Ep 186. Jack Bernhardt - Junior Taskmaster S1 Ep.5

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Hello, and welcome to the Taskmaster podcast. It's me, Ed Gamble, the host of it.
Look, we're chatting Taskmaster, but as you know, we are chatting Junior Taskmaster today.

We're talking about episode five. It's the final heat of Junior Taskmaster.
This will decide the final two contestants going through to the semifinals. It's a very, very strong episode.

This episode really made me laugh. The contestants are excellent.
Truly, I think, you know, I don't have favorites, but we're going to be discussing some wonderful moments in this episode coming up.

We will be chatting, of course, to the wonderful Jack Bernhardt. Jack Bernhardt, rapidly becoming the authority on Taskmaster, who has never done Taskmaster or worked on the show, technically.

He has co-written a brilliant book with Alex Horne, Absolute Casserole, The Taskmaster Compendium, Compendium, available at taskmaster.tv. And that is well worth buying.

What a perfect Christmas present that would be. So go and check that out.
Jack is brilliant. Jack's a brilliant writer.

He is a Taskmaster statistician. Always fun to talk to him on the podcast.
One of our most regular guests.

Can't wait to get into this episode with him. Junior Taskmaster episode 5.
So let's crack on. This is JTM, episode 5, with Jack Bernhardt.

Welcome back, Jack, to the Taskmaster podcast. But this time, it's the Taskmaster Junior, Junior Taskmaster Edition.
It's a confusing set of words you just said. Hello.
Hello.

Well, I said Taskmaster Junior, but it is Junior Taskmaster, isn't it? We must get the branding right. It's JTM.
You can tell that way. JTM is all over

the study that they go into. I love the JTMs all over this place.
Yeah, it's great.

Now, look, obviously, you're a Taskmaster expert.

You know your stuff. How How are you enjoying JTM?

I'm really enjoying JTM because it feels very...

I love the smooth JTM that we've just thrown in there. It's nice, isn't it? It works.

It does work. It works better than TMJ, which sounds like a sort of a tech store from the mid-90s that went bust.
Like, oh, yeah, you got to go to TMJ. TMJ's been closed for years, mate.

Or like a Saturday morning TV show, which I think is interesting because the show isn't that. And I really think it's amazing because it could have gone gone down that route.

Um, but JTM, that sounds slick, it sounds new, I like it. Um, I think

that's interesting. You think it could have gone down the route of Saturday Morning Kids TV show, which I think it doesn't feel like that because I think Taskmaster already has a vibe of that anyway.

It's got that sort of nostalgic Saturday morning kids TV feel because it's messy and it's big.

See, I agree with that, but I think that my fear, I suppose if I had fears going into JTM, it was that

it was going to be,

it would, it would go down that route because, like, logically, there is a sort of fun messiness, especially like the live task with like, where you have like big comedians doing weird, silly things.

But if you, if you, those kind of things you would get on Saturday morning TV, if you put kids doing it, it then becomes, it stops being like a nostalgic thing for kids TV and becomes like just kids TV.

Kids TV, yeah. And I think a few people have been like, is it for kids? Is it for adults?

And I think it's for everyone, a little bit like how Taskmaster bleeped is trying to be for everyone, where it's sort of like, you know, it's the version of Taskmaster you can watch with kids and adults, but it doesn't feel like you're sort of talking down to kids or and it doesn't feel like it's like going over the heads of kids.

I'm very impressed by the tone, I would say. And a lot of the tasks as well.
I'm not left feeling like, oh, that's like a rejected main show task or they've had to sort of like...

you know, turn a task that could have worked for the main show into a kids one. It feels like they're very specifically working.

It's really interesting.

I'm sort of, I'm kind of fascinated by which tasks they've picked and how they've done it because it, yeah, there are some where I'm like, this wouldn't necessarily work on the main show, but works really well here.

And I think there's one task in this episode where I'm like, this is perfect for JTM. Yes, I agree.
This is a very, very good episode as well.

We had Alex on last week and he was saying that his initial intention was to write all of the tasks for this as well. Okay.

And then realized that the team who were heading up JTM absolutely had it covered and he didn't, he didn't need to do it.

So, I think what probably helps is a lot of these tasks-you know, I don't want to say all of them, I'm sure Alex had a hand in tweaking them and maybe coming up with a few, but these tasks are written by a different team, so they have the spirit of it, but they have their own feeling to them as well.

That's definitely interesting because I was thinking that, like, last week's one, the um, the pick one, one thing to do task, is is actually sort of similar to the um the one of the final tasks in series 18 which was the you know uh do press-ups or or sit in the chair and all the rest of it and i quite like the fact that it's like they're mirroring things but not quite the same and like you won't you'll you'll get the spirit of the show if you've watched the show but like going into it you're like oh i'm not it's not just like it's not just the same thing again which i think is yeah very much and also the things to do in that task are way funnier for kids to do absolutely yeah a kid painting their face blue way funnier than an adult painting their face blue because they really go for it and they're like, this feels rebellious to do this.

And there's a joy to it. And like the eating the lemon as well, you'd feel like, yeah, God, that was, I was, I was wonderful.

I mean, we shouldn't, shouldn't talk about how it could last, but last week's task, oh, yeah. Well, look, last week's, I think the casting has been spot on.
It's been so good.

And I don't have favorites. Yeah.
But if you were to pressure me into having favorites, I think as a lineup and variety, I think this week's is possibly my favorite.

This week's is, again, they've done a very good job. And I think it must be a similar thing to how they do like series, but like working out who's going to, who's going to, like,

who are going to have the little battles in the studio? Who's going to get on each other's nerves?

There is a bit in this week's episode where I'm like, these two would be a nightmare to have in the same class. I was sort of thinking, if you were a teacher, you'd be like, oh, God, these two again.

You'd be like, let's move these two apart. Yeah.
Oh, it was wonderful. So this is the final heat of the series.

We've got August, who's 11, we've got Olivia, who's nine, we've got Ruben, who's nine, we've got Scarlett, who's 11, and we've got Sid, who's 11. And this is this is a fantastic lineup.

Each kid has a very distinct personality, uh, and they're all they're all brilliant. And uh, we're gonna, we're gonna go through and talk about it.
What I wanted to ask you, though, Jack, is

you are a father. Do you have any children living on your house that you think at some point could be a JTM champ?

Uh, see,

so I am a father, but but one is one. And she is, her main thing at the moment is pointing at pancakes and going, pancakes.
Right, well, that's a good start, isn't it? Which is a really good start.

And then also pointing at pictures of pumpkins and saying, pancakes. So, I mean, you know,

it's going off in different directions at this point.

I think if you can make her maybe point at pancakes and say pumpkin and point at pumpkin and say pancakes, that feels like it's the beginnings of a task. I think so, yeah.

And I think that's what I'll probably train her to to do in the hope that at some point that will be a task.

In the rest of life, she'll be a disaster. Oh, yeah.
She won't know the words for anything.

But that one task in JTM that she might go on in the future, she'll be great.

See, I don't know because

my eldest Camille is wonderful.

And she's also very, like, I mean,

I'm biased. I think she's very strange and wonderful and brilliant.
And I do think that she has quite a weird way of looking at the world.

Like she spent yesterday telling me that she chased children around the nursery going, we played snappers, which was her like going like that to other children. Yeah.
And so part of the thing,

yeah. I think that she would be quite good.
There's a lot of illogical things that she does, but she is also three. So I think maybe that would, you know, that'll go out when she's a bit older.

But I think she has a weird way of looking at the world. I'd like to say, see, because in a way, I think the perfect position is

coming bottom in the heat because some of the kids who come bottom in a heat, I'm like, I love you.

You're the perfect child. Well,

this is it. I mean, I think there's a few kids who haven't got through who are absolutely hilarious.
And it's one episode. So they just go for it and they might be bad at it.

What I love about this, and I think it happens in this episode, is I like to see the kids who realize about a task in

that. Doing badly at something isn't necessarily bad, that people laugh with you.
And that if you have a good time and admit that you've done badly, everyone really likes you for that.

And that you can almost see it happen in their faces that they're like, oh, I don't need to win everything. I can just admit that it's bad, and we can all have a laugh about it.

I think that's there's something very charming about that.

And I, yeah, I think it feels like, not to get too, it feels like a really good like life lesson to learn that you're kind of like, okay, failure is a part of life.

And also you can turn that into something, you know, more glorious than success.

Because really, you know, it's nice to get Roses' head, I'm sure, but like, it's, it's more fun to have a laugh on TV and also be like known as the, as the, the weird one who went on the show and like, you know, stole people's hearts.

But yeah, I, I, yeah, it is fun to watch it happen in real time. Yeah.
Do clip up Jack saying it's nice to get Rose's head, please.

Get you cancelled. Thank you.
Yep, there we go. Good, good, good.

Let's talk about the prize task, which is the most interesting item that that fits inside a pillowcase.

It has shades of other prize tasks we've had in the past, of the things you can fit into a certain thing. Yes, there was sort of quite a few in series 18, which were very much like make them small.

So they're like ones that had to fit in Alex's pocket.

And I quite like things where

they have to think about something that is interesting, but also like small. So I feel like it's interesting because the series so far hasn't had that many like open-ended subjective tasks.

And the prize task is where like the kids have to use a bit of imagination and it's also the first thing that they have to do on the show and so i think it is probably quite intimidating to be like why is this thing that you've brought in good um but i think for the most part everyone did a sort of a charming job here i would say yeah i think so i think they're all quite different as well and they establish their personalities very quickly august's swagger the way he announced himself announces himself onto the show being like school's too easy i need a challenge i've brought in a chess set it's the concept of chess it's not though is it it is a chess set It is a chess set.

I don't know why he thought he would mention the concept of chess. It was one of those things where it feels like a kid has heard a phrase before and is like, I'll couch it in that phrase.

Like, I'll say the concept of. And it was very, it was very sweet and very charming.

And also the type of thing where I'm like, in the future, if you went on a full series of Taskmaster and he would be one of the smart ones who would go on the show, and then like, you know, your Ivo Grahams or your Phil Wang's, where you're like, he's going to be, he's very, very smart.

Yeah. He goes on the show and goes like, oh, no, this is a disaster.

But

I enjoyed it as an introduction to August because August is one of the contestants I was thinking of when he obviously goes in being like, I'm going to do really well. I'm super smart.

We hear it later. He says, I've got an IQ of 120.
And then things go slightly wrong. But then in the studio.

When they say,

how did that go? He's like, I thought it was going to go better than that. And it gets a laugh.
And his eyes come alive. And he's like, oh, great.
I don't need to be the top of everything.

We can just have fun.

I think that it's really, again, I think the casting of this is amazing, or it's just the sort of environment they've created for them where you can have these really smart kids fail and then not feel like they've failed.

Does that make sense? Like, it's a really like I was, I was sort of, as August was saying, like, you know, school's too easy. I was like, oh, God.

But then, actually, as the episode goes on, you are sort of rooting for him because he is a there's a weird narrative that he goes on as this episode episode progresses.

Um, totally, and I, I like, I did love his confidence at the top because what it actually did was gave Rose a bit of room to be harsh at the top. Yes.
Yes. Which I loved.

I loved that there was a back and forth there because obviously when you're first meeting these kids as the taskmaster, there's probably a bit of trepidation like, can I score someone down?

Can I insult someone's prize? And because he went in all guns blazing, like, I'm going to beat you at chess, Rose, she could come back with something. And it felt a bit more like Taskmaster.

Yes, it definitely felt, I mean, that's the, I suppose, again, that's the really good thing. We don't want like these kids to be like, oh, here you go, Rose.
And Rose be like, get that out of my face.

I hate it.

I will say, I'm really impressed by how, I mean, Rose and Mike are brilliant.

And it's worth sort of saying that they, they are so natural and so good at this and also bring their own like style to it.

I'm really impressed by the way Rose is very committed to giving, giving out one point

in the prize task because I think it would be so easy to just be like, you know, I don't think any of these are bad. Everyone gets at least three.

And like actually being able to go like, no, that wasn't as good as that thing, therefore one point that's such a hard thing to to do as an adult woman to a child but it is also necessary because if i think if you were a kid who was coming on the show and you put in the effort uh and it like and someone else hadn't you would want to be like no i should get more points than them and it i i and so i'm i'm very i'm very quietly surprised that rose has been able to do that without coming across as quite mean and i think yeah totally i i think she's doing an amazing job i take it there's been a lot of behind the scenes production stuff with speaking to the kids and letting them know how it works and that someone will get one point, but it doesn't necessarily mean anything.

We're just having fun. And also, I think kids are hardier than we give them credit for.
I think that's definitely true.

I think there is, and we'll talk about, there is one episode, there is one moment in this episode where my heart broke for one of the contestants and I was very much like, and I felt like they dealt with what happened very well.

But like, it, it,

I think that, yeah, I was going into this thinking, like, oh, god, is it going to be, you know, like lots of tears and lots of like, you know, that we're, because it is also that thing of unlike regular Taskmaster, there's the thing of these kids are going to, once this episode is over, that's it.

If you haven't got through, you can't do any more, which I think is sort of a shame because there are lots of great kids who you want to see do more stuff.

And like, and in Taskmaster, you know, the full version, you can kind of be like, you know, you can have your Sophie Willen moment where she does terribly in the first episode, but then like a couple of episodes later, does something incredible and it kind of feels like redemption.

Um, but I do think these, you know, you also, there is a mini narrative within every episode, and these kids are very like strong, and also it is just fun, and they know it's just fun.

So, yeah, it's it's okay.

Well, the other thing, the other thing we found out from Alex last week, which kind of made me feel better about the kids who only got to do one episode, is that on their day of filming the tasks, they did enough tasks for their heat and the semifinal.

So,

they all did the semifinal tasks. So they all got to do way more than we actually saw.
That's what I was wondering. I couldn't quite work out how because

I'm glad because I was thinking that that would be a shame if you sort of only got to do what three film tasks and then go away.

But it also makes sense because you don't know how it's actually going to go.

So that's good. Yeah.
Oh, I'm glad. But then there are so many things where I'm like, I'd love to see you do that task because that would be amazing.
Yeah. Oh, well.
Oh, well.

Let's talk about Olivia, who is fantastic. Her energy just absolutely blew me away.
Brings in the universe in the form of a book. It's sort of a Rod Gilbert approach to

using the map and drawing around the map. So it's sort of scaled down into the pillowcase.
Yes.

And also a bit Frankie Boyle was the other thing I was thinking where they had to put the heaviest thing on some jelly and he got a piece of paper and said the concept of the universe. Yes.

And it meant that it's basically the same thing where Frankie was able to go like, my idea encapsulates everyone's ideas.

And you sort of had Olivia doing that as well being like it's got this and your idea and your idea

it's very yeah very smart and also so smart so fun and like her energy I think I like to think she'll be exactly the same when she's 50 like super wide-eyed and like talking about the universe you're like she just brilliant fun yeah she she seemed like a very yeah

again I think there's a bit later on with especially where wide-eyed becomes relevant but she is like she's she's lovely she's great and and also also just you know, when kids are really into like space and like science.

And I, um, I, I did like an episode of uh horrible science, like in a writer's room, and those kinds of facts, like the universe was on a pinhead, would like come up.

And every time they would say these things, my mind would be blown.

I feel like that's what like Olivia brings, where she's like, like running into a conversation and being like, Did you know the universe used to be the size of a pinhead?

And it was like a thousand degrees hot, and then would run out of the conversation again. You'd be like, Who is that? Yeah,

I've learned so much from Junior taskmaster about pigeons about the universe

so much every kid is obsessed with something it's brilliant yeah you don't get that in regular taskmaster no education comes into it no because they're all tired and alcoholic um

now let's talk about reuben

i i am obsessed with reuben i think he's amazing it feels like i'm watching myself as a child on on taskmaster that's interesting okay because i was saying truly it's like watching i feel like it's watching me on Taskmaster if I was slightly less angry.

He is brilliant fun.

He's really fun and really like just like just inviting so much other stuff about his family and other stuff about like

where you're like. I can imagine that the family of Ruben are like, oh, God, are we really going to put him on TV? It's a good idea.

Well,

he does the thing that a few of the kids have done in the heats, where he says something, it gets a laugh, and then he looks out to the audience, clearly where his family are sitting.

he is brilliant there's more moments to come from him that we'll discuss when we get to them but he he made me laugh like i was watching a comic

he is he is a very charming little boy and also just yeah i and i mean he he also feels like the type of kid who again this is the guy i was thinking in if you put him in a classroom you'd be like yeah he would just if you were a teacher you'd be like oh god he's really fun but oh god we're never going to get anything done yeah and that was my vibe at school so he he would be getting the same school reports as me, which is we really like his energy, but he needs to engage more with the work.

I would say that then I would get the school report of Scarlett because every so often Scarlett would look at him like, for God's sake.

Well,

I really enjoy it. And I think that would have been my energy if I was in a classroom with Ruben, where I'd be like, yes, of course I'm enjoying it, but we're here to learn.

Well, Ruben brought in a television remote and seemingly just to do the joke of pausing Mike. And Mike did it, and Ruben's so delighted that Mike's playing this game with him.

It, oh god, it made me so happy.

It was, it was so funny, and also just such high, such a high-risk thing, such a, but also the type of thing where I can imagine if if like the family of Ruben again were like, Are you sure you want to bring in a TV remote?

He'd be like, No, it's fine, it's gonna be great, it's gonna be so good, I've got a great plan,

and it worked really well. And then, also, like, as soon as he followed up that, the port, he didn't just have one joke, like, as soon as Rose was like, Okay, what's so interesting about

a TV remote? He was like, watch Junior Taskmaster. He knew.
He knew he's on it. Immediately.

Scarlett is, yeah, energy-wise, I think, the opposite of Ruben.

She is basically, her vibe is like, she's so grown up. She's just like an adult.

She's so funny. She's so quick.
Like, she could be on a full series, I think.

She could easily be on a full series, and I think would get like irritated to all the comedians who were not taking it seriously enough.

But like in a way that is also very like funny and also like has so much inventiveness to her.

But also, I mean, I also, I love the way that everyone comes in with like a different way of approaching the show. And I love when the kids are mean to Mike.
I love it.

I think it's really, really funny. But I also like the fact that Scarlett, Scarlett was just so

nice to Mike. Nice to Mike.
Just like Mike can come on a picnic with me. Mike can come on a picnic with me.

And the fact that Mike was like, like to be the butler, he was so like like broken by these children he couldn't imagine being a guest

and he was so happy when she said no you can just come to the picnic um sid brings in worry dolls i sid's vibe is amazing just completely different to everyone else so chilled out um yeah he brings in worry dolls and as soon as he said worry dolls i was like you're not worried about anything you should you should be on a beach somewhere

You're so relaxed.

He was so relaxed. And he sort of said it in a way that was like, yeah, this, I guess.

They're interesting, right?

Like, I guess. Like, I don't really do interests, I guess.

Do you want to buy a shell necklace?

So relaxed.

But

the fact that he then went, I don't use them and then paused and went, I'm going to have to retrace my steps here. That's so funny.

And also, I think from Rose's perspective as well, it must be quite nice when you have someone who gives you a very immediate out to be like the kid has admitted that he hasn't really thought this one through.

It's got to be one point. You're going to get one point

in a way that is like, I'm not going to break your heart. And again, Sid feels like the type of kid where you could be like, Sid, you're getting one Surround.
And he'd be like, cool, great.

That sounds good, man.

Sid does get the one point. August gets the two points.
Scarlett gets the three points. For the mini picnic, we didn't even mention the mini picnic, really.

It was a very, very good prize to bribe with food. I thought that was excellent.

It made a lot of sense. I would have liked to have gone into more detail about the mini picnic because there seemed to be things in there that were quite strange and odd.

But I think they got sidetracked by the idea that Mike was going to go on the picnic and not Rose. Yeah.

And I thought Rose would have given this more maybe because knowing Rose, she's a fellow foodie and also she likes small mini things. Yes.

And I think, I do also think that Rose made a good point, which was that of all of the things where you open it up, if a full picnic in a pillowcase, which you could cram in, I reckon you could cram it in.

Yeah, yeah. It is the thing where you'd be like, wow, wow, very interesting.
Very cool.

Olivia gets the four points for the universe, and Ruben somehow bags the five points for the remote control. It was a very good bit.
It was a good bit.

I feel like Rose,

if I was changing it, I'd probably switch Reuben and Scarlett. That's because I feel like I am Scarlett.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's good.
We're really seeing ourselves here. So this is fantastic.

We're reflected on the screen. Alrighty, last but not least, Sid, what have you brought in tonight? Today I have brought in worry dolls.
Right, so worry dolls. Explain to me the worry doll concept.

You tell the little people your worries. Yeah.
You put them under your pillow. Right.
And then the next morning, there's no more worries. Okay.
Well, what would you tell a worry doll?

Can't genuinely think of a single thing that actually genuinely worries me right now. So you're worry-free.
You've been emptied of worries by the worry dolls. No, I never use these things.

I don't even own any.

So then I feel like you don't use these Wari dolls. So is that very.
I don't know. I mean,

I look. Oh, God.
Hold on. I think I need to retrace my steps.

Task one. Oh, geez.
I mean, you can tell why this is going to get on my nerves, Jack. I'm so excited I'm doing this episode.

Make this duck travel the furthest down these pipes and into the red bucket. You must be behind the start line for the duck's journey.

When you are ready for your official attempt, you must duck and shout duck. The duck that travels the furthest down the pipe wins.

You have have 10 minutes your time starts now i mean this just feels like an absolute burn it feels like they're trolling me at this point they the ed they are trolling you

they're obviously trolling you

i i mean it it was so fun just watching this happen i was like this is the greatest thing i've ever seen i'm so glad they're going to get some children to do what ed couldn't do yeah but it was a different it's a different location that it's it's a different location it's a different task there's no pond you can move your bucket you can Ed, you're right.

This location was completely flat, whereas your one had an incline, so technically easier. No, because the pond was so far away from the line, and the incline stopped about 20 meters before the pond.

So, no, none of these, none of these kids could have done it apart from Edwards.

Scarlett, Scarlett, there was a bit where I thought the Scarlet was going to do what you did and it was going to fail, and it carried on. I was like, Great, hooray!

This child has done what Ed couldn't do. Yay!

It is different. I will also say that, you know, you could have stopped at any point.
At any point, you could have stopped. And yet you didn't.

I think this is, I actually think, I was trying to think of other times where a task attempt has inspired a future task. And I think the only other one is Lisa Tarbuck making Alex sit on a cake.

And then later on,

they made all the contestants sit on the cake fastest wins. I can't think of another one, but someone's probably going to get in contact to say that.
What's the,

what does he actually do in Taskmaster Australia? Lloyd does something and says,

no other contestants going to be able to do that as well as me. So they turn it into an actual task.
Oh, it's very, that's very good.

I think it's toss a parsnip over the caravan. And

Lloyd says, no one else is going to do this. And then

every other contestant does it. And it means that Lloyd gets, I think, zero points.
It's very entertaining.

That's what we're not talking about Taskmaster Australia, but they're very good at shifting within filming one series where someone will do something and they'll turn it into another thing.

It's brilliant. Right.
They're quite quick on their feet. Very quick on their feet.
So let's talk about this absolute sham.

So,

so, yeah, they've got to send the duck down the pipe. Let's talk.
Let's talk about Olivia. First thing Olivia does is pour all the water out of the bucket.
I couldn't.

I was really confused by this. I couldn't quite.

I suppose if I was watching, if I was a kid and I hadn't necessarily seen your your attempt, and I guess your attempt wouldn't necessarily help everyone here on this. No, it wouldn't at all, no.

But well, you'd at least know the idea of like, we'll use the water to push it down.

I suppose I was a little bit surprised by the fact that both Olivia and Ruben get rid of all the water and also just think one pipe. I was surprised at that.
I suppose, like,

but I guess it is a tough task.

As much as I'd like to mock you relentlessly, it is a hard thing to do.

It's tricky, but I think Olivia and Ruben, to be fair,

have a really good duck rolling technique. So they don't need the water because they work out that if they roll the duck, the duck's momentum will carry it into the bucket.

And I suppose the thing that they were thinking was that if they get a high enough incline, they'll get it down the one bit of guttering and they'll definitely be successful.

I mean, you could, I suppose, because

the more

length you have, the harder it is to get to get that incline. So

you need the water if you're going longer. But

again, just both of their energies really fascinate me.

Ruben, there's a chat that Ruben has with Mike that made me nearly cry laughing, where Mike says, do you like building things? And he says, yeah, I like building Lego.

Mike says, what was the last thing you built out of Lego? And Ruben says, yesterday.

And Mike goes,

you built yesterday out of Lego. And Ruben just ignores him and carries on.

Well, it's clear that Ruben is like, I'm going to give like maybe 20% of my energy to this conversation and just assume that he said when.

I'm done. A lot of the time they simply don't answer Mike.
Like Mike will try and have these conversations. They're like, well, who is this annoying guy?

At least Ruben's trying, but he's massively misunderstood. Just outstanding.

Also back in the studio. Ruben absolutely dropping his granddad in it saying his granddad uses fart power to go down things and then looks at his family, like, I just slagged off granddad.

And then they're in the audience, going, Oh, God. Also, because I loved, I loved Olivia.
Again, the banter between these children is so wonderful and really sweet.

The fact that it was Olivia who was like, Did you use fart power to go down? And then he just, it was just very like, oh, yeah. No, I love these kids.

Absolutely fantastic.

Let's talk about August because this is

August setting himself up for a fall here, saying, I'm so clever. I've got an IQ of 120.
Einstein's got 160.

It's amazing. It's the type of thing where you're like, if you could script this, you wouldn't, you would be like, it's too on the nose to have him say, I've got an IQ of 120.

And then his tower immediately fall apart, which is exactly what happened. And also, like, the stuff where

he was saying, I've got an IQ of 120, I'm doing really well. And was building the tower and then using tape to attach it to

the rope, where you're like, you don't need to do that. That doesn't make any sense.

None of what he all panic. We all panic when we have to send a duck down a pipe, Jack.
Okay. Even when he's clearly nailed it, he's got the pipe set up ready to roll the duck.

He puts the brick on top of the pipe and creates like a massive hill. And

he's like, yeah, I am going to do this. Because this is what happens when you're doing a task.

If you've got an idea, you feel like you need to follow it through, even if it's clearly not going to work. I've been there.
I understand. I feel your pain, August.

I was thinking you're watching this being like, this is bringing back so many horrible memories. I cannot.
Horrible. Such a horrible flashback.
Also, watching so many kids complete it is gutting.

Not one of them sawed the duck's head off and buried the parts separately. I was going to say.

No one. And it feels like there have been a few times in this series where a kid has done an equivalent version of that.
All of them managed this pretty easily yet. Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, I think that there's a charming element to August, which is to, even while things are going wrong, to ascertain or to say to everyone, I'm very, very smart. Yeah.

Which I think there is, if it were me and things were going badly, I would, maybe I'd have started by saying, I have an IQ of 120.

And as things are going badly, I would then say, I'm going to stop saying that. Yes, or just reducing the number.

You're just going like 180, just taking it down by 20 every time.

It's getting low. Let's talk about poor Sid.

Look, Sid is not an engineer. Sid is a surfer.
No. Okay.

Sid's a vibe magnet.

Don't get Sid to build anything. Don't get Sid to build anything.
And don't get Sid to sort of like have ideas about moving things even a tiny amount.

It was sort of the thing where he was like, like he saw the bucket was there and was like, I'll keep that there. I'll keep that there and have this horrible angle.

But again, I think that's kind of, you know, jagged and cool. And that's how surfers think, I guess.
You know, they have to do like weird sudden twists. But you did, you could sort of see like Mike.

It felt like the

parent of Mike was coming out where he was like, are you sure you want to?

Very gently pushing Sid in the right direction, I think.

But look, he eventually works out that he needs to move the bucket. Still had quite a, but doesn't move it very far and still has like trying to make the duck go around a big corner.

But yeah. Again, I think it is just like coming out of like, like whenever you do tasks, I think it must be very hard to get out of that mindset.

And they've sort of create like, they create workarounds that aren't really workarounds, but they think are still within the, like, you know, you're allowed to move it a bit or like allowed to move it along this, like, uh, longitudinal line.

Um, but yeah, you could just see. I feel like I got an insight into Mike as a parent, like doing homework with the kids, being like, Are you sure you don't want to? You could try to, nope, okay, cool.

That is your decision. You got to learn.
You got to learn.

That's fine. That's fine.

And of course, when Sid throws the duck, it gets it gets stuck in the pipe immediately. Look,

so charming such a such a did he use water it feels like yeah i i think he did but it just it just sort of got stuck it was very flat it was a very flat pipe but again i suppose there is a thinking of like you know you see like those uh there's apparently there used to be a place in hammersmith that would have like a conveyor belt of it was like a sushi sushi place but that uh the food would come down on a um

on a canal uh like on a boat and it was like all flat and I think that there was just like sort of like, but there was like a water pump that was pumping it down. And I really wanted to go.

And then I asked my friend, like, where is the space? He was like, oh, that's shut down because of hygiene.

And he was like, yeah, fair enough. That does make sense.
But I suppose I can imagine that if you had seen something like that before, where you were like, just a flat thing. Yeah.

It should just go down. Like a theme park ride, like a water ride at a theme park, like that's on tracks under the water.
You're like, it's just bobbing away.

It's just bobbing away.

But yeah, it felt very bad for sid um yeah uh scarlett absolutely nails this uh comes in delivers some of the lines of the whole episode mike says what's the best thing about liverpool not really much of a pause me um instant i would say also i think it one of my favorite lines of the whole episode calls the duck taylor swift mike says why is it called taylor swift and she goes i love taylor swift and i love that duck

it's so it's so pure and again it sort of reminded me me of the way she said, like, I'll go on a picnic with Mike. It was very much like, I love that duck.
I want to die for that duck. And just

the verve she adds to everything there. Going into the shed, putting on some pink glasses, putting some fish in the bucket to tempt the ducks down.
Four pipes. Absolutely nails it.

You think it's stuck, then just hoop over the little crack. And it was amazing.
896 centimeters.

It was amazing. And I think it also, yeah, it speaks to the fact that she's adding adding little creativity, like creative steps in there as well.

She's both doing a really good job on the task and also like having fun with it. And then doing the dances at the end.

The mic, the duck, and the scarlet.

But

that means in the studio, we get this is top moment for me.

Rose saying, what would the rose be? And Reuben putting his fingers around his eyes like they're glasses and just going,

and Rose going, oh, Ruben. And that is exactly, if you want to distill mine and Rose's friendship down to a moment,

that's what it is. I will say that is the moment that Reuben lost any chance of winning this episode, I would say.
That is the exact moment.

Because you can sort of tell that Rose was like, oh, come on. Come on.
I loved it. Really funny.
It's exactly what I would have done.

I wouldn't have done anything different if someone said, what's the Rose dance?

I would have done exactly what Ruben did.

It was the fact that, like, you could also, and again, this is very Scarlett, and this is very me.

You could see that Scarlett was trying to think of what the perfect rose dance would be and was like, I gotta nail this. And then behind her, and she has no idea, Ruben just is me putting the

fingers over his eyes, going,

and again, she sort of turns and looks at Ruben, like, oh, for God's sake,

really enjoyed it. Really, really loved it.

So, it was two points for Ruben, two points for August, because we should say, this is where we've got to mention it. Neither Ruben nor August ducked and said duck.

August seems devastated by this. Ruben doesn't seem to care at all.

Ruben knows, I think, at that point, he's like, well, what are we doing here? Yeah. You know, this is where

he differs from me, is he doesn't care when it goes badly. So I need to learn from him.

He's thinking, I've got another, what, 90 minutes to call out more members of my family. To do some more dances.
That's what this is. Yeah.

do some more dances hopefully fingers crossed uh do an impression of someone putting conditioner in their hair um that's

that's coming up oh god i can't wait for that good um yeah so they they didn't do it i thought it was good that rose stuck to that yeah um in a previous episode i think last week's there was uh you had to put your hands on your head and say no uh no stone is unturned and a lot of them forgot to do it and they did not stick to that as a rule yes i i I was thinking that what's fun about, so I agree, I do agree, but I think that what's fun about the No Stoners Unturned thing is that it was a chance to

quickly end the task. Yeah.

Like, which I think if they'd said you have 10 minutes and then the kids had looked around and then saw more things, I think that was quite, that was what was fun about that one.

So I feel like it was okay to let the other kids off it because they were just using all of their time. Using all of their time, yeah.
Interesting, yeah.

Whereas here, I think it's a sort of uh, it's just a mean thing. I will say three for Sid, very, very,

I feel like, give them all one is my feeling. Yeah.
Sid getting three. No, I, I mean, I'm not advocating taking points away from a child, but.
Well, I didn't get the duck in the bucket.

I think I got a pity point. You did.
I mean, that was also a sort of champions of champions thing. And I think also Greg probably felt like if you didn't get a point, you might.

Yeah, but imagine if I'd won. Try.
I didn't deserve a point.

Yeah. Oh, I think about that quite a lot.
Yeah. The idea of you turning up on champions of champions, like champions of champions of champions, because of a pity point.

But no, Sid got three points. Olivia got the four points, and Scarlett a very well-deserved five points.
Okay, Scarlett, what are you thinking?

M pipes.

Has this guy got a name?

Tail Swift. Because of the yellow colouring, is that what it is? Yeah.
And I love Taylor Swift and I love that talk. Right.

I'm going in the shed.

A pair of pink glasses. I'm serious.

Maybe I need a fish. What for? To motivate the duck? Yeah.

You've got five and a half minutes left.

What if my other people have used more? Well, that's a good question.

Okay. I'm doing it.
You're doing it? I'm doing it.

Okay, good luck, Taylor Swift.

Take it away.

Duck!

I don't know. How'd you feel?

Has that dance got a name? The Scarlet. Okay, that's quite good.

Have I got it right? Yeah.

What's that one called?

Um, the dock. The dock.
What would the mic be?

Oh, hello. That's the mic.
Yeah.

You've given me the gift of a dance. Yeah.
I really like it.

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Task two, this is a fantastic task. Beautifully wrap up this present.
You must maintain eye contact with Mike at all times.

If you break eye contact with Mike at at any time, he will unwrap your present and you must start again. Most beautifully wrapped present wins.
You have 10 minutes. Your time starts now.

This is a great task.

I mean, in terms of tasks where they're thinking about what will look funny and the imagery and what the kids will have to do to create those moments, I think this is the best one of the series so far, I think.

I think I fully agree. And I also think that this, I think, is actually the only...
There was only two subjectively judged film tasks so far, this whole series.

There was the do something impressive on a target or hit this target impressively. And I think this one, this one I think is unbelievably good.
Yeah.

Just because I think it's the type of thing where if you did it on the Taskmaster UK, as in the main show, I think it would be fun, but I think there's something so funny about it being kids and like the pressure of the eye contact.

And

it's just the right level of incredibly mean

from Mike because it and it's so Mike unwrapping the presence is so so, so funny, and I never ever get tired of it.

Every time you just see, like, the eye move away, Mike's like, oh, I'm so terribly sorry. He loves it as well.
He's absolutely loving it every time he stops them.

Because also, like, Ruben especially finds it absolutely hilarious when he messes up. Yeah.
So when Mike says, I've got to unwrap that, Ruben like, can't control himself because he's laughing so much.

Just absolutely brilliant. I think it is one of those things where it might be one of my favorite tasks across like all the Taskmaster.
And I think that it works really, it works best with kids.

I think you couldn't do this like with, or you could do it with adults, but it wouldn't work in the same way. There's something so funny and so charming about this.

And I think all the kids do an amazing job, especially Olivia, who I think is unbelievable. But she's amazing.
I mean, how wide her eyes are. And then she tips her head right back.
It's so funny.

Incredible. And Mike's really pushing her as well, saying, you know, what would you do? Do you like aliens? Do you believe in aliens? She says, yes.

What would you do if there's an alien behind you now? She obviously knows it's a trick, but it just freaks her out enough for her eyes to go. And then he, yeah,

it's so it's the fact that, again, it's that thing of like, because she, she, you can see her brain going, like, don't look, don't look, don't look, and just her eyes kind of go like, oh, and yeah, Mike's like, I'm so terribly sorry.

Oh, it's so, so funny. I, I adore it.
And also, when she, when she drops the, the, the bow and then tries to find the bow, her like scrabbling about on the floor with her eyes wide backwards.

And it's so, it's great to see, like, it's not humiliating or sort of like, you know, like these kids are being put into an embarrassing situation and you feel bad.

It's just that it's such a funny situation to be in, and they do such a good job. Oh, I loved it.
Yeah, that was so funny.

I mean, in the studio as well, she's got some absolutely belting lines in the studio. And this one,

this one of Rose saying,

have you recovered from that? Because your eyes are really wide. She goes, Yes, but I still can't look at him.

So funny.

Neither Ruben nor Sid have ever wrapped a present, and it shows.

I was trying to think about this. Had I wrapped a present? I must have wrapped a present as a child.
I feel like I must have. I don't think I've wrapped a present properly now.
I am so bad at rapping.

I'm bad at rapping, but I think

I still wrap a present. And as I do it, I feel terrible.
I will sometimes have to wrap a present for, like, on behalf of my children to give to other children.

And part of me is like, this would be acceptable if my children had wrapped it. Yeah.
It's not acceptable for an adult to have done it. But in a way, I'm like, that's probably fine.

That's probably, that's probably good. They'll probably be like, oh, thanks for thanks for making the effort for the kids to wrap it.
And I can be like, yep, that's what happened here.

Well, Sid and Ruben both just sort of pile loads of stuff on top of the present, really. I mean, Ruben makes an effort to sort of put the paper on it.

And finish off. I was disappointed by Sid.

I was thinking that, I mean, Sid's one came out of frustration by the end, but I was also like,

you got to put it like a tiny bit just around the edges. Yeah.
It was the fact that both of them, and this is what worried me, both of them just started with the bow, just started with the ribbon.

My favorite bit as well from Ruben was clearly getting frustrated, but still having a good time, finishing, pushing the present towards Mike really aggressively and saying, this is a beautifully wrapped present.

That was so funny. And his eyes were like, you tell me this is a good.
Oh, just exceptional. Really funny.
I just loved how much Sid was enjoying it as well. Just like frustrated, but still laughing.

I thought it was just so wonderful. It was so the bit where Sid starts to Sid at one point is trying to put the paper over the top of it and he looks away and then he goes and starts undoing it.

And Mike goes, oh good, you're self-policing now.

It was sort of like, this is, we're getting into like a science experiment, like what you can make children do. Yeah.
It was, yeah.

So funny. August tries to find a workaround.
So this is a classic example of a workaround that's actually not that helpful.

Although Although I thought it was clever to the only person to open it to find to find the fish, which is obviously a red herring, which Mike pushes him towards.

But actually, I think in terms of speed and getting something done, just wrapping the fish up is quite a good idea. It's easier to wrap than the box.

I was going to say, I think that if this had been a speed-based task, very smart idea.

But I do also think that the fact it's a red herring probably pushes you towards the fact that you shouldn't have anything to do with that.

As soon as you see the red herring, you you should go okay that's fine yeah but i do it i thought it was quite smart if he could then have wrapped it well yeah although i suppose he he was do he did better than both reuben and sid yeah and i don't think he was going to do better if it was if he took the if he didn't take the the fish out of the box uh and also he seemed to get very angry and he seemed to get less angry once he took the fish out of the box so you know august is someone where you can immediately tell they've watched loads of taskmaster because he's looking under the he's looking under the table and we know in the next task um you know he that's pretty much how he solves it is looking around so yeah he's he's definitely a taskmaster fan scarlet smashes this says she's good at rapping presence she's got experience in rapping presence um this is where we get look she does the the present very well she gets she gets the five points brilliant work from scarletta but this

is it where she says she gave her cousin 180 pounds because he's 18 and suggests he spend spends it on skincare because he needs it.

And

they give her so many opportunities to get out of this. Yeah.

This, I think, is the thing that separates Scarlett from every other child I've ever met.

She's able to be so blunt and honest. She's withering.
She can be withering. She can be withering.
She can be, you know, Julian Clary, really, I'd say.

Like, I think that the, I don't, I haven't met Scarlett's cousin, but I'm sure there's probably an element of truth in the skincare line.

Imagine being, if I was 18 and I had terrible skin, and my 11-year-old cousin went on TV and said I had terrible skin, I would be devastated.

You don't have enough confidence at 18 to deal with that sort of thing. I fully agree.
And also, this would have been filmed a long time ago. Yeah.

And I think that, you know, they probably got that £180. They spent it on something else.
Yeah.

I mean, this is also the moment where we get Rubens,

where they're talking about skincare. Ruben goes, oh, conditioner.
And everyone's like, no, Ruben, that's not.

And then he just does an impression of putting some conditioner on because he wanted to do that, rubbing it under his armpits. He's just got energy that he needs to get out.
Yeah, he's so

again, and that, and that is where I've had Scarlett's like highest point where she turns around. She's like, no, that's not where you, that's not what, that's not conditioner.

What are you talking about? For God's sake. She's, she's brilliant and he's great as well.

And like, I liked the fact that Rose was, again, feels like because Rose has been made fun of by this child, she could turn turn to the audience and be like, Yes, your child doesn't know about basic hygiene.

Anyway, he loves that as well. Yeah, he loves that.
He absolutely loves it. What a guy, honestly.

So, it was one point for Sid, two points for Reuben, three points for August, four points for Olivia, and five points for Scarlett.

Do you believe in aliens?

Yes. What if I told you there was an alien standing directly behind you right now? What? Yes, I are

purposely, so I as a first. Oh, that's a shock.
I didn't break it. Well, for a smidgen.
Oh my god.

How are you feeling? Stress.

How's it going now? Trying to make a bow at the tip because I lost the actual bow. Oh, I see.
That's true. Do you need to look on the floor? Do you need me to lean over while you look on the floor?

Find it? No. Is it helpful? No.
No. You've done it?

Happy? Yes.

There it was.

You made some enemies in this task. Yeah, that felt harder.
That felt harder this time because these two actually clearly had some competence and got quite far.

Olivia, your eyes were kind of maniacal. I love that.

Have they recovered? Yeah, I think so. Yeah.
I still can't look at him. No.

Task three, play these notes. You may hear the notes.
Whenever you either insult or compliment Mike, most correct consecutive notes in your final attempt to win. So you have a maximum of 10 minutes.

Your time starts now. Brilliant.
Just not just the consecutive notes. The little addition of the insult or compliment is fantastic for Junior Taskmaster.

It's perfect because you do want to see these children. You want to be like, it's that thing of...
You want to be given license to do these things.

And it sort of reminded me a bit of there's a New Year's treat task where every time they insult Alex or compliment Greg, they get a certain thing.

And I can't remember exactly what it is, but it's Lenny Rush

insulting Alex,

just doing various insults for Alex and sort of going like pig and then laughing really, really hard. It feels like that, where you're like,

let's get these.

Children, you have a chance now to be as mean as you possibly can or as nice as you possibly can to this man. Yeah.
Which is very charming.

Before we even see it, Reuben going, I can't wait for this one.

He's so excited for this one to be shown because he knows what he's done.

And just the, just, because the kids starting with, the kids start with a compliment. So Scarlett and Olivia start with compliments.
And I think Sid does as well. And it's lovely.
But then

Ruben then cuts a Ruben and he goes, can you smell that, Mike? Have you pooed yourself?

So much respect. And then you look like a moldy apple.

He doesn't, I don't think he does one compliment until he leaves the room when the task's done nice mustache by the way just to show he could do it if he wanted

decided

decided to to throw it out at the end when it doesn't matter oh my god the apple thing is is so funny as well because he then goes like no no no hang on hear me out it's because he's got a massive forehead

It's the inventiveness of not just going, you've pooed yourself, going, can you smell that? Mike. Yeah.
Have you pooed yourself? And then the night.

It's proper, like old-school kid bullying. Fantastic.
And he gets one point because he's so excited to do the compliments. He gets one note.

He's forgotten about the whole bit of the other, the main bit of the task. Again, it sort of reminds me of when you invite, like,

insult Alex or compliment Greg, you sort of then immediately, like, Cojay Radical in that task just gets sidetracked by the whole idea of like making Alex eat pop-a-dom.

So I think that if you open up the idea of you can abuse Mike now for a bit, some kids are just going to be like, great, cool, let's do that.

Yeah, I mean, Olivia starts with mainly compliments, but this was fantastic as well. Then she's like, oh,

I might do an insult, actually. And her insult is, your belt, this takes ages, though.
Your belt is loose. It takes so long.

Your belt is loose, and it looks like it's been chucked over a cliff and swallowed by a fox and left in the bushes for six months.

It's like her brain is just kind of like ticking through

adding new elements to it every time. Adding new things.
But my favorite bit was back in the studio where Rose says, Oh, that insult is quite involved. And she goes, really wide-eyed.
She goes,

I don't know what was in my head, but I absolutely loved it.

Fantastic. It's so, yeah.
Again, it feels like these kids are sort of in real time, like learning how to be funny on stage. Oh, yeah.
Brilliant. Beautiful.

Scarlett begins with a compliment. I'm glad she begins with a compliment because honestly,

I think hers are the most devastating. I've never seen your toes before, but I know that they're ugly is genuinely devastating.
It really is.

Again, it feels like that one where you're like, there's a kernel of truth in there that you shouldn't unpack. And I think that she knows, it's like she's got an innate sense of like people.

Yeah, she's like the predator. She's like the predator.
She's just got like a little target thing in front of her eyes where she knows exactly what to go for. Brilliant.
Absolutely brilliant.

She only got two notes, but very entertaining.

Yeah. So August and Sid both got the full run of notes and in different ways as well.
So

Sid is clearly musical. Yeah.
I was kind of like has an ear for music and just works it out so calmly, so simply, just like absolutely does it and then goes. Yeah, I think

that's it.

I love it when there is a narrative throughout an episode, which is like, because Sid's done very badly. He's done very badly in this episode.
He scored like one point.

He got three points for something he shouldn't really have got three points for. And he got one point.
But then to nail the final task and like

it's such a, I love it when there's that kind of like the everyone, everyone has like a

trajectory. And I love the fact that Sid is able to like show, like, I can do this thing.
Hooray. Um, and does it so like you're like, oh, you what, you may be a genius, like in your own little way.

Oh,

he's definitely a genius. Yeah.
I mean, he's going to be

like composing albums on the beach. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

He's going to be playing guitar on the beach, and everyone's going to go, do you know, he had a record deal with AMI, but he just decided he wanted to live live in a hut in Goa?

He's got these worry dolls, though, so he doesn't worry about it. Yeah, exactly.
He doesn't worry about it.

August, again, you know, I feel like I feel like August could have got it without finding the clue, but then Taskmaster fan, you can't get rid of that.

So he's looking around going, there will be a sheet here somewhere. Yeah, that was, I, that was very satisfying.

And it sort of feels like it makes me wonder if they've done that in a lot of other tasks, if there are actually sheets they never, like, that you don't actually find.

But I, I love the fact also in rose picked this out when he pulled it out i was like perhaps this is some kind of clue and it it literally says these are the keys to play on the keys on the keys on the keyboard

but it's perfect as well that one of them found it like i always love it when it's like so it pitched so perfectly that one person finds it i think is it's brilliant I think also it speaks to the fact that you can do it.

There is a hack. You can do it without the hack, or you can get sidetracked by the insults.
And it feels like everyone had the whole experience there, which is, yeah, a perfect, a perfect task.

Very, very good task. It's one point for Reuben, but he doesn't care.
Two points for Scarlett, three points for Olivia, five points for August, and five points for Sid.

Your smile is beautiful. Thank you.
Gorgeous. Does anybody smell that?

Mike. Yes.

You purged yourself.

Lovely stuff. Well, I don't like your eyebrows.

You have nice shiny buttons. You look like a moldy apple.

Your ears are nice and round. I know I've never seen your toes before but I think they're ugly.

There's so many notes on this it's hard to get the right one. Your eyes are creepy.
You don't look a day over a hundred.

Your

belt

is

loose

and

it looks like it's been chucked over a cliff and swallowed by a fox and left in the bushes for six months.

Time for your final attempt.

Thank you, Olivia. Thank you.

Thank you, Ruben. Thank you, Meek.
Thanks, boss, Tash Belle.

Live task. Put red clips on the blue spikes and blue rings on the red spikes.
You must not remove your helmets. If you put a thing on the wrong thing, two things will be taken off your thing title.

Most things on the right thing wins.

I found this frustrating to watch, Jack, if I'm honest. Yeah, I agree.
And I think it was frustrating because

the rings were coming off very quickly because every time they looked at the head.

I believe Sid at one point, one dropped off and he looked up and went, gravity.

He knows. He knows.
Look, he may look like a surfer dude, but he knows. He knows about gravity.

The other thing that was amazingly frustrating about this was that the rings I would expect to come off. The clips shouldn't come off because you clip the clips.
They weren't clipping the clips.

they were putting the handles. I found that very hard to watch.
And again, I feel like if it were me, I think of myself as not being a helicopter parent.

I try not to be a helicopter parent, but there are some times where my kid does something where I'm like, no, just don't

just, just, okay, just think about it though. Every time you put your head down, one's going to come off.
So, what are we doing here?

So, if your kid was doing this and you were in the audience, you'd run, you'd rush the stage.

I'd be like,

I'm so sorry, everyone.

I just, can I have a moment with my client?

Yeah, it was a difficult one to watch. And I, but to be honest, I wouldn't have been much better at this.

Yeah. It's, it's, it's, it's a, it's a tricky one.
Um, but a gutting that Sid only got nine things. Um, I really, I was willing Sid to get the five points here.

Um, Olivia gets 16 things, Ruben gets 20 things, Scarlett gets 22, and August gets 25, giving him the five points.

Meaning that at the end of the episode, Sid's on 11, Ruben's on 13, Olivia's on 17, August also on 17, and Scarlett on 19. So, Scarlett's straight through to the semis.

It's a tiebreaker between Olivia and August. Throw this feather, fur this feather wins.
There's only a few centimeters in it, and August takes the victory.

This was the bit where I was like, and I watched this again, and I don't know why, but the moment Olivia doesn't win, she's so, like, it's that thing where I'm like, if this were me, I would be like, I may burst into tears.

At your age now, as well. Because I, because, yeah, yeah, at my age now, yeah, I'd be, I'd be so furious.

But she just turns and goes, oh, well done, well done. And she's sort of like clapping really well.
And you can just tell that she's like, oh, yeah, I just wanted to give her a big hug.

She's very sweet.

She does a really good job, I would say, of not of not freaking out because I wouldn't have freaked out. August and Scarlett, brilliant.
Can't wait to see them again.

I think they're both very, very strong contestants. But it's sad to say goodbye to the rest of them, as it always is.

But we'll be seeing Ruben on our screens soon enough i'm sure he'll be on he'll be on would i lie to you within a year i reckon yeah he will with his with his family rolling his arms being like no get up he'll be the best he'll be the best person that's ever been on it oh sure jack thank you very much for coming back on the taskmaster podcast um the book we should talk about the book briefly Absolute Casserole, the Taskmaster Compendium.

Yeah. Co-written by yourself and little Alex Horne.
Tell us a little bit about that. If you had to tell us a little bit about that, what would you say?

I would say it is a fun behind-the-scenes look and also a detailed statistical look at uh 10 years of taskmaster uh it's lots and lots and lots of fun uh i will say uh i i do regret writing a detailed compendium uh for a fan base of people who are so pedantic because i've already had many people show me many many mistakes that exist in the book

but it but i i love it uh and please show me all the mistakes in the book i would like that is there the what's the what's the worst howley you've been shown?

The worst one. Well, there are two that I'm particularly annoyed about.
One is that I say that Josh Whitticomb's

the nail that he grew was his thumb, when actually it was his toenail, which I'm just, it's irritating. He does have very thumby toes, though, Josh, famously.
He does have thumby toes.

I think that was part of it. And like, I was quickly scrolling through.
I was like, that looks like a toe, I'm sure.

And the other one was saying that this is mad. I said that Alex's throne doesn't have armrests.
It does. Of course, it has armrests.
Wow. I mean, who's?

I mean, I guess the only person who could proofread that is you. You're the only person I would trust to proofread a taskmaster book.
So if you make the mistake, then it's going to stay.

The problem is, I will often make a lot of dumb mistakes in all of my writing. And usually other people check it and are like, no, that, you know, that's what I just called Jack.

And this time there wasn't anyone to do that. So yeah, there are, but if you find more, obviously.
Why don't you just pretend it was a task?

This is the other thing, Ed, is because some people got in contact to say, I'm so excited that there are so many mistakes in this book because clearly it's a task.

It's like a treasure hunt coming out. And I'm like, oh God, no.
I've got to do a treasure hunt. Yeah, that's what that is.

Well, you can buy this absolutely error-ridden book at taskmaster.tv.

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

Look, I think we've had a good time, but give us your point score. I think it is going to be five this one.
Sometimes it's not. This one, it's five, I'd say.
And these, these kids are.

This was a joy to talk about. I think this was a very, very strong episode of Junior Taskmaster and Taskmaster as a whole.

Well, thank you very much, Jack. I'm sure we'll speak to you soon.
Thank you very much for having me. Hooray.
Bye-bye. Hooray.

Thank you so much to Jack for coming on the show. I'm sure he will be back before we know it.

Very exciting. Next week, we are going to start talking about the semi-finals of Junior Taskmaster.
There's a lot to talk about. There's some brilliant episodes to come.
I am sure.

We've got a brilliant lineup of kids, some wonderful tasks. Rose and Mike are brilliant.
It's just a joy to watch this series.

So we will be back next week, straight after Junior Taskmaster, which is on channel 4 Saturdays, 8 p.m.

We will see you straight after that on the podcast. But thank you very much for listening.
Goodbye.

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