Ania Magliano - Series 20 Ep.2

Hello, everybody.

It's Ed Gamble here from the Taskmaster podcast that you're listening to right now.

Wow, I hope everyone's enjoying Series 20.

I know I am.

What an incredible lineup.

What incredible tasks.

It feels like it's going to be chaotic again.

These last few seasons of Taskmaster, and I'm saying seasons, we're trying to push it out more to the American market.

These last few seasons of Taskmaster have had an air of chaos, I think, that some of the other seasons haven't had.

They're always good, but there just seems to be something chaotic in the air.

And I think this is another one of those.

We're very excited to talk about episode two of Taskmaster Series 20 today.

We have the wonderful Anya Magliano, of course, a contestant on Taskmaster Series 20.

I'm a huge fan of Anya.

We are friends.

Anya has opened for me on tour before.

Unfortunately, now she's done Taskmaster.

She is too famous to do that.

She's a brilliant stand-up.

If you've not seen Anya Do Stand-Up, for God's sake, go and see her.

I think she's touring soon.

Doing a show called Peach Fuzz.

Go and check out her socials and buy yourself tickets to that.

She's absolutely fantastic.

Can't wait to speak to her about Taskmaster episode 2 of Series 20.

If you haven't seen it, go and watch it.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

But let's get straight into it.

This is episode two of Taskmaster Series 20 as discussed by anya magliano

welcome anya to the taskmaster podcast yay yay happy to be back happy to be back yeah i feel like um it's nice to be here without the pressure yeah it's nice to be in this caravan without thinking like what the fuck is going on now so you don't feel any pressure to do the taskmaster podcast no i feel so at ease i feel probably the most at ease i felt throughout this whole process and that's because of you.

Thank you.

Yes, I like to be a relaxing presence.

Although I like it when the guests are slightly on edge as well.

No, I'm not on edge.

Yeah, good.

Have you been back to the house since you filmed?

I was back when we came to that barbecue.

Of course, the barbecue.

The famous barbecue where

there was a nice eaten mess for pudding.

That's what I remember.

Look, here's something you need to know about Anya, and I don't know if it's been explained enough going into your series of Taskmaster being broadcast.

You are obsessed with sugar and desserts more than anyone else I've ever met,

including James A.

Caster.

Thank you.

Obviously, I'm trying to cut out sugar.

Always.

You've been trying to cut out sugar since the day I met you.

Yeah, so right now I'm trying to cut out sugar, but I did have a chocolate tureen last night.

I'm trying to cut out sugar, dairy, and gluten.

Right.

But I keep having a chocolate tureen.

Right, yeah, that's that's bad.

A bake quality.

Or a bake quality, yeah.

Or boozy raisins,

which have alcohol as well.

Yeah.

Big, big

out.

But yeah, then we were here for that barbecue and it was like, there was an amazing chef and it was like nice salads and stuff.

Yeah.

And nice eating menu.

Let's move this on.

Yeah.

Let's move this towards the dessert portion.

This isn't Taskmaster based, but I just want to mention for those of the people who haven't necessarily heard you on off-menu, that you're so obsessed with sugar that you and your partner tried to cut sugar out, but your rule was if you made it yourself, you would eat it.

Yeah.

So you were melting down bars of chocolate, reforming them, putting them in the freezer freezer, and then eating them, claiming that you made it yourself.

We added raisins.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So you put more sugar in.

Yeah, yeah.

So it's basically like, well, because the thought is, is like, if in the Italian Alps or something, you have an old nonna

and she's living to be 100 years old.

Sure.

She's not eating sweets, she's just making them herself.

She's not eating haribos.

She's churning away with the big bag of butter.

So we thought.

Sorry, quite odd today.

today I've already lost my mind

so we thought basically if we make it ourselves then it won't have come from a factory but you know if you melt down a bar of commercially available chocolate it's still come from the factory I guess we're actually adding another step of processing into yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah but good we'll just get that out of the way although it does link into something that happened in the first episode

with the something that sounds disgusting but it's actually really

nice

uh the curtain was pulled back and you had a bowl of cream that you'd put sugar in as well right Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Well, to make it taste nice.

To make it taste nice.

And then you were eating it with your hands.

And also.

Like a big weird cat.

I'm pretty sure I put some chocolate sauce in there

at the bottom.

That wasn't mentioned.

I didn't make the edit.

A lot of stuff didn't make the edit.

But that, so that task in particular, I think was a really hard task.

It was really, that was one of the ones where when I opened it and read it, I was genuinely like, oh, this is making me panic.

Yeah.

It felt so, it felt so hard to not do the obvious thing to me in your mind was what you did the obvious thing yeah yeah see that's why taskmaster is good because to no one else was that obvious to lap away at a big bowl of cream i thought it was probably gonna be something mouth-based because like your mouth can make quite interesting noises but you can also put nice stuff in yeah yeah like I thought it was probably something nice is probably gonna be

eating based.

I think I actually filmed a lot of stuff first as well.

Right.

Like I think I was

because I obviously what Rhys did in that task is that compared to eating cream, it's like eating cream is way more normal than making a duck have a dream or whatever.

Yeah, but it was what he was doing.

But it was nicer.

That was nicer than eating cream with your hands, I'd say.

Really?

You think that?

In terms of how it looked.

Okay.

Like you and Phil were

really scary.

Phil's body is really odd.

When you see it in that shape, he looks like a big tarantula.

Yeah, he's got very, very long limbs, that man.

He knows how to use them.

Also, it's nice to be back in the caravan for you.

Nice to be back.

Because, of course, you were told during that task that you suited the caravan.

Yeah.

How did you take that?

At the time, I took it badly.

And then when I got home from the recording that night, I was talking to my partner and I was like, I think I shouldn't have taken that so badly.

I think it was a compliment.

You were still thinking about it really got in my head because that took me completely by surprise but I also completely agree with it whereas actually I think I think they're completely right and that's really cutting to the core of who I am right but it can be quite scary to be told that on national TV I think it's just the outfit that you've chosen yeah which by the way I was like this is my this is I'm gonna dress how I feel comfortable yeah and everyone has described it as oh like you're dressing like a granddad

yeah that's a funny costume you've got for yeah genuinely people were like oh right so you're doing like a sort of granddad thing and I was like I really was just trying to dress in the way that would make me feel safe well because you dress like that on stage as well right but then you do comment on it and say you look like you're in Fantastic Mr.

Fox as well yeah that's what one of my friends told me so again none of this is coming from me I'm I'm being like this is what I think is nice and fashionable yeah and then other people are going you look like you're in a roll doll book you look like you're a granddad like no one is.

But look, I think it is fashionable.

I think you do look nice in those clothes.

No, but is that what you're pushing for, Anya?

That's what I want.

I want to come out for this series of Taskmaster and people to be like, get that girl onto page three.

She's wasted with all these

Toms on.

Bring it back.

Imagine if Alex said, may I say, you're a sexual icon.

Page say, you'd really suit page three.

That would be, I would like to be the first Taskmaster contestant to go directly into a career in adult entity.

As opposed to all the ones who started in adult entertainment.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like David Bedeal.

I've seen the list for Series 21.

Bonnie Blue.

Bonnie Blue, of course.

I'm going to start that rumour that Bonnie Blue is on Series 21 of Taskmaster.

She's doing some tasks of her own, of course.

I mean, once you've done that,

you don't need to be in the lab, do you?

Actually, the lab would probably be the perfect place.

Oh, dear, this has gone into.

Interested to hear if that makes the edit.

So, this is the first team task episode as well.

Yes.

We'll talk more about it later on, obviously, but your team is yourself, Sanjeev, and Phil.

Yeah.

Did you know both of them, or had you met both of them before?

I knew Phil.

Yeah.

I knew Phil just from kind of doing Edinburgh, doing gigs with him.

I didn't know Sanjeev at all, but do you know, I had a real gut feeling that I would be with Sanjeev.

I was like, something,

I know he's going to walk around.

I know he's going to be there.

Yeah, yeah.

And when he did see me, I was like, well, I don't know if he's had this gut feeling.

No, I don't think Sanjeev has necessarily had a gut feeling in his life.

Well, it's all, in a way, it's all gut feelings.

He doesn't seem to overthink anything.

The gut feeling is, I'll just walk over there.

And I'm loving it.

I think we need all flavours on Taskmaster, and Sanjeev is filling a very important role of someone who doesn't really care and is just quite relaxed.

It's so freeing to see that, but it's

so interesting to see someone with that personality.

oh, I didn't even know that you could feel like this about something.

Because it's so not how I feel about it.

Like doing it, I don't think I knew this going into it, but doing Taskmaster watching it back, I'm like, oh, God, I have such a deep-seated need to do things well.

Yes.

And to, like, it doesn't look like it, but I'm genuinely trying my hardest at all times.

And to attack everything with sort of energy as well.

Yeah, yeah.

Like

the QR code task.

I just ran.

You just sprinted after Alex.

Not top speed.

And honestly, like, I think they should.

It's not really fair on a show like this to have a wet floor for me.

No.

It's difficult to know what they could do about that.

Put down a

tarmac.

Put down a tarmac.

They've already done that, hadn't you?

Put down like something.

Or at least give me special shoes.

Do you know what I mean?

What sort of special shoes were you hoping for?

Ones with like grip, proper grip on the bottom or something.

Because it's just like...

It's just sad.

It's just sad when I couldn't be at top speed.

But you saw Maisie go to top speed and she fell over yeah that was funny and her leggings were already at half mast as soon as i saw when when when her little panties peeked out i was like this is the funniest this is going to be absolutely hilarious this whole season absolutely perfect absolute chaos

let's get stuck into this episode which is of course Called Cows Are Made of Milk.

Yeah, when I saw that come up on it, I was like, oh no.

Did Rhys say that what a mad thing to say

of course

did not remember that well yeah of course you were the person you said i said cows are made of milk yeah and you move on so quickly that no one people go huh and then you can see people sort of lean forward ready to absolutely decimate you but you just move on really quickly yeah like cows are made of milk cows make milk be a politician yeah be a politician about it uh the prize task is the object which is hardest to describe

let's talk about yours first of all which is a box a box of shit no Greg says yeah it's which is just so

sometimes I worry for that man

because it's like you the way you see the world is just it says a lot yeah because actually that was an object that was really hard to describe

because it was it's like oh I should have I wish I had cut down the edges of it so it didn't look like it was in a box because it was all just stuck to the box to keep it all in place right it wasn't really about the box box.

It was about what was inside the box.

But then to transport it, I had to have it in a box.

So what was in the box?

Well, you tell me.

Well, okay.

See, this is why this is a good task because you can just go, you describe it to me.

No, it had a fridge magnet in it.

Fridge magnets and clay.

I've made a lot of my prize tasks and I spent a lot of time on them, which actually I poured a lot of my heart into them and then obviously had my heart trampled upon a lot of times.

But this one,

there's something like quite toxic about Taskmaster for me, where I would genuinely, like

that phrase, you know how like madness is doing the same thing, expecting different results.

Yes.

Genuinely, every time I had a prize task that I was like, this is

never good.

But for that one, I was like, well, I'll just make something that you can't describe with one word by collecting anything around my house that doesn't make sense out of context and sticking it all together.

So there's like a part of a cat toy, there's a fridge magnet from my deceased grandma's fridge, R.I.P.

Yes.

And then I can't remember what else is in it, a fish maybe?

Yeah.

A goldfish is stuck to it.

I think it's really, it's a hard prize task because what do you mean by describe?

Because anyone can just say what they see on a screen.

Yeah, exactly.

But why it exists,

does that count as the description?

Yeah.

Because I'd say with Phil's as well,

Phil brought in the Treaty of Versailles.

And we know that the Treaty of Versailles is a thing.

Yeah.

But no one describes it in the studio.

Greg goes, it's the famous Treaty of Versailles.

At no point does Greg go, I know what it is and it's easy to describe.

Yeah.

Can you describe the Treaty of Versailles?

Yeah, book.

It's book.

It's book.

It's book.

It's treaty.

It's about French.

French.

It's about French.

It's a book about French.

It's a book about French stuff.

And

it's a treaty ultimately, which is

a pact between two people or countries.

Yeah.

Between France and

see what I mean.

See, people know the Treaty of Versailles, but they don't.

I think he should have explained it a bit better.

I think he should have explained it a bit better.

I feel like Phil was underscored.

He got one point for this.

He got one.

Well, to be honest,

when it came up on the screen in the studio, I was like, I do not get why he's picked this at all.

But now you're teaching me, we're learning through play.

I'm sort of like, oh, okay, I get what he was trying to do there, but I was like, Phil's just got a book.

Like, but it's because you go into it with the thing in your head of what you've done, what you've done, so it's really for me.

I was like, well, it can't be anything even vaguely recognizable as a thing.

So, he's got something vaguely recognisable.

So, that really doesn't make sense to me.

But you could, yeah, it's can you describe what's in the Treaty of the Site?

You can describe what yeah, whereas, yeah, whereas actually, he was making a really sort of potent political point but he didn't follow it up well with a good explanation in the studio he

well he made his point by trying to riff what the treaty of Versailles was about but whereas he couldn't what he should have said is I can't tell you what it is because I can't describe it Greg

why don't you tell me yeah but then I tried to get Greg to tell me what my thing was and he didn't take kindly

yeah

I think maybe Phil got one point because we're already on to pity points for Sanjeev because it was a very bad first episode for Sanjeev yeah but he doesn't need it.

Oh, no, he doesn't need it, but you don't want anyone to have an absolute drubbing every single episode, do you?

So, I mean, he brought in a fidget toy.

Oh, right.

Yeah, the fidget toy came above the Treaty of Versailles.

That is a bit mad.

Yeah, Sanjeev got two points here.

He brought in the fidget toy, which is so easy to describe.

It's a fidget toy.

Yeah.

It's a fidget toy.

And it was just one that I know you can get off Amazon.

Yeah.

So he's.

Oh, got it.

Yeah.

He's typed in.

What's he typed in though?

Because he...

Well, he sent an email to the Taskmaster team.

Can you get me a thing?

Get me a thing.

The more specific title of it is

a handheld toy for focus and relief.

Oh, relief.

Yeah, relief.

What are you relieving yourself from with that?

I guess

fidgeting.

Fidgeting.

Fidgeting, yeah.

We'll talk about Rhys.

Yes.

Who brought in a handmade item from his cabinet of curiosities.

Never have I been more sure that someone has a cabinet of curiosities than Reese Shearsman.

100%.

100%.

It's like, oh, like you from, because I didn't know Rhys before this, like, I'd never met him or anything.

But he has such a clear aesthetic.

Yeah.

And that aesthetic is like haunted man.

Yeah.

Well, even through all his work as well, right?

Yeah, it's so like macabre.

Yes.

And I really love that.

And when he, when that, so also, by the way, I think I was the only person in the studio to not realize that he made it.

He does say it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think I didn't hear that.

How often were you zoning out, would you say, in the studio?

Quite a lot.

Yeah.

My therapist told me if I started zoning out to rub my trousers to bring me back into the moment.

Because I kept being like, oh my God, I'm on Taskmaster.

Yeah.

And like, when you, from my perspective,

this is not probably not going to make much sense, but like the way I, when you see Alex and Greg greg doing their little thing it's the same shot as you see it on tv yes you're like oh i'm watching t it's hard not to be like oh no i completely understand i've done that so many times i've never tried rubbing my trousers every time i did mot the week when the um theme music's played into the studio i'd go what the hell yeah i'm in it why am i in it yeah yeah so i was rubbing my trousers because that's that's a little easter i took out for if you see me rubbing my trousers

she's zoned out she's zoned out she's trying a therapy thing But yeah, Rhys, I was looking at thinking, when I saw that, I was like, this is absolutely fantastic.

That thing was so up my street.

Like the little face on it, I was like, this is perfect.

That was when I started to feel a soul connection to Rhys.

Yes.

When you saw the sort of weird stuffed owl head with a little cocktail umbrella.

The crapped legs.

Yeah.

The thick baby legs.

The thick baby legs and the upside down mouth.

I was like,

hell yeah.

I've done, I did drawings of every task after I did.

Yes, we should we should talk about this.

Yeah, we can.

I haven't got them with me today, but I was doing them all because after every task, when you go back into the little room, I didn't want to go on my phone because I didn't want to like lose the magic of it.

So I was like, I'll just do a doodle.

And then I got really into it, and then people started saying they were cool within the house.

There was rumors that they were quite cool.

So then I was like, I'm going to keep doing them.

And then, so I did them for the studio tasks.

And drawing that,

that Rhys, Rhys's sort of owl baby legs like I had to that was the one thing I had to get because I did it all from memory but I had to get him to send me a photo of that because I was like I can't I cannot get this wrong yeah because it really needs to be treated with the respect it deserves will we get to see these drawings will you be posting them yeah I'm gonna post them on my Instagram

I think but yeah they're quite I want to I would like to do something with it because I don't know

and but I think the problem is is that people are going to think I'm quite a good drawer but you have to remember is that I'm doing it on a note, on like an e-pad, so you can just rub it out when it's right, okay.

But that's great, it's a great idea.

I can't wait to see those.

I'm going to sell zines of it for £400 each.

Good, that's the spirit of Dasmaster.

Maisie, who got the five points, brought in being in the womb.

Yeah, and I have beef with this.

Please, tell me your beef.

So, and let's just say this was raised in the studio about 15 minutes after the prize starts

and ended.

I genuinely was like, you know, when like in a film, like a detective is like, something's off, and then they just like have, and then suddenly they're like, oh shit, I know what it is.

Like, all this stuff came into place.

We were about halfway through filming something else, and I was putting my hand up, and I was like, being in the womb isn't an object.

So it's my only note I've written.

Yeah.

And I immediately, I immediately, but you could.

They'd already said it was good.

And like, but I just, I would have said it straight away.

I would have got so angry with myself.

Well, well something was like something was like on getting under my skin I was like I can't sit still in this episode like something's not quite right and then it like suddenly clicked and I because I was like oh right yeah that wasn't an object and I said it but also this is obviously only the second episode and you're still kind of figuring out who you how you fit into your place within it and I didn't want to like be the first person to tear someone else down yeah not enough that I didn't not say it but it just didn't it also and then Greg was just like well this is you know 15 minutes away.

So it didn't get in.

Well, because if the prize task was something that is hard to describe,

it opens up a lot more avenues.

It opens up a lot more avenues, but it is specifically the object which is hardest to describe.

Yeah.

And Maisie brought in an object that represents a concept

or an experience.

It's not an object.

I mean, obviously, it's a good observation.

It's a great observation.

It was so funny and we're all laughing, but something's wrong.

I'm thinking, stop the count.

Yeah.

It's just also, it's one of those where it's like,

if that had been a one point, I would have been bumped up.

You know, you start to see it selfishly.

I do agree with you, but this, and I'm glad you brought it up rather than me, because if I'd brought that up, I would have been, as Jason Manzukas described me as last week, joyless.

But it was five points for Maisie.

Five dirty, dirty points.

Yeah.

But I think of all the people that you could have laid into early doors, Maisie is one of them.

Because you know Maisie.

I do know her.

And she loves an argument.

She absolutely loves being on the back foot and

like having a good old shout.

Yeah, I know, but that's what's scary is because I don't actually like conflict that much.

So going into a battle with Maisie is like, she's going to be shouting.

I would have loved that.

Yeah, I would absolutely love to have a battle with Maisie.

You and Maisie going at it in an argument sense.

I can see how that would work.

Yeah.

But the thing is, is that

I do know Maisie, and we had shared some moments together.

For example, we'd been to karaoke together and stuff and sat watching a girl do truly every song.

That was the first time I met Maisie.

We were at a karaoke party, and one girl just went up and did all the songs.

Who was that?

Who was the girl?

I can't remember, like a producer or something.

That's probably too much information.

It was Daisy.

It was Daisy.

But

I think Maisie, she's very like,

she is quite jolly.

Yes.

So like,

I don't know.

Yeah, maybe I should have just gone head-to-head with her a little bit, but there's also something about when you're sitting next to someone, you're like, I don't want to make an enemy of you.

Sure.

Being this close to me.

Because you could claw my eyes out.

Which I'm sure she would.

She would.

It was one point for Phil, two points for Sanjeev, three points for you, and yeah, four points for Rhys, and five points for Maisie.

Have you got something that's impossible to describe?

I think you should just show it, and you tell me if you can describe it.

Oh, power moves.

Okay, Greg, try to describe this.

Okay.

A box of shit?

No, it's got other stuff in it.

A light bulb.

Yeah, but you don't know what lamp it's from.

Yeah, Yeah, she's got me.

I think you're impressed, but you're trying to fight it.

What would be my motivation for fighting it?

Childhood?

Task one, identify Alex's five things.

You may only use one sense.

If you choose hearing, you get five points per item.

Smell, four points.

Taste three points.

Touch two points.

Sight, one point.

Highest total score wins.

You have a maximum of ten minutes.

Your time starts as soon as you've decided which sense you'll be using sometimes i think alex starts with an image in his mind yeah

of something that will look weird and funny and then works backwards from there and this is the perfect example of that it is a lot of it is a lot of fun this um and disgust sort of disgusting in quite a uncanny way yeah it was it was one of the ones that like really stayed with me afterwards and like frustrated me yeah it was because i because also like i think

smell was such such a bad choice

they're all quite bad choices but they're all quite bad choices and I it's funny that no one picked sight because

well it's the most boring option isn't it it is the most boring option guess who would have picked sight you'd guess instead gamble yeah we we did one that never made the edit for series nine where uh we

there were loads of things with labels on them like loads of objects and we had to run around and point at them and say what they were but we could do it in any language

um so the more you got right in a different language right you got more points yeah and i went i'm just doing it in english

so i just ran around and pointed at everything and shouted what it was wow and that didn't that didn't make the end weirdly no just me pointing around going plant sausage joe brand doing it in korea yeah

um but yeah i would have I would have thought about doing sight for the points.

For the points, yeah, though actually, like, I imagine that they wouldn't have shown it to you very clearly.

Like, it felt like those objects, like the stapler, like, they wouldn't have just shown it to you far enough away that you could see that easily, I don't think.

Yeah.

I don't know, though.

You think they would have just shown?

I think they would have just shown it to you, maybe.

But I they're probably glad that no one did that, because it is way funnier that there's people licking them and smelling them and stuff.

Yeah.

Because the things are so weird as well.

Of course, they are like a frozen sock and a bowl of wet teeth.

I kind of thought they would at least all have some smell.

Yeah.

Yeah, maybe that, yeah, you would have thought there's something on each one that you could pick up from one of the senses.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Like, I guess the yogurt did smell like yogurt.

That was, yeah, that was the one I got.

That's the one you got, yeah.

And that was the only one I was confident in.

But like, the only other one that had a really strong smell was the stapler.

Yeah.

And that was like the hay of the hair.

I wrote down in my notebook afterwards, like, there's, there's like,

maybe it was a brush or something like that.

Well, I think there's certain things that you've done so far on Taskmaster that have been like, that is so anion.

No one else would say that.

Oh, God.

And I think you say scarecrow.

Yeah.

And then Alex asks you to describe it more, and you say scriggledy scarecrow.

Scriggledy scaregrel.

But I don't know anyone else who would say scriggledy.

Well, it's just a vibe.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah, but not from smell.

I just...

No, if you had smelt it, you'd have been like, that's scriggled.

No, I wouldn't.

I'm telling you, I wouldn't have used the word scriggledy.

Yeah, which interestingly, I'm feeling like is not a word now.

I know what you mean by scriggledy.

It's sort of like, error.

But I don't think it comes through in smell.

But I think you just went with the word that was on your mind, which is scriggledy.

Which is scriggledy.

Yeah, I was shoehorning scriggledy in, probably.

You also said something smelled cold.

And what was that about?

The coffee.

You said it was coffee and it smelled cold.

So what was that?

What was the actual thing I was talking about?

I can't remember.

Was it teeth or maybe it was the

was it?

The bit, the like the

hundreds of thousands, which really you'd expect me to get.

Yeah, you should get.

I think at one point, you said, Uh, it's coffee, it's cold coffee.

And Alex said, How do you know it's cold?

And you said, It smells cold.

Yeah, well, I feel like you were trying to like pick up on something here that is unusual.

Is cold a smell?

Yeah,

I don't know.

Am I crazy?

No, cold's not a sound.

Well, if you go to the Antarctic,

your nose is going to know that you're in the Antarctic.

Yeah, but that's a feeling, isn't it?

Your nose can be cold.

You don't smell the cold.

If your nose is near a cold area,

your nose will know.

Because

the particles

have stopped making eye contact with you.

Yeah.

Because of the particles.

this is something so i have a very special nose which i know i think i think this was maybe cut out

but i unfortunately i had a block nose that day why did you pick smell that i didn't remember until i'd started

i should have i should have gone tongue but um the nose

tastes

i'll go tongue please alex i should have done tongue yeah um

but my nose especially if i'm in my luteal phase of my menstrual cycle, my nose is honestly incredible.

Right now, it's at absolute max.

Like this morning, I had some eggs for breakfast, but I couldn't eat them because the dishwasher smells really bad.

And the dishwasher opened and my eggs were nearby, and then the smell got on the eggs.

So I couldn't eat the eggs because they tasted like the smell.

Are you sure you're not a werewolf?

I think I'm on some sort of spectrum, but I don't think it's werewolf.

Well, I'm sorry that you have to sit in a caravan with about eight people when you're your smells already good.

Yeah, it's okay.

I'm doing

through.

But I really thought when

when I pick smell, I've like, oh, well, this will be amazing because smell is one of my five senses.

But you're on your own bit of the menstrual cycle.

I was too.

Well, actually, I don't know.

This house always brings on my period.

Genuinely, something about it makes my womb just go, not today.

Evacuate Evacuate the dance floor.

You know?

Oh, God.

Yeah, you're the first person to say that on the podcast.

Really?

Weirdly, yeah.

Oh, dear.

I wonder if

any other contestants are listening and the house also brings on their period, do let us know.

And if you're a fan and your cycles are late and you're worried about being pregnant, just show up.

Come down to the task past that.

Let Alex coax it out.

Yeah.

There was.

Go to the lab.

Go to the lab, yeah.

White.

There was one tiebreaker that didn't get used in the whole series, which I think they maybe were kindly upon because it was one that

it was not good.

It was not good for me.

And I don't think they, I said afterwards that was hard for me because of my current situation.

And it was I had to stand on a vibrating plate for five minutes.

And I was like, we're in the lab.

This is

really dangerous.

Which is interesting.

I would like to correlate all the tasks with where, on a, like, you could do an interesting diagram where it's like, when did I do the task?

How close was it to lunch?

Where was I on my menstrual cycle?

Yeah.

All these things, all these factors.

Well, Jack Bernhardt's always looking for new things to add to the spreadsheet.

Sync it up with my clue app.

But, Jack, you will need to do that for all of the contestants.

Yeah, absolutely.

So make sure you get in contact with them and see if they remember.

Look,

this task was just chaos.

I mean,

Maisie putting her mouth through the nosehole, I think, will be an enduring image of this series as well.

It's so funny.

And the fact that it's in the opening credit,

it always makes me laugh.

Yeah.

Like, it is...

There is something about that that is just like pure humour.

It's pure humour.

It's sort of uncomfortable.

Yeah.

It's kind of weird.

It reminds me of there's an episode of Red Dwarf where there's some characters who are them, or they turn themselves upside down and

put eyes on their chin

to speak to some aliens.

And it's sort of that with the mouth just in the wrong place.

Really odd, but very, very funny.

It's quite like you, I actually didn't know, you don't notice what's weird about it.

Like, you kind of get in your brain first, and then you're like, what's going on there?

So funny.

And obviously, I mean, look, Phil's incredible at this.

Yeah.

Total chaos.

What sense did he use again?

Hearing.

He used hearing.

Yeah.

And his first suggestion for what the item was...

A mossy walk.

A mossy walk.

In his mind,

what's going on on the other side of the screen?

That the object is a mossy walk.

To you, that's how you see it, but I'm like, yeah, I totally get that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I understand.

Phil makes me laugh so much.

I mean, they all, like, I honestly could not believe how much I was laughing at everyone else on this show.

But as soon as Phil said mossy walk, I'm dying.

I'm on the floor.

A mossy walk.

Sanjeev, there's suggestions that he did just fall asleep because there is a moment where he goes so quiet and Alex has to say, Sanjeev, you still there?

Sanjeev seems to have a sort of very, he has quite a peaceful air about him

where you can kind, where it's like tipping over into sleep quite a lot.

Well, he's a sloth.

He's a man sloth.

What do you mean?

Don't you think he's got sloth vibes?

He has, yeah, he does actually have sloth vibes.

Is that offensive to say?

I don't know, but he's very slow and sleepy.

We'll find out.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Who knows?

But he reminds me of a sloth.

That's all I can say.

I mean, this was a very hard task.

This was designed, I think, to make you all look a bit stupid rather than get any points.

I think

the fact that...

But Rhys was good at it because he got the human teeth.

Yeah, but then took it back.

But then took it back.

Because human teeth is the sort of thing that's in his cabinet of human beings.

Yeah, yeah.

Human teeth is from the Wreath-Shearsmith world, not the Taskmaster world.

So he second-guessed himself and thought they won't do human teeth.

Yeah.

That's the sort of thing I'd do.

Yeah.

And that would suggest he's got a bowl of teeth at home and he has popped them in his mouth.

So he knows what he knows what they're like.

Or he just knows what his own teeth are like.

Yeah.

And he thought, oh,

these are bringing back some memories of when my tongue is in my own mouth.

I suppose, yeah.

I suppose we all know what teeth feel like in our mouth, don't we?

Yeah.

Well, but I guess you don't the roots of them so much.

No,

but we have wet teeth in our mouths all of the time.

Yeah, so what's the problem with licking them up out of a little bowl?

Greece, amazing.

All of Sanjeev's were like cleaning products as well.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He just got it stuck in his head.

Yeah.

It was one point for Sanjeev, sadly.

Two points for you, Anya, even though you did guess Scroggledy Scarecrow.

Imagine if that had been right.

And a fashionable watch,

you guessed.

Oh.

tiny cow, cockshow.

Tiny cow, cows are made of milk.

Yeah,

made of milk, of course.

Yeah, two points for you, and yet, three points for Phil, four points for Maisie,

and five points for Reese.

A hard task, but very entertaining.

I would ask you to not consume this, pretty.

And then, uh

milk and not teeth, are they?

Do you want me to write down human teeth?

Can't write down teeth.

Feels like they are little plastic beads.

Plastic beads and I've crossed out human teeth.

Wet beads.

Wet beads.

Yeah.

Item number three.

Task two.

It's the first team task.

This task, I think, was very hard.

Yeah.

And there were so many layers to it.

Because normally the team task is like straight in.

Yeah.

And there's no time to think.

But this was quite tricky.

Let's talk about the teams, first of all.

So obviously you, Phil, and Sanjeev.

You seem to get on

pretty quickly.

Do you think there was good chemistry in the team?

I think there were.

I think I instantly was like,

okay.

When I saw Phil coming through that gate, I was like, oh, fuck.

That's our channel.

We're in trouble.

But, but, no, that's a bit unfair.

No, you're correct.

I am correct.

But I'm also,

sorry if Phil is listening to this.

But I kind of,

I think

it's interesting as a combination, I was like, oh, I think I, yeah, like I said earlier, like, I think in my gut, I knew I was going to be with Sanjeev.

Because I was like, I think that makes sense.

It's like a combination, young and

from the other end of the age demographic.

It's a real spread of ages.

It's a real spread of ages.

Young and the elderly, hand in hand and then phil who's sort of a man outside of time and age yeah i would say yeah he's like a sort of doctor who from from a parallel universe yeah yeah yeah exactly and then maisie and reese who that really makes sense as a team to me northern as yeah well let's let's call it a spade a spade

when they meet yeah may i've maisie just looks terrified.

She looks, it looks, I think,

I think maybe, maybe that someone said this in the studio and it got cut out, but it does look a bit like a fan meet and greet.

Yeah.

And Rhys kind of, Rhys is so unfazed by it that it's like

it.

It's fascinating for someone to show so little in that context.

He's so straight.

Like,

him and Sanjeev both quite calm.

Like, I was really excited.

Yeah.

Because also, I had a sense that day.

I was like, well, it must be the team day because we haven't done the team day yet but they the team as in the the people the production team hid it so well yeah I was like oh I must I've got it wrong maybe maybe our team day is going to be on our location day because like they hid it from me so well but then

and then I assumed I was just with Sanjeev and then when Phil came through the gate I was like oh no is he meant to be here

Has he turned up on the wrong day?

Yeah.

Was he just walking past?

Also, because he was so silent for so long when he walks because it's quite a long driveway yeah and he gives it about like 20 meters before he says hello and i was like have you

what's going on yeah but i guess he was working out what was going on as well right he was working out what was going on are we sure that sanjeev knew that there was going to be a team day i think he maybe still doesn't know

because we've had situations in taskmaster before where maybe one of the one of the older contestants certainly doesn't know the work of the younger contestants doesn't know that there's going to be a team day yeah so for like 10 20 minutes they're looking like is this part of the is this part of the task are these just some random people I think that if that happened he kept it internal but it felt like it could have been happening a bit um but that I think it was funny because of the the like you say this task you couldn't get stuck into it and it was still quite individual there were like some element because you all have your own individual powers we had to hook the duck individually like it's you're not fully working as a team yet so it's quite like a weird in-between yeah it's like oh okay we're kind of getting used to each other but we're also still like you still have to focus on your own thing on your own superpower i did not know anything about george michael apart from he was gay i'll read the i'll read the task okay Each team member must hook a duck, silently read the duck's superpower, then use that superpower for the next task in 10 minutes from now.

At no point may you tell your teammates or teammates your superpower.

Your time starts now.

So obviously, previously, I don't know how long ago

you had to write the superpower on a little card.

Do you remember was it like a while before?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Like like months or mine were all I had about a month between every in between every recording day.

So I think it would have been a month.

But because I was drawing them all, I had any that were the kind of set up of a task, I had a really clear memory of like that's unfinished.

Yeah.

Because I just had the drawing.

So I was like, oh, I need to finish that drawing at some point.

So as soon as the superpower came into play, I was like, oh, right.

I remembered what I wrote.

So I was like, oh, I'm obviously not going to hook my own duck, which is so annoying because it has a really relevant superpower.

Yeah, but I'm glad you didn't hook your own duck because I don't know why you would.

It's way less fun to hook your own duck, isn't it?

But basically, everyone else did hook their own duck.

Yeah, so Sanjeev, Phil, and Rhys did.

And And then obviously you and Maisie switched.

Switched, yeah.

Sanjeev won the one point because his superpower was rotate slowly and powerfully to thwart evil, which is so funny that he picked that because he only picked that because the figure on the table's rotating slowly.

Oh!

Clearly he's

like, I'll just do the thing that's right in front of me.

But it did work perfectly because

he went round the table.

What I would like to know is if he went round the table doing the the flower, deliberately trying to do a superpower, or whether he completely ran the power.

Whether it was completely lucky.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It definitely could have been lucky.

Because surely he should be rotating.

Yes.

That's not actually rotating, is it?

Going round the table.

Circling.

Circling.

Circling a table.

I think he did it by accident.

There should be a recount of the points in this episode.

There should be.

And there should be a riot.

And the superpower you got given from Maisie was morphed into George Michael at any given moment.

And I wasn't, obviously, because of the rights of the music, I wasn't allowed to sing.

Yeah.

So, because all I knew about George Michael was obviously singing, and he's gay.

Yes.

And it's like,

well, I'm pretty sure I definitely did some gay stuff, but

I don't think that made the end.

But you put the sunglasses on.

I put the sunglasses on.

Also, may I say, Anya, and take this as you will, you look fucking gormless in those sunglasses.

Yeah, it's with a beard half stuck on the wrong way.

It kept coming off.

So Alex kept having to say, like, oh, your beards come off again.

But then at some point during the task, I just have tapes.

Which really is not a, it's not a fetching look for me at all.

Also, like, there's something about whenever I look directly into the camera with those sunglasses that is like haunting.

Yeah.

But it's just gormless.

It was so funny.

It's good to rule out a look.

Yeah.

And Maisie got your superpower suggestion, which was

your fingers are vacuum cleaners, which I loved.

Because when you say it the first time, when you're like, oh, your fingers are vacuum cleaners, you're so proud of yourself with that superpower.

Is that something that you genuinely like?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think that would be really useful because our vacuum cleaner is quite heavy.

Yeah.

And like...

Because we have cats and they shed hair everywhere.

You really need to be hoovering a lot more, but I hate getting the vacuum cleaner out.

Whereas if your fingers, you could just switch them on and just like, like, you know, those hand, those tiny handhelds one that just see the surface.

So my idea is like, your fingers do that.

Like little dustbusters.

Yes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But I wasn't expecting,

I think, like, it's very generous of them to then make it into like actual vacuum cleaners, whereas I think what they should have done is Maisie should have had to suck up with, like, go like that with her fingers, like make her make it herself.

Suck up loads of flour.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's what I would have liked

um reese you can tell when anyone lies and that's what he did he sort of didn't

he didn't use it that much i mean how do you use it when you're when you're trying to get the flour away sorry i've not read part two this is how complicated this is Part two is remove the most flour from the tray without touching the flour with your hands or moving little little Alex Horn.

If little Alex Horn moves at any point, you're disqualified.

You must take it in turns to remove flour and you must employ your superpowers.

There is a bonus point for the contestant who employs their superpower most effectively.

Most flour in the bowl wins.

You have a maximum of 15 minutes.

Your time starts now.

Here's what I've written: my one big note.

The task is most flour in the bowl wins.

Get some flour from the kitchen, guys.

And I know there was a lot of other stuff going on.

But get a bag of flour from the kitchen and fill up the bowl.

Oh my god.

Oh my god.

Oh, but that's nasty to be.

That's It's not fun.

It's not fun.

I am joyless.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you are.

You're joyless and you're sick in the head.

Every new person can add on a word.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, joyless and sick in the head.

Okay, lovely.

Thank you.

So, yeah.

It's because you're with new people and stuff, it kind of throws you off that axis.

Also, something that throughout this whole experience of Taskmaster is like,

I find it really hard to process all the stuff when it's being read out.

and like they're look I just need to read the task and like read it like four times on my own because that when you said that now I zoned out fully

no offense but unfortunately you're wearing shorts today so you can't you can't rub your trousers to get yourself back in the room my leg hair start fire um but there's something about like when they just put so many words like that in it's like this is really difficult to understand no i know what you mean and there is a very little chance i would have spotted that were i actually doing the task but it's viewer privilege Yes.

And you have a long discussion about cape flaps.

We have a long discussion about cape flaps, which I think

that's the sort of thing where in the studio it's very easy for Greg to be like, oh, you're talking about cape flaps, you dumb idiots.

Whereas actually it's like if we hadn't asked about cape flaps, cape flaps would have 100% come up.

But you do something very funny, which is, I think Phil asked the question about cape flaps, and then you say, yeah, and then you repeat the question.

Yeah, what about the cape flaps?

What about the cape flaps?

You've got to just bat your team like that.

Yeah, and also I think you're just enjoying saying cape flaps.

Yeah, cape flaps.

Look, it's a total disaster.

Everyone knocks little Alex Horn off there.

Zero points for everyone.

Totally pointless.

Apart from Fasanjeeeev, who I think at this point, there's still like any opportunity to get him another point.

To get him,

throw him another bloody point.

Gets one for deploying his superpower most effectively, even though I think we both agree he did it by accident.

Yeah, and also I used the wig to scoop up hair.

I mean not hair sand.

Flower.

Yeah.

I can't remember.

You did use the wig.

Yeah.

But is that deploying your superpower?

Yeah.

But you transform into George Michael.

You don't.

What would a view have done in that situation?

I think you can sing.

Yeah, you can't deploy it, can you really?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Unless you're doing an impression of him.

But what is there to him, really?

Is he dead?

Yes.

Okay.

Now that's an angle I could have gone down.

I don't know whether what his attitude was to illegal drugs, but I guess you could have.

Oh my god, I could have snorted it up.

Yeah.

This is the thing.

You must have this as well, but something that I've really found post post

like post the studios where you watch it all back is like, you just have so many ideas of what you could have done.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And it's really hard to live with.

I would do that after I'd filmed of the day.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'd wake up in the middle of the night going, why didn't I do that?

Yeah.

And texting Alex, like, and obviously he's like, yeah, ignoring him.

Chill out.

Yeah.

She's like, sorry, mate, I'm busy.

I'm busy doing my job.

You should get to have a whole practice round where you do film all of Taskmaster as a practice and then you get to do it again.

The same tasks.

Yeah.

Yeah, that was a good idea.

That's just my one note to the production

of what I would maybe listen to me, then you'll win that BAFTA.

Zero for everyone.

Sanjeev gets one.

Hello?

Hi, is that Andrew?

It is, yes.

Hi, this is your brother Phil.

So

we've got a tiny version of Alex Holm.

I've got to get the flower away without him moving.

Telekinesis?

That's not going to work.

Thanks though.

Is that your half-brother?

Half-brother?

Stepbrother.

What made you think we were stepbrothers?

My fault brother.

Really?

Yeah, yeah.

Why?

Just didn't sound right.

Task three, take the most surprising thing out of this bag.

You have a maximum of 15 minutes.

Your time starts now.

The task is obviously lowered into the dome by an umbrella.

Yeah, magical.

Which you loved.

Some people

less overawed by it.

And then Maisie spends so long trying to work out what the task is and repeating it over and over again.

Yeah.

And Greg compares her to a new Coronation Street character who's adorable yet thick.

It is amazing with Maisie.

Yeah.

Because she is super smart.

Yeah.

And very quick, but she does vocalize everything.

So

even though I'm sure other people would go,

okay, yeah, put something in the bag, take it out.

Yeah.

She's going, what do you mean?

Take something out of the back.

That's so offensive.

I'm going to do it right to her face when we have her on the podcast as well.

Are you kidding me?

That's my entire relationship with Maisie.

But yeah, it's really, it's funny.

It's like it shows that the fact that it's written down means there's a gap between what you, what you can understand from it, because she's interpreting it as like

you can't, you're like, oh, I guess it could be that, but it's so obviously not.

But like, it's almost just like she's...

The con taskmaster does just make you go,

if it's the third thing you're doing in a row, you're like, I can't actually read anymore.

Yes.

I mean, we all could, but she can't.

Yes.

And she was looking for things that weren't there in the task.

And

even though it's a pretty straightforward task.

Yeah.

And then I think to have that confusion and then to still end up doing what she did is like, that's a woman who's had a breakdown.

Yeah, let's talk about what Maisie did.

Can I?

I mean, it's maybe a delicate question.

Was Maisie pissed for quite a lot on this?

Because in this one, in this one in particular, she seems pissed.

I don't know.

But watching it back, I thought, I would not wish doing that on my worst enemy.

It's also because of her outfit, obviously dressed as Sandy from Greece.

Yeah.

But she does, I said it on the last episode, not sure if it made the cut, she does look like a pissed up Northern woman who's doing karaoke and like Magaloof.

Yeah.

Yeah, there's like a grease theme.

This feels like an evolution of that, doesn't it?

Yeah, there's like a grease theme at the all-inclusive.

And then it does feel like then, yes, she sat on a donkey.

She's doing the entertainment.

Yeah, she's doing the entertainment, but everyone's had to walk off because it's like, oh, she's going through a hard time.

And the fact that it was, I mean, as Greg pointed out, she wasn't taking anything out of the bag.

She'd put a donkey's leg.

on top of the bag and then sat on the donkey and then started screaming in French and playing an accordion.

But what I love about it is that she does it all with an air of smugness of like,

well, this is really good.

Yeah, yeah.

Which is so interesting to watch back because it's like,

how has this happened?

You've got to back yourself in the studio, though.

Although here she does go, let's move on.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Let's please move on.

But

this is a hard one, I think,

for some people.

I would find this maybe a little bit hard because to be surprising, your brain goes wacky, right?

Let's pull something wacky out of there.

And I think I struggle in the same way Maisie does, in that we're not,

our vibe isn't wacky.

Right.

So any attempt to be like, I'm going to pull something crazy out of it just feels a bit forced.

Yeah.

Whereas,

and this is a compliment, Anya.

Cool.

You are a deeply odd person.

So this felt very natural for you.

Yeah.

And yeah, the chicken out the bag, leaving that beautiful pause where we're all like, oh, she's really messed this up.

It's just the chicken out of the bag.

That's pathetic.

Can in the chicken, I'm thinking, great.

Yeah.

Jam in the can.

Yeah.

And as Greg said, that's quite simple.

That's already something.

Bean in the can.

Love the way you say bean.

Thank you.

And the

Satsuma, sorry.

Satsuma.

Bean in the Satsuma.

And in the bean is a message saying, Greg, I am your daughter.

Fantastic.

Thank you.

Played perfect.

I really liked doing that one.

And also,

I totally understand why they edited this out.

But I left the room between between every reveal as well.

What?

So I did, I took the chicken out the bag and then I said that's it.

And then I left.

And then I came back in.

And then I did.

So I think the whole thing was about probably half an hour.

Oh, that is funny, though.

To leave the room every time is funny.

And you didn't tell Alex you were going to do this.

I think

you probably had to tell him something.

I probably had to tell him that it was going to be a while.

Yeah.

It's so good.

And Greg got on board with it straight away.

Greg was on board with it.

Yeah.

I also

after I'd done that we got Alec Alex sent Greg a text saying what were you doing in 1998 and we figured out what month I would have been conceived in and it was said that he was in Majorca

or Marbea or wherever.

Wow so when you say you said

Mallorca 1998.

Yeah.

That's actually where he was but I don't know if he remembered no he wouldn't remember that he doesn't look like he remembered no no no no because that would have he would have been horrified if if he'd remembered that.

He's like, oh, shit.

Because that's the sort of place that I could have been conceived.

Yes.

Isn't it?

Yeah, you've definitely got a conceived in Majorca vibe.

I think if you can get anything that Greg hops on board with, early doors for running jokes is really good.

Even when we were at the barbecue here,

when he arrived, he said, hello, my daughter.

Yeah, he did.

Yeah.

He did.

And you said, hello, daddy.

He went, nope.

Yeah, the daddy, he wasn't so on board of the daddy.

Also, it's quite a hard one i mean i think this is a this is like one of the things that everyone kind of like i guess like a more meta thing about taskmaster that people are aware of but like different audiences every recording yeah it's hard yeah to get them up to date with that sometimes yeah yeah of like by the way i'm greg's daughter yes and you can't task master nepo baby you can't do that by saying hello daddy with a new audience in there very odd vibe and i learned that the hard way

but it was great great, Anya.

It was so good.

Thank you.

Sanjeev,

again,

this is so odd.

I mean, it is surprising.

A wig on a boxing glove.

He loves to put wigs on stuff.

He loves putting wigs on stuff, putting the wig on the weird old mask

to be a baby.

And he does it well.

Like, it really does.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then in the glove is his hand, the severed hand of Ingmar Johansson.

Some of the references are these people.

Sanjeev and Reese, I'm like, I just got to accept that I never am going to know what you're talking about.

Yeah, I don't know about Swedish boxing particularly.

I mean, Rhys's references are all old films, right, as well.

Creepy thing.

Yeah.

He's referencing like a creepy thing.

From the 1920s, yeah.

Yeah.

But yeah, I guess that was surprising from Sanjeev.

Phil takes out a fishing rod with a fish on the end, and inside is a picture of Greg, as Greg says, clearly hammered

on the night you were conceived, with his date of birth on his teeth and his phone number on his arm.

The date of birth on the teeth is really harrowing.

Yeah, really harrowing.

It's really...

Also, the photo, just like, it really feels non-consensual.

Oh, totally.

It's someone gone, Greg, and then he's turned around.

It's so unfair.

I wonder where Phil got the photo from.

I wouldn't be surprised if he took it.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's a good point.

But who knows?

That I...

Yeah.

I don't know.

That sort of feels like the sort of thing that you could find on like a forum.

Do you know what I mean?

Like someone was like, I saw Greg Davies on Reddit.

But yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's deep in a forum.

But very funny to put.

Also, how does he have Greg's number?

I still haven't got that.

I've been sending a lot of emails.

Maybe he got the number off whoever sent him the photo, maybe.

Oh, the PAP.

The PAP.

The PAP.

Yeah, it was a Pap.

The Pap has the numbers.

But yeah, it was good.

I mean, to be honest,

everyone was good, but they all all paled into insignificance with you and Rhys.

Reese's one,

like,

it's incredible to watch, you're like, wow.

Yeah.

You're just like...

That's Rhys's brain at work, isn't it?

Exactly.

Like, I mean, so much happens in it.

You sort of want to go, do you regret doing that much if you'd known how little some people did?

Do you know what I mean?

It's like he's gone all out.

Thinking everyone's going to do something crazy for this.

It's so.

Little did he know Maisie was going to sit on a donkey on top of a bag, which, in some ways, is more harrowing.

Yeah, it's

but Reese, but Rhys's one is like, also, like, he's just a great actor as well.

So

you're really drawn into it, and you're like, I'm actually really enjoying watching this short film.

I could have watched it for when the third hand comes out, I'm like, get out of there, let's see what that guy's up to.

But the baby head,

squeezing the baby head, and loads of mushy peas coming out of it is absolutely horrific.

I loved that so much.

Yeah.

Like that,

that, yeah, another moment where I was like, this guy.

Yeah.

I'm loving this guy.

He creates images, certainly.

Just, I mean, this, I'd seen this before I got sent the episode because this is one of the first times when I've been at the house to do the podcast of the previous series, Andy D went, I want to show you something.

Right.

And he took me into the little office and he showed me that because I think they just edited it.

Which bit?

The whole task?

No, just Rhys.

Sorry.

Because obviously, this is like Andy D's playground.

Yeah, yeah.

When Rhys is going, and then I want to come out of the bag as well.

Yeah, yeah.

And then we'll do that.

That's when Andy's brain is like, okay, let's do this.

Yeah, I think he was very, very proud of this one.

I had something, there's something to me that I was like,

it's funny, I had like a real, something to me was like, I didn't want to do a like film, I didn't want to edit something in yeah i so i sort of i do agree with you i mean this was amazing but the one that i always talk about on the podcast and will annoy me until the day i die is i think you had to conceal yourself or camouflage yourself yes the noel fielding one yeah where he's then shrunk down into a bowl of bananas and i think it got five points but that's practical effects are important guys yeah um but this i think

but this was more than that it was yeah it was like an ad there's a lot going on Like, you could just squeeze that baby head and that would be five points.

Yeah, I think you're right.

That's amazing.

You pull a baby head out, squeeze it, and mushy peas comes out of it, then absolutely.

It's all just world.

It's like Rhys bringing you into his world is that first bit where there's like him and him.

Him and him.

Him and him.

His and his.

Yeah.

His and his baby heads.

It was fantastic.

I mean,

both of you definitely deserve the five points.

Thank you.

Phil got four points.

Sanjeev got three points.

And really harsh on Maisie.

One point for Maisie.

It's when Greg says, obviously, one point for you.

It's like, no, we're going to jump up to three because I think there's a bit of a gulf.

A gulf between what he's.

Yeah,

but I think he's worked out now he can do that sort of stuff with Maisie.

And she is funniest when she's a little bit exasperated.

Yeah, it's funny because with Greg, it's like you actually don't want to.

This is the thing: is that when you're not like, when

before you go into it,

before doing Taskmaster, I had like this kind of like idea of like i can change him i can fix greg right i can be the woman yeah to fix him whatever's going on for him right okay i can make him give me points and yeah be normal so what so hang on so what needs fixing with him is he doesn't give you enough points and what makes him abnormal is he's not giving you enough points yeah yeah okay but do you know what i mean there's something about him where it's like

you're

the more sometimes the more effort you put into something, the less he's interested in it.

Or like

if you put a lot of effort into something, and I definitely am referencing some stuff later in the series, but there's some stuff where you're like, the fact that you've put so much effort into it, then he then likes to sort of make it

make the funny choice.

Yeah, I think...

But I think it's also effort versus desperation.

Oh, God.

So if...

There's a lot of desperation reeking off me in this series for sure.

If you put a lot of effort into something, but in a desperate way, he's going to absolutely love destroying it.

Yeah.

If you just put a lot of effort in, but you're cool about it, he'll big you up.

But this is what I mean is that, like, I watched Taskmaster before and I understand this, but in the series, I couldn't put it into practice.

Yeah.

Because I was just kind of had this narcissistic idea of, I'll be the one to change it.

I'll change him.

I'll fix him.

And that man is still broken.

Okay, Phil.

Everyone knows that a lot of fishing rods are extendable.

So when you started doing that old trick, I thought, this is disappointing.

that's not at all surprising and then when there was a fish on the end of the line I thought that's a bit disappointing yeah and that's when you hit me with the big surprise you found a photograph of me where I'm quite clearly hammered yeah

and vulnerable some would say that was the night I was conceived

let's move on to the live task.

Guess how many things the taskmaster's assistant has on him?

Worst answer is eliminated but there is a bonus of five actual points if you're exactly ten out at any time and ten above i think it was specifically yeah and i had to re i had the task next to me on the floor because i had to keep rereading it because i was like what the hell is going on with this yes and it's last player standing wins i think that was good i think that added another element to it because people were being eliminated but then still playing yes yeah yeah and if you wanted to try and get the five actual points you're having to guess 10 more so you probably there's a danger of being eliminated early

by being the furthest away.

See, even listening to it back now, I don't understand it.

But I must have understood it in the middle of the day.

I think you did because you were nearly getting the five points every time, and then you switched your tactic and then went to guess just for the normal, the normal thing towards the end.

Yeah, right.

That's interesting that you could tell that.

I was watching that and thinking, Anya definitely understands this, right?

Whereas I'm watching it back going, who is that girl?

But it was very tricky, it was tricksy Alex Horton business.

You never know what he's doing.

Two babies stuck to his back.

Big bowl of marbles.

That was one that I think we all came off after.

Like, obviously in a fun way, but we were all like, what the fuck was the point of that?

Like, some of them, it's like, no one can be good at this.

Yes.

There's no skill involved at all.

Yeah.

You've just, well, the skill is trying to guess what's on Alex's mind.

Yeah.

But he deliberately does everything so you can't guess what he's going to do next.

Yeah.

I didn't.

I guess I didn't mind that one so much,

but that's the thing.

The thing that I found tricky about all the studio tasks is like, I feel like I need like extra time to read the tasks.

And obviously, it sounds like I understood this one.

Yes.

But it's so when you have the audience there and like there's so much going on and to understand what you have to do and they're so worded.

Did you get extra time in exams at school?

No.

I think they should check with people and if they did they get extra time reading the task.

Exactly.

Definitely.

In the studio.

An hour extra.

Yeah.

I would love that.

But yeah, this one is...

I think it was fun.

Also, I will say, for the first two episodes, I...

So I've never watched Champion of Champions.

Don't watch the last one.

Don't bother watching it.

Okay.

It's rubbish.

I won't.

Yeah.

But I...

This is maybe going to sound mad that I had this misconception.

I thought it was a whole series.

Yeah, well, it should be.

It should be.

It should be more than one episode because people don't really get a chance to shine.

Yeah.

Okay.

I'm picking up on some unfinished business here.

Another broken man.

But what I will say is that for the first two,

there was part of me that was like

much like throughout the series I definitely cared less about winning the whole thing.

But the first two, I was like, well, I'd love to do another whole series of Taskmasters.

Right.

So I should try and win because I'd like to do Champion of Champions and then I'll get paid.

Yes, you get the fear of double bubble.

Double bubble.

So there was part of me being like, well, look, I'm going to have fun, but ultimately...

You're going to win.

You've got to win.

I'd like to win because I'd like to.

It doesn't really matter how I do in this first one because in the second season that I do, when I do the whole next season, that will be my chance.

When did you find out that it was one episode?

After the second record.

Yeah.

So then you relaxed a little bit.

Then I relaxed a little bit.

Okay.

That's that's for a few episodes and then I got back in.

Yeah, because you're like, I want to do one more.

Yeah, yeah.

Got to do one more episode.

Sorry, Rhys gets the bonus five points for getting uh the 10 out and also gets three points.

He gets eight points all in all.

You get the five points, Anya, four points for Maisie, two points for Sanjeev, and one point for Phil, who I don't think at any point understands that task.

Phil is just often doing his own thing, and it's a pleasure to watch.

Meaning, Rhys wins the episode with 22 points.

You're in second, Anya on 15, Maisie on 14 points, and Phil and Sanjeev on nine points.

So far in the series, still very early days.

Rhys is in the lead with 35, Maisie on 33, you with 29, Phil on 25, and Sanjeev at the bottom on 21.

We'll have to see how much that changes because there's still eight episodes to go.

Ooh.

Anya, thank you so much for joining me on the Taskmaster podcast.

Thanks for having me.

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

We hope you've enjoyed yourself, but please give us an honest point score.

Um

five.

Yes?

Five points, as long as all the stuff about me getting on page three stays in.

Yes, that's all getting in.

Okay, great.

For sure.

I don't know if some of the Bonnie Blue stuff will get in.

Five big busted points.

Thank you so much, Anya.

Thank you.

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

I don't know what made the edit and what didn't, but there were some moments where I thought we're very much on the cusp as to whether this is going to make the edit, and I really hope those bits did.

Keep watching, Taskmaster.

We'll be back next week with another fantastic special guest 10 pm straight after the main show drops.

We will see you then.

Goodbye.

Love you.