Episode 1: Cross country lights

Episode synopsis

In this episode the contestants must bring in something they have (but should not), burst all of the balloons, build a carrot tower while naming mammals, work out what a switch does, and roll objects through a pipe.

Title context

"Langrennslysene" was a phrase used by Jenny Skavlan during the 'Something you have, but should not' prize task. It's hard to translate accurately, but she appears to be referring to the high beam lights on a car, using a non-existent compound word which does not translate. 'Langrennslys' is the singular version of this word with no definite article (in Norwegian, the definite article is added as a suffix to the noun). 'Cross country lights' is an approximate translation of the compound word ('langrenn' is the Norwegian word for cross country skiing, and 'lys' means 'light(s)').

Alternate Titles

• On Sweden's SVT Play streaming platform, this episode is titled 'Långloppsljus', which translates as 'Long race lights'. As in the original Norwegian title, this is a reference to Jenny Skavlan's submission for the 'Something you have, but should not' prize task, where she refers to turning on her high-beam lights when driving, but uses the unstranslatable compound word 'langrennslys'. In Swedish, the equivalent compound word is 'långloppsljus'. The component parts of this word are 'lång' (meaning 'long'), 'lopp' (meaning 'race'), and 'sljus' (meaning 'light'). [Translator credit: DANI]

Taskmaster Intro

Welcome to a new season of Kongen Befaler, the programme where I have hand-picked five funny people who, in the course of eight episodes, will solve my tasks, and where we will eventually end up with a winner of... yes, a bust in gold... of me.

Assistant Intro

With me is my faithful assistant, Olli.