Episode 1: The natural friends

Episode synopsis

In this first episode of the season, the contestants must bring in the most wonderful wooden thing they’ve owned for a while, build a tower of cans while blindfolded, connect with their teammate(s) before running a race, get a large inflatable duck into a lake, and estimate the weight of some items.

Title context

“The natural friends” is what Greg dubs the team of Julian, Lucy, and Sam, due to their particularly awkward and unenthusiastic initial meeting (which he sarcastically calls “explosive chemistry”).

Alternate Titles

• On Finland's MTV Katsomo streaming platform, this episode is titled 'Luontaiset ystävykset', which translates as 'Natural friends'. [Translator credit: zador]
• On Sweden's SVT Play streaming platform, this episode is titled 'Naturliga vänner', which translates as 'Natural friends'.
• On Norway's Discovery+ Norge streaming platform, this episode is titled 'Perlevenner', which translates as 'Pearl friends'. This Norwegian phrase means 'very good friends'. 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]

Taskmaster Intro

Hello, everybody, and welcome to Taskmaster. It's a brand-new series, and I am a brand-new Greg Davies. 'Why, what's that, Greg? Have you been working out?' Of course I haven't. I've just started the inevitable age-related slide towards more indefensible right-wing views and selfishness. If this carries on, at this rate, this show will be run by a fat Jacob Rees-Mogg. As if things weren't sexy enough round here. Mm! So, what of our latest crop of contestants? Well, I'm not one to judge people I don't know yet, but gut instinct and on-set gossip tell me that three of the five will be eye-wateringly bad at this. And with those sort of statistics to whet your appetite, let's not waste any more time.

Assistant Intro

We all know the following slogans: ‘Just do it’; ‘Always the real thing’; ‘I'm loving it’. The most enduring brands all have one. So why shouldn’t he? Please welcome ‘Friendless oddball’, Little Alex Horne!

Taskmaster's Sign-off

What have we learned today? We’ve learned that if you put a human being in a tricky situation, they can be thoughtful, resourceful, and sometimes ingenious. We’ve also learned that some people think they’ve got arms instead of legs. It’s a funny old world, isn’t it?

Note: This is in reference to something Lucy Beaumont says in the studio, during the ‘Get this duck into the lake’ task. She says that she thinks her legs “are actually arms without fingers”, because she can cross and fold them well. Greg is unable to get past Lucy’s claim to continue the show, mistakenly thinking that Lucy actually believes she has four arms.