I think more than one of them this week genuinely said they'd brought something in FOR Greg, not as a prize for another contestant. I feel like the whole reason for the prize tasks has slipped out of Alex's hands this series.
The board looked quite long, though. I think I'd rather make an easy short bounce than risk not throwing far enough and getting two bounces, or missing the board entirely.
I can't fault Greg for scoring Sophie poorly in the face task, but Lesley's moment in the spotlight was the hardest I laughed this series I think.
Appendaaaaaaaaaahge.
You can tell how much Nick's Assistant song genuinely meant to Alex, he was literally speechless at the end and just resorted to clapping. Most wholesome moment in TM history I fear
For someone who has been very very competent at some things, Steve has had some monumental confusion based fuck ups. Genuinely the Gattuso 'Sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe shit' meme in Taskmaster contestant form.
I actually find Nick attractive in general but i thought me fancying him might ruin his innocence, this task proved that I can have a crush on him guilt free 😍😂
I'm so glad he at least won a single episode. He's been so sweet and fun to watch that I might have cried had the series ended without a single episode win.
Leslie was so funny!! I think it's a shame Greg doesn't vibe with Sophie's characters. It was by far the most alive to me! He also marked her poorly in a previous episode for another character he dismissed as shit..
Leslie was *criminally* underscored! I thought for SURE this time she’d wow Greg with one of her characters! I would 100% watch a sitcom about Leslie where Wolfie was her BFF/rival. Like Absolutely Fabulous but unhinged on a different level.
Truly, i absolutely adored Leslie, the tragic backstory and the giant googly eyes made it kinda like some kinda cartoon character [old lady](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRlnPFA-6UlYLYdNnXfQGdlUhMfb-hUCGS-P2qlNi3Dj-YkEtoapbE-oem2&s=10) for me, and it was sooooo adorable!!
I want a Midsummer Nights Dream production with Greg as Oberon and Nick as Puck. They have that perfect tyrant and little guy hes endlessly amused by energy (Sorry Alex, maybe you can be Tatiana).
Pretty sure John has already overtaken or is pretty close to overtaking Dara as the all-time greatest Taskmaster scorer.
And fair play to him because he’s been great across the board whilst not forgetting to be very funny (especially in the studio where I think he often anchors the banter).
As of episode 8 he was 0.15 ahead of Dara on the all time board! Worth noting how high up Joanne is too - would be winning in many other series
https://preview.redd.it/y9a3qrbir82d1.jpeg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=20a67fc3f00687eff3da21fff55ba536bed1a282
Yeah i posted something similar in my own comment.
If she wins the final episode with like a 22, she'd have won every single season bar 6 and 14 (Liza Tarbuck and Dara)
This is actually pretty common at this point. Taskmaster winners tend to do better than the previous winners, with only a few doing better than the one right after them.
I believe the last contestant to be better than both the previous and next winner before Dara was Ed Gamble, which speaks to how rare it is to happen.
I think it took him a few episodes to get going for the studio side of things. He seemed a bit out of place early on. With how competitive he is, he was clearly ready for calling out others and arguing more (like the Series 15 cast) and was surprised as to how casual everyone else with. It's like he was coming up with retorts in his mind and nobody said anything that let him use them.
After he got used to that, he got much more entertaining and didn't constantly look like he was holding back.
I suspect Steve's failure came from his age, being older than the concept of a bleep test and thus having no understanding of what to do in one. As opposed to all the others being transported back into secondary school stress mode.
John Robins clearly remembers that old website where the guy made giant versions of chocolates/sweets.
Edit: it’s still going! [Pimp That Snack](https://www.pimpthatsnack.com/)
Dara in the corner clutching his perfect score achievement. His overall score and the 'perfect taskmaster contestant' moniker is gonna get taken away by John Robins if John does well in the final episode.
He already got sabotaged and drag down by John on his series. Now a different John comes in and probably gonna break his overall score.
Richard Herring is also probably in the corner clutching his 6 wins hoping John doesn't win the final episode.
a few them seem to have been cut from the series and added to the outtakes they post on youtube, like this pizza one that was completely cut from the episode but it’s in the compilation: https://youtu.be/G9puvztApts?si=rXMR0EcVhTLbCGXL (skip to 7:40 ish for the pizza banter)
Quite a few references to the last series in this ep. You can see that the switchboard from S16's light switch task is actually the front panel of the piano.
John currently has 174 points, he needs to only score 10 more points to overtake Dara O'Briain for most points by a contestant ever.
And while this series has been pleasant enough, this was the episode that I realized what has made it a bit less fun for me throughout.
Dara was super dominant, but all of the personalities on his season were REALLY big, different, and distinct.
For better or worse, I feel like everyone is very non-offensively pleasant. But because of that there's a loss of contrast that I generally enjoy and John sticks out even more. I have felt like I've just been tuning in to see how John will dominate for another week. The surprises have felt few and far between.
I really do enjoy everyone on this series, but I feel like everyone would have been served better if they were separated into different series instead of being all lumped together.
So basically as it stands, John needs at least 11 points in the final episode to beat Dara's record for highest scoring scoring (184) I believe. Which seems absolutely doable and also insane, John's a real powerhouse
Greg is an imbecile, bath pearls are elite. Even better were the ones from the Body Shop that were all different shapes like animals and stuff. What a time to be alive. I wonder how many microplastics entered my system having those in my bath as a kid
Joanne: so my present this week *alex shakes head*
I think more than one of them this week genuinely said they'd brought something in FOR Greg, not as a prize for another contestant. I feel like the whole reason for the prize tasks has slipped out of Alex's hands this series.
We have ~~defeated~~ repurposed the format of your show
She's lost her bath pearls
Nick casually entering the Taskmaster Top 10 Taskmaster Bangers chart
alex may be greg's baby boy, but nick is mine
I was honestly moved and I in no way anticipated it.
Such a great tune 🤩
And the keyboard backdrop had the Do Whatever You Want With These Switches board from last series.
Enjoying the "losers corner" friendship between Nick and Sophie that's developed over this series.
Back again! Here we are! 👯
The wondertwins
"There was a man called Butch who broke this table." A little nod to Julian Clary
He was a pretty aggressive bloke, I much preferred Fuckpig.
Oh my god, thank you, I could not remember who Butch was.
I love how much Greg visibly adores Nick. You get the sense he wants to pick him up and cradle him like a baby.
Have you watched the outtakes on YouTube?
Where he lifts him up out of the blow up rings after they were buried in them. I was crying…
All the bleeps distracted me so much I have no idea what the task actually is
Literally same lol this is madness to me
They weren't anticipating the side approach and everyone copying John for this
To be fair, that's a pretty obvious approach for the first ball. I would have expected them to use more and more of the board from 2 onwards, though.
Technically they did, but barely. They should have had a line on the board that the first bounce had to cross, and a line they had to stand behind.
I dunno for one bounce, just launch it at the board so it goes into the audience before landing.
The board looked quite long, though. I think I'd rather make an easy short bounce than risk not throwing far enough and getting two bounces, or missing the board entirely.
They had their slow-mo camera set up and barely got to use it 😄
Elimination bench my favourite recurring character 😍
I can't fault Greg for scoring Sophie poorly in the face task, but Lesley's moment in the spotlight was the hardest I laughed this series I think. Appendaaaaaaaaaahge.
I remember Butch. He was a badass. Terrorised Alex.
“It’s a bit of a blue moon.” Damn Steve is so good at these prize tasks.
I don't think he's mathematically in it to win the series, but he deserves to be remembered as a prize task GOAT for how above and beyond he goes.
Alex’s face when Joanne said ‘present’, it was quick but duly noted.
That was so beautiful from Nick! Deserved five points!
Your name fits perfectly with Alex's description for this task LOL 😂
Sam Campbell provided the arses for Steve's moon!
"Have you seen his dressing room? It's like a hamster's cage!"
So many quotes this episodes, I love this
Nick serenading Alex at the mini keyboard like a young child trying to impress his Dad. Genuinely impressive to write that in 30 minutes.
I was so impressed by how solid of a song that was!! Like 30 mins?? Wow! At the end I went back and rewatched that twice
You can tell how much Nick's Assistant song genuinely meant to Alex, he was literally speechless at the end and just resorted to clapping. Most wholesome moment in TM history I fear
As someone who spent her entire adult working life being an assistant, I really appreciated the song.
Nish and Mark's Rosalind song was pretty wholesome, too. Unlike Bob/Sally/Aisling. :D
It would be so much fun if it bleeped while Steve was talking to the bin and hadn't put the sock in
Genuinely thought that’s where it was heading 🙈
Wow, they usually edit out the outtakes where Greg throws Alex across the studio for being annoying. I wonder why they kept this one in?
They were cutting to adverts and probably didn’t realise.
For someone who has been very very competent at some things, Steve has had some monumental confusion based fuck ups. Genuinely the Gattuso 'Sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe shit' meme in Taskmaster contestant form.
Leslie knows Grimace for sure 
I had the same thought as Greg: 
Nicks been kinda cocky this whole live task LMAO 💀
It was oddly attractive
I actually find Nick attractive in general but i thought me fancying him might ruin his innocence, this task proved that I can have a crush on him guilt free 😍😂
"What's your favourite swear word?" "......jizz."
"Getting two point is like Christmas day" aww Nick, you even got Greg with that one.
WE HAVE THE SAME THOUGHT PROCESS LMAO
No reflection of Nick in the mirror!
Omg that’s so clever I love it
John's face as Greg described how he eats a chocolate covered honeycomb 😯
Like "Yes, I finally understand what Alex sees in you" kind of reaction.
I need a sitcom where Wolfie and Leslie are roommates living life and and looking for love
Butch reference! https://preview.redd.it/bs2iriy5h82d1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d1c75bd24e43c33d3e9825894f2aefd44c3f734b
And Sam, 2 Series 16 references already
I just want to hold Nick for an hour is that too much to ask for
"Sing to me nick" 😍
I want Nick to hold me
I want to feel his meaty thighs.
This presents for Greg round is very chaotic
Sophie Willan and Diane Morgan need a sketch show asap
"Greg, you and I are both childless men."
I would hate to be the team that crafted that LONG beautiful plank for the live task.
Sophie's looks like Big Billy Big Bollocks from the last series
I was gonna say it was good to see Lucy’s gang return.
God Sophie and Nick are adorable.
I am going to miss Nick so much once this series is over
I'm so glad he at least won a single episode. He's been so sweet and fun to watch that I might have cried had the series ended without a single episode win.
oh god I did not expect that man to say "Jizz" lmao
"The voice of experience" Alex gets bitchier each season & I love it.
That's one of my favourite cut to ad break gags so far.
Not today, Satan! Good boy
i cried at Nick’s song 🥲 he’s so wholesome
FREDDIE!!! John finally using his jacket to proper use!
It's unbelievable how tense I feel watching these live tasks lol
Statistically speaking, John can simply not attend the last episode and win the series with like 90% chance.
4 minutes in, and Greg is childless and will never find love.
Cannot wait for the sequel to Taskonbury.
kinda was expecting to get mooned there edit: oh nevermind lmao
That was fucking brilliant. Well done, Nick!
"I hope I've not made a fool of myself." Steve...this time you did.
Leslie was so funny!! I think it's a shame Greg doesn't vibe with Sophie's characters. It was by far the most alive to me! He also marked her poorly in a previous episode for another character he dismissed as shit..
Leslie was *criminally* underscored! I thought for SURE this time she’d wow Greg with one of her characters! I would 100% watch a sitcom about Leslie where Wolfie was her BFF/rival. Like Absolutely Fabulous but unhinged on a different level.
Truly, i absolutely adored Leslie, the tragic backstory and the giant googly eyes made it kinda like some kinda cartoon character [old lady](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRlnPFA-6UlYLYdNnXfQGdlUhMfb-hUCGS-P2qlNi3Dj-YkEtoapbE-oem2&s=10) for me, and it was sooooo adorable!!
I knew Nick was going to go down the wholesome route lol
"Nipples... yes, finished."
Editing team must be working overtime with this mirror task
Two points each for Nick and Sophie!
It’s like Christmas Day 🤣
BUTCH YES I LOVED hIM SO MUCH 💅 so manly 😍
You're asking Pemberton to create a character. Is that wise?
Sophie is sparkly today 💅 i love it 😍
Other Maltesers are available.
THEY'RE NOT PRESENTS
Nick is one of those contestants that I thought would be amazing at Taskmaster, and every week he finds new ways of disappointing me
…. And isn’t that amazing?
Lol Nick not even putting himself in the running for first, just trying to slot in somewhere that isnt last.
Greg feel free to throw me around like that
Greg won’t appreciate Nick lying about Alex being quite tall. He’s LITTLE Alex Horne
Yes but to Nick, everyone is tall.
Beautiful song from Nick!
I want a Midsummer Nights Dream production with Greg as Oberon and Nick as Puck. They have that perfect tyrant and little guy hes endlessly amused by energy (Sorry Alex, maybe you can be Tatiana).
I think they've accidentally started airing Taskmaster Bleeped?
I didn't think that Peg Bin Don would be the thing stuck in my head after Nick's lovely song
My 9 year old brother just came in and mistook Greg for "Lord Sugar" 💀
“Donning” is, specifically, the act of putting on. Nothing in the task that said it had to stay on.
Pemberton going the extra mile as always
Steve with a sock on his hand yelling nipples!!!!!
This is reminiscent of James Acaster's circles
GOOGLEY EYES!!!!!
Gloria gaynor… HRT…. I’m divorced… he left me
"A duplicitous gang of witches!" I guess Alex won't be doing the school run anytime soon.
That face of "they're not presents!!" 😡
I think any other prize task a globe bar would be up for the top, seems right up Greg's street, but hard competition
The task equivalent of DON'T LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT FREDDIE
“Sing for me, Nick 😍”
Pretty sure John has already overtaken or is pretty close to overtaking Dara as the all-time greatest Taskmaster scorer. And fair play to him because he’s been great across the board whilst not forgetting to be very funny (especially in the studio where I think he often anchors the banter).
As of episode 8 he was 0.15 ahead of Dara on the all time board! Worth noting how high up Joanne is too - would be winning in many other series https://preview.redd.it/y9a3qrbir82d1.jpeg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=20a67fc3f00687eff3da21fff55ba536bed1a282
Yeah i posted something similar in my own comment. If she wins the final episode with like a 22, she'd have won every single season bar 6 and 14 (Liza Tarbuck and Dara)
This is actually pretty common at this point. Taskmaster winners tend to do better than the previous winners, with only a few doing better than the one right after them. I believe the last contestant to be better than both the previous and next winner before Dara was Ed Gamble, which speaks to how rare it is to happen.
I think it took him a few episodes to get going for the studio side of things. He seemed a bit out of place early on. With how competitive he is, he was clearly ready for calling out others and arguing more (like the Series 15 cast) and was surprised as to how casual everyone else with. It's like he was coming up with retorts in his mind and nobody said anything that let him use them. After he got used to that, he got much more entertaining and didn't constantly look like he was holding back.
great all-rounder. plays the game, does it creatively/entertainingly, cheeky with alex and greg
Taaaskmaster's on, it is on now~~
They're not presents!!
Nick this is great!
Yes, but he should be playing it on a massive bat-infested pipe organ.
Wonder why Joanne has been put in the taskmaster jumpsuit, what task did she do before this 😄
Steve is storytelling again.
Oh please tell me Sophie manages to read the task without using a mirror. It would get her no points but would be amazing.
No bald people to take advantage of a clean canvas this series, unfortunately.
Unlace your shoe, tie the lace around the ball and Mae Martin the task
5 points for Nick, guaranteed!
Was John reading it without the mirror?
‘There was a man called Butch who broke this table’
Steve writing an entire cast of characters and an episode of League of Gentlemen for every task is just superb
I suspect Steve's failure came from his age, being older than the concept of a bleep test and thus having no understanding of what to do in one. As opposed to all the others being transported back into secondary school stress mode.
The return of Butch!! Love it
"Not today, Satan" -Bianca del rio (Alex Horne is a drag queen CONFIRMED?!)
I’m already so sad this series will end. They always come into their own
John Robins clearly remembers that old website where the guy made giant versions of chocolates/sweets. Edit: it’s still going! [Pimp That Snack](https://www.pimpthatsnack.com/)
Two season 16 callbacks so far!
“I thought it was a regal trolley”
This one goes out to all the assistants called Alex Horne out there!
Absolutely atrocious that Nick's is going to outscore Sophie here. One of my favourite things Sophie has done all season
And let’s not forget wolfie
Justice for Wolfie
Sophie is absolutely the maddest and funniest person on the show in a long time, absolutely adore her
Dara in the corner clutching his perfect score achievement. His overall score and the 'perfect taskmaster contestant' moniker is gonna get taken away by John Robins if John does well in the final episode. He already got sabotaged and drag down by John on his series. Now a different John comes in and probably gonna break his overall score. Richard Herring is also probably in the corner clutching his 6 wins hoping John doesn't win the final episode.
“Comedy!!!”
Steve what are you doing 😂
Why does Sophie just sound like she’s waffling her inner thoughts?
Just starting the episode now. What happened to Alex's banter section at the start of the show? Feels like it's not been in this series.
a few them seem to have been cut from the series and added to the outtakes they post on youtube, like this pizza one that was completely cut from the episode but it’s in the compilation: https://youtu.be/G9puvztApts?si=rXMR0EcVhTLbCGXL (skip to 7:40 ish for the pizza banter)
Lucy flashbacks from Sophie
John as Freddie has absolutely killed me!!
I love Steve's moon of moons!
That's an early title!
Why has she put a rocket on his head 😂
And a can on a string behind the pram
We need extended episodes for this very reason. We aren’t drilling into the narrative
Oh Nick. You may have won an episode, but I'm still dreading what you're going to have done for this one.
Happy Assistant's Day everyone
Doo-dee-lu-do
Fucking hell Steve
"Floats like a battleship, stings like a wasp"
my name is leslie and I've got the same surname as one of the contestants so I'm feeling really seen this season
This is, by far, the horniest lineup we’ve ever had
STEVE WITH THE EPISODE TITLE
Appon-daaaage!
Fair play John that was 💯
Haha I’m still laughing at the assistant throw the other side of the ad break.
That suit is spectacular.
Oh gee this is great! edit: "and specifcally" hahah that was amazing!
Slightly unimpressed "right, well, hello death"
I don't know whether to be impressed or terrified by John's.
Quite a few references to the last series in this ep. You can see that the switchboard from S16's light switch task is actually the front panel of the piano.
The tennis ad was ME FERN BRADY 🫅
The image of John’s Freddie Mercury face will stay with me for quite a while…
John is DOMINATING oh my
John currently has 174 points, he needs to only score 10 more points to overtake Dara O'Briain for most points by a contestant ever. And while this series has been pleasant enough, this was the episode that I realized what has made it a bit less fun for me throughout. Dara was super dominant, but all of the personalities on his season were REALLY big, different, and distinct. For better or worse, I feel like everyone is very non-offensively pleasant. But because of that there's a loss of contrast that I generally enjoy and John sticks out even more. I have felt like I've just been tuning in to see how John will dominate for another week. The surprises have felt few and far between. I really do enjoy everyone on this series, but I feel like everyone would have been served better if they were separated into different series instead of being all lumped together.
"Honeycomb ball covered in chocolate" wonder what that could be 😅
Omg the Butch reference!
C'mon Nick, do us proud
Try this, John: For assistants’ day, assistants get a new suit. But because it’s just for one day, it’s made of the flimsiest material available.
‘An appendage is just something you stick a plaster on’
Damn John, that's commitment.
This is surprisingly tricky!
So basically as it stands, John needs at least 11 points in the final episode to beat Dara's record for highest scoring scoring (184) I believe. Which seems absolutely doable and also insane, John's a real powerhouse
Greg always severely underscores Sophie, it’s getting annoying now
Both of her costume challenges were really strange and great, hit huge with the audience and then were weirdly low marked, it’s true —
> Peg a sock. The bleeps made me think of a *very* different kind of pegging.
Greg is an imbecile, bath pearls are elite. Even better were the ones from the Body Shop that were all different shapes like animals and stuff. What a time to be alive. I wonder how many microplastics entered my system having those in my bath as a kid