I am a child psychologist – here are 8 reasons Taskmaster is my favourite show to watch with my own kids
As a psychologist who specialises in working with teenagers, parents often ask me for advice about how to connect with their teens who often prefer to be out with friends or hidden away in their bedrooms. Here are 8 reasons why Taskmaster is my favourite TV show to watch with my own tweens.
If you have somehow missed the global phenomenon that is Taskmaster, it’s a comedy show in which, over the course of 10 episodes, 5 comedians complete to win points in a series of often ridiculous tasks. Each task is novel, and they include mental, physical and creative challenges.
1. Taskmaster is hilarious and families can watch together
When I watched the first episode of series 13 with my then 11 year old, I had never seen her laugh so hard. Laughing releases endorphins, and laughing together with others boosts connection and social bonds. This isn’t always easy to come by for parents of tweens and teens. The Taskmasker tasks are relatively short, which is perfect for hooking the attention of young people who we know have short attention spans. Unlike other TV shows, Taskmaster invites discussion and in our house we can’t help but talk about how we might have approached the task. In most families, being the youngest is often a disadvantage when it comes to family games. However in the Taskmaster universe all the tasks are novel and don’t often rely on previous expertise and therefore it’s a brilliantly level playing field.
2. Taskmaster celebrates diversity
The entire premise of Taskmaster is to introduce a task which the contestants will interpret in different ways. Therefore it is essential that the cast is made up of a diverse group of people who are likely to solve problems in different ways. While Taskmaster creator Alex Horne has admitted that the early line ups lacked diversity, featuring only one female contestant, they have made efforts in more recent years to have a greater diversity of representation in the cast.
Fern Brady, a family favourite of ours from series 14, who is autistic, commented on Taskmaster being one of the most neurodiversity friendly jobs in television because most of the tasks were completed on her own, and she could respond to the tasks in whatever way she wanted.
I think Taskmaster is a great reminder of the brilliance of diversity; both of representation and approach to the tasks, because it is the most essential element: the cast must find different ways of responding to the tasks.
We know that in our teenage years the desire to conform and fit in is particularly strong. Therefore it’s a great opportunity to provide a counterbalance to this and remind our teens that difference and diversity are valued too.
3. Taskmaster celebrates creativity
In Taskmaster all the tasks are novel, and therefore the show generates a constant stream of creative challenges to set the contestants. These challenges also require a creative response. Alex Horne spoke about continuing to film Taskmaster throughout the pandemic and said that he enjoyed the challenge of designing tasks with the new constraints of social distancing. Rather than seeing the restrictions of the pandemic as a negative, his view was that they forced the team to be more creative and to think of new ways around the limitations. If this isn’t a celebration of creativity I don’t know what is. The scoring of the Tasks is in many instances subjective, but very often contestants will find new and lateral ways to solve problems and are rewarded for their creativity.
4. Taskmaster reminds us that intelligence is broader than academic success
Many of the contestants have prestigious Oxbridge university educations. However this doesn’t always make them successful at Taskmaster. In fact many of the contestants known for their ‘intelligence’ have been some of the least successful at Taskmaster tasks, and have visibly floundered when faced with practical challenges.
This is an important reminder that academic success is a narrow view of intelligence. There are many facets to intelligence over and above those that are assessed and rewarded in an academic sphere. Taskmaster is a great reminder that people who are successful at exams and IQ tests can also make ridiculous decisions, and that people with no academic qualifications can be fast, decisive and extremely successful at lateral or creative tasks.
5. Taskmaster shows us that mistakes happen and are survivable
Because of the diversity and frivolity of the tasks, it is rare that there will be a stand-out contestant who is successful across the board. Most contestants win at least one episode in the series. Even the most successful of contestants are likely to have several tasks in which they mess up, misunderstand or ‘fail’. This is all part of the process. Often contestants will try something many, many times and fail before eventually succeeding.
This is part of being creative, we must fail in order to learn and refine our process. I want my children to know that success often doesn’t look like trying something and being immediately successful. It can look like failing many times and persisting. And sometimes, like Ed Gamble, you might try for 90 minutes to do something and still fail, and it will be a cross you bear for the rest of your life (Joking!) You will see that successful comedians also try things and fail, and live to tell the tale.
We don’t often see such a mixed and messy narrative of contestants who are sometimes terrible, sometimes brilliant and always giving away plenty about what it is to be a real and messy human. I think it’s also great for young people to see someone being celebrated for something they did that was silly, embarrassing or ridiculous. Often these are some of the best moments. There is also a real effort for Taskmaster to maintain a position of ‘laughing with’ rather than ‘laughing at’.
6. Taskmaster celebrates play
The benefit of Taskmaster is that the mistakes and failures happen in a ‘playground’ of activities that are safe to fail at. It’s rare for a person’s self-esteem to be based on their ability to get an iron to land on an ironing board from the furthest distance or how fast they can find a cake and sit on it. So if these tasks go wrong it probably doesn’t feel catastrophic. It is great for all of us to have an aspect of our lives such as a hobby where we can try things out, and make mistakes without huge consequences. And the added benefit for most of us is that this won’t be broadcast to millions on TV.
Play also helps us to detach from the stresses of work and school, which we know plays an important part in preventing burnout. As a psychologist an important part of being able to continue to do my job well is to ensure that I have ways to detach from the high levels of emotional distress that I encounter in my job. Spending an hour in the funny and frivolous world of Taskmaster is one of my favourite ways to do this.
7. Taskmaster celebrates the ‘side kick’
Creator of Taskmaster, Alex Horne, acknowledges that he is more of a ‘natural side-kick’ than a ‘natural host’. He appears much more comfortable showing his brilliance in devising innovative, ridiculous and hilarious tasks while his on-screen persona is in the shadow of Greg Davis – the Taskmaster. I love that my children are reminded that being the loudest or most dominant character in the room isn’t necessary. Finding your own niche where you are happy and can allow your own special talents to shine is far more important.
8. Taskmaster celebrates the process more than the end result
The gold of Taskmaster really is in the process. The occasions that contestants do something terribly are some of the best moments. The real joy is in watching the process. While the scoring system has some integrity (Alex likes people to stick to the rules) Greg ultimately will award points as he sees fit. It really is a lot more about the funny bits along the way rather than who wins in the end. This is a great message for kids, to stop and appreciate the journey rather than focussing purely on the end result. If we can find joy in that, then we really are winning.
And it doesn’t hurt to learn to appreciate the silly, disastrous and ridiculous parts of our lives either, because they’ll happen to us whether we like it or not.
