VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: ‘Taskmaster’ Hosts Alex Horne & Greg Davies Reveal The Secret To Creating A Great Task & Being A Good Competitor

Hosts of the popular game show Taskmaster, Alex Horne and Greg Davies, spoke about their process of choosing competitors and their tasks in their new uInterview. 

Taskmaster, created by Horne, is a British comedy show that first aired in 2015. Five celebrities (mainly comedians) take on a series of challenges. Horne oversees the challenges while Davies, the “Taskmaster,” judges and awards points. The concept originated at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2010 and later became a TV show on Dave in 2015. After nine series, Channel 4 acquired the program. The show is planned to continue for at least five more series until 2026.

When asked about the process that goes into the creation of the tasks, Horne quipped to uInterview founder Erik Meers, “I think in my head, ‘What would Greg like to see this time round?’ And then I go, ‘And don’t do that.’” He continued more seriously, “It’s a small team who has made the show… it’s basically still just me coming up with the stupid things, but I really enjoy it. It’s one of the few skills I’ve got in life.”

When asked what makes a good task, Horne explained, “You want the audience to really want to see what’s going to happen next.”

Davies jumped in, “I think that’s one of Alex’s talents, he creates tasks that have a multitude of possibilities for the ways someone could respond to it; you know, they’re never driven down a specific path. We allow [competitors’] brains to unravel, and we watch the results.”

Horne and Davies looked back on standout moments of the past season. “There’s a team one where [competitors] have to use a green screen to create a special effect – and it was so bad,” Horne said. “Their attempts were so rubbish. On the show, if they do something well that’s good, if they do something badly, that’s even better.”

Davies added, “I think there’s great joy in watching someone do a protracted response to something that takes forever – and there’s great joy in something collapsing immediately… either way, I’m sitting there laughing.”

Both hosts struggled to pin down the best or worst competitor of the last season. Davies said, “It honestly depends how you define best. I often define ‘best’ as the worst. The real winners of Taskmaster are the people that make me laugh the hardest. They’re not often the ones with points.”

When asked what makes the ideal competitor, Horne explained, “It’s mainly funny people. I want to pick people who I wanna see what they can do. People with interesting brains. We don’t really have a formula for it… funny surprising people, that’s kind of it.”

The 17th season is available now on YouTube and the SVOD service Taskmaster SuperMax+.