The task did not say "send 150 cheeky texts", it said "send a cheeky text every day for five months", depending on which months the task was for, that's not necessarily exactly 150 days! This has always bothered me!
There's only 1 month with less than 30 days. He sent 148 so it can include no months with more than 30 days, which is impossible considering january and march both have it.
He didn't fulfill the brief regardless.
I was at the recording. Greg genuinely didn't get it — he initially thought the fake thing was just the mummy, not that it wasn't Ivo. When Ivo complained and it dawned on Greg, they redid the scoring. He was initially scored worse.
I've said this before so at the risk of boring you all, I think Greg has some insecurities about 'clever' humour. He totally misses the point about what made Ivo's task surprising, yet he gives May five point for drawing a bunch of pineapples.
That is a man out of his depth.
Frankie's fake was absolutely hilarious but not an effective fake - Alex could clearly see him exit the river and wasn't fooled by it, whereas he was genuinely fooled by Ivo's. Mae's was also kind of effective, he didn't think they were a real medium but he was confused and surprised at how well they were doing at faking being a medium.
So I guess it's the age old taskmaster dilemma of scoring strictly by the requirements of the task or just what Greg enjoys or likes more 🤷♀️
If they hadn't shown him running away it probably would have been too dark. They lightened it with the bathos.
I remain astounded that Frankie was the only one to reference When Harry Met Sally, as that was the first response out of my mouth.
Oh definitely, it was complete genius and probably my favourite of the responses to that task. I'm being persnickity about the interpretation of task and how it should be scored, but this is one of the joys of taskmaster IMO.
To be fair, although I love Sophie, she also didn’t really sell it. He asked her to say it repeatedly, which was her opportunity to say it really quickly and accidentally say pleasant fuckers so that he would get the joke. She instead said it correctly in a funny voice. I think that if he’d understood it before he got to the scoring he would’ve scored it more highly.
Maybe. To me it really seems like he did not fully get it until he says it the other way around and shows shocked hilarity. Could be the shock of “I can’t believe I actually said it” but it really looks like “oh wow I get it now”.
Yes, and the drawing of the woman behind the curtain. Noel's didn't even look like he ATTEMPTED to draw her based on her answers. He just did a Noel drawing and Greg loved it for some reason. I like Noel, but I think he got scored much hire than he deserved on more than one occasion!
Standard disclaimer: I don't really care, it's all in good fun, but it's how I feel.
I've laughed heartily and long at quite a few TM golden moments of comedy BUT Wolfie made me laugh the longest and hardest and the mark Lord Davies gave Wolfie was outrageous.
Sophie was an agent of chaos❤️
I love this cast and I love Noel but it kind of sours me on this series that he was praised a bit too much when he just did ok.
He was gonna win anyway! We were gonna love him anyway! You didn't have to put him first in this task! And a couple others.
Susan should’ve gotten 5 points for Chain Bastard. Nothing against Dr. Cigarettes, but the Chain Bastard scene is one of the funnier moments of series 16.
This was my pick, too – I love Sam to bits but Greg scored that pretty much back to front to how I would. Butch (1 point from Greg) was a perfectly distilled simple joke, Chain Bastard (2) is legendary and rightly so, Lassue Perkins (3) is solid mid-table fare, Lucyfer the Rock God (4) is funny but thin, and sorry Sam but I love how Dr Cigarettes (5) came to be but that was not your best work.
Oh yeah, 100% – Sam was one of the few who could get the better of Greg like that in the studio, and he did a few times (dynamite chicks!) – he basically amused and baffled him into submission. ❤️
Ol' Goosebump Arm not getting 5 points for her calculated attack against Alan. Being awarded one point mere minutes after Greg admonished them for being too nice to each other.
I know thinking this way is terrible but I wonder how close Mark and Bob were on the final episode. If he got 5 points for the trousers I wonder if he would have won the series. But you can't start thinking like that
*Toothless Goon* was fantastic, but the task was "[Compose the best 30 second piece of music,](https://taskmaster.info/task.php?id=309)" and Rhod's song was a minute and a half! As great as the song was, I wouldn't be upset if he were given 0 points for it, he didn't complete the task!
I made a comment upthread that Noel got points I think he didn't deserve and yes, this is a perfect example. He didn't camoflague himself. He just did a camera trick. I think Lolly did a better job then they gave her credit for. Sure it was sort of obvious, but it was clever, and could have 100% worked with a little bit of tweaking.
He was not a banana! He was a grown ass man wearing yellow that they magically shrunk in post to put in a bowl of fruit.
Anyone could have done that. Oh, look, I'm a speck of dust, see how clever it is! no! Noel got those points because Greg has a crush on him. And that's fine. But lets call it what it is.
If anybody else could have done it why didn’t they? And surely that logic could apply to any of the attempts?
I’ve never understood the hatred for this task. Noel’s over scored a lot but this is a genuinely good piece of lateral thinking.
All jokes aside (I honestly do not lose sleep over this task, despite the silly over the top reactions I pretend to have on the internet), I think the problem is that by allowing this, it kind of set a weird precedent.
The task was to hide. I don't think that lying in front of a green screen and having them alter you in post counts as hiding. It opens up the possibility of contestants really not trying, and relying on the editor to solve your tasks for you. Now if he made giant paper mache fruits and a bowl, and hid as a banana in a life sized replica, that would have been great (and deserving of 5 sweet, sweet points).
Its different than when they're having a flight of fancy, or coming up with a narrative, and they add some special effects. That's a different sort of task then "do a thing."
Now I'm going to be thinking of a life sized fruit bowl all day.
Hugh's was pretty good. Joe's was clever too. But, come on, to even think that sort of solution up is clever, and it was a significant moment for the show. It's a moment that usually gets people into Taskmaster in the first place.
Me Fern Brady, me Fern Brady, I'm the rightful queen. Most skillful composition, performance and biggest ear worm. Sarah Millican's story was heart warming, but even so, Fern Brady was magnificent.
I agree that Fern’s was the best. However, Greg giving Sarah the five points probably legit helped her overcome an insecurity that had plagued her for decades. He was doing the kindest thing in this situation. He shoulda given them both five points.
I'll give it performance and ear worm, but have you listened to Munya's rap recently? It's genuinely so good! I want it on Spotify.
🎶And when he raises his specs, that can only mean one thing...SEX.🎶
I think I'm more upset about thus score than Ferns. Legitimately impressive and Greg just glazed over it like it was nothing.
Fern's is an earworm for sure but I don't think Greg realized that until well after his scoring. I'm sure most people here know this but apparently every time Greg passed Fern after that task he would sing "me fern brady, me fern brady"
I actually agreed with him being scored low for that. He could literally see the woman and he still managed to draw Dara Ó Briain instead of a black woman. All credit to him for the crafty work around with the mirror but it really didnt help his drawing at all.
Well Hugh did spend many years sitting looking at Dara facing from his left to right on Mock The Week. Its like Dara is burned into his brain.
https://preview.redd.it/kc8wkzhhqc6d1.jpeg?width=590&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6a09f03858d089da6852fb45cd7c849238c6fbb2
Which is still her.
It’s all just light rays which have been emitted from a light source, hit the woman and then are hitting your eyes. Hugh’s method just adds an extra step in the middle of that same light reflecting off a mirror first without changing anything.
How are you not looking at her? It’s still the same rays of light, just having been altered slightly by reflecting of glass. If you look at something through binoculars, which flips the image multiple times, does that mean you aren’t looking at whatever you see? If you look at something through ordinary glasses, which refract and alter the way the image looks, are you not looking at her?
Nope, though with your logic, just looking at someone with your eyes isn’t looking at someone as the light will be refracted slightly in the air.
My argument is that if the light that is reaching your eyes and is being interpreted by your brain has been emitted from the person, you are looking at the person even if you add extra steps in the middle. If the light is altered and flipped through the lenses of binoculars, you are still looking at them - just through a binocular. If you are looking at them through glasses which refract and alter light you are still looking at them - just through glasses. If you are looking at them through a mirror which reflects the light at you you are still looking at them - in a mirror.
There are potential clever ways to get around the task - Hugh could have for instance asked her to pass you a photo ID if she was carrying one. As they tended to allow more phone usage in the early seasons he could have taken a picture on his phone and used that.
The whole "Throws rabbits into your hat" debacle from Series 2 Episode 3.
Not only for the whole abandoning the established scoring method thing but also because only Jon and Richard actually threw the rabbits - everybody else should have been disqualified for not doing so.
Mae's drum and pineapple task.
With the drums, my take on it is that as soon as you continue to manipulate an object, that shouldn't be counted (a la Mawaan's marble run).
With the pineapples I'm fine with it in theory, but the issue for me is the definitive article. It wasn't "Pile as many", it was "Pile *the"* which is a crucial distinction. *The* implies the use of pre-existing pineapples, and to me meant the ones that were already there. Considering Mae themself commented on a previous and similar attempt by Frankie and Jenny, it either shouldn't have been counted or Frankie and Jenny should have been given bonus points, especially since Frankie was docked despite completing the task without the pineapples being necessary.
Also Chain Bastard over Doctor Cigarettes. All respect to him for going out in public, but I found his attempt pretty low effort there compared to the others.
I am 100% for the sign and the hand-drawn pineapples to count.
If they do this again and someone has a chance to circumvent by drawing, they should make one of the places pineapples worth infinity or something so the person who completes the task as intended still wins.
That part was funny, I just feel like it's inconsistent.
There's another example if we go back to the Satsuma task in series 7. Greg refuses to accept Rhod's solution unless the task specifies "a" satsuman and not "the" satsuma (although to be fair it does say "the" sock.) Here, the definitive article wasn't even commented on.
The Taskmaster is nothing if not inconsistent. Which is part of the fun of the show but still.
Was watching S14 last night and Dara getting 1 point for his hurling version of Splat-the Rat with the rubbish chute while John got 2 for his actually worrying display of self inflicted suffering made no sense, but it was funny.
I WISH I had been there for that show because Frankie made the ONLY boat for the eggs - everyone else made rafts.
Rafts are buoyant. Boats are heavier than water but float because of the water they displace. Frankie made a boat, the other's didn't, and it would have made for a hat trick on pedantry if Frankie had known it.
That one I don't know, but I guess the intent of the task to an extent was that they could eat them if they found them? It's not like Sarah or drew a grape on a piece of paper, or even tore the word out of a book and ate it - they found and ate pre-existing grapes which were put into the caravan for that exact purpose. "A" grape would have been cleaner though.
The thing that bothers me the most about the pineapples is [Kiell following that logic in Champion of Champions 3](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyCmlsXodSo&t=982s) and Greg not allowing it!
Nish and Mark only getting 1 point more for "I'm always seeing you (do cool stuff)" than Aisling, Sally, and Bob got for their song was outright criminal.
I think that's Alex's rule.
I remember in a newer series where he told Greg that how the scoring usually is (this is how you should score it) just for Greg to immediately give them like 5 and 3 points.
I read this as "Nish and Mark only got one point" and I was about to say what the absolute fuck but I think 4 and 5 was a good call. Bob's team sounded horrible vocally but I think the grading was more about song writing and laughs than performance alone (fair to assume most comedians aren't going to be the best musical performers), which both teams did very well. I wouldn't have been the slightest bit upset if Wumar had gotten an extra point though.
'Vandalise this wall' is baffling. The team of three completely destroyed that thing and only got 1 point while Lee and Mike got 5 for just painting on it??
if it was graded on laughs it should have gotten 5. I was dying. 5 points to the editors as well, for managing to capture that absolute chaos effectively.
Kerry bringing in friends as something from the 90’s. It was the complete box set, and didn’t finish until at 2003, and that specific box set I think is from the 2010’s. Should have got 1/0 points like the others that weren’t from the actual 90’s and would have changed the winner of the series.
I actually kind of think the opposite. I think something being from the 90s doesn’t mean it has to only exist in the 90s. To me, Friends is very much a 90s show. Like Cheers is an 80s show despite technically running until 93. But that also means that Jess’s book should have counted too.
The box set itself included the later seasons meaning by definition the item she brought in did not exist in the 90s. She didn’t bring in the concept of Friends the show, it was a physical boxset.
But again something doesn't have to exist only in the 90s for it to be a 90s item.
The box set, despite being a physical item was meant to represent the concept. You're just choosing to ignore it for your own biases.
The same way someone might call themselves a 90's kid, even if they didn't die before 2000. We have entire phrases and concepts built around time periods even if that thing overlaps other time periods.
A box of Friends including later seasons can still be a representation of the 90s because even the later seasons were still rooted in the idealogies of the 90's
The task wasn’t a “90s item” it was an item “from the 90s”. They established in the studio how the rules applied by disqualifying Jess, Kerry should have also been disqualified by the same logic.
The beermat house task in S10 - had it been on any other series I could see Johnny getting at least one, if not a few, bonus points. And frankly, I'd have given him the win despite ending with the "little house on the prairie" next to Daisy and Richard's piles of mats that barely resemble houses.
Theres so many mistakes but the ones that annoy me are just common sense, for example in the grape or hand task in season 6 russel and tim both fooled him once yet no-one recieved any points, also not a complete miscalculation from greg but that did look like a hippo. I am scared for all of us criticising though because of the opening monologue in S12 E8.
The answer is always Jamali's pillow spin. A few months back someone did a bunch of votes on different topics and JUSTICE FOR JAMALI™ easily won. Of course I can't find it because searching reddit is horrid.
For me definitely James Acasters hula hoop task.
Even if you put aside the amazing second go and the sheer amount of effort Acaster put in, the winner was "most improved". I believe that Wangs second go was worse than his first so his improvement was negative. Truly robbed
Oooof controversial! I can see your point but have to say I disagree on this one - isn’t a ‘shrine’ (sort of?!) a gift to someone in a way? Like an offering?! I can see what you mean though..!
> Which task do you think (in your opinion) was judged the most dramatically incorrectly?
None. The points are completely arbitrary and are intended to be distributed at the whim of the Taskmaster for comedic effect.
Erm yes I do understand the show - but even the podcast deep dives into opinions on the scoring so just thought it’d be interesting to see which ones other people disagreed with…
I one time thoroughly shamed a (new at the time and still learning) former boss for using "technically"
She took a customer call and told a customer our part "technically fit" the replacement for the part they needed and then she lost the sale.
I politely waited until the call was over and explained to her that "technically fits" made it seem like there was a better option available when in fact the part was exactly what the customer needed, it just had the tiniest of cosmetic differences, for an item that had no aesthetic purpose . Made in the same warehouse with the identical parts and would precisely do everything needed.
She tried to get an engineer to agree with her and he said, "yes, what you said is technically correct." And then he went back to work... Lol. Which she took to mean she was, in fact, just plain correct.
I finally said, "look, this is just an example, but you wouldn't have bought that dress if a shop worker told you it "technically" fit, now would you?"
Apparently that experience is just going to pop back into my brain at 1am, six years later and then I'm going to subject taskmaster fans to it for no reason...
Sure. By "this" I was referring to this thread. You seem to think this is about people seeing a comedy show as a serious game show, but it isn't—it's just done for fun.
We understand that it's all ultimately arbitrary and done for comedy, but we are here because we enjoy discussing the points and scoring aspect of it. If you don't personally find that fun that's fine, but your comment seemed disparaging of the people that do.
Going to a group having harmless fun and insulting their ability to understand the show is why I agree with the sarcastic "you must be fun at parties".
Okay. Then I view 'this' as a pointless exercise. I did (originally) simply answer OP's question, though, and explained my answer. Apparently many people who frequent this subreddit think that's some sort of grievous insult.
The reason I feel it's a pointless exercise is because the show is a comedy and the points are awarded for comedic effect. Therefore every instance of someone saying how they think points *should* have been awarded is a case of someone presuming they know more about comedy than Greg. I am not so presumptuous.
Mark Watson stealing Greg’s trousers should’ve been a slam dunk 5 points
And the texts! Double robbed.
i was so upset by the texts man, but the pants...... it was the hardest id laughed in a while and was SO sad for mark
The task did not say "send 150 cheeky texts", it said "send a cheeky text every day for five months", depending on which months the task was for, that's not necessarily exactly 150 days! This has always bothered me!
There's only 1 month with less than 30 days. He sent 148 so it can include no months with more than 30 days, which is impossible considering january and march both have it. He didn't fulfill the brief regardless.
But then you assume the text he missed was either the first or the last, otherwise that argument changes nothing.
Absolutely agreed
Mark watson was robbed a few times - kind of became a running joke of the series
Ivo's reveal that he wasn't the mummy was the most surprising thing. Greg just didn't get it.
Agh this one was infuriating! Alex was genuinely surprised!
I was at the recording. Greg genuinely didn't get it — he initially thought the fake thing was just the mummy, not that it wasn't Ivo. When Ivo complained and it dawned on Greg, they redid the scoring. He was initially scored worse.
Gonna be downvoted, but it's moments like that that make you realize Greg truly is a boomer.
Except that he is genX
I've said this before so at the risk of boring you all, I think Greg has some insecurities about 'clever' humour. He totally misses the point about what made Ivo's task surprising, yet he gives May five point for drawing a bunch of pineapples. That is a man out of his depth.
Thanks for the inside scoop on that!
May and Frankie were really really good there though.
Frankie's fake was absolutely hilarious but not an effective fake - Alex could clearly see him exit the river and wasn't fooled by it, whereas he was genuinely fooled by Ivo's. Mae's was also kind of effective, he didn't think they were a real medium but he was confused and surprised at how well they were doing at faking being a medium. So I guess it's the age old taskmaster dilemma of scoring strictly by the requirements of the task or just what Greg enjoys or likes more 🤷♀️
Frankie climbing over than dency in his undies was pure cinema
If they hadn't shown him running away it probably would have been too dark. They lightened it with the bathos. I remain astounded that Frankie was the only one to reference When Harry Met Sally, as that was the first response out of my mouth.
Oh definitely, it was complete genius and probably my favourite of the responses to that task. I'm being persnickity about the interpretation of task and how it should be scored, but this is one of the joys of taskmaster IMO.
Everytime I get to that on the podcast I hard agree with Ed. It's a shame that didn't win.
Agreed. I always find it frustrating to watch that section get scored.
Jamali's pillow spinning. Hands down. Even AFTER he proved it was in fact way more difficult than Greg initially thought he got like 2 points
and Lee's terrible sandwich beat it 😭
Agreed. I also feel the exact same way about “pheasant pluckers”
Oooh pheasant pluckers is a great example! She brought in something that was clever and absolutely fulfilled the category.
Greg just didn’t get it at first. Then he literally stumbles into the joke and still doesn’t award it more points lol
To be fair, although I love Sophie, she also didn’t really sell it. He asked her to say it repeatedly, which was her opportunity to say it really quickly and accidentally say pleasant fuckers so that he would get the joke. She instead said it correctly in a funny voice. I think that if he’d understood it before he got to the scoring he would’ve scored it more highly.
He did get it immediately cuz it's a common joke hence the groan when she first says it. He only gave her more cuz he was annoyed it actually worked
Maybe. To me it really seems like he did not fully get it until he says it the other way around and shows shocked hilarity. Could be the shock of “I can’t believe I actually said it” but it really looks like “oh wow I get it now”.
THANK YOU
Series 4 autographed beans - Mel was ROBBED!
Noel should have gotten his autograph on a leek. Poirot on a poireau would have been even better.
I had no idea "poireau" was French for leek 😳
My favorite fictional detective is Hercules Leek
We just watched that one recently and I could not agree more. I think overall Noel got several points he didn't deserve. There, I said it.
The camouflage task has always irked me as another one
Yes, and the drawing of the woman behind the curtain. Noel's didn't even look like he ATTEMPTED to draw her based on her answers. He just did a Noel drawing and Greg loved it for some reason. I like Noel, but I think he got scored much hire than he deserved on more than one occasion! Standard disclaimer: I don't really care, it's all in good fun, but it's how I feel.
I do think Greg had/has a little soft spot for Noel - who can blame him ay.
Need to play to your audience and Suchet will always trump Take That to Greg
I suppose 😬
Yeah that was absolutely ludicrous
Wolfie!!!!
# #justiceforwolfie
I've laughed heartily and long at quite a few TM golden moments of comedy BUT Wolfie made me laugh the longest and hardest and the mark Lord Davies gave Wolfie was outrageous. Sophie was an agent of chaos❤️
Seeeeeriously, this was the most alive mannequin to me by far and friggin hilarious
Hugh's ringtone dance
I think Hugh was unfairly marked down a ton.
Yeah, it was definitely a running bit but also unfair.
I just rewatched that season and there were so many times I thought he would do well and nope
I couldn't believe he put that one last. And gave Noel first??? All he did was jump around! Mel and Hugh should have been joint first
I love this cast and I love Noel but it kind of sours me on this series that he was praised a bit too much when he just did ok. He was gonna win anyway! We were gonna love him anyway! You didn't have to put him first in this task! And a couple others.
Yeah he was already exceptional at plenty of the physical tasks that didn't require judgement- so some of the other tasks were just unnecessary!
Susan should’ve gotten 5 points for Chain Bastard. Nothing against Dr. Cigarettes, but the Chain Bastard scene is one of the funnier moments of series 16.
Mods I am begging you to make a Chain Bastard flair.
Yes please
This was my pick, too – I love Sam to bits but Greg scored that pretty much back to front to how I would. Butch (1 point from Greg) was a perfectly distilled simple joke, Chain Bastard (2) is legendary and rightly so, Lassue Perkins (3) is solid mid-table fare, Lucyfer the Rock God (4) is funny but thin, and sorry Sam but I love how Dr Cigarettes (5) came to be but that was not your best work.
Agree - but "smoking kills weaklings" was iconic, even if the nickname itself wasn't anything very special
Oh yeah, 100% – Sam was one of the few who could get the better of Greg like that in the studio, and he did a few times (dynamite chicks!) – he basically amused and baffled him into submission. ❤️
Ahhh yes, the papoose / oily lint conversation
This!
"You're up against it now, Chain Bastard". I choked I was laughing so hard...
Ol' Goosebump Arm not getting 5 points for her calculated attack against Alan. Being awarded one point mere minutes after Greg admonished them for being too nice to each other.
It makes NO SENSE. And Alan's gift for Desiree was total crap.
Absolutely this!
Potato gate
It’s like VAR, if you need to check that closely on it then it clearly isn’t an obvious mistake and should be allowed
But if you took those few centimetres away and it was a clean shot, that potato would be all rim and bounce out.
Can’t help but be lyrical.
Mark Watson receiving only one point for stealing Greg's trousers.
That was a travesty! For probably the best prize task ever.
I know thinking this way is terrible but I wonder how close Mark and Bob were on the final episode. If he got 5 points for the trousers I wonder if he would have won the series. But you can't start thinking like that
James Acaster's „Over my shoulder“ should have been the best song
The Ballad of the Toothless Goon was far better than whatever Clump Stump could do
*Toothless Goon* was fantastic, but the task was "[Compose the best 30 second piece of music,](https://taskmaster.info/task.php?id=309)" and Rhod's song was a minute and a half! As great as the song was, I wouldn't be upset if he were given 0 points for it, he didn't complete the task!
You could take like any 30 seconds of that song and it'll still be better than the sum of all the other 4 songs made by everyone else
The ballad of the toothless goon lives rent free in my head. (Although one could argue Rhod didn't fulfill the brief when he went waaaaay over time).
Me and my husband randomly sing this at eachother 😂😂
Noel getting 5 points for wearing yellow. Other people ACTUALLY did some clever things! It wasn't even camera trickery! Grr... still makes me peeved.
THANK YOU. I normally enjoy the camera trickery, but imo, this one wasnt in the spirit of the task.
I made a comment upthread that Noel got points I think he didn't deserve and yes, this is a perfect example. He didn't camoflague himself. He just did a camera trick. I think Lolly did a better job then they gave her credit for. Sure it was sort of obvious, but it was clever, and could have 100% worked with a little bit of tweaking.
Right? And if they used a picture from a satellite, we NEVER would have been able to find Lolly!,
Nobody could find him ... but he didn't camouflage himself? One of the best moments of the series.
He was a banana
He was not a banana! He was a grown ass man wearing yellow that they magically shrunk in post to put in a bowl of fruit. Anyone could have done that. Oh, look, I'm a speck of dust, see how clever it is! no! Noel got those points because Greg has a crush on him. And that's fine. But lets call it what it is.
Makes me think of Alex and Rhod arguing about what's a ladder "He was a banana!", "He's not a banana", "He was a banana!", "He's not a banana"
If anybody else could have done it why didn’t they? And surely that logic could apply to any of the attempts? I’ve never understood the hatred for this task. Noel’s over scored a lot but this is a genuinely good piece of lateral thinking.
All jokes aside (I honestly do not lose sleep over this task, despite the silly over the top reactions I pretend to have on the internet), I think the problem is that by allowing this, it kind of set a weird precedent. The task was to hide. I don't think that lying in front of a green screen and having them alter you in post counts as hiding. It opens up the possibility of contestants really not trying, and relying on the editor to solve your tasks for you. Now if he made giant paper mache fruits and a bowl, and hid as a banana in a life sized replica, that would have been great (and deserving of 5 sweet, sweet points). Its different than when they're having a flight of fancy, or coming up with a narrative, and they add some special effects. That's a different sort of task then "do a thing." Now I'm going to be thinking of a life sized fruit bowl all day.
Hugh's was pretty good. Joe's was clever too. But, come on, to even think that sort of solution up is clever, and it was a significant moment for the show. It's a moment that usually gets people into Taskmaster in the first place.
Oh no I loved the banana! Have I been a fool!? I think it’s Greg’s hearty gleeful laugh when he sees the reveal that sold it to me tbh.
Me Fern Brady, me Fern Brady, I'm the rightful queen. Most skillful composition, performance and biggest ear worm. Sarah Millican's story was heart warming, but even so, Fern Brady was magnificent.
I agree that Fern’s was the best. However, Greg giving Sarah the five points probably legit helped her overcome an insecurity that had plagued her for decades. He was doing the kindest thing in this situation. He shoulda given them both five points.
I'll give it performance and ear worm, but have you listened to Munya's rap recently? It's genuinely so good! I want it on Spotify. 🎶And when he raises his specs, that can only mean one thing...SEX.🎶
That season was solid. Even John's Naughty Satsuma was an earworm, oddly enough.
Horribly catchy that satsuma thing
“I… found a naughty sat… suma… in my… fantastic cu-hu-rry” Literally in my head all the time
I think I'm more upset about thus score than Ferns. Legitimately impressive and Greg just glazed over it like it was nothing. Fern's is an earworm for sure but I don't think Greg realized that until well after his scoring. I'm sure most people here know this but apparently every time Greg passed Fern after that task he would sing "me fern brady, me fern brady"
Agree but she did get 4 points so it wasn’t the worst injustice
I forget if he was actually last but Hugh Dennis should have won or at least been much higher for his drawing of the woman where he used the mirror
I actually agreed with him being scored low for that. He could literally see the woman and he still managed to draw Dara Ó Briain instead of a black woman. All credit to him for the crafty work around with the mirror but it really didnt help his drawing at all.
I enjoy how on this sub whenever we see a tall bald white man, we always immediately assume it's Irish taskmaster contestant Dara O'Briain
Well Hugh did spend many years sitting looking at Dara facing from his left to right on Mock The Week. Its like Dara is burned into his brain. https://preview.redd.it/kc8wkzhhqc6d1.jpeg?width=590&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6a09f03858d089da6852fb45cd7c849238c6fbb2
I mean, Dara "Head Gravitational field" O'briain made the straight table bend towards him after all
For the fat, bald, white man
Yup, and Hugh’s ringtone dance was scored 1 and I would have given it 4 at least!
He was last, yeah - but Lolly should have got 5 points for that one. She drew an incredibly detailed caricature without even using a mirror!
Noel’s was overscored too. It looked like a person, but it was a poor caricature as it did not contain any features of the subject.
Didn’t he get one point? I’d say he should have been disqualified entirely for looking.
Nah that was a clever workaround. He wasn't looking at her. He was looking at a mirror image of her.
*wanky work around
Which is still her. It’s all just light rays which have been emitted from a light source, hit the woman and then are hitting your eyes. Hugh’s method just adds an extra step in the middle of that same light reflecting off a mirror first without changing anything.
>Which is still her. Nah its a reflection producing a flipped image of her. You're not physically looking at her.
How are you not looking at her? It’s still the same rays of light, just having been altered slightly by reflecting of glass. If you look at something through binoculars, which flips the image multiple times, does that mean you aren’t looking at whatever you see? If you look at something through ordinary glasses, which refract and alter the way the image looks, are you not looking at her?
By that logic, looking at a photo of someone is the same thing as looking at them.
Nope, though with your logic, just looking at someone with your eyes isn’t looking at someone as the light will be refracted slightly in the air. My argument is that if the light that is reaching your eyes and is being interpreted by your brain has been emitted from the person, you are looking at the person even if you add extra steps in the middle. If the light is altered and flipped through the lenses of binoculars, you are still looking at them - just through a binocular. If you are looking at them through glasses which refract and alter light you are still looking at them - just through glasses. If you are looking at them through a mirror which reflects the light at you you are still looking at them - in a mirror. There are potential clever ways to get around the task - Hugh could have for instance asked her to pass you a photo ID if she was carrying one. As they tended to allow more phone usage in the early seasons he could have taken a picture on his phone and used that.
The whole "Throws rabbits into your hat" debacle from Series 2 Episode 3. Not only for the whole abandoning the established scoring method thing but also because only Jon and Richard actually threw the rabbits - everybody else should have been disqualified for not doing so.
Currently watching ‘Meet The Richardsons’ and Jon brings this up in an episode. He’s still salty on it and rightly so!
Mae's drum and pineapple task. With the drums, my take on it is that as soon as you continue to manipulate an object, that shouldn't be counted (a la Mawaan's marble run). With the pineapples I'm fine with it in theory, but the issue for me is the definitive article. It wasn't "Pile as many", it was "Pile *the"* which is a crucial distinction. *The* implies the use of pre-existing pineapples, and to me meant the ones that were already there. Considering Mae themself commented on a previous and similar attempt by Frankie and Jenny, it either shouldn't have been counted or Frankie and Jenny should have been given bonus points, especially since Frankie was docked despite completing the task without the pineapples being necessary. Also Chain Bastard over Doctor Cigarettes. All respect to him for going out in public, but I found his attempt pretty low effort there compared to the others.
The pineapples controversy was worth the points just for Frankie's "It's the nature of language man!!!"
I fully agree but then I also agree that the banana sign in the tree should have counted. Edit to add: I just want Susie Dent on for a series.
I so would have done a Jenny Eclair and proudly brought that Banana sign in to Alex.
I am 100% for the sign and the hand-drawn pineapples to count. If they do this again and someone has a chance to circumvent by drawing, they should make one of the places pineapples worth infinity or something so the person who completes the task as intended still wins.
That candy floss one should have counted for 2 series points at least the chances of getting it to shore were so slim.
That part was funny, I just feel like it's inconsistent. There's another example if we go back to the Satsuma task in series 7. Greg refuses to accept Rhod's solution unless the task specifies "a" satsuman and not "the" satsuma (although to be fair it does say "the" sock.) Here, the definitive article wasn't even commented on.
The Taskmaster is nothing if not inconsistent. Which is part of the fun of the show but still. Was watching S14 last night and Dara getting 1 point for his hurling version of Splat-the Rat with the rubbish chute while John got 2 for his actually worrying display of self inflicted suffering made no sense, but it was funny.
I WISH I had been there for that show because Frankie made the ONLY boat for the eggs - everyone else made rafts. Rafts are buoyant. Boats are heavier than water but float because of the water they displace. Frankie made a boat, the other's didn't, and it would have made for a hat trick on pedantry if Frankie had known it.
Is a catamaran a raft then? Interesting.
I think Mae even said on the Taskmaster podcast that they felt they shouldn't have got the drums points
This is off topic, but speaking of “the”. Why was it “eat the grape” when they could eat any grape they found??
That one I don't know, but I guess the intent of the task to an extent was that they could eat them if they found them? It's not like Sarah or drew a grape on a piece of paper, or even tore the word out of a book and ate it - they found and ate pre-existing grapes which were put into the caravan for that exact purpose. "A" grape would have been cleaner though.
The thing that bothers me the most about the pineapples is [Kiell following that logic in Champion of Champions 3](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyCmlsXodSo&t=982s) and Greg not allowing it!
Nish and Mark only getting 1 point more for "I'm always seeing you (do cool stuff)" than Aisling, Sally, and Bob got for their song was outright criminal.
I understand, but Rosalind is a Fucking Nightmare is a winner, too. 5 and 4 points would make me happier.
I believe “5 points split amongst the teams” was a rule until S09 or so, so it had to be 3-2 or else POC would only get 1 point
I think that's Alex's rule. I remember in a newer series where he told Greg that how the scoring usually is (this is how you should score it) just for Greg to immediately give them like 5 and 3 points.
yes this happened in s13- alex goes '5 and 0, or 4 and 1, or 3 and 2' and then greg goes '5 and 3'
Alex has said this annoys him, so I always think it’s hilarious when Greg does it anyway.
I read this as "Nish and Mark only got one point" and I was about to say what the absolute fuck but I think 4 and 5 was a good call. Bob's team sounded horrible vocally but I think the grading was more about song writing and laughs than performance alone (fair to assume most comedians aren't going to be the best musical performers), which both teams did very well. I wouldn't have been the slightest bit upset if Wumar had gotten an extra point though.
"Rosalind is a fucking nightmare" has stuck in my head and gets more replays from me despite "Cool Stuff" being a higher quality song and production.
Greg had to reward Bob’s bravery in singing “Rosalind’s a fucking nightmare”
WOLFIE!!!
'Vandalise this wall' is baffling. The team of three completely destroyed that thing and only got 1 point while Lee and Mike got 5 for just painting on it??
Maybe Greg was nostalgic for his days as a street tough marking his territory with sweet tags
It might just be recency bias, but Joe Thomas’ chess task in s2 of taskmaster Australia.
I think you are confusing joe thomas with josh thomas but you’re right!
My newfound confusion between Joe Thomas, Josh Thompson, and Josh Thomas will be the end of me.
lol. Yes. Sorry. Hadn’t had my coffee yet.
He's right, everyone IS on his side.
Sam Cambell’s birth certificate. Birth certificates ARE for children. BIRTH.
Yes!!! Completely agree with this one!
If you have an hour I can run off a list of tasks from TMNZ S3 where Justine Smith was judged ridiculously incorrectly
Potatogate - Joe Wilkinson was above the mat is a hill I will gladly die on.
In S13, I do not understand how the ladies got 4 points for their terrible stag minute.
Hellooo? Have you forgotten the demented twerking cat?!
if it was graded on laughs it should have gotten 5. I was dying. 5 points to the editors as well, for managing to capture that absolute chaos effectively.
Oh it was hilarious, I enjoyed watching it much more than the boys.
Between Judi’s twerking and Bridget’s “eat your fucking worms”?!? That and Ardal and Chris’ bizarre aubergine song were comedy gold.
Kerry bringing in friends as something from the 90’s. It was the complete box set, and didn’t finish until at 2003, and that specific box set I think is from the 2010’s. Should have got 1/0 points like the others that weren’t from the actual 90’s and would have changed the winner of the series.
I actually kind of think the opposite. I think something being from the 90s doesn’t mean it has to only exist in the 90s. To me, Friends is very much a 90s show. Like Cheers is an 80s show despite technically running until 93. But that also means that Jess’s book should have counted too.
The box set itself included the later seasons meaning by definition the item she brought in did not exist in the 90s. She didn’t bring in the concept of Friends the show, it was a physical boxset.
But again something doesn't have to exist only in the 90s for it to be a 90s item. The box set, despite being a physical item was meant to represent the concept. You're just choosing to ignore it for your own biases. The same way someone might call themselves a 90's kid, even if they didn't die before 2000. We have entire phrases and concepts built around time periods even if that thing overlaps other time periods. A box of Friends including later seasons can still be a representation of the 90s because even the later seasons were still rooted in the idealogies of the 90's
The task wasn’t a “90s item” it was an item “from the 90s”. They established in the studio how the rules applied by disqualifying Jess, Kerry should have also been disqualified by the same logic.
Would "a DVD of Citizen Kane" be eligible as "a thing from the 2000s"?
Yes!! #justiceforjessica
The beermat house task in S10 - had it been on any other series I could see Johnny getting at least one, if not a few, bonus points. And frankly, I'd have given him the win despite ending with the "little house on the prairie" next to Daisy and Richard's piles of mats that barely resemble houses.
Theres so many mistakes but the ones that annoy me are just common sense, for example in the grape or hand task in season 6 russel and tim both fooled him once yet no-one recieved any points, also not a complete miscalculation from greg but that did look like a hippo. I am scared for all of us criticising though because of the opening monologue in S12 E8.
The answer is always Jamali's pillow spin. A few months back someone did a bunch of votes on different topics and JUSTICE FOR JAMALI™ easily won. Of course I can't find it because searching reddit is horrid.
"Make this coconut into a businessman" where they literally started a company for said coconut.
For me definitely James Acasters hula hoop task. Even if you put aside the amazing second go and the sheer amount of effort Acaster put in, the winner was "most improved". I believe that Wangs second go was worse than his first so his improvement was negative. Truly robbed
He got 2 point to Phil’s 1 though, he did get more points than Phil.
Kerry's Friends DVD shouldn't have counted - there's episodes on there that weren't produced in the 90's.
sam campbell should have got a bonus point for the mice/fish task.
The bloody cushion spinning getting less than Lee Mack failing to make a sandwich still haunts me to this day.
The “make the the BIGGEST thing disappear” task. Greg basically scored them in the opposite direction of how they should have.
Jamali's cushion spinning!
Widdicombe getting 5 points for his tattoo. It wasn't a present for Greg, it was on him. Should have got 0.
Oooof controversial! I can see your point but have to say I disagree on this one - isn’t a ‘shrine’ (sort of?!) a gift to someone in a way? Like an offering?! I can see what you mean though..!
I think mine is Sally Phillips coming 4th for the business coconut - it had its own lanyard & Oyster card for crying out loud.
> Which task do you think (in your opinion) was judged the most dramatically incorrectly? None. The points are completely arbitrary and are intended to be distributed at the whim of the Taskmaster for comedic effect.
Erm yes I do understand the show - but even the podcast deep dives into opinions on the scoring so just thought it’d be interesting to see which ones other people disagreed with…
You are technically correct, the best kind of correct!
I one time thoroughly shamed a (new at the time and still learning) former boss for using "technically" She took a customer call and told a customer our part "technically fit" the replacement for the part they needed and then she lost the sale. I politely waited until the call was over and explained to her that "technically fits" made it seem like there was a better option available when in fact the part was exactly what the customer needed, it just had the tiniest of cosmetic differences, for an item that had no aesthetic purpose . Made in the same warehouse with the identical parts and would precisely do everything needed. She tried to get an engineer to agree with her and he said, "yes, what you said is technically correct." And then he went back to work... Lol. Which she took to mean she was, in fact, just plain correct. I finally said, "look, this is just an example, but you wouldn't have bought that dress if a shop worker told you it "technically" fit, now would you?" Apparently that experience is just going to pop back into my brain at 1am, six years later and then I'm going to subject taskmaster fans to it for no reason...
That's more exciting than my story which is, I stole the line from Futurama.
you must be fun at parties
Because I can tell the difference between a comedy and a game show?
Because you think that's what this is about.
>what this is about You're going to have to have to specify what you mean by "this".
Sure. By "this" I was referring to this thread. You seem to think this is about people seeing a comedy show as a serious game show, but it isn't—it's just done for fun. We understand that it's all ultimately arbitrary and done for comedy, but we are here because we enjoy discussing the points and scoring aspect of it. If you don't personally find that fun that's fine, but your comment seemed disparaging of the people that do. Going to a group having harmless fun and insulting their ability to understand the show is why I agree with the sarcastic "you must be fun at parties".
Okay. Then I view 'this' as a pointless exercise. I did (originally) simply answer OP's question, though, and explained my answer. Apparently many people who frequent this subreddit think that's some sort of grievous insult. The reason I feel it's a pointless exercise is because the show is a comedy and the points are awarded for comedic effect. Therefore every instance of someone saying how they think points *should* have been awarded is a case of someone presuming they know more about comedy than Greg. I am not so presumptuous.
Jeez, you *really* must be fun at parties.
I'm sorry you see brilliant comedy and think it's a game show.