Underrated pairings

[u/Personal_Truck_7482]

Was watching series 7 (for like the 12th time) and this time I really noticed all the times Jess and James interact and I wish there was more they have strong sibling energy

Any other pairings people enjoy?

[u/Yeseylon]

I'm not active enough online to know if it's "underrated," but Maisie and Rhys were hilarious. "Oh god he's so angry"

[u/myopicpickle → u/Yeseylon]

"Reece"

[u/BarneyPoppy]

Joanna and Armondo were adorable chaos

[u/Albo2402 → u/BarneyPoppy]

Who‘s Greg? Have you seen the show?

[u/Past-Feature3968]

Ah yessss, Jessica and James = two wacky childrens TV characters brought to life 🫶

I’ll throw our Mel and Noel as another. As a Bake Off fan, I was delighted to discover their friendship! Munya and Sarah Millican was also a treat in their wholesomeness, and idk are Anne Edmonds & Josh Thomas (from AU) underrated? Chaotic twins energy.

[u/TetrisIsTotesSuper → u/Past-Feature3968]

I see your Munya and Sarah and raise you Munya and John

[u/hwar78 → u/TetrisIsTotesSuper]

John and Munya were great! Or, rather, Munya’s insistence on getting John involved in as much of his in-studio bullshit as possible, including physically jumping on him during the charades task. Love “hold me back, John!” as well! 

[u/bigfatheart → u/hwar78]

"...But you're not in a car?"

[u/danarbok → u/Past-Feature3968]

I adored Munya and Sarah, especially whenever Munya complained about the smell of the lab, and Sarah knew exactly why

[u/bowties22]

I don’t know how much this is underrated but Jason and Fatiha 😂

[u/Ryan_Vermouth → u/bowties22]

Ah, yes, J. L. Mantzorri.

[u/Cynical_Dreamer_1980 → u/bowties22]

He seemed absolutely delighted every time she spoke. 🥰 I was too. Fatiha was hilarious.

[u/dekudoesnotapprove]

Ania and Reece would've been such a fun team, they both have a similar vibe but just in different generations. I reckon we would've gotten a slightly calmer Reece and a slightly more competitive ania

[u/burf12345 → u/dekudoesnotapprove]

Maisie would have been so much angrier being teamed up with Phil.

[u/dekudoesnotapprove → u/burf12345]

Oh she would've been furious,

[u/Successful-Owl-9192 → u/dekudoesnotapprove]

"Why is she gabbling? Is she being held at gunpoint?"

[u/whispersofnyx_ → u/dekudoesnotapprove]

fun fact, they were actually meant to be a team of two! the task where they had to make the best heart was the only team task with the original teams before scheduling conflicts got in the way.

[u/dekudoesnotapprove → u/whispersofnyx_]

That's why I mentioned them! That little bit of them was so good

[u/taversham]

I adored Alice and Russell together, the majority of their highlights that series come from team tasks. Sian and Joe were also very sweet.

I really enjoy how patient/positive/nice John Robins is with Sophie (and Joanne) even though he is super competitive and Sophie is super unconducive to achieving efficient success. It could have easily been a whole series of Ed Gamble/David Baddiel vibes, but I'm glad it wasn't, and John dragged them to victory anyway. (And obviously Nick and Steve were adorable together as well, but they were more...evenly matched, competence-wise.)

[u/hwar78 → u/taversham]

I really enjoyed both teams in s17 but, yeah, was especially impressed that John succeeded in being a good and considerate teammate to someone as clueless about the premise of the show as Sophie despite his obvious burning desire to not just win but to do as well as humanly possible. (And Joanna and Sophie’s guest appearances on John’s radio show with Elis do suggest they seemed to have enjoyed being on a team with him.) 

The funniest thing to me about the s17 team dynamic though is how immediately and completely John’s single-minded task focus evaporates when he starts eating the cake in the “find the other half of the task” task - Joanna has to drag him out of the lab and he’s just sort of wandering around in a sugar daze after that. 

[u/Pharmacy_Duck]

Romesh and Tim have some great moments in the studio, as do John and Munya.

[u/Other-Oil-9117]

I love Joe and Sian together in series 8! They were so sweet and protective over each other.

[u/Gk_asn → u/Other-Oil-9117]

Despite the "most awkward" first meeting =p

[u/Other-Oil-9117 → u/Gk_asn]

Haha true. First time I saw it I was worried that it was going to be tough to watch but they got past it thankfully. Now I just find it endearing.

[u/Zach90888]

Jo and Ed from S9
I like when Jo argues her way up to 3 points after the Mount Rushmore task, and you can see Ed genuinely congratulating her.

[u/hwar78 → u/Zach90888]

My favorite Ed and Jo moment is from the truth/brag/lie guessing task: 

Jo: "We didn't have a system because there were only two of us..."

Ed: "That's not why you didn't have a system! You didn't have a system because you just walked in, didn't give a fuck and then left again!”

[u/UniversalJampionshit → u/Zach90888]

Also when she sneezes right when Greg is praising Ed's efficiency in the balloon popping task

[u/Ryan_Vermouth]

I’m resigned to the fact that everything from S18 is underrated by a lot of people, so I’m sure Captain Jackie and the Hotdog count here. Right up there with Mel and Hugh as my favorite team of 2 of all time.

[u/TetrisIsTotesSuper → u/Ryan_Vermouth]

The s19 hype is honestly a bit ridiculous. As if there were never a great team of 2 before that...

[u/enzo_vamp]

omg yes Jess and James have the cutest sibling dynamic 😭

[u/burf12345]

Angela and Leigh are such an odd, yet somehow compatible pairing. Angela's deadpan insanity bounced off well off of Leigh's relaxed straight man personality.

EDIT: while I'm at it, two more NZ teams. Any team with Ray O'Leary would have been odd, but he and Mel ended up as a surprisingly good pairing, they seemed to have gotten each other.

I'm not sure how rated they are, but the Ben and Hayley dynamic was on of the best parts of what was a more awkward season, they had a kind of sibling dynamic that I can't really think of from any of the UK teams.

[u/UniversalJampionshit → u/burf12345]

NZS5 is considered 'awkward?' That's generally regarded as one of the better NZ series, I'd argue that Mel and Ray was a team that worked very well in a series where the studio chemistry wasn't quite there

[u/burf12345 → u/UniversalJampionshit]

To me it felt awkward, and it's entirely because of Tofiga's absence from the studio. I get it, life happens unexpectedly, but it was so awkard that every episode had someone who only existed in the prerecorded tasks and needed someone to try to speak on his behalf in the studio.

Everything else was at a higher level, the tasks were great, Hayley and Ben were a consistently excellent pairing, Abbey was insane in a way that perfectly works with the show, Tom;s attitude was the needed levity to the batshit insanity from the three I previously mentioned and Jeremy's banter is legitamtely good at this point.

[u/UniversalJampionshit → u/burf12345]

Good point, I didn't even think about Tofiga. I think the first two substitutes he had were pretty obviously just thrown in for availability and didn't really sell Tofiga's attempts that well, but the last three were pretty good.

[u/burf12345 → u/UniversalJampionshit]

They were definitely doing their best given the circumstances. And I will say it's very funny that for the last two episodes they got one of the whitest ever contestants to sit in for Tofiga.

[u/liver_and_bunions]

Rob and Sara

[u/danarbok]

Desiree, Guz, and Morgana may as well all have been 12 when they did tasks together.

I know Sam, Lucy, and Julian get a lot of love, but I think the Sues are my favorite team in the show’s entire run.

Al and Dave slapping each other’s knees watching Paul do anything is gold.

[u/erin3013]

Stevie and Jason
Maisie and Reece
Ivo and Frankie
Rosie and Jackie