Ep 185. Alex Horne - Junior Taskmaster S1 Ep.4

Hello and welcome to the Taskmaster podcast episode goodness knows what.

Well, I'll tell you what we're going to be talking about.

We're going to be talking about Junior Taskmaster episode 4.

Another fantastic episode.

Another brilliant new lineup of kids trying to make it through to the semifinal and hopefully the final of Junior Taskmaster.

And we have a very special guest today to talk about Junior Taskmaster episode 4.

It's only Blumin Alex Horne.

Now, obviously, Alex Horn is not the Taskmaster's assistant on Junior Taskmaster.

That role is taken by the wonderful Mike Wozniak.

But Alex is, of course, beavering away behind the scenes at Junior Taskmaster.

He's overseeing everything.

His eye watches all.

He's like Sauron.

I think that's the right one.

Not been ages since I've seen that.

But looking forward to talking to Alex about how Junior Taskmaster came about, what exactly his role is within it.

And of course, about this specific episode.

Lots of fun to talk about.

Alex has got loads of stuff going on.

Go and see the Horn section on tour.

I think they're still touring.

Go to the Taskmaster live experience.

Why not order the Taskmaster book?

An absolute casserole compendium.

Very exciting.

But let's get on with it.

Let's talk to Alex Horn about Junior Taskmaster episode four.

Welcome, Alex, to the Taskmaster podcast again.

Well, don't say it like it was my choice.

Well, I hope that some of it was your choice.

It was very much not my choice.

It's lovely to be here.

I mean, I know we asked you to do it, but

there's some agency within you agreeing to it, right?

I would not want anything more than to do this podcast this morning with you, especially because it's about Junior Taskmaster, which I've not spoken about in public.

So no, thank you for having me.

It's always a pleasure, Ed.

Yes.

Well, look, it's great to have you here.

Of course, Alex,

being the man behind Taskmaster,

the brains behind the operation and in front of the operation sometimes as well.

Right.

The wizard behind the wall?

The wizard behind the sleeve.

The little man in the castle?

The little man in the castle, exactly.

But

this is Junior Taskmaster, as you say.

We are loving talking about Junior Taskmaster.

Series 1.

Can I interrupt?

Have you ever seen the t-shirt with Mr.

Blobby cut open and inside there's little Noel Edmonds controlling him?

Of course I have.

Can we challenge a listener to draw a version of Greg with me inside his body controlling him?

Oh, that's good.

I mean,

of course, of course, they're going to be able to do that.

Okay, great.

Now, carry on.

Sorry, Ed.

I'm going to think about that for ages now.

I'd like one as well if you're going to get that done.

I would.

That's actually a really good idea for merch, Alex.

I'm always thinking about merch.

Yeah.

Never not thinking about merch.

We're talking about junior taskmaster, Alex, which is, of course, on the screen.

We don't see Little Alex Horn, do we?

But how much behind the scenes have you been doing in terms of task writing, in terms of general admin?

Yes, good question.

So we did a pilot episode with some children, and I was on screen for that.

I was involved in a studio task.

And I guess the footage of that is somewhere.

I don't actually want to say what the task is in case we use it again.

And there are children listening who might know the secrets.

But behind the scenes, I came up with a load of tasks which I thought would be appropriate for children or adults, which was quite important.

And then annoyingly, the team who made the show, who are different to the team who make Taskmaster

full stop, came up with some really good tasks as well.

And I thought, you know, I think I'm the only one who can do this, but it turns out anyone could do it.

And there are people who actually, we've passed over, some of our team went to their team.

So there was a smooth handover process.

So, yes, I was across it all and I was in the studio, but actually, they got on with it.

I spoke to Mike and Rose before record one,

but they didn't need my advice, as you've as you've seen.

But were they polite and sort of listened to all of your advice and then just did their own thing?

Didn't even listen.

They were on their phones.

They both had AirPods in.

They were whistling and chewing gum.

Fair enough.

I can't imagine Mike Wozniak A with AirPods and B chewing gum.

Actually, chewing gum, I can.

I've seen that.

Yeah.

No, you're right.

I guess if he would be a big headphone guy, wouldn't he, over the top?

Yeah, big headphones or sort of wires, definitely wires, if they were little buds.

Yeah.

And ones that you can swim in.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, they did listen politely.

And actually, I think they were apprehensive for show one, which is why we did this pilot episode so they could have a practice.

Basically, they were practicing being not necessarily mean, but cutthroat with children you have to tell them that they're bad when they're bad so they had they got a few things out of their system with and my only advice was it's okay to tell people they're not good because i've done this a lot in primary schools i've done taskmaster and actually the kids enjoy being ridiculed in a way well they don't want to they don't want to feel like they're being treated like children right they they want to feel like they're playing the game properly and they're actually doing taskmaster and part of taskmaster is if you do badly you get one point or something yes yes and there's something to revel in coming last it's you want to come last more than third.

Yeah, I think one point is brilliant.

Yeah.

I think Rose is very, very good at doing it,

giving the one point because she does do a little compliment sandwich.

She does, she does.

And also, we probably edit out quite a lot of her being nice.

She does, quite often, she'll give one point and then say, just checking, are you fine?

You know, she is very caring as a human.

That's that.

But we'll get rid of all that on the

airworthy.

Why broadcast that?

Thank you very much.

So it's a new house, Alex.

It's a different house.

Quite jealous of the house.

Much more outside safe.

Fancy, isn't it?

They've got an upstairs.

We don't have that.

What's the thinking behind the new house?

Is it simply schedule-based, or did you think it was part of making Junior Taskmaster have its own identity?

Bit of both, Ed.

We did go down the line of looking at...

sharing a house

and the kids coming to I mean we look we looked down all sorts of avenues we thought Greg and I might be the hosts of it but again, there was a bit of a, you've gone for schedule.

I might go schedule if you don't mind.

That's fine.

Yeah, go for it.

Yeah.

Okay.

We do have American listeners.

Yeah.

Hello.

Hello, dudes.

Yeah.

Oh, lovely.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Howdy.

But actually, a fresh house and fresh hosts is what the show needed, I think.

And it's great they've got their own place because they are, this is Rose's show.

She's the taskmaster.

This is her house.

So, yeah.

And she wouldn't live in that tiny little house.

No, she needs a bigger place.

She's more important than Greg.

He won't be listening, will he?

No, God, no.

No, no.

In fact, I think I have to listen to this for him.

That's the rules.

Yeah.

So, yeah, new house, a lot of looking around for houses.

We had a lot of trips

in a minibus with the producers looking for the right house.

And that one eventually came up.

There's all sorts of factors.

You know, it's got to have...

quirkiness, it's got to have space, it's got to be near shops and so on.

And I think they landed on a good one.

so uh yeah i am i am genuinely jealous of that house yeah it's it's it's really good and it it definitely definitely works for the show and they just need a bit more room to run around in like the caning it around in the garden like we saw the uh finding the peas and all of that that was that was great just the size of the garden meant that if a child was throwing a pee into it it was definitely lost

yes

Sorry,

I've coughed.

You said yes.

You looked off into the distance as if you were going to say something else.

You coughed as if you were clearing your throat.

And then you looked at me and said, sorry.

Yes.

Well, I was trying to remember the different filming schedules with children.

We have less time with them than we do with the grown-ups because they're only in one episode, potentially two if they get through, potentially three if they get through again.

But so the filming is trickier.

So they're not there at the house for five or six days as the grown-ups are.

Yeah.

So if it rains, it rains and they just have to deal with it.

So in this episode that we're going to talk about, there was rain for one of the, one of the people

um but i like that they've yeah it's a full-on garden like you say so yeah they can be children they can run around let's get on with it let's get on with it the prize task on this episode four of junior taskmaster the object that would be most useful in a zombie apocalypse i'm loving the prize tasks on this alex i really good Because they feel they feel strips right back

for the kids,

but also just making them really open to interpretation for them as well.

And

I think it's a lovely thing to do.

This is a pretty good one as well because there's not a lot of logic.

We haven't said, we haven't explained what a zombie apocalypse would look like.

Yes.

But the kids have all gone, yeah, well, I guess there's going to be one at some point.

So they all know what one is.

It's all part of their lexicon, the zombie apocalypse.

Yeah, and you let me say apocalypse then, and that's that was nice.

I'll let you get away with it.

Yeah, you're saying schedule, so

apocalypse.

Yeah, this is a good one.

And the kids have no scepticism, do they?

They just go straight into it.

And this is my answer.

Yeah, I enjoy the prize task with the kids.

So, yeah, let's...

Should we talk about what they brought in?

We should.

We should talk about Billy.

He was the first to go.

Absolutely love Billy, by the way.

I think he's great.

Best dressed on the episode for me.

The tracksuit.

Hardwood.

Tracksuit.

Yeah, tracksuit was great.

I had a shell suit when I was 10.

My favourite ever Christmas present was a black and red shell suit.

And I wore it to football practice, the first football practice after Christmas and the deal was I couldn't wear I could wear it to the practice and home from the practice but not during the practice but I wore it during the practice and it got ripped and muddy and I got in so much trouble oh Alex that's really sad if there's any listeners out there who want to buy Alex a shell suit please do with a with a drawing of Greg with me inside him on the back of the shell suit

um but Billy he's better dressed than you actually and and also his task outfit is a Hawaiian shirt and dungarees which if I were to ever do Taskmaster again again in any capacity, I promise you my task outfit will be a Hawaiian shirt and dungarees.

And dungarees.

Lovely.

Love it.

Yes.

He brings in a cactus.

Lots of little cactus cacti.

Yeah.

And the zombies will get caught on the cacti.

Yeah.

So the big one you can use as a weapon and hit them in the head with it.

Yeah.

Which is good because it was a big cacti.

And then the

little ones you leave around and the zombies, I mean, it's not much use in a podcast format, but would step on all of them and get caught up in them.

He's imagined it all in his head.

Yeah, and I could say in a cartoon, he's right.

That would work.

Yeah.

Didn't get interrogated too much, the logic.

No.

I think, did somebody say that they could just go around them?

Yes, Kyra.

I mean, it is funny that kids are around the same age sometimes, but then they just, like, Kyra came in and absolutely destroyed him.

Like, like

she was 20 years older than him.

She just absolutely nailed this sort of thing.

I think the girls are 20 years older than the boys, mentally, quite often in this.

So he's coming in all exuberant.

Well, cacti, put a cactus down.

Yeah.

And she's, yeah, she's been the grown-up and gone, well, that's stupid.

Yeah,

they'll just walk around him.

Yeah.

And Billy pauses for ages and just looks at her.

He doesn't know what to say.

He just freezes and thinks if he stays still, she can't see him.

Well, probably also, Billy has said to somebody, I'm going to bring in a cactus.

And the producer's gone, yeah, that's great.

That's really great.

Yeah,

instead of saying, Are you sure?

Because they could just step around them.

Yeah, no, you can't say that initially, I guess, can you?

You have to go, that's great, but then you have to let them know someone might say that this isn't very good, or someone might question you about this.

Well, I think the process is similar to the grown-ups, but we do have to just trust them.

We trust, I think it's just if you brought in the same as someone else, you might say, Well, maybe think of someone else, something else.

But I think if he's gone for a cactus, that's what he's saddled with.

That's yeah, that does.

I like using one as a weapon.

I think that'd be good.

that'd be good for zombies where do you grip a cactus pot

pot

it's got to be on the pot hasn't it i just worry that their roots aren't firm enough like they're just going to fly out of the pot aren't they well that'd be even that'd be cool though if the cactus flew out and stuck in a zombie's head but do the do the zombies react to cactus depends how long the needles are i mean you look The thing that no one's telling the kids is you have to destroy the brain.

Some people are telling that to the kids.

Yeah.

but but not in the show not on the show they're not it no it needs to be emphasized in the show yeah i agree we need to well hopefully they're listening now kids you've got to destroy the brain yeah that's if you're trying to kill the zombies what what i noticed is that a lot of the kids are quite pacifist and their main thing is escaping the zombies that's what they want yeah yeah okay well that's all right isn't it which didn't occur to me And if it's an apocalypse, you're not going to kill them all, are you?

So it is just finding refuge and maybe another planet.

Yeah.

No no one thought about that um emily brought in mint oil because she says that zombies stay away from mint and it kills them now i don't think that that's true no she's done a brief google not enough it's definitely not going to destroy the brain of a no of a zombie it's not going to kill them it might you know it might ward them off if that is true but to me this seems like something that she's been told as a way to make her brush her teeth

I'm doing some googling.

Yes, I can hear you.

Oh, no, it does.

Yeah, it does.

Planting blover,

then immediately planting reinforcement will wipe out all zombies on the lawn at the time.

So this is in a computer game, plants versus zombies.

So it does work in a sort of computer version of zombies.

Well, they...

Maybe that's where she's got it from.

Yeah, her experience of zombies is plants versus zombies.

Yeah, which is, I guess, as real as it gets.

It's canon.

Currently.

So maybe if Rose had been a little bit more across plants versus zombies, it could have got more points.

Are you across plants versus zombies, Ed?

No, not at all.

I thought

I thought, no, no, no, the mint.

I thought someone had said, you've got to brush your teeth because if you don't, zombies will kill you.

I think I like the idea of mint oil, but no.

Okay, so it's two down, not great so far.

Yes.

Jamie brings roller skates with fireworks, which looks...

Yes.

I think this works for any prize task.

I can imagine Bob Mortimer bringing this for a prize task and getting five points.

So yeah, this is always going to be rewarded.

If Greg's a taskmaster, he's loving that.

Yeah.

Rose not so into the roller skates with fireworks.

Yeah, what is wrong with that?

I mean, it'd be nice to have seen them in action, but I think it's pretty ideal, really.

Well, how many points did Jamie get for that?

To be fair, he got four points, but for me, that's the full marks, if you ask me.

Yeah, but

you're blasting along.

Yeah, but the last one, I don't know if, I mean, Jack Bernhard's the man to ask, but I wonder if the person who goes fifth more often gets the full five points.

Oh, yeah, isn't it?

Because they can take the glory at that point.

Because I think that's what happened in this one.

But it is also a very good prior.

I mean, yeah, we...

We'll come on to that.

Yeah.

Yeah, we'll come on to that.

But I think if Jamie had gone fifth, maybe Roller Scooters with Fireworks might have

swept the board.

Might have

potentially.

Yeah, made everyone forget the rest.

Okay.

Roller Scott with Fireworks.

I mean, there are practical problems with that as well.

But like Mike said, the fire might do some job of burning the faces of the zombies.

Burning the faces of the zombies, scaring them with the bright light, as Jamie said, and then you're away, you're going super fast, and you're looking cool while you're doing it.

I'm away all over time.

Yeah.

Kef brings in a whole zombie survival kit with a bat a map a rope and a gas mask

two on the nose is it i mean has he been slightly unlucky there it's it's very broad like there's he's gone with everything in there yeah but i think i mean i'm always amazed contestants don't bring in a survival kit to every task you know and then yeah you're covered i guess there's not enough time to discuss each thing and talk about why it's there so it's just i don't know rose didn't seem happy with it and only got three points i love the gas mask though yeah she said bring in something for a zombie apocalypse apocalypse yeah and he's brought in a zombie apocalypse survival kit

what's he done wrong well he's done everything right hasn't he he's he's done it too right that's the problem if he'd done that but it looked like everything was 10 times the size you know or or the opposite tiny she probably would have gone with it she loves tiny things rose yeah if everything was orange or something she'd probably have gone with it maybe yeah just just slightly too on the nose

lucky there kev yeah the the gas mask thing was great Lovely callback.

Lovely to see a structured callback within the confines of a children's panel show.

I've got to wear a gas mask because I'll smell of mint oil.

Bam.

Drop the mic.

There we go.

Yeah, and they picked that up pretty quick.

What happened in the studio?

Because I did go to every studio record, was that they quite often saw something like that working, and then they would try to put in more callbacks throughout and not understand why is it not working?

It worked just a minute ago.

I mean, that's how I feel every time I record a panel show.

I remember, yeah.

Wait for someone to do something, jump on the back of it, try it out myself.

Doesn't seem to work in my mouth.

Dear me.

Dear me.

Dear me.

Kyra comes and sweeps the board with the pop-up coffin with storage space for snacks.

I mean, it's very good, isn't it?

And I would almost argue that anything out of her mouth would sound good as well with her accent.

It's just so strong.

But I love how dark the answer is initially when she reveals it.

And what have you brought in, Kyra?

A pop-up coffin.

Yeah, and they all leapt on the, yeah, travel coffin or a coffin for the busy businessman.

Yeah, I don't think my kids have said the word coffin or thought about coffins, as far as I know.

I don't think they've ever Googled it.

They must have said the word coffin or thought about coffins at some point.

Why?

Well, coffins are in popular culture.

People know about coffins.

What do they not like vampires ever?

No.

No?

They like football.

They like chicken, like deep-fried chicken.

That's about it.

They don't read.

They can barely write.

No, they,

I just don't, like, I've just never, I've never seen primary school age kid discuss coffins.

Yes, and I enjoyed it.

I enjoyed it.

And storage space for snacks as a little one-two punch that she held back to reveal the storage space for snacks.

It's very good.

And

we love a coffin on Taskmaster, you know.

Even just the last series, one of the fifth prizes announced was Rosie Jones's coffin.

Good point.

Yeah.

We're in coffin season.

No, it was very good.

And I think when a kid does deliver, like you say, a one-two punch, it has so much more power coming out from a little person.

Yes.

That they've thought of that.

And there's always this laugh of, oh, both, oh, that's really funny.

And

few, the kids have said a funny thing.

Because when we went into this process, we were thinking, we haven't got comedians.

We've got five children.

So Rose and Mike are going to have to do a lot of legwork here to actually do the funnies.

But we were surprised throughout that the kids were funny and they said enough zingers to make it work, which is brilliant.

We don't want, I'm not sure, you don't necessarily want a funny kid, but you want kids who can be funny.

Yeah, exactly.

And the funniest kids are the ones who are just doing it naturally, right?

As well.

They're not, they're not trying.

And it's really, they're not worried by the audience at all, are they?

I thought there'd be some fear and trepidation.

I mean, obviously there may have been, and it's been edited out, but I mean, this one especially, they're arguing amongst themselves.

They're just playing the game.

No, they forgot about the audience, definitely.

They didn't always forget about the fact that some of them were going to have to go home home and not come back.

That definitely played on their mind slightly towards the end when it dawned on them, oh, no, I'm not going to win this.

But they all cope with it absolutely brilliantly and admirably.

But yeah, the audience themselves, yeah, they did not freeze once.

And I think a few times, I don't know about you, Ed, but when you started doing comedy, you know, the first time you make an audience laugh, that's it.

You're hooked for life.

Yeah.

I think we may have created some mini mini comedians.

I'd be really interested to see because they were good at it and

they enjoyed the feeling, I think.

Yes,

definitely.

You can see sometimes when they make the audience laugh, their eyes sort of glaze over and get wider.

Power.

Yeah.

So who came last with that one?

Would you mind reminding me?

Emily got one point for the mint oil.

Billy got two points.

Kef got three points.

Jamie got four points.

And Kyra got five points.

I think maybe that is fair, actually, because we do have to remember: it's a comedy show.

It's not a natural guide to surviving the apocalypse.

Now, Kyra, what do you got for me in the zombie apocalypse?

A pop-up coffin.

There it is.

So I'd love you to explain to me why this would be helpful in the zombie apocalypse.

For one, the zombies already think you're dead, so they'll just leave you alone.

Oh, right, so the idea is to get into the coffin.

Yeah.

Wow.

So that was for one.

Was there a for two?

Yeah, and you can also store snacks inside of it.

So

you can stay in there as long as you want.

Task one, without damaging the sandcastle, transfer the sandcastle from plinth A to plinth B.

The least damaged sandcastle wins.

You have five minutes, your time starts now.

A lovely task.

Well, behind the scenes, Goss, that task did feature in the pilot.

Okay.

I think it's a really good task.

I think I wanted, quite often, we thought of stuff for this show, which I wanted to do with grown-ups as well.

I think it would work on the grown-up show.

Definitely.

There's one detail which I can't remember.

I think we hid the actual sandcastle mold somewhere in the shed or in the garden property somewhere.

So one tactic that no one did is to go searching for the mold so you could just remake it properly on the second plinth.

But I think because no one looked for that, we didn't include it in the edit.

I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that was something that happened.

I was thinking that as it was going on, is there a way of getting the sandcastle mold, shifting everything across, or just putting the mold back on, moving, flipping the bucket, and then doing it.

I think there was, but there was a danger of, there's always that thing of if you hide something like that, what if they all find it?

Yeah.

So it would have to have been fairly well hidden.

So I'm pretty sure it was something like the other side of the shed.

So no one found it.

And you don't want to push people in that direction because then it's unfair.

So I think no one found it.

I think if somebody had said there must be a mold here somewhere, they might have been encouraged to explore,

but that didn't happen.

I also think that might be one of those workarounds that by the time you do it, it's not as good as another way of doing it, aka the way Kyra and Billy did it, because there's no chance of them damaging that sound castle because it hasn't moved.

No.

Yes.

We were definitely hoping at least one kid would switch the letters because that's classic Taskmaster.

Yeah.

But we're very happy that not all five did.

Yes.

In the pilot, do you mind me asking, did someone switch the letters?

I don't mind you asking that, Ed.

There's very few boundaries I don't mind you crossing.

Okay.

But thank you for clearing it up.

One person did.

One person did.

It was a less elaborate sandcastle, the one in the pilot.

But apart from that, it didn't change.

It was just a good, solid task.

I think the distance between the plinths expanded for the main show.

But

most of them realised pretty quickly you can just move that out of the plinth.

Yeah, how many of them moved the plinth?

I think Kef did, didn't he?

And Jamie did.

Yeah, they definitely didn't all move the plinth.

Yeah.

Is that what you would have done, Ed?

You would have moved it and shoved?

I would have

well, difficult to say what I do.

Chances are, I might have panicked and just smashed the sandcastle up.

Yeah.

Kef's initial reaction is that he wants to punch the sandcastle, and I completely

believe that instinct.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I would have gone for a gentle shove, I think.

Do you think?

But also, I trust my sandcastle making skills.

It's one of my few skills, Ed.

On holidays at the beach, I spend most of it making sandcastles.

Right.

And I make sand sculptures of the dog.

I've made children watching telly.

I'm all over it.

I I really, really enjoy it.

Yeah.

Have you ever transformed it?

You might have made a better castle.

No, but I have...

Oh, there's a task coming up in this series that we're filming at the moment, in the main show, which I can't go.

It's about transforming one thing to another.

So it starts as one thing and the contestants have to.

Well, I don't want to say too much.

But anyway, I think

I might have changed that sand castle into another, a better thing.

Okay.

Which wouldn't have been.

That's exciting.

You've given us...

You gave us a little bit of information about the new series of the main show there, but then almost gave us less than you did when you started.

Well, also, that's for series 20.

So I think

it's a year away, so we can all chill out.

Series 20.

It's loads, isn't it?

And

June.

25 people.

Yeah.

Yeah.

25 kids.

Anyway.

Wanted to punch it.

Yeah.

Kev wanted to punch it.

I love it when they go to the shed.

There's a selection of stuff in the shed in Junior Taskmaster is fantastic.

um and he just comes out with a flipper perfect i can see the logic it's the right shape i can see the logic but once you get there it's very thick on the bottom the old flipper isn't it yeah yeah because they've got to glide through the water but they don't have to be completely thin at one end no no and they don't they don't have to slide under sand and pick up huge bits of sand because

yeah disadvantage yeah yeah and billy says there's not there's not really much point building sandcastles but he's on the wrong show if you're looking for things that have a point to it i I think.

No, but it's that moment where he's sat there and you said you like building sandcastles, and he's the only one who said that he does like doing it.

But then, obviously, I think bowed by the pressure of the rest of the children, sort of goes, now I've thought about it, not much point, actually.

Poor old Billy.

Yeah, well, Billy's about 80, isn't he?

There's a few bits.

Later on in the show, when we're talking about caravans,

you suddenly realise he's different to the others as well.

Jamie gets fly swatters and tennis rackets.

Yep, tennis rackets.

Well, both things had holes in in it.

See, this is why I like it that Rose can say that to Jamie and goes, like, famously got holes in.

So there can be some sarcasm and there can be a little bit of ribbing.

It's great.

Oh, completely.

I think this is classic boys using brute force and girls using intelligence.

I mean, that's a broad generalization, but in general, the boys tended to use physicality instead of brute force.

Well, in this case, there is some truth to that, but then we've got to talk about Emily, who runs in there, all guns blazing, um, running around top speed, huge energy, going, You'll see, you'll see, you'll see.

So, so delighted to be outside doing this, you'll see, you'll see.

Um, yeah, daddy Rose, that just nonsense.

The where is daddy Rose?

Where is Daddy Rose?

It's just all her energy is amazing.

I bet you wish some of the adults had that energy every day.

Yeah, you'll see who which, which I quite often think which adult she was like.

I mean, there's a bit of Lou in there, a bit of Lou in those, maybe.

You'll see, you'll see, you'll see.

And obviously, you don't see, yeah,

Yeah, no, we're very fond of Emily, but

I don't know if you'll notice that the time limits on the kids' ones tend to be shorter than with the grown-ups.

And that did encourage a bit of panicking, I think.

Is that why was

just because you can't make them do things for like half an hour, obviously?

There's a bit of that.

There's a bit of attention span.

And also, I think if you leave them too long, they will all settle on the same.

There's a chance they will all end up in the same place.

Whereas we kind of wanted to see their first instincts

rather than, yeah, too much, too much thought process

emily ends up with just like a a pile of sand and uh a a a bowl on top of it yes do you think she fully understood it at any point i think she did and then it all fell apart and then in the studio she said oh you never said anything about the sand castle not being together it's like yeah yeah damage i think was the was the term wasn't it yeah yeah just their just their funny judy love in her as well maybe just sort of fun but also supreme confidence that yeah well, I've done it.

I've done the thing.

I think I should get at least three points.

But I'm enjoying all of the kids' ability to just lie to Rose and Mike in the face of overwhelming evidence.

So Kef says there's no damage to his, but

it's just the turret stuck out of a pile of sand.

Yeah, I like his little face as well because he's got a few tells when he's lying.

Yeah, he's quite an innocent boy, I think.

Let's talk about, well, Billy and Kyra.

They both ended up doing the same thing.

They start

trying to move to Sandcastle, but then eventually decide that they're going to switch the letters around.

The controversy here is that Kyra takes the letters off the plint, then switches them around.

Billy gets tape and puts new letters on top.

Now, Kyra seems to be suggesting that that is not as good as what she did.

Yeah, I don't think she's got a leg to stand on.

Yeah.

I think they've done the same thing.

I mean,

if I was one of the other kids, I might be saying, have it does say transfer in the wording.

Have they transferred any sound at all?

I mean,

obviously we want to encourage outside-the-box thinking, but arguably they've just transferred the pedestal or they've just transferred the letter.

There has been no transfer there.

The sand is no longer on pedestal A.

It is now on pedestal B.

So I don't know.

You've got to allow

a little workaround like that, surely.

I think if Greg was doing it, it would depend who the person was.

I think if you had done that, you're in the same.

That's true, actually.

Oh, no.

If Lisa Tarbach had done it, she's getting five points.

Well, anything Lisa Tarbach does, she deserves five points.

Quite right.

I'm not putting her down.

I'm just saying, yeah, if Greg respects the person, he will allow it.

But if it's you, he won't.

No way.

No way, because he likes to see me get all angry.

Yes, I guess what I'm saying is I think Cairo and Billy did the same thing.

Yes.

So should get the same points.

And you're right.

They'd successfully protected the castle and it is now on pedestal B.

Pedestal?

I think he called it a pedestal.

pedestal he's saying he says pedestal a lot and i just yeah i this is why i could not have done that job right you're having a real go at him for that i'm not having a go at him i'm laughing every time he says pedestal

and then all the kids say ed why are you laughing and then i'd be i'd i'd say i don't know i can't tell you uh but justice for billy because he only got four points yeah and it was kyra arguing it and i again think actually if you argue successfully then well done you because we want that we want a bit of arguing but we don't want too much and it's hard for the kids to judge what is too much but she she did she did persuade Rose so well done Kyra I think this episode gets just towards the too much arguing

just on just on the line I think and it all it all spills out bear in mind you're seeing an edited cut as well yeah yeah

yeah but this the uh it was worth it for the the celebration which got to be mentioned there's not enough celebrations in taskmaster yeah so seeing a kid have a lasso celebration like a gold celebration i i think we should encourage more people to have a trademark celebration moment do you think the change of letters tactic reflects a contestant who's seen a lot of taskmaster i do i do okay good i i think i was assuming all of these children had seen taskmaster before they've all seen it to some extent not all of them had seen it when they'd applied right um and because they were put forward by their teachers often teachers thinking yeah my this kid would be great yeah for this show and the kids yeah were not they're not all taskmaster uh aficionados some really had seen every episode but i i think lots of them had just seen a few so yeah i don't know what the stats are on that but i got the feeling these two had so there's a tactic here which yeah there's there's there was definitely a tactic i think they almost certainly had seen the show but yeah also i think that's why it's a great show for children to watch as well because it's it gives them an insight into what that kind of thinking is thinking thinking outside the box and yeah you know working out loopholes and yeah it's yeah you've actually created a generation of geniuses.

All right.

I think these are the kids that are going to get us out of the climate crisis, and it's all thanks to you and Taskmaster.

What are you thinking?

I'm just going to look around, so I'm going to go in here.

What are you looking for in the shed?

Hey.

Talk me through what are you thinking?

You'll see, you'll see.

I'll see.

Yes, you'll see.

Okay.

Also, what is this portrait?

Like, it could be a portrait of me.

I'm going to bend the rules.

How are you going to bend the rules?

Which rules?

You'll see, you'll see.

I'll bend loads of rules here.

So do you feel like you've damaged the sandcastle at all?

Um, a little bit.

A lot, maybe.

I don't care.

I'm gonna rebuild it.

What sort of things do you use to make taking?

You'll see, you'll see, you'll see.

So you'll see this has become a catchphrase.

So I'm putting this in so I can rebuild the whole thing.

Is that possible?

We need to do this.

Oh, quickly.

30 seconds.

30 seconds?

Yeah.

Okay, just hello, Rose.

And where's Daddy Rose?

Daddy Rose.

I'm done.

Thank you, Emily.

Bye-bye.

Task two.

Do one of these five things.

Take five pounds, paint your face blue, eat a lemon, dress up like Mike, go to the caravan, open the door and shout, I'm on a caravan holiday.

If you're the only person to do your chosen thing, you win five points.

If anyone does the same thing, you choose, you get zero points.

You have five minutes.

Your time starts now.

It's classic.

It's got a classic feeling to it.

I'm very fond of this task because, you know, quite a lot of Taskmaster is luck.

Things are out of your control.

You don't know what what the other four people are doing but you could argue there is some logical way of doing this i think so you can get in people's heads and there was a lot of umming and ahing and in the end they all failed so yeah that's that's perfect it is so funny and the things are all so funny as well to cut between so yeah just of course some would go who's going to paint their face blue cut to emily loving painting her face blue not only painting her face blue having the best time in the world yeah that edited itself definitely yeah can i ask what which of the options you would have chosen and then I'll tell you what I would have done?

I would have really panicked about it, I think.

And I think I would have eaten the lemon, you know, because I would have thought no one else is eating the lemon.

Yeah, you're punishing yourself on you.

Yeah.

What would you have done?

Well, I think there's two ways of doing it.

You've got to have fun.

As in, well,

okay, there's three ways of doing it.

You're either saying I'm doing this for entertainment value as well as trying to win the points.

So then it's blue.

It's blue or dressing up as Mike.

Yeah.

I suppose.

Or lemon is for people's entertainment, right?

Yeah, but yeah, okay.

But the smart thing is just to take the fiber so then even if you lose you're winning that's true none of them do that you're taking the fiber you're doing everything else you're guaranteeing no one gets any points because you've already done the same as somebody else and you've got the fiber yeah

so i think that's the that's the smart play it says do one of these five things though yeah but once you've done all five you're disqualified anyway yeah but would they not just take would rose just not take the first thing that you did as the thing that you did well it just says the second part is if anyone does the same as you

say

But you're right.

You might, I mean, you might just disqualify that person from the task completely and just discount all the things they've done.

Anything they've done.

But you've still got a Fiverr.

Yeah, you've still got a Fiverr.

Yeah, none of them take the Fiverr.

A Fiverr to a kid is huge.

It's lovely.

So the idea.

A fiver is bigger than a 20.

Yeah, I think it's almost terrifying, the idea of having a Fiverr.

So that's why none of them take it.

A Fiverr is like a 50 for us.

Yeah.

I think so.

Only, yeah, you don't really see a Fiverr in the wild when you're a kid, do you?

But yeah, they did try to second.

I think there were some second guesses.

Some kids just went blindly into it, which is not a bad tactic.

You need that as well, don't you?

You need the kids who are just going to plow straight into it.

Kev's the one that broke my heart because obviously he's agonizing over this for so long

and goes through every option.

He really wants...

It made me laugh how much he wanted to go to the caravan and shout into the door because he just likes the caravan.

Yeah.

I think in this whole task, Mike was quite tough on them, which was good because he could have absolutely.

I don't know who went last in the recording of it.

So, but presumably, Mike knew one of them.

Yeah, of course.

By the fifth person, how you get the points, but he definitely didn't help anyone.

And he actually, when Billy was wanting a glass of water, he said, Yeah, I bet you would.

That was pretty good.

It was good to see Mike.

It felt like he'd got to know the kids at that point.

If that had been the first task, he would have got him a glass of water.

Yeah, I think so.

Jamie

also eats the lemon,

decides to eat it like he eats eats an orange,

which is good.

It's a good tactic.

That is a good tactic.

Tony realizes, apparently, during that, that he's got cuts on his lips.

Yeah, why did he have cuts on his lips?

Maybe he just had dry lips that day.

Cuts on lips is not a good sign, is it?

No.

So who ate the lemon?

You can have to remind me slightly.

Jamie and Billy ate the lemon.

Keff, Emily, and Kyra all painted their faces blue.

Yeah, I mean, the chances of that, I think we probably thought, we were probably slightly worried that three people might get the full five.

You know, it's quite likely that three will go one direction and two the other.

So, I think this is the ideal outcome for the show, if not for the children.

But also, the good thing is, no one got five points, because if somebody gets five and everyone else gets zero, that person is almost guaranteed a place in the next round.

So, it was a good outcome overall.

What I really liked about in the studio as well is

when they're talking about having a fiver and what they do with the fiver, and Kyra said she'd go to a theme park, and

Jamie says, that's going to get you a lot there, like a dad, like a dad would say.

Yeah, well, he's 50.

Yeah.

And then

she invents a situation where she's the boss.

She knows the boss of the theme park, so she gets a discount.

It's great.

I can listen to them talk for ages.

Really, they should have hosted this podcast.

Well, I would say also, I do like all five of these contestants, and I like all 25 of them.

There's something about Kyra and Billy.

I guess it's a maturity that

I would happily watch them do a whole series.

Yeah.

Which was the worry, because we talked about having the same five kids in a whole series and whether that could sustain it.

And I think the way we've done it is probably right.

But

there are some that I really wanted to see in multiple episodes.

And those two were two of them.

So it's no points for anyone.

Yes, and I really enjoyed Rose reveling in that.

You were all rubbish.

Let's move on.

Well, because she didn't have to give someone one point and someone five points.

So

that's a little break for her, isn't it?

Yes.

It was very tense in the studio as well, I think, when they didn't know what the fifth person was going to do.

And the fifth person did very well, not spoiling, because obviously they couldn't have known when they see the blue face, they could have good poker faces.

So, well done, the kids.

Why don't you want to paint your face blue?

I don't like painting.

It's a nice suit.

Thank you.

I do really want to go to the caravan and sheltered.

Decisions, decisions, eh?

I think I'm going to go to the caravan.

You're going to go to the caravan?

Yep.

Okay.

I mean, you're lurching heavily between

choice-to-choice.

I don't know.

I just like going.

I like the caravan.

Yep.

Am I blue?

Task three, leave no stone unturned.

When you have turned over all the stones, you must put your hands on your head and shout, no stone is unturned.

Most stones turned wins.

You have five minutes.

Your time starts now.

I think it's another example of a task that could have been in an early series of Taskmaster because these kids don't have the cynical

looking for loopholes that the grown-ups do.

Yeah.

I don't think, not quite as much.

So, yeah, it's another classic task, I think.

We occasionally have tasks that are made from a proverb or whatever this is.

A phrase.

Like getting a camel through the smallest.

Yes, of course.

Yeah.

What I liked about that, though, is

it could have been on an early series of Taskmaster, but there would have been a chance of some of the contestants understanding the references to Joss Stone, Emma Stone, and Sharon Stone.

Whereas these, on this occasion, it felt like they were there just to rub it in the kids' faces, that they couldn't see that.

Yeah, I think this is also very much us trying to say this is a show, not just for children, it's a show for all the family.

So we put in a Joss Stone for the dance.

Joss, Sharon or Emma.

So you've got a choice of any stone.

We cater for any stone preference.

But yeah, yeah, very much, even in the studio when they saw, when they were explained who they were, they were slightly irritated, the kids.

Yeah.

But it wasn't for them at all.

That was just for the grown up fortune.

But maybe if they'd listened to what Mike was saying, they might have worked out that something was going on.

But something that we've discovered on this show is that kids don't listen to Mike.

They can tune him out.

They find him genuinely annoying.

Well, we share that.

Yeah, we are both nuisances.

Yeah, and even the sticker situation, anything with a sticker meant it was turnoverable.

So once somebody did discover a sticker on one of the human stones, I think.

Yeah, I think Kyra

found a sticker on the back of the Sharon Stone version.

But still didn't quite work out the link that it must have been.

Anyway, yes.

I don't blame them for not recognising Sharon Stone as being a stone.

Jamie's the only one who's been on caravan holidays.

is devastated to find out that other people haven't been on a caravan holiday.

Yeah, I don't know if he thought he'd been losing out or they've been losing out in the past.

If they've been on better holidays or if he'd been on better holidays.

No, yeah, more old man energy, definitely.

Yeah, loved it.

He does pretty well.

He, you know, just beetles around, turns over all the stones.

There's kind of, you've just got to look, haven't you?

And Billy is the one who falls at that hurdle of

just doing the stones in front of him.

Yeah, yeah,

going too quickly.

And he has his dang it moment, which was, I thought, really good of Mike quite often I watch Mike and think oh you're better than this than me he instantly said are you from 1860s Oklahoma

which I think I would have just gone really dang it you know that Mike goes one step further he's great yeah you would you would have gone right write that down on my pad and in three months time at the studio wouldn't tell greg and then greg can make a joke about 1860s oklahoma yeah i'll leave that to you greg yeah

and even in the studio just having that self-awareness of asked if you do anything differently says oh i would have actually actually looked around.

Yeah, that's a good example of a kid saying a funny thing.

And I think he knew he was saying a funny thing.

Yeah.

Definitely wasn't pre-written.

You know, he couldn't have prepared it.

It was instant.

But I don't think he realized how funny it was until people laughed.

Yes.

And he's probably going, why are you laughing?

I mean, that's literally what I...

Of course I would have looked around.

Yeah, what is the point of this question?

So 109 stones for Emily.

Doesn't really look everywhere.

Doesn't do as much looking as she could

and goes too early, leaves too early, and spots more afterwards.

Starts trying to turn them over.

Might get a little bit harsher because the whistle has been blown.

That's the key.

If the whistle's blown, the whistle is over.

Yeah.

I mean, I think this is an early task for these guys.

It might have been their first one because I think

once we get to the final or even the semifinals, because they filmed that after, well, the final they filmed after this process.

Yeah.

So they have become more canny contestants.

I think then you've got the kids going out looking for more stones, making stones, writing the word stone down, turning it over.

You know, because there are lots of other ways of doing this.

Yeah.

But yeah, I think you're seeing some newbies getting caught out.

I take it they filmed their heat, then I guess did they have to come back for semi-final and then come back for final?

No.

So if you want to know the process, it was fiddly.

We had to film enough tasks that they could all be in the semi-final.

Right.

Because we came back to do the final.

So the final was separately filmed.

If I'm wrong, someone from the team will let you know.

But I'm pretty sure we we filmed enough on their first day that any of those people could do the semi as well.

Well, that's great for them as well, right?

So they're not like they're missing out on doing

the task is a fun bit.

Exactly.

I'm pretty sure I'm right there.

And if I'm wrong, it doesn't matter.

No, it doesn't matter.

Let's just say that that's true.

Kef turns over 128 stones.

I mean, again, it's just a question Mike's asking him about

who's that actor who's in Police Academy 4?

And

he's just trying to get on with it.

We're only 10 years old.

The thing with Jamie, you said we're only 10 years old in the studio.

Really pleading with him.

Yeah, it's good to remember.

I think every episode, one of them should say, we're only 10 years old.

Just so we remember this.

Well, we had that in an earlier episode where Mike was

asking why someone hadn't invited

taken their auntie out for lunch.

And she said, I'm nine.

Yeah.

Which is perfect.

He's the other one who accidentally turns over the Sharon Stone cushion, which gets him that extra stone point.

Yeah, I wonder if, in retrospect, the human stone should have been worth more somehow.

Because it didn't, you know, if you're already turning over 120, it's not like they had extra.

Yes.

They really were just moments

to make them look silly.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, maybe a 10-pointer if you get the human stone, 10 stickers on the back.

Maybe, maybe.

But look, that's not

a minor show.

Yeah, it's too late.

Too late.

Now we're getting into the big numbers.

Jamie and Kyra.

135 135 stones for Jamie.

Just meticulous.

He's just opening everything, going at big numbers.

But it's Kyra who gets the 137 stones and includes my favourite line in the episode when Mike says, have you finished turning over all the stones?

And she says, I don't like you.

Yeah, well, there are a lot of mixed messages from Kyra because she also says, you're my bestie.

Yeah.

to Mike earlier on.

And this is, I mean, Kyra is in full control of the episode.

She's in full control of everything.

I think an unassailable lead by this stage.

Oh, dominating the whole thing, yeah.

Yeah, I quite often imagine, yeah, like what Christmas would be like with Kyra.

She is running the show, wouldn't she?

She's putting the turkey in the oven and clicking her fingers.

No oven gloves.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, she was fantastic in this task.

Does the Sharon Stone cushion, turns that over just in case.

Yeah.

Nails it.

137 stones.

You know, we've since found out she's 16, so it's a bit of

controversy.

Five points for Kyra, four points points for Jamie, three points for Kef, two points for Emily, and one point for Billy.

Actually, I've not pitched you my theory yet, Alex, my idea for the next series of Junior Taskmaster.

Okay.

One episode.

Yeah, now.

One episode is four kids and Paul Chowdhury's the other contestant.

I'm in.

Sorry, I cut you off there.

I was too excited to tell you about that.

No, no, I was just going to say this is Billy and Emily's Nadir.

They're gone at this this point, I think.

Yeah, I think so.

So it's now between Jamie and Kef for second place.

So, what we do, and again, behind the scenes, Goss,

if it's clear that some people are out of it before the final studio task, we quite often don't do a leaderboard at that point.

Yeah.

But actually, it's exciting because second place means something much more than Taskmaster grown-ups.

It is exciting, Jamie and Kef battling out for second place, which means the chaos that ensued with the Lou Rolls.

What's like turn them.

Yeah.

I'm just going to flick them all over.

Is flicking the same as turning?

No, not really.

No.

Oh god, there's loads.

What movies are you into?

I don't know, like Harry Potter, um, Twilight.

Well, what was the name of that?

What was her name, the actor in Police Academy 4?

No clue!

I reckon there's something in the task that I'm missing.

Is that your kind of fundamental gut impression?

Your sort of basic instinct, would you say?

Can't think of her name.

Sharon.

So many stones.

What kind of music are you into?

I like One Direction.

So who was it?

She did the Super Bowl in 2006.

I wasn't alive.

Well, did you tape it or something?

What's over there?

A big stone.

How big are we talking?

Like a superstar?

Decent.

Big enough to win a Grammy.

Get out!

Who?

Me?

Oh.

Oh, God.

Thanks, Kev.

I think I'm off.

Thank you, Jamie.

Thank you.

Bye.

Bye.

The live task, of course, is stat the toilet rolls into a tower.

When Mike honks his horn, you must move down two spaces to the left.

Mike will honk his horn five times.

Tallest tower on Mike's final whistle wins.

So

this is a weird one, isn't it?

Because

how do you...

I don't know how I would interpret this one.

I'd be confused as to what tactic to take because you're moving in front of...

towers that aren't your own, but is your tower the one that you're in front of when the whistle blows?

Yeah, I thought about this a lot and we did think about it a lot beforehand i think the only thing we might have done differently is put screens up so sometimes we put screens up between the contestants so they can't see what the other person's doing yeah and this one definitely as soon as one person lost their mind yeah all did but yeah i think if you want to be really tactical the only building moment that matters is the final one yeah because you're always you're all going to end up where you started So really what you want to do is scupper all the other towers, probably get rid of all the lu-roll

on each tower.

So you end up at the only place with Lou Rolls, I suppose.

But I don't think they'd worked out they were going to end up in the right place.

They didn't all end up in the right place because it was all so chaotic.

I think this would be the one that if you, when you first sat down and going, I think we should do Junior Taskmaster.

If someone said, all right, we're going to take one task from the future.

of the show and show it to you, you might have gone, well, I'm not sure it's going to work.

So in the gallery, there were real problems.

There was lots of people going, this is, what are we going to do?

We're going to have to do it again.

Because we never do a studio task twice.

You know, yeah what you get is what you get and i think we just realized that that might have happened with the grown-ups too oh it almost would have done yeah and there was nothing wrong with their tactics really no it sort of made sense because it does end up with you know that someone's got six roles someone's got four roles you know it ends up how it would have done it just the way it gets there is like that scene in scum where they

where they throw everything into the middle of the dining hall.

Yeah.

And it was very funny.

They had fun and they were children, you know which is what the show's all about but yeah there were there were lots of concerned looks like does someone have to step in here but they didn't step in it's billy who starts it and i'm going to use this phrase from now on he says i know a trick and then he throws the toilet roll at someone else's tower and it actually hits jamie in the side of the face that first one he throws i know a trick

but it's like a food fight you know you could you should have food fights when you're kids yeah even though as a parent it's the most annoying you know i'm not i'm not encouraging it in my house, but if it happens in somebody else's house, I think, ah, brilliant.

Well, you get in the middle of just being kids.

For a start, I can absolutely imagine you're in the middle of a food fight.

Well, we're going out for dinner quite soon, Ed.

We are.

We should start a food fight, absolutely.

I'm so up for that.

Yeah, this is a second task where I think...

Rose had to sort of use her taskmaster's prerogative of just going, I'm ignoring the fact that some of you didn't end up in the right place.

Yes.

In the previous one, we had the no stone unturned hands-on head rule.

Yeah.

Which she sort of

rightly said, I'm going to, I'm going to ignore that.

That's fine.

Because I think that is the job of the taskmaster sometime is to have a bit of common sense.

So, yes, she rightly said that Emily won.

Also, that was a tricky one in terms of because there is a time limit.

So, why would you not keep trying to do the stones until the time's up?

Well, I think it was just there to catch kids out, potentially, which maybe wasn't right.

So, yeah.

Yeah, it's always good to build something and to catch the kids out and disqualify them, I think.

There are so many times I think, thank God this isn't a legally binding show.

If they were playing for money, we would have to adhere to all these rules religiously.

And I'm very glad we don't.

Look, it was chaos, but it was a lot of fun to watch.

And like you say, they're kids.

Why not chuck some toilet rolls around?

It's much more disgraceful when the adults do things like that.

Yes.

Can I say also?

When I hear feedback about this show, it's mainly everyone saying, I'm really glad the kids are kids.

They're normal kids.

They're ordinary kids.

You know, they're special, but they're also, you can imagine them in any town centre.

But this was definitely an example of kids just really not thinking, just chucking toilet roll.

Absolutely.

Yeah, it's brilliant.

And

the way it all comes together means that Emily gets five points, which are much needed five points for Emily.

Yeah.

You just need a little victory sometimes.

She hasn't won the episode, but she's won that task.

Four points for Kyra, three points for Kef, three points for Jamie, and one point for Billy.

Meaning, it's eight points for Billy, nine points for Emily, 12 points for Kef, 13 points to Jamie putting him through the semi-final, and 19 points for Kyra.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I did feel for Kef because he didn't get upset at all, but he was so close.

Yeah.

And he has got a slightly vulnerable face where I thought you could read it on it that he was, he would have loved to have got through when he was that close.

And, you know, you're looking back at if I'd just done something different with a flipper or whatever it is.

Yeah.

But he did, they all handled it well and represented themselves well.

So

Billy Billy came last, and Billy and Emily both seemed very happy with their place on the leaderboard.

Yeah,

I think they had a lovely day.

Now, Alex, before we let you go, we've got two things to talk about.

Okay.

The Taskmaster Live experience has been extended by four weeks.

It has, yeah, which is great.

So it will now get up to an including February half-term for parents out there because it's lovely and busy some of the time, like in the weekends and the Christmas holidays, it will be rammed.

it's lovely and calm during weekdays and

uh i i would recommend going weekdays because then you can retake your time and have your picture taken everywhere um the the atmosphere is great when it's when it's rammed but also we yeah we want to let as many people get as many people in there as possible to to experience it and i think february half term will be a good time to see it because christmas is going to be pretty manic uh lots of work parties as well so yes we're keeping it going and ideally we're going to extend again if it stays stays busy enough so um please do go go down.

We're constantly changing it.

I mean, I've got a WhatsApp group, which is my main WhatsApp group now is of the guys who are there on the ground all the time saying, oh, what if we did this?

And they're all as excited as we are, which is brilliant.

So we're putting in new tasks in the bar and in the museum, which you don't have to pay at all to go and see.

So

yes, it's exciting.

We've got some Christmas decorations up, but it's not becoming a Christmas place, but it is festive.

Yes, good.

Well, that sounds like, look, I had a great time there.

I can highly recommend getting down there.

I might pop down again.

I only did

one of the strands, you see.

Yeah, well, Greg, he's not an escape room guy,

Greg.

But he really enjoyed it.

And that's very out of character for Greg to want to do that.

Fantastic.

And you've got the book, the official book on Taskmaster.

The Compendium, yes.

I was talking to Amanda Holden about it yesterday.

Because I was doing a little bit of the radio plugging circuit.

Oh, right.

It wasn't just general chat.

No, we're not friends.

But I, you know what?

I think she's she's brilliant i really like being in her company she's so fun um but when i don't think she knew why it was called an absolute casserole and i mentioned difficult

a hemorrhoid situation and and as you can imagine she cackled so loudly

um

jack bernhard wrote i would say two-thirds of it and i wrote a third of it and i had to record an audiobook with jack which was really fun because i like recording audiobooks yeah jack was very apprehensive about it

great well i can't wait to listen to that yeah the audiobook's really good um No,

I think

we've been wanting to do it for a while.

It always probably looks like a bit of a Christmas stocking tie-in type thing, but it's really weighty.

It's got those nice color pages in the middle.

You know, when you get a book and they've got pictures in the middle, I love that.

So it's great.

Yes,

I've seen some bits from it, and a lot of work has gone into it.

I think that, I mean, it is a really good Christmas present.

It is not a stocking filler, but it's a really good Christmas present.

Yeah, and I also think, though, for the hundred contestants who've been on the show, to look up your name in the appendix and then find the corresponding page number, that must be fun, you know, like you're in a reference book.

Because I've always wanted that to find horn A in the back of a book and then look up the corresponding number.

You must have loads of numbers after your name, though, in the Taskmaster book.

Oh,

I've not done that.

I've got a copy here.

Does the author put their own name in the index?

Good question.

I've gone for appendix, but you're right.

Index is better.

Here we go.

I'm going to look how many references you've got, if that's right.

Please.

Oh, you've got loads.

Yeah.

Damball, Ed, 26, 43, 146, 149, 150, 212, 226, 236, 240, 241, 243, 244, 291.

And then longest and worst task attempt ever, page 125.

Ah.

I think that might be.

I mean, Ryland, Ryland Clark's only got one reference.

Oh, no, Ryland.

Oh, I've got, no, I've got...

Yeah, I've got loads more.

I've got birthplace,

erotic fan fiction, fish puns, gets annoyed.

Yeah, there's a lot for me.

Nudity, page 175.

That doesn't annoy me, Alex, necessarily, because you are on it quite a lot, I'd say.

Yeah, if it was the other way around, that would be bad.

I'm just going to look up Davis.

Is that all right?

Yeah.

Yeah, there's a lot.

Birthplace, Hatred of Football,

Mad Helmet Murderer game.

I mean, if you like the show, you will really like the book.

And if you don't, it's pretty confusing.

There's also

if you flip this, there's a flip thing with a.

I don't know if you can see.

See that task

and down?

Yeah, a little drawing, little

flip book.

Yeah,

in a nod to a task from Bob Mortimer's series.

So, yeah, it's pretty lovingly put together.

Both of those things, the tickets for the live experience and the brand new book are available from taskmaster.tv.

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

Let's hear your points, please.

Well, Ed, Ed, I think this time we should both get five points.

We should share five.

Okay.

Because I do think

Billy was slightly

hard done by

with the moving the numbers across.

So I think to reflect that, we both get five points.

Yes, that sounds lovely.

Thank you very much.

What a lovely way to end it.

And Alex, of course, you're welcome to come back on the podcast anytime because you're technically the boss, I guess.

I don't think technically I am.

I think John Thoday is technically the boss.

Oh, yes.

Well, John Thoday would love you to come back at your convenience.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ed.

It's been a pleasure.

See you at dinner.

Don't wear your favourite shirt.

Oh yes.

See you at dinner.

Thank you so much to Alex for coming on the podcast.

Always lovely to talk to Alex.

I will update you as to how our dinner went, as to whether we have a food fight or not.

But before that, do go to taskmaster.tv, get the new book, book yourself tickets to the live experience.

If you've not been, if you can get to the live experience, I would highly recommend it.

It's a lot of fun.

But thanks again to Alex.

Thank you to you for listening.

And we will be back next week to discuss another episode of Junior Taskmaster.

Goodbye.