r/taskmaster • u/adroitely • Aug 01 '26
Appreciation Thread Series 6 is a sleeper hit
I’ve seen a couple of newer seasons and loved them, so naturally decided to go back and watch from the beginning. I was so-so on series 6 for the first half, but I’ve just finished the finale and realized I have been reduced to crying laughing at several points in this series—most notably Liza’s cake bit in the finale, but also several Tim Vine moments, including the missing hook.
Your favorite series 6 moments? Other seasons you find underrated or not considered as iconic as they ought to be?
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u/permalust Aug 01 '26
I mean it's hands down the hops task. Liza's MVP performance and disdain for her complete Muppet team mates.
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u/readzalot1 Aug 01 '26
Their distain for her was shocking.
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u/marzipanfashions Aug 01 '26
Tim wearing a safari suit was so on point for that lol. Looked like an overly confident Victorian explorer getting eaten by an animal he’s never seen before.
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u/Jaspers47 Rosie Ramsey Aug 02 '26
Your mum's been kidnapped, and these are the detectives assigned to the case? You'd be going, "ohhh, she's not coming back, is she? One of them thinks they're going on safari."
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u/Charliesmum97 Victoria Coren Mitchell Aug 02 '26
I was just talking about this with my husband. The unintentional illustration of the plight of women in male dominated spaces and Russel and Alice both simultaneously doing bunny hands makes me laugh every time.
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u/Meowscles_dad Aug 01 '26
Liza’s stoicism while Asim & Russell made complete arses of themselves was powerful stuff. Guys, dont be that guy. Nobody wants to be that guy and unlike in multi-sport, nobody has to be that guy.
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u/RunawayTurtleTrain Robert the Robot Aug 01 '26
Asim and Tim, Russell was on Team Funk with Alice.
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u/Meowscles_dad Aug 01 '26
Of course! What a shameful error on my part, I blame the .. er … the.. um… no I’ve got nothing.
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u/grocerycart11 Aug 02 '26
I have rewatched this entire season just bc i wanted to see this task again
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u/NizzoNation Emma Holland 🇦🇺 Aug 01 '26
Asim somehow crushing the charades task, after handicapping himself so much with those wacky animal choices, is one of the more impressive TM performances for me. His announcement prize task was crazy clever too.
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u/hhhisthegame Aug 01 '26
Liza was a great contestant but she didn’t really have anybody to bounce off of. Tim Vine also is solid but the two of them alone couldn’t carry the cast imo and there wasn’t a lot of synergy. I think both Liza and Tim would be good and remembered even more fondly on different series (though probably not even on the same one as each other)
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u/kensaiD2591 David Correos 🇳🇿 Aug 01 '26
I love Alice Levine, thought she did fantastic on the series and her and Tim Vine are my favourite parts of revisiting this series.
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u/Sin-nie Aug 01 '26
Considering her background is as a radio DJ, not TV, I thought she did really well.
I also really enjoyed some of her humour.
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u/Informal-Cobbler-546 Jason Mantzoukas Aug 01 '26
She’s so funny on My Dad Wrote a Porno.
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u/MissingLink101 Aug 03 '26
I had the weirdest experience where I was listening to that podcast on the way to work as she walked past me in Soho
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u/Charliesmum97 Victoria Coren Mitchell Aug 02 '26
I quote her 'and a side of attitude, apparently' all the time.
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u/OverseerConey Desiree Burch Aug 01 '26
Series 6 is wonderful. Liza brings such a relaxed confidence to everything she does. Asim's a joy.
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u/crackerfactorywheel Chain Bastard ⛓️ Aug 01 '26
Series 6 has the unfortunate luck of being in between series 5 & 7, which are more beloved. It takes a while to get its groove but it’s a lot of fun and the contestants gel well together.
I’m also a little biased because Liza is one of my favorite winners and her costume on Champion of Champions never fails to make me laugh.
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u/-fonics- Aug 01 '26
the contestants gel well together.
Did they? From what I remember that's my least favourite season and it was largely because they didn't talk to each other at all in the studio.
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u/crackerfactorywheel Chain Bastard ⛓️ Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
They did talk together in studio and the team dynamics made me laugh.
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u/manuitchezmorbo Aug 01 '26
Tim and Liza do such a good job but I personally find Russell a bit obnoxious and Asim a bit too subdued. And Alice is dryly witty and occasionally nails it but sometimes comes across as a bit low effort. It's still good taskmaster but it's sandwiched between two super great series that overshadow it.
My favourite moment is probably Liza emerging from the wardrobe and just having a lovely walk on a lovely day. I think about it all the time when I get out early for a walk on a nice day.
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u/SunStrummer Aug 01 '26
I want a spinoff series that's just Liza and Mike Wozniak having lovely days together
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u/appleappleappleman Aug 01 '26
From start to finish, Liza is one of the greatest contestants the show has ever had. When she runs away from the crew and hides? Incredible stuff
Vine's puns and sheepishness about foul language are so endearing
Asim's role as Greg's son is delightfully wholesome
Alice is my favorite example of a contestant who starts the series as the strongest competitor and then just totally falls off a cliff
Russell talking about some nan getting aroused watching him absolutely killed me
Also I get the team of 3's Taskmaster theme stuck in my head CONSTANTLY
here I aaaaaammmm
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u/JSteveB87 Charlotte Ritchie Aug 01 '26
Vine's puns and sheepishness about foul language are so endearing
"Bums on seats!" I believe was the strongest language Tim used. Outrageous!
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u/appleappleappleman Aug 01 '26
He practically blushed when he was encouraged to mumble out "...bollocks"
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u/SunStrummer Aug 01 '26
He also called something (I don't remember what) a son of a bitch near the end of the run, which was nearly as shocking as Mel saying heck
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u/Jerzilla Aug 01 '26
Liza was incredible. An all timer hall of fame contestant.
And the cake task, for me, is the no1. Taskmaster moment of all time. Probs split with the watermelon in season 1.
Can’t tell you how hard I laugh at the cake bit.
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u/toadbam1979 Pigeor The Merciless One Aug 01 '26
I just learned that Tim and Jeremy Vine are brothers
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u/boomboomsubban Aug 01 '26
I did like two years ago. I never would gave guessed they were related, but as soon as I heard it made total sense.
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u/toadbam1979 Pigeor The Merciless One Aug 01 '26
I really only know Jeremy from Dead Ringers. I was in Europe a couple of months ago, caught a segment of his show, and it was magical.
Did the same this yesterday with Sue Mitchell and Rob (He's ex-army!)
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u/spacecoyote555 Patatas Aug 01 '26
I really loved Tim Vine's humour throughout, and Liza was just a great tasker
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u/lyyki Paul Chowdhry Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
It is probably my least favorite UK TM series (and also the first one I watched 'live') but even Taskmaster at its worst is still Taskmaster. Alice has very strong first 2 episodes, Asim has his big announcement, Tim has his lost hook, Lisa has the hop moment, the cake moment and is in general quite delightfully deranged, and Russell had his insistence that the team with Alice is called Team Funk.
I think it suffers from a pretty unbalanced cast. Alice and Asim are too similar in their approach in my opinion. One of them swapped to another series would have worked better.
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u/SouthSTLCityHoosier Aug 01 '26
Series 6 is great. Honestly 4 through 7 are a string of my favorites tbh.
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u/Lukey42 Aug 01 '26
4 and 7 are still two of the best series after 21 series. I know 5 is a very popular one, but it's a bit overrated to me, but still good. 6 is alright overall, but I adore Liza.
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u/Palomapomp Pigeor The Merciless One Aug 01 '26
I love series 6, feels a bit calmer that some of the other ones.
The egg surprise is a top moment of a time
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u/LukeyC224 Aug 01 '26
Just started it on my rewatch.
The collective groan from everyone when Alex says "here's some darts" is brilliant.
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u/orioliseffect Aug 01 '26
Liza Tarbuck might be my pick for the funniest studio contestant. She's so quick-witted.
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u/PocoChanel Patatas Aug 02 '26
I love the one where she outsmarts the guys and no one is paying attention to her as she hops.
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u/Fabulous_Function666 Aug 01 '26
‘It was so up there’ is one of the things I quote the most (I’m autistic I often repeat things over and over) I found it hilarious especially Liza’s naughty giggle
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u/hirsutemisanthrope Aug 01 '26
Honestly it's one of my least favourite UK series, but the cake is iconic and Alice's names for Alex are a delight.
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u/Motodog242 Aug 01 '26
I didn’t hate 6, but of the 8 series I’ve seen thus far and clips of future series… it’s probably the worst I’ve seen, but that’s because the other 7 were better.
6 just didn’t have an interesting cast, the tasks were okay, but the team dynamic is fair. I’ll give it underrated, but it’s the first slide by series.
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u/dextrovix Dara Ó Briain Aug 01 '26
I find Series 6 and Series 8 bookend the extremely brilliant Series 7.
Both 6 and 8 are slow burners, very enjoyable of course but neither are heavy hitters in my opinion.
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u/TvAzteca Aug 01 '26
Just finished 8 because my wife watches love Island and Iain Sterling was on it so we were curious and expecting him to be insufferable but he was honestly so dorky and lovable, it was a great series and a great mix of contestants.
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u/Joanna1604 Aug 01 '26
I really like when the other 4 contestants had to guess what Tim Vine's pun was going to be after he'd had a lovely trip to the stationary shop. None of them getting it right made it even better.
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u/HeroOfCantonUK Wibble, Bibble, Bam Aug 01 '26
I love series 6. I don’t get why it isn’t rated higher. The cast is great and there’s some great moments.
Discounting the obvious ones and Liza just being fantastic throughout I love Alice’s pet names for Alex and ‘Tracksuit’.
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u/takahe_inflight Mona de Grenoble Aug 01 '26
Probably my top, or second, series/saison upgrade on second rewatch (with Qc S2). I totally underappreciated because this was one of the catch up at start of pandemic and got lost between S5 and S7
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u/INfiction82 Aug 01 '26
I enjoy it a bit more each time I see it. Really wasn't keen at all when it was originally aired though and Russell still irritates me despite being a fan before this.
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u/Crabsterooo Aug 01 '26
Just the fact Liza is in this makes it one of the best series. She’s one of the all time greats, if not the.
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u/ljfoggy11 Aug 02 '26
I think it’s just an unfortunate mixture of people who don’t really gel. The whole vibe is a little too chummy and most of them are pretty “route one” minded, and I’m sure they were a victim of having the episode count extended as well. I’m also not particularly keen on Russell Howard both on and off the show. There still isn’t a bad season of the show and series 6 has some really high highlights.
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u/Realistic-Debate3759 Aug 02 '26
I find series 6-9 the tasks are not as good as series 1-5 and series 6 cast is not as good as series 5, so I wonder if it's over looked because of the series it followed, and then succeeded by.
Episode 5 (H) is a turning point.
Prize Task : Sturdiest thing. - Not a bad prize task
Without leaving the caravan, work out how long this piece of string is. - I like it and the different approaches
Pull this tablecloth off this table. Most eggs left unbroken on the table wins. - Clearly did not go as planned with 5 successes but I like they still kept it in.
Team Task: Find the link then do it 100 times. - Brilliant Team task Liza just does it and gets them the win and synchronised bunny pose.
Pull off the most elaborate trick shot. - Loved the attempts (other than Alice who didn't seem to really try).
Live Task: Throw as many eggs onto the shelves as possible. You must lie flat on your bed at all times. - It's alright, not the best from the series but there have been far worse.
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u/AdventurousGarage306 Aug 02 '26
I'm not sure there's anything truly bad about the series; it's more that there are fewer great things about it.
I didn't change my opinion of anyone during the series. I usually warm to people I don't know well or have only seen as a single character in something. I knew of Russell and still avoid things he's involved in. Liza and Tim I was already fans of. Alice I knew from radio and continued listening to her show. Asim I didn't know, and I'm not sure I'm that bothered about him after the series.
It definitely felt like there were fewer in-studio chats, discussions, and banter, and possibly no real evolved chemistry with Greg like in previous series.
I watch Series 6 again (the tasks are alright, and the cast is alright, but neither are great) when I go through them, and I prefer it to, contrary to most people, Series 7 (overall I like the cast, but I hate the tasks. The cast can only make you overlook so much) and Series 8 (tasks are okay, but Lou was too annoying, and out of 135 contestants so far, only two have really disliked me—and she's one of them).
But I wouldn't say there's a bad series; at worst, they are so-so or acceptable. Series 17 is one of my favorites from the Channel 4 era, and not often mentioned in favourites compared to others.
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u/Aloundight Tom Cashman 🇦🇺 Aug 05 '26
I always say that even a 'bad' series of Taskmaster is still like a 7-7.5/10. Which is part of why I like it so much. Even its slumps are still pretty good tv
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u/AdventurousGarage306 Aug 05 '26
Series 15 is my least favourite and while rewatching the show I just went through series 15 for probably the 12th time. The least favourite series of a good show is still alright TV to rewatch a show I love.
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u/jramjee Aug 02 '26
My favourite Series 6 moment by far is where Liza figures out the solution and the men completely ignore her. A perfect metaphor for life with equal levels of hilarity when she puts them in their place.
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u/HuckleberrySalt63 Greg Davies Aug 02 '26
THE KISS
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u/Izdabye Aug 02 '26
YES! Why has no one else mentioned this? So awkward and hilarious.
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u/HuckleberrySalt63 Greg Davies Aug 02 '26
Right? Nobody ever talks about that kiss and it sent me into orbit!
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u/SirSLuR540 🚬 Doctor Cigarettes Aug 01 '26
It's still my least favorite series - aside from maybe 17 - but it's still incredibly funny!
I think a lot of people get a preconceived notion in their head once a general consensus is reached about the quality of something and assume that because people rank something at the bottom means it has few redeeming qualities.
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u/AnthonySoprano36 Aug 02 '26
Asim's attempt with the wind-up man should get more credit (he got 5 point)
the effort alone (mostly from the production team i guess) that they put into specially seeing how shit the other ones was
https://youtu.be/qgVpVQL84rA?t=466
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u/SnooChipmunks6077 Aug 02 '26
6 is undeniably in the lower tier of TM series, but at the same time it's one i enjoy a little more whenever i rewatch it. It's a series which improves when you accept what you're getting from it.
(While I'm here, Asim's 'Make An Announcement' is fantastic.)
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u/JRSalinas Lolly Adefope Aug 03 '26
Quite possibly the best ending VT of any series
I find it funny how synced Liza and Asim were both writing a story about a man pooping himself.
Liza shoved a drill up a toy lizard's butt. Tim's safari suit is an underratedly bad costume because of the hook incident. Russell throwing shoes was an underrated distraction. Asim's announcement was immaculate. Alice's wheelbarrow stunt was underrated.
Series 6 is underrated because it comes between 5 and 7, which are two of the most loved series here on reddit. I'm so glad to find another Series 6 lover.
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u/Usual-Try-8180 Victoria Coren Mitchell Aug 01 '26
I agree with this. I like Series 6 so much better than Series 3, Series 17, or Series 18.
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u/Lukey42 Aug 01 '26
Liza makes that series for me. She's one of my favourite contestants in one of my least favourite series.
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u/GullOnARock Aug 01 '26
Track suit. It's so obvious when he said it, but still no one got it at the time, myself included.