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Presented by Greg Davies and Alex Horne (who also created the programme, originally as a show for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe), the first series of Taskmaster was broadcast in 2014 on comedy channel Dave, before expanding its audience after being poached by Channel 4 in 2020.
There have been 19 full series to date, along with special one-off ‘Champion of Champion’ and ‘New Year Treat’ programmes, comprising one or two episodes. There’s also been a children’s version hosted by former contestants Rose Matafeo and Mike Wozniak.
The show sees (mainly) comedians take part in a range of challenges which are then marked by the hosts, usually (but not always) winning a maximum of five points per task.
In order to judge which Taskmaster alumini have been most successful, and to take into account the often convoluted rules, we’ve simply looked at who has won the highest percentage of tasks they have been set.
For the purposes of this list we have restricted it to the 95 celebrities who have appeared on the 19 completed full series of the show – one-off special episodes don’t count.
So, ahead of Series 20, here are the current top 11 Taskmasters of all time.
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5. Tim Key
Tim Key came a lowly fourth in series one of Taskmaster and later returned as a Task Consultant. He was still surprisingly good at winning tasks though (and conversely making a bit of a mess of them). He won 12 out of 32 tasks - that's a 37.5 rate of triumph. | Getty Images
6. Sam Campbell
Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Sam Campbell won Series 16, with a total of 161 points. That equated to 19 wins from 51 tasks - 37.3 per cent success. | Getty Images
7. John Robins
Another contestant to win both the Edinburgh Comedy Award and Taskmaster is John Robins. He won Series 17, with a record 192 points. His win rate was also good - 19 from 52 tasks, or 36.5 per cent. | Getty Images
8. Lee Mack
Another unlucky loser, in 2021 'Not Going Out' star Lee Mack caem third with 151 points in Series 11 of Taskmaster. His 18 wins from 50 tasks - a 36 per cent victory rate - suggests he really should have done better. | Getty Images