

There's no next series.

So it's one or the other.

It's either a new series or to have a portrait of your own face for toilet.

Yeah, but they change it.

They'll make me into like, you know, I don't know, made out of jelly beans or some shit.

You should work on the production team.

That's amazing.

Jelly beans is actually a good one.

I wonder if that's a jellyfish for you.

Once when I went to America, I was in Washington, D.C., and I panicked about buying people presents on the way back in the airport.

And I ended up buying some toilet paper with Barack Obama's face on it.

Oh, my gosh.

Oh, my God.

This was, you know, when he was in office.

And I bought some of that.

And I thought, that's a good little novelty thing, like

a fun little souvenir.

And you're like, well, I'm not going to use it because that feels weird.

And then unfortunately, with these things, emergencies occur, you know.

Wow.

This is when I was living with Nish and obviously we never had toilet paper.

Oh, my gosh.

So, you know, you used it.

Yeah, I had to.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Did you, did you, did you just use a bit and then went, well, I may as well just use the rest of the roll.

Oh, yeah.

Well, once the roll was open, yeah.

And the thing is, it doesn't, you don't know how to feel because you don't know whether it's a tribute or it's you know something that something that Trump might do.

I do, I honestly think that it's without a doubt not a tribute.

Yeah, well, certainly, certainly not on the occasion I used it.

Persia brought in an hour with her pug, McLovin.

I mean, I would have been interested to know if Persia understands the reference.

I know.

How do the children, like, how does it happen?

I mean, I guess it happens with every generation, but it's so interesting to see what

nuggets of pop culture somehow filter through.

and McLovin.

Yeah, wow.

I wonder if it's her parents that have called it McLovin.

That's true.

That's true.

But yeah, yeah, that is true.

Probably, quite frankly, my age.

Well, my age, too.

Yeah.

That is what, that is, yeah.

I don't know.

I wonder if she will ever watch Super Bad.

She probably will.

The Pugs named after one of the lead characters.

Doesn't that disgust you that they're going to be watching Super Bad and be like, have you seen this retro?

Retro film?

Oh my gosh, this old film is amazing.

It's got this, this man called Michael Sarah in it.

He's

funny.

This old man, Michael Sarah.

I don't know where he is now, but yeah.

McLovin poops when he barks.

His back legs are wobbly.

He eats apples, poo's out applesauce, eats the applesauce, poo's out better applesauce.

And when he falls over, his legs go up.

And

her dad calls McLovin legs up Linda, which was perfect.

That is perfect.

Because she didn't realize what

her dad's definitely sort of referencing or just absolutely ideal.

It's the perfect level for the show.

And maybe I unfairly marked this.

I think maybe it could have deserved more points in that.

Now thinking about it, if I had to come over, the idea of me, an adult woman, coming over to Persia's house to hang out with her dog for an hour is definitely...

Definitely an unusual story.

Yeah, but McLovin does sound cool, but I think sometimes Persia talks herself out of the prize tasks because she said, oh, by the way, you won't want the full hour because he's like awful.

He's a mess.

If it had been the most awful experience

to have her, you know,

the most awful thing, then maybe she would have got a few more points.

But she, yeah, I mean,

I did similar stuff, you know.

So I think

you're always looking as the junior taskmaster for anything.

to just be like, well, maybe not this.

And I think Peugeot delivered that all all gift wraps for you

um

and shanaya finally brought in a teetbrush

i mean this thing's horrifying we need to find out where she got that

i don't know if that anyone got to the bottom of that why she horrible honestly don't know if anyone got to the bottom of that and it's art it's art it's artwork like it's artwork yeah it's it's um

i think maybe did i ask um our producer mia

where where that came from?

I think maybe

it must have been in their family.

But then it's like, okay, so there's two scenarios, both of them are horrible.

It's really,

I mean, really, it's scary both ways.

It's like, either you've bought that, so you don't know whose tooth that is, or you've made that yourself, and that is.

I don't think it's real teeth, though, Rose.

Didn't you?

And

stained.

Yeah, I know, but I think someone had painted it.

It reminded me, there's an artist called Kwimi Shimmy, I think this artist's name is.

Don't make things up.

No, no, no.

If you go on Instagram and look up Quimishimi,

no you after the cue.

And they do specific sort of very like weird ceramic sculptures and have used a lot of teeth in the past as well.

But really odd stuff, like walnuts, walnuts cracked open with brains in them and stuff.

And it reminded me a bit of that.

Have you ever been to

Rome to the Capuchin crypt?

No.

Where it's that was the monastery where I've got a t-shirt from it and it looks honestly like a heavy metal t-shirt because it's so dark because

one of the monks, the Capuchin monks, was like,

I'm going to,

oh yeah, I'm just going to dig up all of the bones from the graveyard and arrange the bones into some decorative rooms.

Nice.

And then someone was like, all right.

And so you go through these four rooms where there's like a lampshade made of like hip bones or like, you know, skeleton.

He's taken, he's like made all of these, like, kind of almost mosaic kind of

things on the wall with all of the bones of these kapuchin.

It's, it's, it's, um, yeah, that's what I

went to.

Yeah, I mean, yeah, you should go.

I know you'd love that.

I got mildly distracted during that because you, because capuchin is also a type of monkey.

So when you said kapuchin monks, I was thinking of a little monkey dressed as a monk.

Okay.

It was one point for JB, two points for Persia, three points for Gwen, four points for Anita, and five points for Shanaya.

Now, Persia, what have you brought in as the most unusual item beginning with these letters?

You get an hour with my pug, Mook Loving.

Oh,

okay.

What's unusual about him?

Many things.

Number one,

he poops when he barks.

Number two, his back legs are very wobbly,

so when he falls over, his legs go

into the air, and my dad calls him legs up Linda.

Is there an auntie, Linda, in your life?

We have apple trees in my garden, so in autumn, when they come out, he eats them.

Then he makes his own applesauce by pulling out those apples.

Then he eats the applesauce and makes a better applesauce.

Just going to make it clear, if you do win the hour, we can take him home before the hour because I doubt that you're going to want to spend the full hour.

What a prize!

Wonderful.

Thank you so much for your prize.

Task one, pitch your tent as fast as possible.

Your tent must be properly pegged down and zipped up.

Your time starts now.

Part two, fill your tent with biodegradable balloons.

You have 10 minutes to fill your tent minus the time it took you to pitch your tent.

Most biodegradable balloons in your tent wins.

Your time starts when Mike blows his whistle.

And we love to see on the children's version of Taskmaster, biodegradable being hammered at every single opportunity.

We love

to see it.

I feel like the same thing was done in New Zealand Taskmaster when they did this sort of task with the

They had to get it in a car, didn't they?

Was it in a car?

Wasn't that the group task where Laura was also

betraying them?

Yeah,

it was.

Yeah.

The very first.

Yeah, biodegradable.

Very, very, got to mention it's biodegradable.

Yeah.

Cool.

They can make anything biodegradable these years.

These, these years, these days.

These years?

Tell you what, these years, they can make anything biodegradable.

That's not.

Look, we've only had one coffee.

That should be enough.

No, yeah, I love, I love this task.

I love two-parter.

I love a good two-parter, right?

It's

yeah, this is a really strong two-parter, I think, because they're kind of panicked about the tent pitching thing.

They're like, well, that's definitely the task.

And then they obviously discover

it's a proper pop-up tent and a lot of chat about tents no one's pitched a tent before even even gwen who is a scout and i love this because it establishes the joke of her just supporting her fellow scouts and not and not helping that was wild that was just that was a glimpse into her future eh yeah definitely and she's kind of proud of it and then she does multiple very very good callbacks to it yeah throughout the show we had a lot of callbacks in this show to be honest like it's very interesting how switched on all of the kids are to make all of these connections.

I was really impressed at that.

And like, it's so funny.

Kids are quite cheesy a lot of the time in a way that's like, obviously, like, and I say that in the nicest way possible, because I mean, when I say cheesy, I think it's actually, it's a lack, it's a really charming lack of self-awareness, or they're at an age where,

like, and when I say self-awareness, I mean, I just, they haven't been basically corrupted by the idea of being cool or being perceived in a way that like leads to just, I don't know, really funny, like almost old school kind of

gags that

I just, it weirdly ages them in such a funny way.

But yeah, she, she's, she's very good.

I was not really impressed with her lack of scout

nouse on any of them.

Of course,

if you were in the scouts with her, you'd be livid, wouldn't you?

I would have been furious.

Yeah.

She's a real talker.

I think when can like, she's a really good at, like, she'll be a good debater or a lawyer, I think.

You know, she's, she's got that.

She's got that real talent.

Definitely.

Shanaya, again, does a good job.

She's popping the balloons.

She's getting Mike to pop the balloons with his pen.

This is a good workaround.

I mean, every single one of these kids, like they're doing callbacks, they're thinking they're outside the box with the tasks.

Really makes me realize that.

I have absolutely no real skill whatsoever.

It's just something instinctual that

children do

100 and also better than me sometimes like sometimes I really honestly was watching the show and then like they'll do something and I'm like oh yeah

oh yeah that's yeah

that was a good idea like I it's it's a lot about it's a lot about panic isn't it like I think as well like when we're on the show it's like we're also very aware that we're this is going to be watched and who's going to be watching it yeah so we're kind of self-conscious in that sense but they're kind of going through for the the first creative creative thing, instinct, as you say.

And it's like it's often a lot better than what most adults do because you just get thicker.

You just get thick as you get older.

Oh my God.

Well, thick and just less, like all of the connections in your brain just sort of like crust over.

And those are the only ones that you use.

You're not making any new ones.

That's such a bleak way of putting it, about crusting over.

That's a horrible, horrible image.

I really loved hearing Shanaya talk about how much she loves balloons as well

and saying that she's never dreamt about putting balloons in a tent before, but she has dreamt of lying in a bed of balloons.

And she did.

You said you just went somewhere there, and she really did.

She just started thinking about the bed of balloons.

She did.

I mean, I think balloons

were a popular choice.

I mean, a great choice for a children's television show for them to play with.

I mean, yeah, it's interesting.

What I found interesting about them is that now they had been in a caravan.

I think it wasn't Jamie's episode.

Was Was it a Jamie's episode?

Yeah, Jamie had been in a caravan before.

Yes.

And also, back to what, I mean, just about the tent stuff.

Do kids go camping anymore?

I was wondering that.

I was like, is that a thing that has been lost now?

Well, Anita hadn't been camping before because when she got into the tent after she'd put the tent up, zipped herself up in it.

And Mike said, have you been camping before?

And she said, no, this is my first time.

And he said, how is it?

And she said, it's a great experience.

she i just want to ask her so many questions and see what she says she's absolutely amazing she's absolutely amazing um but she does very well as well uh she does 42 balloons i mean they all do pretty well in this she she goes to get a bucket from the shed empties all the balls out the bucket said that was fun then she's straight back she's just finding the fun in everything yeah so shanea pops uh Persia also pops, spends a long time though, looking for the balloons.

Like seemingly, can't think of anywhere the balloons would be while staring at the caravan, even checks the mailbox, which a couple of them did, actually.

Yeah,

maybe, maybe kids are thick too.

I guess it's because you don't say whether they're inflated or not.

So, there might be a thought, maybe I have to inflate them or something.

Oh, I mean, like, I mean, it would have taken me quite a while to open that caravan.

I would have been looking in Mike's pockets, I would have been looking everywhere.

Yeah, I know.

But 169 balloons from Persia in the end, which is incredible.

I'm impressed because I was actually quite scared of popping balloons.

It was always a party game where you'd tie balloons to all the kids' ankles, and you'd all have to run around.

This is what we do in New Zealand.

Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Thank you for definitely preempting what I was about to say.

I was telling you, they weren't broadcred back in the 90s.

That was pure plastic.

And then we'd snort the plastic after us.

I was really terrified of that.

I hated that game.

So, I mean, yeah, bravery, bravery on show here.

Really strong.

I mean, getting, getting Mike to pop a lot of the balloons, to be fair.

I mean, Mike is definitely, I guess that's the nature of Junior Taskmaster, more ready to help

a lot of the time, especially with dangerous things like popping balloons.

Yeah, he is.

He is more ready to help.

But then to be fair, I mean, Alex

helps a lot.

That was one of my huge regrets in the series, my series, is that when we'd watch the tasks in the studio, I see you just using your phone and then asking Alice to help.

And I'd be like, We're allowed to do that.

And you're like, Yeah, I'm like, What?

Alex refused to help me a lot.

Alex helps people if he knows it's not going to make a difference.

AKA, David Bediel, Catherine Parkinson.

But the phone, the phone, I think I maybe used the phone twice.

I felt really bad about doing it.

It's not in the spirit of Taskmaster.

It is.

It is.

I like it though, because

in our group task, when you googled, I think, one of the meanings of the word, and you can see it on my face within the task, being like, what?

We don't do that.

We don't do what?

And then just like kind of going into my own head.

Yeah, you set up rules for yourself that weren't there.

Yeah, yeah.

Exactly.

And that's exactly.

But then I think

I see myself so much in like people like Persia.

Yeah.

Like, I'm like, oh, I think, I think if out of all of these kids, I would be the most like Persia as a kid, approaching these tasks.

Kind of overthinking overthinking yourself into a little corner sometimes.

That's the thing.

Would you have used the phrase balloon carcasses?

I actually honestly don't think I would have been as interesting or charming enough as any of these kids to have said something like that.

It's so good.

These kids are so like lyrical.

The things they come out with is fantastic.

Jamie is the only one to take the tent over to the caravan.

And Mike does refuse him help putting the balloons into the tent, but he does go and sort of shimmy some out for him.

Did you, I mean, you obviously gave Jamie the points.

There were some arguments in the studio.

Shanea really thought that you can't move the tent if it was properly pitched or not.

Yeah, and then they argued, oh, is a tent properly pitched if it's not pegged down and all this stuff?

Yeah.

By this time in the competition, I was possibly exhausted by the sound of children arguing over semantics and

just wanted to, you know,

give.

give the points because i i oh i actually do think that that is a clever that is a clever workaround like yeah it definitely is.

It is so funny and interesting how logical arguments like semantics,

like how early that begins.

Yeah.

Because, you know, they were so fast of it.

Shania was like straight on it.

I love Jamie's comeback, though, from

like to Green being like, there's no proper way

to pitch a tent,

you idiots.

And then me and Michael are like, oh, yeah,

it did feel like poor, poor Jamie, the only boy in the final lineup,

those girls running rings around him he was the great I think it was a great energy though and he he was

yeah it is interesting it's interesting the dynamic with girls and and boys I think and like coming out of their shells a bit like and I do honestly think and it's like kind of I mean maybe a little bit sad but maybe not

um not an odd thing but I think

these girls really came out of their shells quite a bit more when it was four of them and it was one boy um not to say all of the contestants all of the boys were great as well but um but yeah interesting dynamics all of the different group dynamics but jamie yeah definitely feel felt like this sort of one brother with forces

just being like yep okay all right all right

but no you're totally right he he the first part of the task is to pitch the tent then the next part you don't then have to follow the rules of the previous parts i agree with that i do agree with that Yeah.

So, no, everyone's got counted, regardless of whether they were inflated, regardless of where the tent was.

And it was one point for Anita, two points for Gwen, three points for Jamie, four points for Persia, and five points for Shanaya.

An absolutely untouchable start from Shanea.

Two five-pointers.

I hope my instructions

would be helpful.

Have you ever pitched a tent before?

No, I I have no idea how to do it.

Ever pitched a tent before?

No.

Been camping before?

Uh, yeah.

Who pitched the tent?

My fellow scouts.

You're a scout, but you claim you've never pitched a tent before?

Yeah.

What would Baden-Powell have to say about that?

I wonder.

I hope he's not watching this.

I don't think he's watching.

Well, that's fun.

So, I think these are the pegs.

Okay.

These go into the ground.

How long does it take the average person to pitch a tent?

That's a very good question.

Do you know the answer?

Yeah.

What is it?

I'm not going to tell you.

Okay, mallet.

Mallet.

Alright, we'll have another here.

Yep.

Is that smattering?

So zip it up.

Okay.

You done?

Yep, done.

Finished.

I sound done.

Stop the clock.

Thanks, Anita.

Can I come out now?

Not just yet.

Okay, I'll go to sleep.

Have you been camping before, Anita?

No.

How's it going?

It's a great experience.

Bye.

Task two, place a number next to each word, then open the task.

Part two, do each thing the number of times you've chosen.

These are the things.

Name a country, eat an olive, get completely in and out of the sleeping bag, do a star jump, throw a paper ball into the bin, pretend to sneeze.

Fastest to complete all six things wins.

You have a maximum of 15 minutes.

Your time starts now.

Now, again, a great two-parter.

A great two-parter, yeah.

Absolutely.

I mean, two two-parters back-to-back is quite funny, actually, within the context of the episode.

I think

this is less of a surprise two-parter, though, because obviously putting the number next to a word is not going to be the task.

Like even Persia preempts it, right?

And says, you know, what's this going to be now?

Yeah, it's but then you never do you don't know what it's defined by, you know, you don't know what you're going to have to do to all of us, I guess.

Which is, you know, really,

I can't believe it's such an imperfect choice of something for kids.

Because it's like the most divisive thing.

And yeah,

I was firmly in the pro-olive camp as a child.

So

I connected with a couple of contestants more so than the others.

But yeah,

I love this task.

No prizes for guessing if I was pro-olives as a child, of course.

Well, you know what that's great about this task as well is that you're getting a different task for every contestant.

Like, I like those ones where it's like, it's not exactly the same.

It's kind of fate has sort of, you know,

dictated that.

You know, they all get tripped up on different things.

One thing I did notice, and this is more of a question for production, is when they all pretended to sneeze, they all sneezed into their elbows.

Yeah.

And I don't know whether this is because post-COVID, maybe, post, you know, that every, you know, they've had that drilled into them, or was that someone on set saying,

you need to pretend to sneeze into your elbow to set the proper example for any children who might be watching?

I think if production were worried at all about the children setting good examples for other children watching.

I think a lot of other things would have been intervened with.

So, you think

they all just sneeze like that?

I really do.

I mean, I sneeze like that now because of COVID.

So, it doesn't, you know, and they wouldn't have known anything different, really.

Yeah, because the way I sneeze, I don't put anything over my mouth and I scream my own name while I'm doing it.

That's why, and your eyeballs kind of squirt out a bit, you know?

Yeah, they do, they pop out as skinny.

Steam comes out of your ears and all and stuff.

Yeah,

I do think that it's probably just a manners thing now.

Yeah.

But it was very responsible.

And some of them were just so

Anita's sneezes were so funny to me.

Just like, they're like kind of like dabs, but also like pantomime kind of.

It was almost like holding a cape or something.

She really likes shouting, Anita, because she's such a quiet, polite, sort of very funny kid.

But then when she gets the opportunity to be a bit wild, she really goes for it.

She totally goes for it.

I do love it.

I love that about it.

Yeah, yeah, all of the sineezes were great.

I mean, we should talk about some of the olive haters.

Oh my gosh, yes.

Um, Jamie was, I mean, just saying 18 olives, you're joking, just made me laugh so much.

And then

just really like some of them were gagging on the olives.

Yeah, Gwen trying to shove the olives down, really, really hated it, nearly throws up multiple times.

Um, Persia, Persia had one olive to eat, and for the rest of the task, kept going, oh, that olive.

Oh, that olive.

Got me good.

It's like an adult

describing indigestion or something.

Oh, God, that got me.

I'll be paying for that later.

I really love it.

Yeah, I love it.

I mean, it's so, I mean, did you have things as a kid that you just would not eat?

Because the fussy eater stuff is really interesting is for kids, you know, how like everyone, they're all like beige foods, essentially, and you have to really try and get them into.

I mean, I don't have kids and I will never have them, but

so I'm never gonna sort of experience this but i can't remember being

really against certain foods as a kid but maybe i'm blocking it out i don't know no i mean i i am well in uh in touch with how i felt as a kid with food because i'd written about it extensively in a book and i what i would do is i didn't have anything I didn't like when I was a kid.

Yeah.

But then saw that all my friends and everyone I knew had foods they didn't like.

So I picked tomatoes as something I didn't like and told everyone I didn't like tomatoes, so it didn't seem like I was weird, even though I did like tomatoes.

Oh,

but I did, I did like them.

Oh, now you got a good relationship with tomatoes now?

Oh, good.

Celery for a long time, I was like not bothered about, but I don't, I don't, I don't care for celery now, yeah, but I'll eat it now.

Oh, yeah, you're an adult now, yeah, that makes sense.

Feels refreshing, you know.

My parents would just, because I was the third born, they would just mix whatever they were eating for dinner in with mashed potatoes.

So I think that's

why my palate is so vast.

But I do need potatoes.

That's why I need potatoes in my sweat.

Yeah, with everything.

Yeah.

Lots of fun country namings

across the board.

A lot of confusion with states and cities as being country.

So I was glad to see that, you know, they're not good at everything these days.

No.

And also, geography, I think, is one of the, I mean, I honestly am, I don't know, I don't know where anything is now as an adult.

So I was pretty impressed, you know, that some of them knew

certain places.

I really loved Persia, just being like, I was just talking about how I wanted to go to Japan.

Turns out it's a country.

But she says it in the way as if to say, did you guys know?

Japan's a country.

I mean,

I was sat there willing Persia to say Iran.

And I'm really glad she got to Iran eventually.

Yeah.

Because if she didn't get there, you're like, okay.

Come on.

Come on then.

Yeah,

it was great to watch.

Yeah, Mike, not helpful in this, you know, especially with Persia.

She loses count of how many countries she said.

Mike will not tell them how many they've said.

And, you know,

I assumed they'd all do this, but there's only one of them.

It's only Gwen who does all of the tasks all the way through.

Porchanea does, I think, what a lot of us would do, gets to a thing, like throwing the paperball in, forgets about the number element, and just does it once.

And she's like, yeah, fine, there we go.

Completely, completely.

I would have done so poorly on this.

Yeah, especially at their age.

My attention span for like the details are just, you know, absolutely flubbed here.

Yeah.

But yeah, the sleeping bag one was

annoying.

There's nothing.

Well, it's really annoying because they were all doing different things in terms of it's difficult to define what getting completely in and out of means

because Anita really tries to get in and out of it as in zip it all the way up get in it and then get out of it and the zip breaks and I mean look she still does five tasks in 12 minutes 59 she still does a good job really um also special shout out to the chat she has with Mike at the beginning before the task starts uh of what what's the food of a winner and she runs through

her whole menu of the day.

She said Carbonara.

Carbonara.

Carbonara is the food of a winner, but then she runs through the whole menu and she gets the dinner, and then Mike says, and then the

Carbonara.

And she sort of says it at the same time.

It's like a perfect sitcom script.

Carbonari, yeah.

Carbonara, yeah.

I mean,

I'm just, I love how the

sort of variety of like different voice, like actual voices that these kids have had across the, yeah.

Like I was always obsessed with

Maisie.

I mean, she was one of my favorites, but the way she spoke, and it's similar to Anita, like such

like awesome um singular

like like delivery like if there was stand-ups like you'd be like that is just a absolutely incredibly unique yeah like maisie speaking like a 70 year old woman yeah you know anita and she's got incredible comic timing and i do think she knows she's being funny a lot of the time which is quite oh yeah 100 yeah she definitely does can you see any of the Any of the kids that you met across the whole series thinking about doing comedy?

Because Alex asked me this, yeah, because you know, he can see in those kids' eyes that when they get their first laugh in the studio, they're like, it's it's like you know, having Sherbert for the first time or something.

Is there anyone in particular that you think definitely wants to?

Did anyone ask you about being a comedian?

No, none of them, none of them.

And I think, you know, I don't think the idea of what a stand-up comedian is, it was probably very foreign to them.

Yeah.

They'd probably be like, you know, how do you become a TikTok comedian?

You know what I mean?

Like, it is nothing.

That's true.

we're like vaudevillian

acts to them the fact that we're hygiene that we go and tour the country doing live shows and it's like who are you ancient dinosaurs so no they wouldn't yeah we to them this is going to really upset you we to them are what uh bruce forsyth was 100

yeah oh christ do you do you know that that's i mean that's it's fine we need to put more clips on online i guess yeah one day they'll be performing at the bill murray and someone will say, Do you know Ed Gamble's ashes are under the stage?

Yeah, it was an accident.

They even meant to put them.

They just spilled them there.

Ruben, definitely.

I think Ruben is got, he would like play to the audience a bit in a really charming way.

I think it would, like, it wasn't actually, you know, he was just like, yeah, let's get this gun's fine.

I think he would be a great warm-up guy.

Yeah.

I think Ruben would be an incredible warm-up guy.

I think

Olivia would be.

I think she would be on the alternative comedy circuit.

Definitely.

Yeah.

She was like a little Baria Bamford.

She was.

She totally was.

And it was like these wide eyes, kind of Aubrey Plaza vibe of just like, you know, her monologue about dissing Mike, which was perfect.

And like Scarlett will be hosting like I'm a Celeb, and she'll be the most incredibly popular.

She'll be the best entertainment.

host of all time.

Yeah.

She'll go far.

So yeah, I think a lot of them will, but then I honestly hope most of them don't because they should do real jobs.

We need engineers.

We need climate change scientists.

We don't need more comedians.

Gwen is the only one to complete all of the tasks.

Persia gets four, Shanea gets four, Anita gets five, and Jamie gets five.

But it's the times that count in the end.

Persia gets one point, Shanea gets two points, Jamie gets three points, Anita gets four points, and it's five points for Gwen.

What's the food of a winner?

Carbonara.

Is it?

Breakfast is probably granola and cherry yogurt.

Okay.

Lunch, eat sweet chili wrap, soup, something like that.

Okay.

And then in the evening, your carbonara.

Cabinara.

Okay.

Place a number next to each word, then open the next task.

I'm just going read this, see if I can make it make sense in it.

Okay.

I don't think I can.

I'm just thinking, just lock the numbers next to the

words because

olive seven, country seven, sneeze seven, bin seven.

I haven't got a time limit on this, do I?

I mean, it'll get dark eventually.

Okay.

Where's the next task?

It's right here.

Okay, thank you.

Do each thing the number of times you have chosen.

These are the things.

Name the country.

Eat an olive.

Thank God.

Eat an olive!

Yay!

Get completely in and out of a sleeping bag.

Do a star jump.

Throw a paper ball into the bin.

Pretend to sneak.

Fastest to complete all six things wins.

You have a maximum of fifteen minutes.

Your time starts now.

I am so thankful I didn't put a huge olive.

18 olives, you're joking.

Task three, leave this room in exactly one minute from now.

Sit in the lab for three minutes.

Then, when the alarm goes off, re-enter the room.

Part two, it's another part two.

Say what has changed.

Most correct answers wins.

Every incorrect answer will leave leave you two correct answers you have three minutes your time starts now i have to say rose i think i'd do way worse than any of these kids in this i would have been so bad at this well i mean we had a similar task in our own series right

like like where we had we left that room and then in the caravan we had to remember all the stuff

yeah like you know a memory task i guess similar in that way but i wouldn't have to go back into the room i mean we didn't have to yeah no don't totally but

yeah i guess they they knew right when they were leaving the room that things were going to change.

Well, I don't know if they did.

I mean, Gwen leaves the room straight away, which is what we did in our series.

You just ran straight to the caravan.

None of them are really looking around.

They're not using that minute because they are all concerned with the fact they think they've got to time the minute themselves.

Yes.

Yeah.

That was a real red herring there.

Yeah.

Nice to see that the way we teach kids how to count out a minute is pretty much the same.

There's a lot of Mississippi's, there's a lot of elephants, but the Mississippi's failed in ETA.

Do you think Mississippi, that was like a huge like PR like move?

Like Mississippi Board of Mississippi were like, we got to get it.

Guys, we've counted it out.

We are the exact length of a second.

It has to be us.

Because what's the difference between Mississippi, like Tennessee?

You know, like they're all the same.

Mississippi

must have won the ballot there.

It's amazing.

Maybe there was a big competition or something.

Yeah, but it's worked.

I would have said Mississippi would have been the thing to use.

Me too.

But it didn't work.

I think she counts like 20 Mississippi's or something and then and then she's gone.

Yeah.

She's out.

And Mike's timing it anyway.

I mean, that would have really got on my nerves if I'd spent so long trying to work that minute out.

And also, it's like, even with the minute, if you knew he was timing, I think that the stress,

if you've done a memory task recently, which, you know, weirdly, I think I have, it's, it's, you get so overwhelmed with, am I looking at the right thing?

Am I looking, like, are we latching onto the right detail?

And then you get back in, you're like, oh, I completely focused on the wrong thing.

Yes.

Yeah.

So I think the stress of it is

pretty troubling.

But yeah, the minute threw them.

The minute did throw them, especially Persia, who was probably in her head already after

the live task where she had to estimate time and took about an hour longer than everyone else.

I know.

But the minute has nothing to do with it because they're back in after three and they have to pick out all of the different changes, including the massive bird man sat on the sofa who genuinely creeped Jamie out, I think.

I mean, it was like an eyes wide shut school disco.

It was the weirdest, like, I mean,

it would have terrified me to walk in and see a life-size raven.

Yeah.

Yeah, I would have been with Jamie there.

Who was in the costume?

Do you know?

No, no idea.

No idea.

We've just been told it was the AP.

It was the assistant producer.

Was in there.

Thank God.

It wasn't a competition winner.

No, no, no.

No.

It was Nish.

That's a good rumor to start.

Nish was the raven.

Nish was the raven.

They all do pretty well.

I mean, you know, there's some incorrect answers, but I think the key with this task is

only go with what you definitely think is a change, right?

Yeah.

And don't just go around, you know, guessing because, you know, you're getting points stripped away from you.

Yeah.

And Gwen kind of nails that because she gets 10 right

and none wrong.

Although Anita still gets the five points, she gets 11.

But yeah, there's a lot of great changes in there.

The disco ball, the bird man, the moustaches on you.

Yeah.

They can keep those on there when

Evelyn send it over.

So are you happy with that?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'll keep them on.

Also, it's just nice to have somewhere to put all your fake moustaches, right?

Exactly.

They're strewn everywhere at the moment.

I do have a bit of moustache going on at the moment, actually.

I didn't mean that, Rose.

You did this on the show as well.

Very sensitive immediately that one of the kids might be saying you had a moustache.

I do.

I actually got a bit.

I got a bit.

I got a bit rolled up in this episode.

This is a moustache.

Gwen talking about New Zealand being the exact same as Wales or a copy of Wales.

I nearly

threw down to a kit.

That was kind of crazy, actually.

She's right, though.

They are similar.

They're not.

Yeah, but she said New Zealand was a copy of Wales.

And I went, that is too far.

That is actually too.

I know you're a young child, but that is too far.

I'm glad I have Mike to hold me back.

Hold my earrings.

Yeah, don't worry.

The moustache just means you've got good blood flow.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So, yeah, they all do very well, but there has to be scores.

And Persia got one point.

Not a great episode for Persia, sadly.

Shanaya gets two points, Jamie gets three points, Gwen gets four points, and Anita gets five points.

Okay.

One, two,

three.

So, do I have a clock so I know when the one minute is?

No.

Seven, elephant, eight, elephant, nine, elephant, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen.

One, Mississippi, two, Mississippi, three Mississippi.

Are you timing it?

Are you timing it?

Bye bye.

You're going now.

See you later.

36 elephant.

37 elephant.

57, 58, 59, 60.

Goodbye.

That was the end of your minutes.

Oh, I didn't have to come.

Bye.

37 elephant.

37 elephants in a minute, as it turns out.

20 Mississippi, 21 Mrs.

Sippy.

Thank you, Anita.

Wow.

Lots of different versions of a minute, dear.

That was the question.

37 elephants, 21 Mrs.

Sippies.

Mrs.

Sippies have failed me.

Sineet, you were literally going 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55.

I was the most accurate, so you can't say that, Brian.

I know you're it.

Oh, my name is Persian.

Well, that's the first time that's happened on the show.

Peugeot, you're a fan of pigeons.

I'm surprised you didn't decide to count in pigeons.

I've been having to switch between methods.

I went one.

1000, but I went too slow.

Then I tried elephants.

Now I'm trying pigeons.

I don't know how to count my minutes.

minutes.

So let's talk about the live task.

Again, we had to do a very similar one to this: get your shoe furthest down the nappet.

For each round, you may choose one shoe to throw, and you may only throw each shoe once.

You must stand on your spot to throw your shoe.

The contestant whose shoe is least far down the nappet will be eliminated at the end of each round.

If anyone's shoe falls off the nappet or does not pass the green line, they will be disqualified.

We had this with

a selection of different objects, if you remember.

Yeah, the rubber egg, of course.

Rubber egg gate.

Rubber egg gate.

It's a pretty much straight-up Taskmaster live task banger.

It's tense.

It's exciting.

Total banger.

Anita goes out first.

She doesn't mind, though, because she's already said it would be fun to sit on the box.

She said it'd be fun to sit on the box.

Yeah, I mean, they all went into this with less of a

cutthroat energy that I think some of the previous live tasks had had.

I mean, namely the, I'm I'm glad that it didn't get ugly.

Like, the toilet paper one was one of the most despicable things I've ever seen in my entire life.

Like, my mum watched the episode and she was like, you really were disappointed with them there.

I was.

I was, mum.

You can see it.

I can't imagine if, say, in our series, we had that and I threw.

I threw toilet paper at your stack that you were making.

Well, no, I mean, when I saw Billy do that, I had flashbacks to Ivo and Kyle.

I was like, I was like, oh, my, and I was like, either you've seen that happen on the taskbar.

I don't think Billy had,

or it's just, it was just something it was like seeing an assassination happen again.

I was like, this is, this is bad.

Especially Billy, who was like, he's like angelic.

I know, I know.

It was like that.

Yeah, that was, that was, it was an incredible.

It was the way they edited that in the final episode, though, was, was pretty spectacular.

It was great.

It was you and Mike.

Yeah, watching that happen, being like, there's nothing we can do about this.

Well, yeah, exactly.

And like, I think there was panic in the

gallery, yeah, about what to do about that.

Because also what you

forget is that like,

you know,

the kids have the chaperones and all the stuff, but the chaperones aren't on stage with them.

So most of the time, it's just me and Mike.

Like, so we are the teachers.

Like,

we're the only adults, really, telling them what to do or how to, you know, to be.

And they've got no respect for Mike.

No, none whatsoever.

And they've only just met me a lot of the time.

So

it's kind of carnage.

So there was no stopping that.

And that one, I was like, I honestly put my teacher voice on at one point.

I was like, no, no, no.

Stop.

Well, the problem is, Rose, the rest of the time, you may be a teacher, but you're one of the teachers who's like sitting backwards on the chair being like, hey, I'm young too.

It's so true.

I was watching this episode and I was like, why am I laughing so much?

But it was, but it was so genuine.

Like, I found them really funny.

And, you know, I looked at these children as my peers, if anything.

Yeah.

Closer in age to them than, you know, a lot of them.

And then Greg, for instance, you know.

Well, yeah, it was when Anita says, which is a great moment, which is like, and everyone wants me to have a boyfriend.

I'm like, I don't want a boyfriend.

And you're like, yeah, go, girl.

It turned into a brunch.

Bottomless brunch.

Yeah, I do try and, I mean, Ed, this is

doing this whole show is my massive insurance policy for my future as a childless woman whose AI robot's going to be broken pretty soon.

I won't have, I won't have, afford the upkeep.

So I rely on the nostalgia of these children being like, oh, remember that lady down the street?

Oh, she was a junior taskmaster.

Oh, why don't we go and help her go to the toilet?

Why don't we take her to Ra Lasagna and help her have a wash?

Yeah.

Let's

do that.

If any of the contestants on Junior Taskmaster are listening, you probably didn't realise that's part of your contract, is that you do need to look after Rose when she's in her old age.

One yearly visit from each of you.

Thank you.

Appreciate that.

Anita goes out first, then Gwen goes out, then Shanaya,

and then...

Peja throws the boot too far off the nappet and Jamie wins, which I'm happy for Jaime because

I think because he's sporty, he wants to win all of the party, party in there.

And he wants to win those things.

I mean, my favorite live task of this series, and I think one of my favorite live tasks in Taskmaster in general is the wet toilet paper chucking into Mike's moustache.

I would have loved to have had a go at it.

Yeah, that would have been blooming fun.

Yeah, yeah.

Love that.

Some of these, I mean, a lot of these tasks I would have liked to have done myself.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Truthfully.

But no, I'm really happy for Jamie.

He really.

It was very on brand for him to win this.

And I think he was stoked to have taken out the live task.

And that often happened is that, like, some people who did really won the light, everyone had their little shining moment, and it was great that that happened in the final for sure.

Anita gets one point, Gwen gets two points, Shanea gets three points, Persia gets four points, and Jamie gets the five points, meaning the scores in the final of Junior Taskmaster as close as you would like it, really.

It's not, no one's no one's getting terrible scores here.

Persia gets 12 points, Anita gets 15 points, Jamie gets 15 points as well, Gwen gets 16 points, and Shanea with 17 points is the first ever winner of Junior Taskmaster.

Fantastic.

A worthy winner.

Such a worthy winner.

Such a worthy group of finalists who, as you say, it was so close down to the wire.

And that's such a satisfying, such a satisfying end, I think.

I mean, you know, everyone did.

um spectacularly well i think shanaya was like a bit of like a uh she she she was under the radar in her episode sometimes but then this this in the final she really kind of blossomed i think she nailed the prize task she kept her cool and all of the

all of the recorded tasks and stuff and she was she felt very confident and very kind in the in the um studio and i love that about this is that when she was announced as the winner everyone was just so happy for everyone was just so thrilled and it was just So

heartwarming to watch.

I loved it.

Yeah, she was absolutely brilliant.

And I mean,

I think my favorite moment from her, though, was definitely in a previous episode with

Zach, where they had to do the thing of doing something productive and it cut between her and Zach, and Zach was playing video games and she was cleaning.

It was, yeah, I mean, that was a dark moment for me in the studio.

I went so dark there.

I don't know what is going on.

But you had to say it.

I had to say it.

You had to mention it.

Yeah, so funny.

Yeah, I know.

She was such a deserving winner.

Now, Rose, thank you so much for coming on the Taskmaster podcast.

We should mention

your special.

Yes, because I completely forget to plug it on everything I go on.

We're plugging it now.

Your HBO special on and on and on.

Yeah, it's on Sky right now.

It's on Now TV or Sky, available in the UK, available elsewhere

in many different forms.

Max in the US and all of that business.

Yeah, that's been a show that I've...

It's on HBO, Rose.

It's like the Sopranos.

No, it's HBO.

I mean,

Max, HBO.

Yours is the streaming service.

The Sopranos is available on HBO Max.

It is

available on the same streaming service as the Sopranos, the HBO Sopranos.

And I find that very exciting.

It's very exciting.

I'm thrilled.

I wouldn't recommend any of the children who watch Junior Taskmaster to watch it.

I'd say give it about a good 10 years and then it'll be much more relevant to you.

Maybe make your parents watch it.

You will lose respect for Rose.

And if you watch it, then you won't take her lasagna when she's 90.

I like meat.

I'll probably be eating meat by then still, or whatever synthetic version of meat is around when I'm

going to be one of the proper old horrible blokes who's still eating real meat while no one else is.

You'll be like buying it off the black market.

Yeah, definitely.

Yeah.

That'll be great.

Gonna get a cancelled forever sausage roll.

You can't do any of these days.

Can't do any of these days.

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

And I normally say in the style of the Taskmaster, but you are the junior Taskmaster.

So please,

imagine I'm nine and give me my points.

Oh, well, the Taskmaster podcast has been a fantastic experience for me today.

So I'm going to begin the full five points too.

And Gabble on the Taskmaster.

That's exactly exactly how I say it.

That's exactly how I say it.

That felt good.

Yeah, it does feel good, doesn't it?

Rose, thank you so much for coming back on.

It's been a huge success.

The series is absolutely brilliant.

So well done to you, Mike, and everyone involved.

Oh, that's cool.

No, everyone was very, yeah.

I mean, everyone's

everyone is good.

Everyone is the best.

And I very much hope that there's a future in it and

the children grow up to be

not resentful or ever come for me in the the future for giving them no points.

I just want to say that.

Yes.

Well, look, their bygones be bygones.

In 20 years, I'm going to be Googling junior Taskmaster contestants.

Where are they now?

And I'm sure they'll all be flourishing.

Rose, thank you so much.

Bye-bye.

Thanks.

Thanks so much to Rose for coming on the show.

It's been a blast talking about Junior Taskmaster.

Fingers crossed that we get to do it all over again in the future.

Hope everyone is well.

Hope everyone is enjoying the festive period.

If you're not, just ignore it.

And I mean, I guess we'll be talking about Taskmaster again soon.

We always are.

Bye-bye.