Bob is definitely in my top 5! Utter chaos and some of his comments in the studio were hilarious. Bob and Sally owned Series 5 and 2 of my fave contestants.

 

Sian was alright, I think I’d have her a bit lower as she didn’t have the same impact for me as some of the others. Nice enough though; her psychically trying to find the pink ladies was a highlight.

 

Steve I expected to do a lot better than he did in Series 17. But then John just dominated everyone. Hope Reece Shearsmith takes part one day

The pink ladies task was hilarious :lol:

 

Yeah nobody else really got a look in during series 17, there was no stopping John as soon as Greg just started giving him 5 almost every task.

I agree too her and Joe were such an awkward team…

 

Might have to think and rank the teams as some were so much better than others :D maybe a side thread for you ;)

 

 

 

I would rank Bob Mortimer similarly I think - he's often cited as being the best ever but I was a little bit disappointed when I watched his series, maybe I was unfairly expecting too much but quite a few bits missed the mark for me.

 

Sian Gibson :wub: I loved her, but then I generally do love her regardless, Sian and Joe ended up being my favourites by a mile from their series.

I think it’s alot of studio stuff with Bob too… his riffs on the Scottish people’s piss and also his high anus always make me laugh so much

 

31. Sue Perkins [series 16]
32. Daisy May Cooper [series 10]
33. Frankie Boyle [series 15]
34. Nick Mohammed [series 17]
35. Tim Vine [series 6]

Next up, the second half of the two Sue's from series 16 drops out just before the top 30! Sue Perkins was always going to be a firm favourite going into it, but she cemented that for herself by being thoroughly entertaining and pleasant throughout all the tasks, even if she was always very methodical. One thing that always bugs me about her appearance though is that she conveniently forgot all about her appearance in Gimme, Gimme, Gimme alongside Mel as a hotel receptionist... during a hotel task. Daisy May Cooper - as has been brought up in the thread - seems to have rubbed some people up the wrong way for her treatment of the other contestant(s), but that aside I thought she was brilliantly dry in her series. The tasks, she was amazing (and is up there with the best of the token task outfits people have adopted) and she was always funny in her reactions or justifications in the studio. Alas though, her series really suffered with the COVID studio setting. I've said it before, but if you'd have told me Frankie Boyle would be in any way entertaining or redeemable on Taskmaster, I'd have laughed in your face before watching it. But on this, he was absolutely brilliant. Obviously his comedy will have been scaled back to be more appropriate for the setting, but his partnership with Ivo in the team tasks was amazing to watch, and his one-liners in the studio had me in stitches. He knew exactly what to say and when at all times. Nick Mohammed was a surprise for me too. I'd never really liked him prior to Taskmaster. He always seemed to play the really irksome character in whatever show I'd seen him in (namely The Job Lot), but here he was such an endearing personality. The vampire of the cast, he made the series in some ways. And finally, Tim Vine was yet another surprise for me. I went into series 6 knowing of him, but not expecting to find him half as entertaining as he so boldly and unapologetically was. A lot of series 6's most brilliant moments come from him (albeit there's still two contestants ahead of him in the countdown).

Frankie was such a revelation on the show. Along with a couple of others I wasn’t overly keen on him, but he was amazing on the show.

 

Him and Ivo talking in high pitched voices was so funny. Shame he never won an episode.

 

Tim is an odd one; lovely bloke and some good moments too. Liza was basically unstoppable in Series 6 (rightly so really as she was as a Queen). Him looking for the hook that was on himself is such a good moment.

 

Nick is such a lovely bloke. Him and Sophie were the standouts for Series 17.

 

And Sue! So great! ‘Portcullis!!’ Although I do agree that Mel was much better in her series. Definately one of my all time faves - but I’ll come to her when she comes up.

 

Daisy has some great moments. Her and Jonny were so funny together in the studio.

 

 

 

 

It was annoying that Frankie never won an episode, particularly when most of the time it just came down to him losing the final task in the studio after being close :lol:

 

Not long until Giedroyc makes her appearance :kink:

26. Mel Giedroyc [series 4]
27. Sarah Millican [series 14]
28. Jon Richardson [series 2]
29. Russell Howard [series 6]
30. Mawaan Rizwan [series 10]

Series 10 becomes the second series to lose all of its contestants so far, with Mawaan Rizwan just making it into the top 30. He was a revelation for me on the show; I didn't even realise while watching that he was in the most recent Children in Need special of Doctor Who, so that's had no bearing on how high up he's ended here lmao. He was so funny, had some brilliant tasks, and was just such a GENIUS (!) in the studio. A genius, Greg. I've always loved Russell Howard's sense of humour, and that came through excellently on Taskmaster. His interpretations of pretty much all of the tasks were spot on, and he always found ways to make the results so outlandish and daring (something that I find is a bit more lacking in recent series of the show - I think there's a splice between series 1-9 and 10-17 where things are just a little different with the contestants' approach). Jon Richardson cracked me up pretty much the entirety of season 2, however that was an all-round brilliant series and he had stiff competition from the one remaining contestant of that series who is yet to come. Sarah Millican... I can't lie she's one of my all-time favourite stand up comedians, so I would've anticipated she'd end up higher than she actually has (even though #27 is nothing to be sniffed at when you consider the calibre of ALL of the Taskmaster contestants), but there was something reserved about her in the tasks, I thought. But in the studio she was incredible, so I feel when you add the two together she was just as magic as ever. And finally... I feel like Mel being this low is going to disappoint some (sorry, ElectroBoy :kink:), but here she is! Such an iconic contestant, with SO many incredible moments throughout the tasks and her chemistry with Hugh Dennis in the team tasks was so great to watch (them always harking back to their uni days too was lowkey iconic). Her energy and charisma in the studio was always so endearing, and who couldn't love Mel? But sadly, she's just behind the absolute best of the best. Oh gang!

Awww Mel being 25 places too low :D I think I just enjoyed her glee at tackling all the tasks. So many iconic moments too!

 

Mawaan I hadn’t heard of when he did the show, but he is definately my fave from Series 10 - good to see him doing well overall - loved him in Juice.

 

Sarah is great and probably would’ve won any other series.

 

Russell top 30!?! I remember when Series 6 aired not really liking his energy at times in the studio and again on another forum he comes out as one not usually high placed. Oddly he has also said he didn’t enjoy seeing the tasks back on the show - sure he mentioned it on the Podcast.

 

Jon is alright… some good moments

Edited July 20, 20241 yr by ElectroBoy

Mel not top 20?!!! :drama: I wanted her to win so badly haha, even though I did really like everyone in that series.

 

Sarah Millican was lovely - I too find her stand up great so was expecting something unrealistic given she couldn't spend ages writing a script for it all... but she had that moment of real vulnerability in the studio where she was talking about the song writing task and she told Greg about her ex-partner and him essentially silencing her - you can see that there's a couple of moments during that conversation where her face gives away that she really does find it upsetting and difficult, and wonderfully Greg picked up on it instantly and did that ace part where he told the ex-partner he could f*** off :D

 

Mawaan was great in his series, I can't remember now who he was with but I definitely found him to be a highlight. Jon I do like but I can't particularly recall anything he did now... same with Russell, but I recall not wanting him to win. There aren't many contestants that I actively haven't wanted them to win, Rhod is the other obvious one for me as I found him too abrupt and I felt he used Alex too much and also played too heavily on his friendship with Greg.

Apologies both, knew that wasn't going to go down well with either of you :kink:

Apologies both, knew that wasn't going to go down well with either of you :kink:

 

:D

 

To be fair there are so many good contestants on there - I look forward to seeing the top 25!

 

I've been trying to tally up in my head who is still in - still a number i'd also rate very highly :) Its been a good read - with some shocks along the way :D

21. Frank Skinner [series 1]
22. Hugh Dennis [series 4]
23. Liza Tarbuck [series 6]
24. Judi Love [series 13]
25. John Robins [series 17]

And now for the final five that have just missed out on the top 20 (it feels CRIMINAL for Frank and Hugh in particular to be outside the top 20, but alas that's how the cookie has crumbled here). Not one but two winners appear in this section, with the most recent winner John Robins taking 25th place! John's an odd one because I do absolutely LOVE him but my only critique is that he was so obviously very favoured by Greg for pretty much the whole series. Some of the 5 points he ended up getting in tasks were side-eye worthy and it's a shame it cost the others, but that's for another time. You could tell John is such a super fan of the show that knows all of the ins and outs, and most of his tasks were very entertaining. Also helps that he was very easy on the eye too (him turning up to every task in his Freddie Mercury outfit, phew), but who am I to place someone high because of that x Our other winner Liza Tarbuck was THE shining star of series 6. She had me C A C K L I N G in pretty much every task, and her presence in the studio was just the most boisterous fun. Judi Love... lord did she bring the CHAOS and I just could not stop laughing any time she reacted to her points, the tasks, pretty much everything about the show that made her look so out of her depth but she just grabbed it and ran with it and made it a show worth watching lmao. Frank and Hugh... I feel like they were both very similar on the show in that they had that old school (not because they're older, but in terms of the show itself) way of approaching the tasks, and just making them absolutely hilarious no matter how they approached it. Inventive, classy, absolutely hilarious and just magnificent to watch never knowing what they were going to do. I'd never really rated either as comedians until watching the show, but boy have they really gone up in my estimations since! I think when you look back at the likes of Frank and Hugh having already appeared on the show, it's unlikely we're going to return to a time of the tasks being done the way they were when they - and others - were on the show; as I've commented before.

I really enjoyed Hugh and thought his lack of effort in the prize tasks (or lack of points at least!) was really funny - plus he had some moments of really nailing the tasks too. Frank Skinner was probably fine but I can't really remember much about what he did, I found series 1 to be one of the weakest and it wasn't helped by the comparatively brief number of episodes.

 

Loved both Liza and Judi - agree both really shone in the studio and really contributed to their respective series. I found Judi particularly hilarious and thought she was one of the best people in the studio setting across all series. John was obviously a very good contestant but I didn't particularly warm to him, I don't think it helped that he was so successful as it began to get a little boring and removed any sort of tension from quite early on in the series. But he didn't exactly do anything wrong, aside from maybe play a bit too competitively - he still seemed to want to win everything even in the studio tasks when an avid fan such as him would realise that the episode was the one where it was hoped to be someone else's chance to win an episode.

Hmmm I probably wouldn't have had John so high either and sort of agree with Dandy :D He was competent and was there to win. But he was basically the one who was a good all-rounder whilst the other 4 were funny and pulled focus, but didn't win.

 

Liza was such a fantastic contestant and the definite stand out for Series 6 - she could do everything she put her hand at and then she was great in the studio too.

 

Hugh was so poorly treated by Greg and I do think at times a little unreasonably. His prize tasks were mainly sh!te, but I think Greg just got into the rhythm of easily dismissing some of his attempts. Mel and Hugh were a great team as well. Series 4 is such a great series - they all just gelled so well.

 

Judi was great, she wasn't great at most of the tasks, but she could sell anything (or try to anyway).

 

Frank was good and I think was my fave from Series 1...

 

Looking forward to the top 20 :D

16. Sally Phillips [series 5]
17. Morgana Robinson [series 12]
18. Chris Ramsey [series 13]
19. Munya Chawawa [series 14]
20. Joanne McNally [series 17]

I've put off doing this for a few days to try and give myself time to think of commentary for the top 20, but honestly it's very difficult because there's SO much that I love about all of them, but can't quite put it into words that haven't already been used to describe literally every other contestant in some way or another. The top 20 just have it all. Joanne McNally was a great surprise for me in the most recent series, being absolutely hilarious in the studio and in the tasks was probably the most laugh-out-loud of them all. Munya Chawawa - another, again, that I hadn't heard of before the show - proved to be so endearing and funny throughout his series, and I was willing him to do well (and even win!) throughout. Chris Ramsey probably being one of the biggest household names going into the show didn't disappoint and had me in stitches across all ten episodes, particularly when he'd point out to the others that 'all the information was in the task', sucking up to Greg and Alex big time but being fun about it. Morgana and Sally... just iconic. Both of them were the stars of their respective series' for me (and, in this countdown the winners being the last ones standing). So many great moments, and ugh it's so hard to call out everything that made them as special and brilliant as they are.

It's back!!!!

 

I was expecting Chris to be in your top 10! I thought he was great during Series 13... I do think he dipped slightly towards the end. But the first 6 episodes he seemed unbeatable. The Sausage rotating device and Alex and him trying to eat it had me in stitches at the time. Same with 'No Way!'

 

Sally is one of my all-time faves - crazy and weird responses to some tasks and just some hilarious moments - especially birthing Alex/ having sex with the water cooler.

 

Morgana was great; funny her win overall was basically to her nabbing 2 bonus points early on :D Think her win was deserved though.

 

Joanne was very good value - also had a slight weird obsession with Mr Blobby. Munya has grown on me during re-watches and actually was very good value

 

 

Edited August 5, 20241 yr by ElectroBoy

It's back!!!!

 

I was expecting Chris to be in your top 10! I thought he was great during Series 13... I do think he dipped slightly towards the end. But the first 6 episodes he seemed unbeatable. The Sausage rotating device and Alex and him trying to eat it had me in stitches at the time. Same with 'No Way!'

 

Sally is one of my all-time faves - crazy and weird responses to some tasks and just some hilarious moments - especially birthing Alex/ having sex with the water cooler.

 

Morgana was great; funny her win overall was basically to her nabbing 2 bonus points early on :D Think her win was deserved though.

 

Joanne was very good value - also had a slight weird obsession with Mr Blobby. Munya has grown on me during re-watches and actually was very good value

There were a few of them originally in the top 10 that ended up getting pushed down or jigged about when everybody was included. Chris being one of them :(

 

Sally was truly unhinged in some of her tasks, so much love for her :lol:

11. Lou Sanders [series 8]
12. Ed Gamble [series 9]
13. Mike Wozniak [series 11]
14. Sophie Willan [series 17]
15. Sam Campbell [series 16]

Last lot before we hit the mighty top 10! Lou, Ed and Mike were all in my top 10 at one point before ending up being bumped down by a few in later series' that ended up just pipping them to the post. Lou I had only ever heard of from being on Dancing on Ice prior to Taskmaster, so when I watched the series she was such a breath of fresh air. She was so wacky during her tasks, and truly did not give a shit... much like Ed too who just grabbed all of the tasks and ran with them and made them the most iconic watches ever. Mike is probably one of the biggest revelations of the whole show for me. I think it helped during series 11 that they had the whole theme of them using the aircraft too that elevated the tasks that little bit more, but some of the ways he tackled the tasks were truly unique and different to anybody else on the show. Made me laugh so much <3 Sophie Willan, my god. I knew from the second series 17 started with the gorilla task that she was the one lmao! Her infectious charm carried the series despite everybody being really entertaining in their own right! Her lack of intelligence and her questions about... quite literally everything had me in stitches. And series 16 winner Sam Campbell, well it was obvious he was going to win wasn't it? Not quite as obvious as Robins' win the following series, but still wrapped up from around the episode 6-7 mark. Sam was another that was just truly unique, had his own way of doing everything, and didn't care how nutty and wacky he came across. He was absolutely brilliant with Julian in the team tasks too.