Episode 1: A long denouement

Episode synopsis

In this episode, the contestants must bring in the worst cup, serve a mug of almond milk to a mannequin, celebrate a football goal, complete all the tasks on the roof, and toss their shoes off the stage.

Madeleine Sami represents Tofiga Fepulea’i in the studio for this episode.

Title context

Ben Hurley acknowledges that the end of his celebration was “a long denouement, as they say in the film industry”, during studio discussion of his attempt at the ‘Celebrate a football goal’ task.

Taskmaster Intro

Nau mai, haere mai. Welcome to season five of Taskmaster New Zealand. Yes, we’re over the moon to be back for another 10 episodes of mayhem. And by ‘we’, I mean me. Over the next 10 episodes, we’ll watch with sick fascination as five New Zealand comedians with non-overlapping audiences compete in what can only be described as a dog show for humans. But why have these five comedians signed away their dignity for, let’s be honest, less money than you might think? Well, it’s all for a chance to get their hands on this: the Taskmaster trophy, made from pure 24-carat fool’s gold.

Note: 'Nau mai, haere mai' is Māori for 'Welcome, welcome in'.

Assistant Intro

And you know how the saying goes: beside every great man in a big chair is another, smaller man, in a less impressive chair. And for me, that other smaller man is none other than Paul Williams.

Taskmaster's Sign-off

Our first episode of the season in the can, but what did we learn? We learned that two out of five football celebrations end in marriage. We learned that the difference between a ceiling and a roof is your sanity. And most importantly, we learned that Abby Howells is the winner of episode one. Congratulations, Abby!