Brand-new star contestants announced for Taskmaster’s New Year Treat

A brand-new quintet of famous faces has been revealed to step up and take part in the annual festive special, Taskmaster’s New Year Treat. The powerful and immense Taskmaster Greg Davies and his dutiful sidekick Little Alex Horne have gathered five well-known stars from varying fields of expertise. They won’t give any special treatment to these famous faces and will put them through their paces with a ludicrous set of challenges in the BAFTA and Rose D’Or winning show. Set to return over the festive season with a double-helping, transmission details will be revealed in due course.

The brave personalities preparing themselves for this one-off festive treat are: BAFTA nominated TV presenter Alison Hammond (Great British Bake Off (Channel 4)), chart-topping musician Chesney Hawkes, railway enthusiast, viral content creator, and broadcaster Francis Bourgeois (The Grand Tour (Prime Video)), BBC Chief News Presenter Maryam Moshiri (The World Today With Maryam Moshiri (BBC News)), barrister, broadcaster, and author Rob Rinder. Only one victor can lay claim to the very special New Year Treat Trophy; a coveted set of Greg’s Golden Eyebrows.

Taskmaster continues to be met with huge popularity across the globe as Taskmaster Live On Stage, the live re-imagining of the global juggernaut, entirely sold out two nights at the iconic Hollywood Bowl in the U.S.A, and a date at one of Europe’s largest arenas at Manchester’s AO Arena only moments after going on sale. Set to take place in June of 2027, you can sign up to the mailing list for further news HERE.

Transmission details will be revealed in due course.

RECENT PRAISE FOR TASKMASTER:

“A mere 22 seasons in, the show remains an effortlessly enjoyable way to spend an hour”
Phil Harrison, The Guardian

“Taskmaster” has long been one of my favorite shows… In addition to being silly and enchanting, “Taskmaster” is breathtakingly novel: I’m amazed by its capacity to remain unpredictable to both its viewers and its participants… [its] among the best of the best”
Margaret Lyons, The New York Times

“the endlessly inventive Taskmaster must be the most watched panel game on air… Millions love it”
Christopher Stevens, The Daily Mail

“Fans of irreverent silliness should prepare themselves for a return to the sofa on Thursday evenings as we’re treated to a new series with Greg Davies and Alex Horne”
Tim Glanfield, The Sunday Times

THE 10 SHOWS YOU NEED TO SEE 2025 “If you’ve never heard of this outrageously hilarious British comedy panel show, you likely will soon”
Kelly Lawler, USA Today

“By series 22, you might worry Alex Horne’s well of amusingly barmy tasks would run dry, but thankfully not. The left-field genius has the new intake – Richard Ayoade, Matt Lucas, Isy Suttie, Chloe Petts and Nina Conti… Excellent”
Kay Ribeiro, The Observer

THE 19 BEST TV SHOWS OF 2025 “Find out why this is the show all the most discerning comedy fans in your life are obsessed with: You’ve never seen so many smart performers acting so silly”
Tara Araino, Vanity Fair

“We could use a laugh, so hurrah for the return of Greg Davies, little Alex Horne and their pleasingly silly comedy panel game show. As always, a gaggle of very game comedians endure rounds of ludicrous, always funny tasks generated by Al- Alex Intelligence”
Kay Ribeiro, Heat

“The iconic British comedy game show, Taskmaster, is currently airing its 22nd series, which is insane—but completely well-deserved and deeply warranted given how beloved it is”
Russ Milheim, The Direct

“Taskmaster is one of the most popular comedy shows in the world”
CBC News

“It’s the 22nd series of the weird and wonderful BAFTA- winning show, and Greg Davies and sidekick Little Alex Horne set more stupidly infuriating challenges for a fresh bunch of comedians… Comedy gold”.
Hannah Davies, TV Times Magazine

“Taskmaster has succeeded through its delightfully silly premise that makes for the perfect comfort watch for anyone in need of a hearty laugh”
Ryan O’Rourke, Collider

PICK OF THE DAY “If you’ve been missing the chaotic antics of Taskmaster Greg Davies and his assistant Little Alex Horne, you’re in luck! The BAFTA winning comedy game show is back with a new group of ’victims’ and more ridiculous tasks”
Daily Mail

“TV’s most anarchic comedy show returns”

Total TV Guide

“Greg Davies kicks off series 22 of this wildly amusing challenge show… Get ready for more nonsense fun and games as comedians Chloe Petts, Isy Suttie, Matt Lucas, Nina Conti, and Richard Ayoade think outside the box in a battle to win Greg’s golden head trophy”
The Sun

“Every episode of the British game show Taskmaster is a new experiment in reading comprehension, creative thinking, and wondering… Its great Television… Over ten years, Taskmaster has gathered a rabidly adoring fan base in the U.K., where it’s a cornerstone of the comedy-panel-show circuit and spawned a cottage industry of podcasts and international versions. Its joys are many: the discovery of new comedians, the chemistry among the cast members, the outlandishness of the tasks themselves, and the lovingly prickly dom-sub dynamic between Davies and Horne in studio. Each season feels like a highly choreographed descent into comedic madness, especially this year’s two offerings”.
Rozana Hadidi, Vulture

“One of the most consistently entertaining comedy game shows on air these days”
Clare Martin, Paste Magazine

“Effortlessly charming… The show exists in its own kind of universe… Taskmaster has become beloved the world over”
Maggie Boccella, Collider

“a word of mouth hit… The Taskmaster setup, I discovered, is special… With reinvention baked right into the concept—new participants each season, new tasks each episode—it stays fresh and compelling far longer than the average British comedy game show.”
David Sims, The Atlantic

“one of the planet’s most consistently funny TV shows”
William Hughes, AV Club

ENDS

About Taskmaster:

• Taskmaster is a BAFTA and Rose d’Or winning and International Emmy nominated comedy entertainment show originally created by Alex Horne. Greg Davies stars as the all-powerful “Taskmaster” who, with the help of his loyal assistant Horne, sets out to test the wiles, wit and wisdom of five comedians through a series of strange and surreal challenges in what is the most hard-fought and ridiculous comedy entertainment format on TV.
  
  
• 224 episodes have been produced in the UK so far, as part of a landmark six season deal with Channel 4 in 2020, which was renewed for a further six series by the broadcaster along with a brand-new spin off series Junior Taskmaster, following nine record-breaking series on UKTV’s Dave.
• Taskmaster has triumphed as one of Channel 4’s most popular programmes in recent years, Taskmaster is already watched by a broad multi-generational audience and is in Channel 4’s top three series of audience share of young viewers (16-34) in the coveted 9pm slot, with Gogglebox and Derry Girls. Taskmaster is also hugely popular on Channel 4’s streaming service, with the average views per episode [0-7Days, O&O] growing since 2021. Taskmaster is also hugely popular on Channel 4 streaming, where it is available for free and, since 2021, the average views per episode [0-7Days, O+O] have grown for the title with each series. Taskmaster is one of the youngest skewing shows on Channel 4, with nearly a quarter of its audience last year aged 16-34, across both linear and streaming. Across 2024 Taskmaster was in the top 5 most streamed shows on Channel 4, for all individuals.
  
  
• Taskmaster has recently received its second nomination for Best Comedy Entertainment Programme at the RTS Awards 2026, following a fifth BAFTA nomination for the 2025 awards and was crowned Best Entertainment Craft at the 2025 BAFTAs, and Best Comedy Entertainment at the Rose D’Or Awards 2024. Previously it has won Best Comedy Entertainment Show at the National Comedy Awards 2022 and 2023, Best Comedy Entertainment at the BAFTAs 2020 and Best Entertainment Programme at the Broadcast Awards 2018, having previously received two more nominations for the Broadcast Awards. It has also been nominated for the Bruce Forsyth Entertainment Award at the NTA’s 2021 and 2022, Best Comedy Entertainment at Rose d’Or 2023, Studio Entertainment at Rose d’Or 2021, Broadcasting Press Guild Awards, the Broadcast Digital Awards, Edinburgh TV Award, the TV Choice Awards, Best Returning Format in the International Format Awards 2020, and received two BAFTA Craft nominations in 2023 and 2025. While it’s spin of series Junior Taskmaster took home the prize for Best Comedy Entertainment Programme at the Royal Television Society Awards 2025.
• The original Taskmaster programme can now be seen in 120 countries. Over 93 seasons and 921 episodes have been commissioned outside the UK with local versions now in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Croatia, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, The Netherlands, Poland and Portugal where it ranked first for most watched entertainment programs on its channel RTP 1. Taskmaster Australia launched on Network Ten where it became the channel’s top new show of the year and received a nomination for Most Outstanding Comedy at the Logies, produced by Avalon Television with Kevin&Co and featuring Tom Gleeson as the Taskmaster with Tom Cashman as the Taskmaster’s Assistant, and Taskmaster New Zealand series six launched on TVNZ in 2025, while it previously won Best Entertainment Show at the NZ TV Awards. The first season of Le Maitre du Jeu for Bell Media, which aired in Canada in September 2022, increased Noovo’s performance in the Thursday time slot by 50%, while it is now in production for series four. The UK original won Canada’s film and TV Rockie Awards 2023 for Best Comedy and Variety show.
  
  
• The format has seen huge success in Europe, with the Swedish version reaching ratings of over a 65% market share in a primetime weekend slot with series 14 and 15 in production for TV4, produced by Avalon Television with Fremantle. Norway’s local version of Taskmaster, Kongen Befaler, won the Norwegian TV Academy Award (Gullruten) for Best Comedy Show in 2024, where a twelfth season is in production for Warner Bros Discovery. Finland’s version of Taskmaster, Suurmestari, won Game Show of the Year at the Venla Gala awards, with five series aired and six more ordered by MTV3, with the channel also launching the first international version of Junior Taskmaster later this year. Stormester, Denmark’s Taskmaster, which is now in its tenth series, won Best Game Show at the 2022 Vindere Awards making it their most successful comedy entertainment series ever with a 50% share of all viewers, with TV2 launching successful Taskmaster spin off series, ’Champion of Champions’ in 2023 and ’One More Chance’ 2024, which achieved an incredible 82% share in the 15-34 demo.
  
  

• The Taskmaster YouTube channel has seen huge success internationally, particularly in North America, reaching over 15.5 billion impressions since it first launched in October 2019, with just over 1.8 billion views and over 2.3 million subscribers. The channel has had over 336 million hours’ worth of content viewed with 47% of those hours from North America (190 million hours watched). The show has grown significantly in popularity with American audiences throughout 2025. There has been an 31% increase in North American viewership year on year, with over 188 million views from North America so far this year, while there were 270k new subscribers from North America in 2025 alone, which is three times more than it received for its previous series, while series 21 of the hit show saw an increase in viewership internationally and saw a 41% increase in impressions from North America compared to the previous series, with 7.6 million hours watched so far on the official YouTube channel, contributing to the 336 million hours viewed and 2.3 million subscribers and counting on the channel. The channel to date has passed 1.7 billion views.

• The Taskmaster book ‘200 Extraordinary Tasks for Ordinary People’ was published in 2018, while a second book ‘Bring Me The Head of the Taskmaster’ was published in September 2021. Both books featured as Sunday Times Bestsellers at launch and were followed by the launch of a brand-new book celebrating the ten year anniversary of Taskmaster; ‘An Absolute Casserole: The Taskmaster Compendium’ which launched in November 2024. Combined they have collectively sold over one million units globally. The Swedish version of the book has sold 108,000 copies to date.
• For the first time, Taskmaster entered the world of virtual reality with a brand-new virtual reality game, Taskmaster VR. Published by Scallywag Arcade, a Draw & Code studio, Taskmaster VR launched in 2024 for Meta Quest 2 and 3.
  
  
• The festive season saw the launch of brand-new Taskmaster Crackers which entirely sold out before they hit the shelves at pre-sale. Having currently sold over a quarter of a million crackers to fans across the world, production went into overdrive to meet phenomenal demand in time for Christmas. They became an official No.1 best-seller on Amazon and have been ordered by fans across 58 countries around the globe including in North America, Australia, Thailand, South Korea and Iceland among other countries.
• 2025 has seen the creation and release of a brand-new Taskmaster Advent Calendar, which was the latest festive product for Christmas 2025. Over 15,000 calendars were sold on the first day of pre-orders in July, making it the fastest selling merchandise item in Taskmaster history. It then went on to entirely sell out and was purchased by fans across the globe from the U.S.A., to Italy, Brazil and beyond.
• Taskmaster: The Board Game was released in Autumn 2019 and entirely sold out a week after it went on sale. A second game, Taskmaster: The Secret Series Game was released in 2022. Taskmaster: The Card Game was released also released in 2022. Across the range, over 400,000 games have been sold to date. All the games are available to buy from the official Taskmaster shop, www.TaskmasterStore.com.
  
  
• Taskmaster Education takes elements of the show and uses them to inspire, engage and teach children and young people. Tasks can be adapted to meet a near infinite range of teacher objectives, whether curriculum-based or more focused on social and emotional development. Taskmaster Club launched in September 2023, offering schools across the country the opportunity to host after school clubs that bring Little Alex Horne and the silly joy of Taskmaster into their classrooms. Over 800 schools in the UK have registered to date on taskmastereducation.com.
  
  
• Taskmaster recently collaborated with Great Ormand Street Hospital with the first ever Taskmaster livestream event which invited content creators and influencers with a combined social following of over 117million to be the contestants. The event raised over £277,000 (and counting) for the new cancer centre at the hospital. Taskmaster also works with Homeless Link; the national membership charity for frontline homelessness services, creating a virtual Taskmaster at Home event with all the money raised going to homeless charities across the UK. Having raised over £125,000, more information on the virtual event can be found here.
• For the first time ever, fans could step into the shoes of their favourite comedians and complete tasks themselves with Taskmaster: The Live Experience. The launch of the brand-new interactive adventure saw it receive rave reviews, selected as one of Time Out’s ‘Top London Comedy Shows to See’, and Metro’s ‘best adventures to be had in London’. The most ludicrous experience in London extended its run well into 2025 to keep up with demand for tickets.
• In a bid to make studio tickets fairer to get for fans, Taskmaster now sell guaranteed entry tickets to see the show being recorded. All proceeds (excluding ticketing partner’s fees and VAT) will be donated to three charities handpicked by Alex and Greg: Slough Homeless Our Concern, Thames Valley Adventure Playground, and LOROS Hospice. You can sign up to the mailing list to be the first to hear about upcoming ticket releases.