"I was under the impression you played a character in Father Ted" Oh my giddy aunt that had me in stitches

A show like this could easily become stale.. So full props to the whole taskmaster team 😁

Great series opener. It's just got that feeling like this series is going to be something special. Amazing energy between everybody and Greg & Alex are on top form. Really looking forward to this.

This episode was a fantastic start to the series. I really enjoyed the duck task in particular. Also, that is a very nice mug.

The irony of Chris Ramsey not being able to open the puzzle box, someone needs to show Chris Ramsey this!

I wasn't too sure about this cast but they brought the correct energy and were super funny!

Some people base their perceptions of a series on how well they know someone or how "funny" they are on their own, this does work but sometimes a group you might never think of putting together can gel together and can surprise a lot. Like this.

"I have to watch Father Ted, don't I?" 100% absolutely YES

I don't really know why but almost everything Bridget said was a hit for me this episode

Yes, you need to watch a few episodes of Father Ted to understand Greg's remark during the duck task.

Glad you enjoyed it , I have to agree it looks like this series will be a lot of fun . It's never been too important who wins the series , it's the ingenuity and quality of the tasks and the personality of the contestants that matters . Having said that Chris looks like the main contender , incidentally a skip is an industrial ( lorry size) rubbish container ,usually open topped with it's discarded treasures exposed .

You can tell just from the first 5 mins that’s it’s going to be one of the great series this

Yes, you absolutely have to watch Father Ted!

Taskmaster is a hard show to judge just from hearing the cast list. You really have to watch the episodes to see how they are playing it....personally I think this series is gonna be a great one.

The cast looks pretty good here, but what really elevated this were some of the best tasks we've ever seen. These were totally inspired. It is clear by the end of this which cast member is going to be the clear leader most of the time. And probably... two... contestants who will be hilariously incompetent the whole series. But I don't mind. The journey is the point here, even if the rankings seem pretty obvious.

Already watched the episode twice but that hasn't stopped me from immediately watching your reaction. I really liked this first episode, the cast had good chemistry with a nice bit of lighthearted arguing, glad Chris Ramsey wasn't going to stand for Bridget critiquing his portrait which clearly looked the most like Greg. Duck task was fun, bit weird how they don't put a little camera in the unseen bit, as that would help us know how much more lab space there is. The duels were good too, Sophie's was okay, but preparing the rap with Alex made it feel less intense of a duel than if it was an improvised thing. Very good live task, reminded me a lot of the game Irish Snap. Although I think Alex was harsh on Ardal as he never said you couldn't do movements on ones that didn't need it. I haven't seen who the teams are (but I've heard people have worked it out, but I don't want to know yet) I hope they don't just do old and young as they've done that since like series 9. Girls vs boys would also be a bit boring to me. So I basically just want a completely random mix.

She said "Are these the only lips I can use?" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 That would've been next level!

There will never be a better taskmaster rapper than David correos from nz taskmaster.

When Chris brought out the briefcase i knew he was gonna be the Ed Gamble of this series

Great first episode. Loving all the contestants, especially Chris. It's great to see him on here, after listening to his hilarious podcast that he does with his wife,called "Shagged Married Annoyed".

I love that the show is back to pre COVID status. Having the contestants right next to each other and the audience reactions makes such a difference with the arguing. P.s -- Definitely watch Father Ted ( reaction or not ), it is one of the best comedies ever made.

I love this show!!! From Series 1 with the watermelon insanity to the hatred between James and Rhod over the shed incident. Class show.

As opening episodes go, this is one of the best. And the line up is great. Being able to return to an audience and the contestants sitting close together makes a huge difference to the energy of the show

I know that Judi’s lip painting is hard to make out at first, but it isn’t upside down, it’s Greg sitting in his throne. The little gray ball towards the center top (but still under the brown arch at the _very_top) is his head and if you follow it down you can make out his torso/arms and then his lower half/legs, complete with his little feet. LOL. And, as I already said, he’s sitting in a throne, which accounts for all of the brown surrounding him. I absolutely *love* this series of Taskmaster! (Though, to be fair, I love every other season too. But this one _is_ one of my favorites!) Also, IMO, Judi Love cements herself as an absolute National Treasure with her performance on Taskmaster! She’s equal parts hilarious and lovable!

The series are so much better when they are all together and we see more then 1 person in frame without being like 5m away from then

All 5 contestants seemed to work well together. it was a really good episode. Ardal is a legend, you should watch Father Ted. looking forward to the rest of the season.

Chris is more of a Russel Howard than an Ed Gamble.

So glad to see you are as excited as me at the start of Taskmaster. Love to see your reactions. Take care

In the Podcast Ed revealed that the bonus duck was left over from an attempted task from Champions of Champions which they did not use. With them they had to find as many ducks in the lab, bo speciific number, but so some reason they abandoned it.

Well done for getting this out so fast

I'm backing Chris Ramsey, partly because I've always liked him on anything I've seen him on, but, I get the feeling he's a fan of the show too! The way he looked straight under the table before looking for the task. That could be funny if he over thinks things.

This is a great cast and great opener and I agree that it's so good to have the energy back, not just from the studio but I think not having to film the tasks with any COVID restrictions too made it much better e.g. if there was a task in the lab it had to be one where the contestants were just stood in one place. I liked the cast in Series 12 a lot but I thought the tasks constrained them a bit. Now there are no restrictions on what tasks they can do there is potential for a lot more.

Is it weird that I watched this live in the uk, and my first thought was Neil will love this season!

I think this has to be my fav season ever. The cast just gelled so well. I could watch Ardal forever.

Have you had trouble sourcing the episodes, NEIL? I know I've had to find them OFF KZfaq.

I cant believe they went back to the market in Thailand to get more magic boxes for 300 baht...

i'm glad to see Chris Ramsey. He was on TV a lot ten years ago but I feel I havent seen him for years before this taskmaster.

I will admit I'm one of those who doubted the cast initially but after this first episode, I'm now excited with the future episodes.

Not sure why people had their doubts about this cast, I was so excited as soon as they were announced, and it was even better than I had hiped for.

Yes Neil. You should watch Father Ted. It's one of the best comedies without a doubt.

I think Bridget's costume is meant to be Lee van Cleef in "The Good, the Bad & the Ugly". That or Mick Fleetwood presenting the BRIT Awards in 1989, which seems unlikely.

Glad you enjoyed, this is an amazing episode one of if not the best series openings. I know basically nothing about the cast but they chemistry is outstanding, chris is currently my favourite since he seems a big taskmaster fan taking it seriously but having so much fun. The whole group is very lovable though not a weak link so far. I love how competitive they were talking down eachothers efforts but not in a malicious way that we have sometimes seen. Hope it keeps this energy going forward (:

‘Stop talking to me!’ Hahaha

Love this season so far, I think it will be 1 of the best

I was one of those that didn't rate the cast. But this episode was absolute gold. The tasks themselves were absolutely solid. I hope the rest is as good!

so I feel like the find the duck task was kinda based on Ed Gambles hide the aubergines, where he was hiding them like it was contraband in a prison. that idea and that energy was taken my the crew and flipped on its head for these contestants. (Podcast reference) I also secretly hope it wasn't a champion of champions task but an Ed task as revenge.

Hopefully, after watching this episode, all the people complaining that this is the 'diversity series' can shut the duck up and just enjoy it. (Your task is to find one duck)

This was always going to be a good cast...my prediction is Judi Love is going to end up as one of the great chaotic contestants. Up there with Acaster/Wilkinson/Vegas et al.

They went back to Battersea (Clapham Grand theatre) for recording, which is where they filmed the earlier series... that is why the atmosphere is better. The last few series were in a studio, with no audience and under covid restrictions. The Clapham Grand is a well known and respected theatre that often hosts comedy and music gigs.

I’m an American and I don’t have a clue who any of the cast is. I think this will be a good season. I like this cast better than some previous ones.

This series is already a classic. The interaction between the cast, the crawly bumlicking to the TM. I don't see any episode of this season just sucking. Even if the cast completely stuffs up a task, I get the feeling it will be in an epic way.

Father Ted is hilarious! Must watch

Have you done episode 2 yet? Or have I missed it?

Took no time at all for them to be at eachothers throats. The past few seasons everyone's been nice and friendly.... Not this one 😂

"They're taking the piss out of each other" Aww, you're becoming British! 🥹

If you didn't get the Father Ted comment, that is because Ardal played one of the main priest in the show. Father Dougal, and Dougal was dim witted and absolutely brilliant

It feels like forever ago since we had a new uk season

i only knew of Ardol but bridget and judy are pretty funny

Yikes. I need to do a 180 on my previous expectations comment. Great episode. I am chastened.

Will you be reacting to the interview tasks? They are hilarious :)

I love Chris Ramsey he's like a big kid ,kinda like Russell howard

I would love to see you react to the brilliant 10 part HBO-series “Our Flag Means Death” with Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi, amongst others. No spoilers, but it’s very Funny, very pirate-y and on top of that very heart-warming.

I liked the lipstick task, because historically Taskmaster has had a lot of tasks that favored tall people and/or men, so it's nice to have a task that sort of inherently favors women a little.

it also looks like GB has a huge percentage of comedians per inhabitant... like this is 13th season and I can imagine at least ten others who were still not involved :D

I always Enjoyed Sophie and Chris when they would do Mock the Week, Chris is on some episodes of cats does countdown and 8 out of 10 cats and he's always a good laugh!

I would love to see you experience Father ted. Sadly it really didn't have many episodes. But it's subject humour is hilarious. Ardal O'Hanlon's character in it and some of his lines and delivery will stick with me forever.

Neil, please react to episode 10 of season 6, I'm dying to see your reaction to one of the tasks in particular

What an awesome start to series 13 - I loved the contestants, the tasks and the banter. My prediction for series loser is Ardal... comedy gold losses at that.

"i have to watch father ted dont i?" yes, yes you do, sorry no way around that. ardl really seems to be playing his character from father ted, who knew that it wasnt good acting all those years, its just who he is :P

Most of the cast were people who I sort of vaguely knew I had seen somewhere, but couldn't have named anyone. I remembered Judi from Big Fat Quiz where I thought she was fine, but not great and I saw the interview part with Ardle that I liked. But now having seen the first episode I can't spot a weak link and hope it continues that way. After that first task I picked Chris as my horse for the season, so he's the one I plan to be backing

Checkout Ardal in My Hero sitcom

Oh yes, here we go!

The end task I usually find a bit long winded and a bit to tryhard . This one though had me laughing harder than any main task. There are not many stage tasks that start with what seem very simple rules but spiral into chaos quickly. The only other memorable stage task was do a funny walk and bang on a plinth in exactly 10 seconds. Everyone is joking about falling off the stage and Jessica knappet does actually fall off the stage. Moments like that is why this show is great. The unlikeliest but funniest things happen, things that you could never plan.

Been a while since I saw a Taskmaster reaction so very nice to be back. Really strong start to the series. I hope Chris wins for being a fellow geordie but if not then Bridget would be a cool winner I think. Ardal and Judi are going to be way behind the rest I feel.

09:15 You've got to assume Alex actually quite liked having Sophie's thighs around his head.

You MUST watch Father Ted ... i haven't laughed so much in my life (re-viewing still has me in stitches)!

Just watched the episode, and now watching your reaction. Cozy. Btw, I can't be alone in finding Sophie Duker quite alluring, can I?

Could you adjust your audio a little. It's just that if I want to hear the video, you become loud enough to disturb the neighbours and if I dial you down to a reasonable level, I can't hear the video. Sorry to be a pain. I don't mean to sound critical. I love your channel and hope that highlighting this will help the channel, by making viewing/listening easier. :)

Feel like this could be a classic cast, they have great chemistry together, up there with the Godliman/Gilbert series which is my favourite, or Gamble/Matafeo or Mortimer/Bea which were also great. Oh the irony Chris should win a sofa, as on the Shagged Married Annoyed podcast he does with his wife Rosie, he's always moaning about her obsession with buying new sofas, bet he was popular when he got home! Looking forward to their classic task, like Sausage Finger, or Song for rosalind or Siren Call.

Have you done season 7 of taskmaster UK with James Acaster?

“No you would say ~huhng~”

I cried laughing multiple times in this episode, I can't wait to see more! Although does anyone know how to watch internationally without a vpn? I don't wanna pay for one lol

a 'Skip' is what people in the UK call a 'Dumpster''

Bridget looks manic and absolutely beautiful in black lipstick with that suit

You have to watch Father Ted and Thermo-man (actually called 'My Hero').

the cast being big names never really matters. They usually all have good and bad moments in tasks regardless.

Yes a skip is a dumpster

Judi is an instant love for me, she's amazing and I can see her being the star of this series

9:29

You really need to watch Ardal in his Fr Dougal character on Fr Ted, then you will understand Greg's comment.

We never found out what was in the briefcase!🤔💼

Yes. You have to watch Father Ted.

I find Sophie utterly captivating, beautiful and sexy - backing her this time.

They are going to be great, from taking the piss, some taking it seriously.

Did they show what was in the case?

Oh yeh, you should Definitely check out Father Ted👌🤷‍♂️💜

Please watch Father Ted!!!

Just getting this out to as much people as I can: Bridget wears a Lee van Cleef outfit. Pretty much the same he was wearing during The Good, The Bad And The Ugly. And yes, it's the most awesome task outfit of all contestants, pushing Lee's Evel Knievel outfit into 2nd place.

when is the next norwegian task master episode coming? my favorite ever comidean Magnus is there

It is Definitely one of the Best…. But it’s been on for 9 years!