Recap / Taskmaster Series Two

Taskmaster recap index
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Specials: Champion of Champions | New Year Treats and One-Offs
New Zealand series:
Seasons: One | Two | Three | Four
Australian series:
Seasons: One

Cast

From left: Richard Osman, Doc Brown, Jon Richardson, Katherine Ryan, Joe Wilkinson, Greg Davies, Alex Horne

• Taskmaster: Greg Davies
• Taskmaster's Assistant: Alex Horne
• Contestants: Doc Brown, Joe Wilkinson, Jon Richardson, Katherine Ryan, Richard Osman
• Teams:
  • Richard Osman and Jon Richardson ("Father and Son")^note played on the fact that Jon's family name means "Son of Richard".
  • Joe Wilkinson, Katherine Ryan and Doc Brown ("The Thirty-Somethings")^note In fact, this technically only applies to two members; Joe was 41 at time of broadcast, while Doc was 39 and Katherine was 33.

This page contains unmarked spoilers for the series in question. If you haven't seen the series yet, you are recommended to leave the page now. You have been warned.

Episodes

Episode 1 - "Fear of Failure"

• Prize Task: Most Important Document
  • Winner: Joe - his wedding certificate (5 points)
  • Doc - a rhyme book written when he was a teenager (4 points)
  • Katherine - an airline "companion" voucher, allowing a guest to fly for free (3 points)
  • Jon and Richard (2 points)
    • Both men brought in a Guinness World Record certificate that they had separately been awarded; Jon's was for highest-ever stand-up comedy performance, delivered during a flight; Richard's was for most national capital cities named in a minute on television, as could be seen on Pointless

• Task 1: Place Three Exercise Balls On The Yoga Mat On The Top Of The Hill (Fastest Wins)
  • Winner: Richard (5 points)^note Richard interpreted the instructions as meaning the yoga balls only have to be on top of the yoga mat itself and not necessarily that the yoga mat has to be on top of the hill, and ended up bringing the yoga mat down the hill to the exercise balls. The Taskmaster and the Taskmaster's Assistant had to consult with Susie Dent, the prominent lexicographer from Countdown on the wording of the task and whether Richard's interpretation of the instructions was valid. While she noted that Richard's interpretation was unusual, she still determined it to be a valid one.
  • Jon (4 points)
  • Katherine (3 points)
  • Joe (2 points)
  • Doc (1 point)

• Task 2: Get A Potato Into A Golf Hole Quickest (Without Touching The "Red Green"^note a red carpet surrounding the hole)
  • Winner: Jon (5 points)
  • Richard (4 points)
  • Katherine (3 points)
  • Doc (2 points)
  • Joe (Disqualified)^note controversially, Joe had actually managed to throw the potato straight into the hole in one impressive shot, but his foot had slipped onto the "Red Green" while doing so; after debate amongst the contestants and Taskmaster, his attempt was ruled invalid

• Task 3: Find Out The Required Information From A Swedish Person As Quickly And Accurately As Possible (Without Him Communicating In English)
  • Winner: Katherine (5 points)^note phoned friend and UK-based Danish comedian Sofie Hagen, who helped translate Frederik's responses
  • Richard (4 points)
  • Jon (3 points)
  • Doc (2 points)
  • Joe (1 point)

• Live Task: Pack All Provided Items Into A Suitcase Or Wear Them (Fastest Wins)
  • Winner: Richard (5 points)
  • Jon (4 points)
  • Katherine (3 points)
  • Doc and Joe (Disqualified)^note gave up before completing task

• Episode Ranking:
  1. Winner: Richard Osman (20 points)
  2. Jon Richardson (18 points)
  3. Katherine Ryan (17 points)
  4. Doc Brown (9 points)
  5. Joe Wilkinson (8 points)

Episode 2 - "Pork is a Sausage"

• Prize Task: Trendiest Item Of Clothing
  • Winner: Doc - a pair of waterproof Converse sneakers (5 points)
  • Katherine - leggings featuring a battle between a unicorn and a robot dinosaur (4 points)
  • Jon - a cardigan with a second cardigan sown into the lining (3 points)
  • Joe - a necktie with a vintage car-and-woman pattern (2 points)
  • Richard - a t-shirt of the Osmond Family with Richard's face photoshopped onto them (1 point)

• Task 1: Eat An Egg The Quickest
  • Winner: Richard (5 points)
  • Doc (4 points)
  • Jon (3 points)
  • Joe (2 points)
  • Katherine (Disqualified)^note did not complete task

• Task 2: Make The Best Music Video For A Nursery Rhyme
  • Joint Winners: Doc and Jon (5 points)
    • Doc - 12345, Once I Caught A Fish Alive
    • Jon - Three Blind Mice
  • Katherine - James, The Dirty Tooth^note a nursery rhyme of her own devising (4 points)
  • Richard - She'll Be Comin' Round The Mountain (3 points)
  • Joe - Old McDonald had a Farm (2 point)

• Task 3: Take A Picture Of An Inanimate Object That Looks Like You
  • Winner: Richard - a PPE sign of a man wearing safety goggles (5 points)
  • Jon - a 3D printed bust of himself (4 points)
  • Katherine - a Spanx shapewear box cover (3 points)
  • Joe - a toaster (2 points)
  • Doc - a figurine of Marvin Humes from JLS (1 point)

• Task 4: Order A Specialised Pizza For The Taskmaster Without Using Banned Pizza-Related Words (Bonus Points For Making The Server Say "Bubbles")
  • Winner: Jon (5 points)
  • Joe (4 points +1 bonus)
  • Katherine (3 points +1 bonus)
  • Doc (2 points +1 bonus)
  • Richard (1 point)^note Despite not using any of the banned words while ordering, the pizza parlour messed up his order and so Richard's was the least accurate (there were two pizzas for a start).

• Live Task: Using Over-Sized Chopsticks, Get As Many Potatoes Into A Basket As Possible (Without Touching Them)
  • Winner: Jon (5 points)
  • Katherine (4 points)
  • Richard, Doc and Joe (Disqualified)^note Doc and Joe failed to complete the task by accidentally knocking their baskets over the edge of the stage; Richard picked up the potatoes with his hands and balanced them on the chopsticks

• Episode Ranking:
  1. Winner: Jon Richardson (25 points)
  2. Katherine Ryan (19 points)
  3. Doc Brown (18 points)
  4. Richard Osman (15 points)
  5. Joe Wilkinson (13 points)

Episode 3 - "A Pistachio Eclair"

• Prize Task: Best Dinner Party Guest
  • Winner: Joe - Henry, Britain's sixth-strongest man (5 points)
  • Katherine - her younger sister Kerry (4 points)
  • Doc - The Last Skeptik, DJ and music producer (3 points)
  • Richard - Fraser, a Great Dane (2 points)
  • Jon - Greg Davies, the Taskmaster (1 point)^note although Greg Davies would be, by his own estimation, an awesome dinner party guest, he put himself last because he might not even want to attend

• Task 1: Impress A Local Mayor^note Cllr. Peter Hudson, then-Mayor of Chesham Town Council
  • Winner: Katherine - prepared a cup of tea for the Mayor and performance of a hip-hop influenced anthem to the Mayor, accompanied by twerking (5 points)
  • Richard - composed a poem about Chesham and recited it whilst juggling (4 points)
  • Joe - ran to the local supermarket and returned with 42 Calippos^note a brand of ice lollies/ice pops. According to Joe, he bought out the store's stock, a four-pack of lager, and £15 bribe, which the Mayor did not accept (3 points)^note Years later, Peter Hudson revealed on the Taskmaster: the people's podcast that he still has one of the Calippos in his freezer and that the cash went to the Chesham mayoral charity
  • Doc - serenaded the Mayor with Tony Bennett's "Rags to Riches" (2 points)^note According to Doc, his original plan was to rope some local youths into rushing the Mayor as if to mug him and then Doc would swoop in to rescue the Mayor at the last moment, but it was nixed by production for legal reasons. The actual outcome was a last-minute Plan B.
  • Jon - showed the Mayor a photo of a pistachio éclair which he did not bake himself, a photo of a whale taken on a holiday to the United States, mimicked the sound of dolphin clicks, and in the dying seconds of the task, sang the Eagles song "Desperado" (1 point)

• Task 2: Make The Most Unexpected Silhouette On A Screen
  • Winner: Jon - The Lost Balloon, an allegorical story for the journey from boy to manhood, complete with his first erect penis (5 points)
  • Richard - Moon Truth, a subversion of the faked moon landing theory in which Neil Armstrong was attacked by aliens after the landing. (4 points)
  • Joe - Drug People Face, a smiley face experiencing a drug trip (3 points)
  • Katherine - Lion King Out Takes - a deleted scene from the Circle of Life opening where the animals demand to see the baby Simba (2 points)
  • Doc - WHY?, the murder of a stag (1 point)

• Task 3: Buy A Gift For The Taskmaster (£20 value)
  • Winner: Richard - made a series out lucrative bets on professional darts, increasing the amount to £250 — then donated it in the Taskmaster's name to charity (5 points)^note he also had the charity record a heartfelt "thank you" video to rub it in and guilt the Taskmaster into placing him first
  • Katherine - a square-foot of land that entitles the Taskmaster to use the honorary title "Lord" (4 points)
  • Doc - A cricket bat and helmet, inspired by a childhood game called "Mad Helmet Murder" which the Taskmaster discussed in an interview (3 points)
  • Joe - antique water skis (2 points)
  • Jon - a TV and film-themed cookbook and 701 penny-sweets (1 point)

• Task 4: Team Task - See No Potato, Hear No Potato, Speak No Potato^note To elaborate; the contestants are assigned a playing card, which in turn assigns them to a particular outdoor veranda. One is given a box of vegetables and a blindfold, one is given a noise-cancelling headset, and the third is given a note requesting a potato but is prevented from speaking. The "blind" contestant must locate a potato in the box of vegetables and deliver it to the "mute" contestant with only the directions from the "deaf" contestant to guide them.
  • Winners: Jon, Richard and Josh Widdicombe^note briefly returned to even up the teams for this task (5 points)
  • Doc, Katherine and Joe (0 points)

This is the first and, to date, only team task that has involved the participation of a non-cast member as a team member.

• Live Task: Throw Rabbits Into A Hat (On The Contestant's Head) While Your Hands Are Bound^note A point is earned for each rabbit that is thrown into the hat, resulting in a higher-than-average points tally. This was reportedly the source of some behind-the-scenes contention, as Richard Osman and Jon Richardson objected to the clear advantage this gave Katherine Ryan, the eventual winner of both task and series, in terms of overall points scored — especially as she partially earned the score by stealing rabbits from other contestants, thus arguably sabotaging their efforts.
  • Winner: Katherine (15 points)
  • Doc and Joe (12 points)
  • Richard (7 points)
  • Jon (4 points)^note Jon was the only one to complete the task the way the production crew originally envisioned - throwing and catching the rabbits whilst wearing the hat. All the other contestants immediately dropped their hats on the floor and dropped the rabbits into their hats. In the Taskmaster's Assistant's words, Jon won the crowd, but lost the task.

• Episode Ranking:^note As noted above, the scoring of this episode caused some behind-the-scenes contention due to the heavy skewing towards Katherine Ryan that the final task resulted in, under contentious circumstances. For what it's worth, had the final task been scored from 1-5 as per normal, it would have resulted in the following ranking: 1. Richard (23); 2. Katherine (20); 3. Joe (17); 4. Jon (15-14 [depending on whether he received one point or two]); 5. Doc (13).
  1. Winner: Katherine Ryan (30 points)
  2. Richard Osman (27 points)
  3. Joe Wilkinson (25 points)
  4. Doc Brown (21 points)
  5. Jon Richardson (17 points)

Episode 4 - "Welcome to Rico Face"

• Prize Task: Coolest Blue Thing
  • Winner: Jon - a "blue"^note in the Northern sense, i.e. sexually explicit novelty fridge magnet from Lanzarote (5 points)
  • Joe - a pornographic novel called Seagoing Sexpot (4 points)^note like Jon, interpreted "blue" in the Northern sense, as "sexually explicit"
  • Doc - a vinyl copy of the album Feel No Fret by Average White Band (3 points)
  • Katherine - a blue anti-barking collar for her dog (2 points)
  • Richard - a police riot helmet (1 point)

• Task 1: Rescue The (Toy) Cat. Best Rescue Wins
  • Winner: Katherine (5 points)
  • Doc (4 points)
  • Joe (3 points)
  • Jon (2 points)
  • Richard (Disqualified)^note gave up before rescuing Patatas

• Task 2: Conceal This Pineapple On Your Person. No Part Of The Pineapple May Be Thrown Away
  • Winner: Jon (5 points)
  • Katherine (4 points)^note Katherine was the only contestant not to eat any part of the pineapple because of the wording of the task (on your person). The Taskmaster ruled that eating the pineapple would not be grounds for disqualification
  • Richard (3 points)
  • Doc (2 points)
  • Joe (1 point)

• Trick Task: The Other Four Contestants Have Devised Tasks For You. Correctly Guess Who Devised Each Task^note This was only revealed in the studio; in the house, the four "devising" contestants were set a task requiring them to devise a fun task that could be completed in a minute, while the "guessing" contestant was given each task as if they were normal tasks. In the studio, it was revealed that the "devising" contestants would receive a point if the "guessing" contestant failed to correctly identify their task, while the "guessing" contestant would receive a point for each correct guess. No points were given for completing the actual tasks.
  • Victim: Jon (4 points)
  • Task: Prove How Strong You Are. Whoever Looks The Strongest Wins. Joe
  • Task: Enjoy This Clip Of The Taskmaster. Whoever Finds It The Funniest Wins. Richard
  • Task: Perform A Recognisable Rendition Of The "William Tell Overture" Using Just Your Hands And Cheeks. Doc
  • Task: Present A Make-Up Tutorial. Best Make-Up Tutorial Wins. Katherine

• Task 3: Team Task - Using Only The Items On The Rug, Construct The Best Thing For The Taskmaster In Thirty Minutes
  • Winner: Doc, Joe and Katherine - a Taskmaster tiki bar (4 points)^note due to Joe's negativity and uselessness, the team was docked a point
  • Jon and Richard - a Taskmaster "Tie-Up Tickle Station"(1 point)

• Live Task: Create The Highest Self-Standing Tower Using Only Potato-Based Items
  • Winner: Doc (5 points)
  • Joe, Jon, Katherine, Richard (Disqualified)^note all were supporting their towers at the final whistle

• Episode Ranking:
  1. Winner: Doc Brown (18 points)
  2. Jon Richardson (17 points)
  3. Katherine Ryan (15 points)
  4. Joe Wilkinson (12 points)
  5. Richard Osman (5 points)

Episode 5 - "There's Strength in Arches"

• Prize Task: Best Piece of Memorabilia
  • Winner: Richard - a poster signed by professional darts player Jocky Wilson (5 points)
  • Katherine - a vintage coin defaced by the Suffragettes to campaign for votes for women (4 points)
  • Jon - a Roman coin (3 points)
  • Doc - a framed copy of a rap he wrote for Myleene Klass set to classical metre (2 points)
  • Joe - a map of the Grand Union Canal signed by "Clive Hutt", apparently one of the lock-keepers (1 point)

• Task 1: Get Every Item Of Shopping Into The Shopping Trolley At The Other Side Of The Canal. Fastest Wins.
  • Winner: Joe (5 points)
  • Richard (4 points)
  • Katherine (3 points)
  • Jon and Doc (Disqualified)^note did not get every item into the trolley

• Task 2: Team Task - Make The Best Stop-Motion Film Starring This Potato.
  • Winner: Jon and Richard - 28 Days Tater (3 points)
  • Doc, Joe and Katherine - Spec-Tater (2 points)

• Task 3: Make Highest Self-Supporting Bridge Over The River In The Diorama, Using Only Items On This Table^note there were three clues around the room that pointed the competitors to useful supplies gaffer taped to the underside of the table, which none of the contestants noticed.. The Bridge Must Support The Provided Potato
  • Winner: Jon (5 points)
  • Doc (4 points)
  • Joe (3 points)
  • Richard (2 points)
  • Katherine (1 point)

• Live Task: Put On A Pair Of Food-Handling Gloves, Eat A Whole Banana Correctly^note originally the task specified "eat a whole banana" and "correctly put on a tie", but this was alteration was made as a mutual compromise after Katherine, the only female contestant, objected on the grounds that she'd never learned how to put on a necktie, Put On A Tie And Clap As Many Times As Possible. All Tasks Must Be Completed In 100 Seconds. Most Claps Wins.
  • Winner: Richard (5 points)
  • Doc (4 points)
  • Katherine (3 points)
  • Jon (2 points)
  • Joe (Disqualified)^note did not eat the banana "correctly"

• Episode Ranking:
  1. Richard Osman (19 points)
  2. Katherine Ryan and Jon Richardson (13 points)
  3. Doc Brown (12 points)
  4. Joe Wilkinson (11 points)

Episode Tally

• Richard Osman = 2 episodes (Episodes 1 and 5)
• Jon Richardson, Katherine Ryan and Doc Brown = 1 episode
  • Jon (Episode 2)
  • Katherine (Episode 3)
  • Doc (Episode 4)
• Joe Wilkinson = 0 episodes

This series is the first in which no episode has required a tiebreaker task to settle the winner. The winner of an episode's studio task coincidentally went on to win that episode. Joe Wilkinson did not earn points in any of the studio tasks with the exception of the one in "A Pistachio Eclair."

Task Tally

A breakdown of the tasks as won by the contestants is as follows:

• Jon Richardson: 10 tasks +1 trick task (1 prize task, 5 video tasks, 2 video team tasks, 1 joint victory [with Doc], 1 live task. He also won the trick task wherein he had to guess which contestant had set him a series of mini-tasks, though he only received four points for it.)
• Richard Osman: 9 tasks (1 prize task, 4 video tasks, 2 video team tasks, 2 live tasks)
• Katherine Ryan: 5 tasks (3 video tasks, 1 video team task, 1 live task)
• Doc Brown and Joe Wilkinson: 4 tasks
  • Doc: 1 prize task, 1 joint victory (with Jon), 1 video team task, 1 live task
  • Joe: 2 prize tasks, 1 video task, 1 video team task

Katherine Ryan is the first champion to win the series without winning a majority of the tasks. However, excluding team tasks and the occasional all-or-nothing task, there are only four tasks in the series overall in which she came lower than third.

Episode Titles

Each episode is a Title Drop made by either a participant in the show, the Taskmaster, or the Taskmaster's Assistant. In this series, the titles were provided by:

• Episode 1: Richard Osman (after his disastrous attempt to decipher Fred the Swede's responses in the "find out the necessary information about this Swede" task, though he was technically translating / repeating Fred's answer: "Fear of failure... blimey, that's ironic.")
• Episode 2: An Unknown Pizza Delivery Shop Employee (when Doc Brown is trying to request bacon without using the word in the "order a pizza" task, and the conversation has somehow turned to pork, sausages and other pig-based meat products; in confusion, the employee says "But pork is a sausage.")
• Episode 3: Jon Richardson (during his disastrous attempt to impress the Mayor of Chesham: "It's a pistachio eclair!")
• Episode 4: Jon Richardson (the name he gives the makeup tutorial video that Katherine Ryan assigns him to do in the task where the other four contestants assigned Jon tasks, "Rico" being a nickname that he has used for himself outside of Taskmaster.)
• Episode 5: Joe Wilkinson (his repeated epiphany during the "make the highest bridge" task, as he hits on the idea of using playing cards to make an arched bridge: "There's strength in arches!")

This is the first series in which an episode title has been contributed by someone who was not a contestant or host of the show, and (to date) the only series in which said person was apparently not aware they were being recorded for television. It is the first series in which the Taskmaster nor his assistant has contributed any of the episode titles, and the first in which more than one contestant has done so.

Series Ranking

1. Winner: Katherine Ryan (94 points)
2. Jon Richardson (90 points)
3. Richard Osman (86 points)
4. Doc Brown (78 points)
5. Joe Wilkinson (69 points)

As noted above, the scoring for the live task of episode three reportedly caused some behind-the-scenes contention due to the unusual scoring method and the advantage this gave to Katherine Ryan, who subsequently won both the episode and the season. For what it's worth, scoring that task according to the standard 1-5 points system would result in Jon winning the series with a score of 88-87 points (depending on how he was scored), Katherine coming second with 84 points, and the other places remaining unchanged but with slightly lower scores (although Joe Wilkinson, at 61 points, would then become the lowest-scoring contestant in the show's history to date).