Episode 2: The lure of the treacle puppies

Episode synopsis

In this episode the contestants must bring in best drinking vessel, make a balloon hover, have an argument, make the Taskmaster house haunted, and correctly guess their standing in the group on a series of measures.

Title context

'The lure of the treacle-covered puppies' was a phrase used by Greg Davies to summarise how Alex Horne had fallen pray to Mike Wonziak's haunted house in the 'Make the house haunted' task.

Alternate Titles

• On Finland's MTV Katsomo streaming platform, this episode is titled 'Siirappisten koiranpentujen houkutus', which translates as 'The lure of syrupy puppies'. [Translator credit: zador]
• On Sweden's SVT Play streaming platform, this episode is titled 'Skräck och ballångest', which translates as 'Horror and balloon-anxiety'. This is a reference to the 'Make the house haunted' and 'Make the balloon hover' tasks. 'Ballångest' is a punny portmanteau on the words 'ballong' (balloon) and 'ångest' (anxiety), since 'ong' and 'ång' sound the same, in this context. [Translator credit: DANI]
• On Norway's Discovery+ Norge streaming platform, this episode is titled 'Sirupvalpene kaller', which translates as 'The syrup puppies call'. Note: this Norwegian translation of the title only appears in the subtitles for the episode, whereas the episode title listed on the platform is the original English title. [Translator credit: Jan Harald]
• On Portugal's RTP Play streaming platform, this episode is titled 'A atração dos cãezinhos de melaço', which translates as 'The lure of molasses puppies'.

Taskmaster Intro

Hello! I'm Greg Davies. Welcome to the Taskmaster Academy. At this educational establishment, we teach our pupils problem-solving, cunning, and how to endure ridicule. At the end of the course, four of them will have destroyed their careers and will never work in television again. And one lucky winner will have my golden trophy. And also will have destroyed their career, and will never work in television again. It's like life - cruel and without meaning. We have an audience watching this in the cinema down the road, so let's crack on and meet our five contestants.

Assistant Intro

And next to me, a man who, like an obedient pup, responds instantly and affectionately to all my commands. And like an obedient pup, likes lapping away at his own mess. It's little Alex Horne!

Taskmaster's Sign-off

So, what have we learned today? We've known for some time that climate change is the gravest threat that humanity has ever faced, and we also know that cows are some of the greatest contributors to the global crisis. And 50% of those cows are feeding Mike Wozniak's milk habit. So, what we've learned today is that Mike Wozniak is destroying the planet. We've also learned that he's won tonight's show, and now has more vessels to fill with milky goodness. Mike Wozniak!