All 5 are great! Think I was expecting Sam and Ed to be in your top 10! Think they’d be in or around mine… mind you most of these 4 would!

 

Surprised Mike is so high, as I know you disliked series 11 overall. He had some great moments though. Sophie was brilliant and so undermarked by Greg throughout. He almost drowning in the first ep made me laugh so much. I’d recommend her sitcom too; Alma’s not normal.

 

Lou, Ed and Sam were all great winners; so many brilliant moments between them!

 

 

Ooh I'll need to check out her sitcom, didn't realise she had one! Thanks for the recommendation ^_^

 

And yeah I wasn't big on series 11 as a whole package, but it had its moments and Mike was certainly the best of the bunch!

6. Tim Key [series 1]
7. Katherine Ryan [series 2]
8. Joe Lycett [series 4]
9. Josh Widdicombe [series 1]
10. Jenny Eclair [series 15]

The bottom half of the top 10 takes us right back to the beginning of the show, with two contestants from series 1, and four of them being from the first 4 series'; the only exception here being the hilarious Jenny Eclair in 10th who appeared in series 15 and was honestly one of the most hilarious contestants to have been on the show. I think for a show like Taskmaster and seeing how all of the contestants react to the tasks and how they are in the studio, 'middle aged woman that really doesn't give a f*** and knows how to have a laugh' is certainly one of the biggest vibes and something they really need to keep harnessing! Two winners here, Josh Widdicombe (who's always referenced in other series' too), and Katherine Ryan - undeniably one of the best contestants in the show's history (duh, wouldn't be top 10 otherwise x) - were both absolutely amazing. Josh had that dorky nature to him while always being incredibly funny in the tasks and on point in the studio. I know we've had Champions of Champions, but I think if there was ever an All Stars version of the show I'd want Josh and Katherine back again (and some more of the top 10 yet to come). Joe Lycett was just... Joe Lycett. Absolutely perfect comedic timing in every single task and in the studio, and everything he did had me in stitches and I feel bad having him in 8th (that doth butter no parsnips). And then of course we have Tim Key too, who I'd honestly never heard of in my life before embarking on my Taskmaster journey, but I think he's the contestant (alongside Josh) that affirmed to me this was going to be a really amazing show to become attached to, and given he's one of the task consultants for the show too, it's great that he was there as a guinea pig at the beginning to then implement everything for future series' (now get back to making the tasks like they were at the beginning please!!).

Hmmm I’ll be honest Tim is in my bottom 10 :o he just didn’t really do it for me. Actually surprised he is this high for you!

 

Josh too was alright and whilst he got a tatt I actually just found him a bit route one and annoying (might be his voice), Katharine is ok but again I never really found her a stand out.

 

Jenny and Joe though were amazing! Great takes on task, funny in the studio and just great contestants.

 

Edited August 9, 2024Aug 9 by ElectroBoy

Oh I'm shocked you're not so keen on Tim, Katherine and Josh :o with every series that passed they were consistently among my absolute favourites!!

4. Jo Brand [series 9]
5. Julian Clary [series 16]

Completing the sets for their respective series' and finishing in fourth and fifth place are Jo Brand and Julian Clary! The former I always knew was going to be an absolute HOOT on the show as soon as I saw that she'd appeared, and boy was I right. Jo Brand just exudes that kind of energy that every comedian should have. She's so dry, so depreciative, and so cutting that whatever she does I just find myself laughing so loud. Like a few of her counterparts with similar personalities, her f***-this attitude to the tasks was brilliant and sometimes just genuinely being so lost and confused, and there was nobody else quite like her besides Julian. Julian in the tasks was one of the most entertaining things I have ever seen. He truly did not give a single f***, and that's what made him amazing. His passive-aggressiveness with Alex made the series, and just seeing him sit there knowing how iconic it all was made it even better. I think if anybody was going to be better than Sam in series 16, it was absolutely Julian. I've not always been a fan of him (sometimes when he appears in comedies I can roll my eyes), but here he was just *chef's kiss*.

Julian was amazing! And was surprised at how well he did overall; despite not really caring that much he gave Sam a run for his for the win.

 

Jo is good value too!

 

 

Oh I'm shocked you're not so keen on Tim, Katherine and Josh :o with every series that passed they were consistently among my absolute favourites!!

 

I think I just find Josh a bit annoying in general (might be his voice) :D

 

 

1. James Acaster
Series 7

2. Noel Fielding
Series 4

3. Joe Thomas
Series 8

Well, we have reached the end. And what have we learned today? We've learned that Calum's favourite Taskmaster contestant from all seventeen series' is none other than series 7's James Acaster! He didn't get his flowers with the win in the series itself, but here he reigns supreme (and probably will for a long time unless someone comes and completely blows the socks off the show!). James just embodied absolutely everything that I'd want from somebody on the show. He had elements of everybody else, but was always just so uniquely and brilliantly himself. He didn't play to anyone's rule book, he didn't play to the show's rule book, and he got so wound up in the studio in the most hilarious ways that it just made for the most amazing television. I actually watched Celebrity Hunted where he and Ed Gamble appeared together before watching Taskmaster, and seeing them running around the house together evading the hunters was one of the funniest things ever, so it just made me even more excited to see James in action on the show!! It was hard to choose just one GIF of him to insert below, but I think the one I've chosen sums up his placement here more than anything. Colour me a total James Acaster stan, because nothing will make me not love him x

On the other two in the top three, I don't think many have come close to doing Taskmaster how Noel Fielding did, either. The origin story of 'wear an outfit for the tasks for the series', Noel in his yellow skeleton overalls was always joyful to see every time we cut to a task, and the way he took all of them on, and sometimes being totally bemused by what he was being asked to do... love. I've said it more times than necessary at this point, but Noel comes from the era of the show where people doing tasks the way he and his fellow competitors did just isn't seen any more in more recent series'. The only winner to appear in the top 3, Noel inserts himself as my personal champion of champions too!

And finally, rounding out the top three we have Joe Thomas. I was expecting going into series 8 that there'd be a lot of camaraderie between him and Greg with the vast majority of people clearly going to expect that they'd play on or acknowledge them both appearing in The Inbetweeners together, but alas that was oddly never mentioned or brought to the forefront for anything. Is there background there that you can clarify for me, ElectroBoy haha? But anyway, on Joe himself... what a contestant! Singularly, he was just perfection to watch even if so awkward in the studio at times, but during the tasks I was just glued to the screen and he made everything so funny and enjoyable to watch. The one that stands out the most in my memory is the task where they had to creep towards Alex while he had his back turned, and seeing Joe absolutely smash it was a moment <3 As for his dynamic with Sian in the team tasks, I don't think there's ever been a more awkward pairing, but somehow it was just so magical too. They worked together brilliantly even if it was the most unconventional mother and son you'd ever seen in your life.

Top 2 are great! James is chaos and Noel was great at the tasks. Both would feature highly for me.

 

As far as I know I think Joe is just socially awkward; so probably why there wasn’t a huge amount of banter between him and Greg :D Joe had some good moments though, don’t think he’d be top 3 for me but he did have some great tasks and agreed his awkwardness with Sian and Alex was funny to watch!

 

Thanks for the countdown :) even if I didn’t necessarily agree with some of the placements; good to see someone else’s perspective on the show, the contestants and tasks.

 

I do like all of your top 3. Joe was definitely one of my favourites from his season (probably my favourite actually also, with Sian very close behind)... Noel was also great, I particularly loved his hide in plain sight task... and James was absolutely great, the moment he really lost his temper and then immediately said he didn't know where that came from was so funny.

 

I feel I need to rewatch a lot of this to truly decide what my order would be - but there's nobody I disliked in your top 10, and the inclusion of both Jenny and Julian is definitely welcomed by me - sometimes the older contestants can really work well and both of those most definitely did. Amazing that Julian nearly won it considering how blasé he was about the whole thing.

 

I think series 1 is probably my least favourite so I wouldn't have Tim or Josh that high up, both were okay but I didn't think the tasks were quite as good as they were in some of the later series and the shortened number of episodes didn't help me warm to them either.

 

 

 

From the previous page, I really love nearly everyone you've mentioned since I last commented... Mike is a classic if only for him whipping off the bishop's hat to reveal that mohawk :lol: whilst Sally definitely had some iconic moments (I particularly loved her just casually acing the task where she just had to eat something, balance something and throw something)... agree that Sophie was just adorable in this latest series, definitely my favourite.

Has either of you’s watched Taskmaster New Zealand?

 

It gets a bit of getting used to, but Series 2 is amazing! From memory 1, 3 and 4 aren’t bad either but 2 is a definite highlight:D also someone from Series 3 is in the first Series of New Zealand Traitors.

 

Series 5 is on now and had a moment just as :o as Joe Wilkinson and the potato… in fact it was even more amazing!

 

Jeremy who is the NZ Greg takes adjustment but Paul in the Alex role works really well.