New Taskmaster and cast revealed for Kongen Befaler season 7

It's been less than a month now since it was announced that Atle Antonsen would be stepping down from his role as the Taskmaster of Norway's Kongen Befaler, in the wake of news that he had racially abused a young black writer and social commentator in an Oslo bar.

While his whole situation still very much remains to be resolved (the Oslo public prosecutor dropped the criminal complaint against him, but a complaint has since been lodged against this decision), the question of who might replace him in the role of 'King' on Kongen Befaler has now been answered.

On 15 December 2022, it was announced that Bård Ylvisåker (season 1 contestant and producer) would be taking over as the Taskmaster for the season, with Olli Wermskog continuing in his role as the assistant.

The contestants for the season were also revealed as the presenter Leo Ajkic, the actor and comedian Vidar Magnussen, the comedian Hani Hussein, the actor Karin Klouman, and the comedian and presenter Lars Berrum.

It is a positive step, I think, that the contestants include a black woman, since the cast of the show has been almost exclusively white up until now (with season 4's Amir Asgharnejad the only previous non-white contestant). I'm sure that the show is very keen at this point to avoid any allegations of racism, given Atle's behaviour, so hopefully we will continue to see more diverse casts, going forwards.

An air date for the season has not yet been released but, based on previous years, it is likely to begin in the second half of March 2023.

The filming of the live studio segments of the show has been scheduled to take place at the Drammens Theatre between the 21st and 30th of January 2023.

It'll certainly be very interesting to see how the show adapts to having a new host in the Taskmaster's seat, how Bård will embody the role, and what the dynamic between he and Olli will be like.

This season will be a real test of the strength of the format without Atle's presence, and hopefully the Norwegian audience will be able to adapt to the change so that viewing figures remain high enough to justify the production of additional future seasons.