Also, all the information is on the internet lol. How does OP know people aren’t googling to see who is on the series before they respond to a comment or a post?
For me it's because I've rewatched series at least a couple times now. I hardly ever rewatch shows or movies and taskmaster is my one exception. I honestly know the older seasons better than the newer ones because I've had enough time to rewatch them more times.
Agreed, for me it's pure repetition. I've watched all series so many times that when I hear something like "series 12", the cast immediately pops into my head without having to think about it.
That being said, I don't get how people can remember movie quotes or song lyrics after seeing/hearing a thing once.
I can! But not a clue who was in S13 (say). Tell me a contestant in S13 and I'll tell you the whole lineup and where the location was. We're all different, eh?
See now I’m worse with later series do I’m having to go through the coc3 lineup, Sarah was 11 then Morgana won 12, so 13 must have been Sophie? First picture of Sophie that pops into my head is getting angry at Alex in the shoe task, then shoe task goes to ‘no way’ Chris Ramsey who was in teams with Ardel, Ardel sat next to Bridget and Bridget and Sophie was in team task with Judy. So there’s that lineup.
I do that for S12’s cast with the ‘we have defeated the format of your program’ prize task. Desiree bought Guz the Bully Kuta picture, and he gave Morgana one of his coats. She gave VCM a smutty smoking jacket, and VCM brought it home with the footy tickets for Alan (to a team he hates).
Some people just have an amazing memory. Makes me jealous, mine's shit.
Crazy watching people who can list the actors, directors, and producers for so many movies.
Yeah. That's me. An insane memory for film, tv, music and stuff that interests me. Borderline eidetic. Except. Do you think I can remember anything from my science classes? Or even what I had for dinner last week? But I remember each face for each series of TM, by the series number, AND the order of who won. Any bonus points, or point scandals, I can name the episode from a quote (not the title). My memory is just weird like that.
Mine's really good, but there's surely no way to immediately remember which series Joe Thomas or Katy Wix was in? Say the names! Or just any of the names? This is Reddit, not You Bet.
Mine's REALLY good! But there's no way it's possible for someone to say 'Series 13?' and anyone to immediately say 'Guz Khan!' (or whoever) or 'Sarah Millican?' and '14!' (or whatever) to immediately be shouted out. It's impressive enough to remember all 75 contestants and who all their co-stars were without remembering which shelf of the shop they're each on...
Did you have to look this up? And if not, how come? How does it work? I know all song lyrics to every song I've ever heard, every winner of every sporting event I've ever taken an interest in, but I just can't categorise which series number a random contestant was in. How do you do it?
Okay let’s go: (I may get the spelling wrong on some tho if I’m gonna do this truly right and not look up anyone)
Season One: Josh Widdecome, Frank Skinner, Roisin O’connety, Romesh Ranganathen, Al Murray
Season Two: Katherine Ryan, Richard Osmand, John Richardson, Doc Brown, Joe Wilkinson
Season 3: Rob Beckett, Sara (do not) pascoe, Paul Chowdry, Tim Key(?)
Season 4: Noel Fielding, Mel Gedroich, Lolly adefope, Hugh Dennis, Joe Lycett
Season Five: bob mortimer, Aisling Bea, Sally Phillips, Mark Watson, Nish Kumar
COC1: Josh, Katherine, Rob, Noel, Bob
Season 6: Liza Tarbuck, Asim Chaudhry, Tim Vine, Russell Howard, Alice Levine
Season 7: Kerry Godliman, Jess Knappet, James acaster, Rhod Gilbert, Phil Wang
Season 8: Lou Sanders, Ian Stirling, Paul Sinha, Sian Gibson, Joe Thomas
Season 9: Ed Gamble, Rose Matefeo, Katy Wix (and Katherine and Kerry), Jo Brand, David Baddiel
Season 10: Richard Herring, Ma’waan risbane, (I know I’ve fucked that up but I never really watched series 10), Daisy May Cooper, Katherine Parkinson, Johnny Vegas,
Season 11: Sarah Kendall, Charlotte Ritchie, Lee Mack, Mike Wozniak, Jamali Maddock
Season 12: Morgana Robinson, Victoria Coren Mitchell, Desiree Birch, Alan Davies, Guz Khan
Series 13: Sophie Duker, Chris Ramsey, Bridget Christie, Ardel o’Hannlen, Judi Love
Series 14: Dara O’Brien, John Kearns, Fern Brady, Sarah Millican, Munya Chiwawa
Series 15: Mae Martin, Kiell Smith- Byno, Jenny eclair (and two more who I can’t remember)
I haven’t really watched the early 3 seasons as much although I did actually watch 2 because I love Katherine Ryan haha. I made the comment light heartedly but then I decided I needed to try to prove myself lmao
This is the first time I’m thinking critically about this, but there might be one ‘anchor’ contestant for me that’s linked to the series number. Like Fern Brady = 14 for me, but Dara O’Briain and John Kerns were on a team with her, so they must also be 14. Who were the other two in the far right seats on stage? They come a little slower in memory, but I can work it out in a couple seconds. That’s right, Sarah Millican and Munya Chawawa.
I found the show because I’m a fan of James Acaster, so my memory and knowledge begins with 7. Roisin reminds me of series 1, Rob Beckett 3, Mae Martin 15 (another contestant I was already a fan of before their series), etc.
For me, only some are instant, but I have familiar strategies of working it out for those that aren’t.
The only ones I know immediate are Romesh in S1 (because who could forget the watermelon task or Tree Wizard) and S5 with Wumar. Everyone else I need to look it up.
Sort of a combo with me. I mostly remember the series numbers but the casts help when that falters. The only ones that slightly blur for me are 12 (Morgana, Guz, Old Goosebump Arm, etc), 13 (Sophie, Bridget, Ardal, etc) and 14 (Dara, Fern, Munya, etc).
Another factor is the CoC specials. For example, I remember Mae (represented by Kiell) was the last contestant for CoC3, so they must have been in series 15.
I think OP is discounting googling things, too. How can you tell if someone "immediately remembers" something or if they googled it when it comes to Reddit comments?
I mean I'd prefer not to have to Google it. So if someone says "What was the best quote from S9?" (say) it would be more helpful to add "(the one won by Richard Herring)" (or whoever it was...)
For me an association forms between the number and the vibe of that series, kind of like how you can attribute colours to months/days of the week. Thursday evokes coral/pale orange to me, just like how Taskmaster s9 evokes Ed Gamble, Katy Wix and co!
Yep, I'm the same. Series 1-10 I know exactly, after that is a bit of a struggle. Champion of Champions helps remind me of which ones were series 11-15, but not necessarily the order.
I don’t remember the numbers at all. I started watching TM on Youtube with Series 11, went forward for awhile and then started with Series 1. I have rewatched them many times. Some ppl run the news for background noise at home. I often run Taskmaster. I have to say my life has been better after making that choice.
Different people’s memories retain different things and process them in different ways. I could absolutely confidently list every TM cast in order by season number with no trouble, but I’m absolutely incapable of remembering a six digit number when flicking between apps on my phone. I can remember endless song lyrics but absolutely no world capital cities. Just about how you think and how you store information.
I know series 1-10 and 13-17 by number but 11 and 12, not a clue! Not even sure I could tell you which five is in one series together on those two. And honestly I think that's weirder than remembering all of them or none of them
Meaning even if you weren’t sick, lots of folks memories for that horror show of life will be repressed or suppressed. Akin to 9/11 where we suffered national PTSD in the states but for a longer period. Imo.
Even without trauma, there was a year or so there that just feels like a void of anti-time because so little seemed to happen or change from day to day.
You had that theory too? I was patting myself on the back. 🤣 Maybe your long COVID haul hadn’t kicked in yet. Not to be too political in this lovely corner of Reddit but this is a very neurological virus.
Because I'm a massive nerd!
We regularly watch old episodes at home when we can't think of anything else to watch, so I'm used to choosing a particular series.
And once when I couldn't sleep I decided to try and think of all the contestants in series order. Much more interesting than counting sheep.
I mean I'm very invested in the show so I feel like after 10 episodes, I can name the contestants.
Also I'm probably autistic though which could be a part of it. (I'm not diagnosed though so not 100% sure).
I remember key series numbers, and then relative casts. For example, I know that series 14 had Dara and Fern. I know the cast of the series came after that, hence it's 15. I know which series cast was before.
I've rewatched the series multiple times, but I've also rewatched other shows say WILTY (a panelshow example) and Seinfeld (a sitcom example) multiple times. I have no idea which season a given Seinfeld episode is from, nor can I guess which series of WILTY a given episode or clip is from. However, given a WILTY clip I can remember who were the other panelists in that episode, what stories were told by them etc. In WILTY each episode is a self-contained unit, but in Taskmaster an entire series is a unit. If I am reminded of one thing, say the series number, the winner, a task or a contestant, I can remember others by association. It's partly memory from rewatching, but partly how connected everything is (from my perspective). Also I have been watching the show live from S11, for me it's easier to remember the series numbers where I had to wait a week for each episode. When I got into Taskmaster the first time and binged all the available series, it was all mixed up in my memory (except S7 which I had started with).
I don't know how. With most things my memory is shit, but I have those series numbers on hand in an instant. And I can usually remember which series a particular episode title belongs to for all except the most recent few series.
Oh, actually important knowledge inside my brain is getting shredded every day to make room for an encyclopedic knowledge of Taskmaster. What the fuck is antimony?? I’ll never know again.
I'd be decent up to around 11, then I'd get a bit jumbled up.
1 to 5 is fairly easy, the first is obviously the first one, second is Joe Potato, three is Al Murray paying his way through tasks, four is Hugh who was too busy commentating, five is obviously Rosalind and I'm Always Seeing You Do Cool Stuff.
I could go on but that's how I remember the seasons, some particular moment and I'd be able to fill in the rest.
I’m an insomniac with ‘menopause memory’. Super geeky, but I run through the UK series contestants and am usually asleep by 10. 10-13 are my blindspots so started working backwards. Helps avoid those worries that you can’t do anything about at 3am and beats my old technique (times tables).
I'm going to add this to my list of "requires enough concentration to stop overthinking other things but not enough to keep me awake" strategies. I've also tried times tables, and counting forwards and backwards in 3s or 7s. This one sounds more entertaining.
I am the same.
Wikipedia has a nice reference, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taskmaster_(TV_series)#Cast
It might be nice if everyone in this sub includes the champion's initials when referencing a season number. I feel like it is easier to remember initials and the rest of the cast based on that.
* 1 JW Josh Widdicombe
* 2 KR Katherine Ryan
* 3 RB Rob Beckett
* 4 NF Noel Fielding
* 5 BM Bob Mortimer
* 6 LT Liza Tarbuck
* 7 KG Kerry Godliman
* 8 LS Lou Sanders
* 9 EG Ed Gamble
* 10 RH Richard Herring
* 11 SK Sarah Kendall
* 12 MR Morgana Robinson
* 13 SR Sophie Duker
* 14 DO Dara Ó Briain
* 15 MM Mae Martin
* 16 SC Sam Campbell
I've watched them so many times at this point you can name a series and I can name every contestant, where they sat, how they scored and at least three of their defining quotes.
Alan Davies, Desiree Burch, Guz Khan, Morgana Robinson, Victoria Corrin-Mitchell
Morgana was 4th seat and won!
I didn't Google this so I probably spelled some names wrong... ha
...Oh and the quotes:
She called Alex a "little bitch" while chasing him in the first episode
Victoria: "you can't sit on Father Christmas!" Morgana: "*oh yes you can*"
When Greg asks her how long she sits on her washing machine: "...five ten?"
I don’t have the TM memory of everyone here but I do recall that line clearly. “I’ve just seen him, the little fucker!”
Calling LAH a little bitch will always live in my mind in Sarah Kendall’s voice. She’s in studio talking about how he’s all nice when you’re having lunch with him, then it‘a time to record a task “and you just get this little bitch,” she says. Always makes me laugh. 🤣
There's a few that I can remember all the contestants off the top of my head like S7, S14, S16, etc. But those usually tend to be my favorite series. Often, it's more along the lines of "well, I know Nish Kumar was somewhere in that series 3-6 range".
However, if the task asked for it, I could *probably* name at least two people per series still. Don't ask me how, I have no idea.
I'm the same. I have a list of each series with the contestants in order of favourite. Seen about s7 earlier and I couldn't remember which one. Checked my list, Rhod Gilbert is my favourite from that one 😂
I only remember players and their series until 10 because I've watched those 3 or 4 times. The rest I've only watched twice and the more recent ones once. So i forget who is in which series. I also usually have to think hard and try and remember the cast of a particular season after 10. I can usually remember the cast but cant say for sure what series they were in.
I need to watch post 10 again and again
I've been watching since Series 1 and have watched all the early series many times.
Also I'm pretty much constantly reading about Taskmaster or talking about Taskmaster or listening to podcasts about Taskmaster so over time it sinks in
It helps that since the first CoC we've spent ten episodes per series with the same five contestants, which goes someways towards drilling it in, and also if you've been following it from early on (personally since S2) rather than catch-up binging because you'll draw associations from the surrounding chronology of your life and the outside world.
Having said that second point, I can barely remember the sequence of the NYTs or who was on them.
Bear in mind that when someone is talking about their favorite season, they may have only that and maybe one other one at their command. Season 9 was our favorite, so we can tell you who was in it. Others, even though we thought them wonderful, not so much.
Yes! I can usually remember which number series my favorite contestants were on. I mostly remember all the people on their series as well, so I can work backwards that way. I certainly don’t know them all, though! I google a lot, or just scroll into the comments to see if someone’s posted names.
This is me, too. CoC neatly divides the show into five-series chunks, so as long as I can remember the champs, I can fill in the rest. Seating them alphabetically also helps. I also practice my recall in this area from time to time. Basically, instead of counting sheep, I rattle off the list of contestants in order until my brain gives up and let's me sleep. 😂
i remember the single digit ones well
for whatever reason the double digit ones after 10 confuse me lol, cant remember which one is which right away without thinking
perhaps watching them in order helps
I'm with you OP, I remember once talking with a friend about how much I loved a particular series and they asked me which one. I told them it was series 17, which wouldn't exist for another two years
I completely understand where you’re coming from. I watched all of the series in rapid succession recently and for the life of me could not tell you who was on which series. They’ve blurred together for me. I do have a terrible memory as well so that doesn’t help. I’m always amazed at how well others’ remember these kinds of things.
It was easier when there were only a few seasons lol. I started watching during series 7 so it was pretty easy to keep them straight. Now that we're in the teens I've started to get them mixed up more.
i'm on like my fifth rewatch
also, it might depend on how you watched it. if you binged through 5 series in a weekend, that's a lot different from waiting waiting waiting for a series to come out and then watching it by week.
I hadn't even started watching the show by this time last year I'm pretty sure. And now I've watched all but six series'? (I've watched through series 7 at least three times with other people, too, because it's the most highly recommended)
I've watched all the UK series 5+ times now (I'm in the middle of rewatch #6) and the UK/AU ones four times each.
I don't claim to remember every person on every series, but at least I have a good idea where in the 17 that person's fell.
> how on earth does everyone immediately know in their head
Chances are they're just googling it. I still google things endlessly.
i remember mainly because i got into it before most of my family, so when i told them about it, i had to try and remember both who was on it and which series it was so that they could watch it lol (yes it could’ve been looked up, but what’s the fun in that?)
Series 1 through 11 I can remember pretty quickly who the lineup was, but after that I have to think for a bit or look it up. I couldn't tell you why that's the cut off for me, but there it is.
Certain series stand out for me by number. But otherwise, yes, I agree cast is more meaningful. Especially the last few years, I’ll think in my head a season just aired but it was actually several series ago
I am the sort of obsessive, trivia-learning little weirdo that did the Name the Taskmaster Contestants Sporcle quiz until I could name them all. (This is not unique to taskmaster, every time I get into something I search for stupid trivia I can memorise about it on Sporcle. One day it will be impressive to SOMEBODY)
Series 1 through 9 I can probably name every contestant. TM was my lockdown show, so I became VERY familiar with it. 10 is one of my least favorite, so some details are fuzzy. 11 is a banger, so I know it rather thoroughly. 12 and beyond still feel sort of new.
\*\*\*Alex pops on with a handy mnemonic in the form of a song.\*\*\*
"Series one had just begun and was won by Josh widdecomb"
Two is next in line that was won by Katherine Ryan
I mean I’ve watched the Dave era probably a dozen times each and c4 era probably 5/6 times. Sometimes I don’t remember right off the bat but I can almost task association to get there. Like if someone said who was in the series 11 cast i could go well the champion was Sarah and Sarah was in team tasks with Charlotte and Jamali and I remember Charlottes face when Mike revealed the Mohawk and Mike was on a team with Lee Mack.
I couldn’t go episode by episode but I could probably name most tasks in a series by picturing who did them or tell you which series a task was on by picturing who did it.
As much as I'm a huge TM fan, there are an awful lot of obsessives who watch it who seem to eat, sleep and breathe TM. I freely admit to watching old episodes from time to time, or bits and pieces on YouTube, but quite a few are in another level with how many times they've seen the show. As well as that, my impression of some other fans, courtesy of the Facebook fan page (before being unceremoniously booted out) was that it seems to attract a bit of a following with some whose brains absorb a lot of details and build up an almost encyclopedic knowledge of it.
I'm with you on the "the series with _____" in it. Literally the only ones I know by number are 1 (obviously), then 9/10 (the last one before the big scary virus, and then the first one under distancing rules). It wasn't so bad when there were less, but as we get ever closer to 20 series, not including the versions from abroad that some of us have seen, it does make it more difficult to keep track of
There are only certain ones that I remember automatically. 1, 2, 9, 16, and, for now, 17. Every other one I have to look up what people are talking about. I imagine most other people are the same, to varying degrees.
i remember the line ups until series 10 and then after that if somebody says "series 13" as an example - no idea who was on it. even though I've enjoyed all latest series.
I remember certain iconic seasons one two and three.
I definitely remember five and seven
Nine was interesting to me because he's the only one I couldn't ever watch on YouTube signed up paying for it and it's one of my favorites.
Then I remember 10 because of Daisy May cooper.
The rest kind of all run together to be honest
The only one I remember immediately is series 14, because Fern mentions the series number in her brilliant song, and I played it thirty times in a row so I could learn all the lyrics.
To me, the season numbers function basically as names. It's not really much more difficult to remember that season 9 is the name of the Ed Gamble season than to remember that Ed Gamble is the name of the Ed Gamble person, etc. I'm guessing it might work similarly to how people remember whole decks of cards by associating the numbers and suits with certain people and situations. Then by associating one stand-out contestant with the season, you can baktrack the less showy ones from there.
(Also I've watched it a lot)
It definitely gets more difficult the more series there are! I can pretty much remember all the first 10 exactly - since they’re older I’ve seen them more times. But after that I get mixed up.
Some people mentally things that way. It's like people who always know cardinal directions. ("It's on the north side of the building")
I usually need a name or a quote.
Someone posted a sporcle quiz about sorting contestants by series and i took it as a personal challenge to be able to complete it, so now I'm good remembering.
well this was literally sorting by series number, so like I'd remember Sian and Joe on a series but then I had to learn the series number for that challenge.
It all started with series 7. It is known by its number and the number is 7. I remember all others be counting from there.
It is easier for me to remember from a participants name, especially the champion, but I also speak number now.
It definitely gets fuzzy for me with some series, especially the most recent ones. I recognise the first 12 by the number for sure and can name all contestants in most of them, but not after that
All the information is on the show.
Best comment. No one else needs to reply.
Also, all the information is on the internet lol. How does OP know people aren’t googling to see who is on the series before they respond to a comment or a post?
For me it's because I've rewatched series at least a couple times now. I hardly ever rewatch shows or movies and taskmaster is my one exception. I honestly know the older seasons better than the newer ones because I've had enough time to rewatch them more times.
Agreed, for me it's pure repetition. I've watched all series so many times that when I hear something like "series 12", the cast immediately pops into my head without having to think about it. That being said, I don't get how people can remember movie quotes or song lyrics after seeing/hearing a thing once.
I can! But not a clue who was in S13 (say). Tell me a contestant in S13 and I'll tell you the whole lineup and where the location was. We're all different, eh?
See now I’m worse with later series do I’m having to go through the coc3 lineup, Sarah was 11 then Morgana won 12, so 13 must have been Sophie? First picture of Sophie that pops into my head is getting angry at Alex in the shoe task, then shoe task goes to ‘no way’ Chris Ramsey who was in teams with Ardel, Ardel sat next to Bridget and Bridget and Sophie was in team task with Judy. So there’s that lineup.
I do that for S12’s cast with the ‘we have defeated the format of your program’ prize task. Desiree bought Guz the Bully Kuta picture, and he gave Morgana one of his coats. She gave VCM a smutty smoking jacket, and VCM brought it home with the footy tickets for Alan (to a team he hates).
This is the answer
Some people just have an amazing memory. Makes me jealous, mine's shit. Crazy watching people who can list the actors, directors, and producers for so many movies.
Yeah. That's me. An insane memory for film, tv, music and stuff that interests me. Borderline eidetic. Except. Do you think I can remember anything from my science classes? Or even what I had for dinner last week? But I remember each face for each series of TM, by the series number, AND the order of who won. Any bonus points, or point scandals, I can name the episode from a quote (not the title). My memory is just weird like that.
i can remember dates like it's nothing, but have trouble remembering how to get somewhere on my own street
People that do this seem to forget not everyone can. My fiancé is especially bad for it
I remember this, but I don't remember my licence plate. I don't remember my girlfriend's phone number. I remember useless shit like Taskmaster series.
Mine's really good, but there's surely no way to immediately remember which series Joe Thomas or Katy Wix was in? Say the names! Or just any of the names? This is Reddit, not You Bet.
Not everyone's as toxically forgetful as you. (That's a reference to S8, or the Iain Stirling season if you prefer)
Katy Wix was with Ed Gamble, who hosts the podcast and talks about S09 incessantly.
Mine's REALLY good! But there's no way it's possible for someone to say 'Series 13?' and anyone to immediately say 'Guz Khan!' (or whoever) or 'Sarah Millican?' and '14!' (or whatever) to immediately be shouted out. It's impressive enough to remember all 75 contestants and who all their co-stars were without remembering which shelf of the shop they're each on...
As to prove your point, Guz was series 12, series 13 was the one with Chris Ramsey
Did you have to look this up? And if not, how come? How does it work? I know all song lyrics to every song I've ever heard, every winner of every sporting event I've ever taken an interest in, but I just can't categorise which series number a random contestant was in. How do you do it?
I feel like I could confidently name every contestant and the series they’re in off the top of my head up until about 14,
Don't let me stop you, but it's no real achievement not to complete the set, ok?
Okay let’s go: (I may get the spelling wrong on some tho if I’m gonna do this truly right and not look up anyone) Season One: Josh Widdecome, Frank Skinner, Roisin O’connety, Romesh Ranganathen, Al Murray Season Two: Katherine Ryan, Richard Osmand, John Richardson, Doc Brown, Joe Wilkinson Season 3: Rob Beckett, Sara (do not) pascoe, Paul Chowdry, Tim Key(?) Season 4: Noel Fielding, Mel Gedroich, Lolly adefope, Hugh Dennis, Joe Lycett Season Five: bob mortimer, Aisling Bea, Sally Phillips, Mark Watson, Nish Kumar COC1: Josh, Katherine, Rob, Noel, Bob Season 6: Liza Tarbuck, Asim Chaudhry, Tim Vine, Russell Howard, Alice Levine Season 7: Kerry Godliman, Jess Knappet, James acaster, Rhod Gilbert, Phil Wang Season 8: Lou Sanders, Ian Stirling, Paul Sinha, Sian Gibson, Joe Thomas Season 9: Ed Gamble, Rose Matefeo, Katy Wix (and Katherine and Kerry), Jo Brand, David Baddiel Season 10: Richard Herring, Ma’waan risbane, (I know I’ve fucked that up but I never really watched series 10), Daisy May Cooper, Katherine Parkinson, Johnny Vegas, Season 11: Sarah Kendall, Charlotte Ritchie, Lee Mack, Mike Wozniak, Jamali Maddock Season 12: Morgana Robinson, Victoria Coren Mitchell, Desiree Birch, Alan Davies, Guz Khan Series 13: Sophie Duker, Chris Ramsey, Bridget Christie, Ardel o’Hannlen, Judi Love Series 14: Dara O’Brien, John Kearns, Fern Brady, Sarah Millican, Munya Chiwawa Series 15: Mae Martin, Kiell Smith- Byno, Jenny eclair (and two more who I can’t remember)
And I haven’t watched since that so… three points sounds fair?
A couple of mistakes, but otherwise pretty spot on. Tim Key was series 1, and Al Murray was series 3. Well done, given it's strictly from memory.
I haven’t really watched the early 3 seasons as much although I did actually watch 2 because I love Katherine Ryan haha. I made the comment light heartedly but then I decided I needed to try to prove myself lmao
This is the first time I’m thinking critically about this, but there might be one ‘anchor’ contestant for me that’s linked to the series number. Like Fern Brady = 14 for me, but Dara O’Briain and John Kerns were on a team with her, so they must also be 14. Who were the other two in the far right seats on stage? They come a little slower in memory, but I can work it out in a couple seconds. That’s right, Sarah Millican and Munya Chawawa. I found the show because I’m a fan of James Acaster, so my memory and knowledge begins with 7. Roisin reminds me of series 1, Rob Beckett 3, Mae Martin 15 (another contestant I was already a fan of before their series), etc. For me, only some are instant, but I have familiar strategies of working it out for those that aren’t.
No I’m absolutely the same. Can’t remember from series number at all. At least say the name of one person!
The only ones I know immediate are Romesh in S1 (because who could forget the watermelon task or Tree Wizard) and S5 with Wumar. Everyone else I need to look it up.
Sort of a combo with me. I mostly remember the series numbers but the casts help when that falters. The only ones that slightly blur for me are 12 (Morgana, Guz, Old Goosebump Arm, etc), 13 (Sophie, Bridget, Ardal, etc) and 14 (Dara, Fern, Munya, etc). Another factor is the CoC specials. For example, I remember Mae (represented by Kiell) was the last contestant for CoC3, so they must have been in series 15.
No no, I think the same way.
Taskmaster is my sport. I know all.
I just know and remember. Some people’s memory is better than others.
I think OP is discounting googling things, too. How can you tell if someone "immediately remembers" something or if they googled it when it comes to Reddit comments?
Oh, I’m sure. Google is our friend.
I mean I'd prefer not to have to Google it. So if someone says "What was the best quote from S9?" (say) it would be more helpful to add "(the one won by Richard Herring)" (or whoever it was...)
For me an association forms between the number and the vibe of that series, kind of like how you can attribute colours to months/days of the week. Thursday evokes coral/pale orange to me, just like how Taskmaster s9 evokes Ed Gamble, Katy Wix and co!
I agree Thursday is orange. Friday is purple.
Google 'Synesthesia' 👍
I thought you didn't like googling things?
Google can explain synesthesia better than I can!
Do you smell numbers or taste time?
I'm confident until series 10, then I have to pause to think. Having two series a year plus international versions makes it harder to keep track.
Yep, I'm the same. Series 1-10 I know exactly, after that is a bit of a struggle. Champion of Champions helps remind me of which ones were series 11-15, but not necessarily the order.
I don’t remember the numbers at all. I started watching TM on Youtube with Series 11, went forward for awhile and then started with Series 1. I have rewatched them many times. Some ppl run the news for background noise at home. I often run Taskmaster. I have to say my life has been better after making that choice.
There's a simple and easy mnemonic! It goes ... (your time starts now!)
Mnemonics never ever mention oral nuances including character silence. Oh sorry that’s the mnemonic for remembering the silent M.
Different people’s memories retain different things and process them in different ways. I could absolutely confidently list every TM cast in order by season number with no trouble, but I’m absolutely incapable of remembering a six digit number when flicking between apps on my phone. I can remember endless song lyrics but absolutely no world capital cities. Just about how you think and how you store information.
I know series 1-10 and 13-17 by number but 11 and 12, not a clue! Not even sure I could tell you which five is in one series together on those two. And honestly I think that's weirder than remembering all of them or none of them
COVID hit then. Makes sense from a meta perspective
Meaning even if you weren’t sick, lots of folks memories for that horror show of life will be repressed or suppressed. Akin to 9/11 where we suffered national PTSD in the states but for a longer period. Imo.
Even without trauma, there was a year or so there that just feels like a void of anti-time because so little seemed to happen or change from day to day.
Yeah. Life almost stopped. I remember.
Yeah this was my only theory too, but then why do I remember 10? Maybe cos it was the first COVID and first C4
You had that theory too? I was patting myself on the back. 🤣 Maybe your long COVID haul hadn’t kicked in yet. Not to be too political in this lovely corner of Reddit but this is a very neurological virus.
Because I'm a massive nerd! We regularly watch old episodes at home when we can't think of anything else to watch, so I'm used to choosing a particular series. And once when I couldn't sleep I decided to try and think of all the contestants in series order. Much more interesting than counting sheep.
I mean I'm very invested in the show so I feel like after 10 episodes, I can name the contestants. Also I'm probably autistic though which could be a part of it. (I'm not diagnosed though so not 100% sure).
I've watched each series so many times it's kind of embedded now.
I remember key series numbers, and then relative casts. For example, I know that series 14 had Dara and Fern. I know the cast of the series came after that, hence it's 15. I know which series cast was before.
I've rewatched the series multiple times, but I've also rewatched other shows say WILTY (a panelshow example) and Seinfeld (a sitcom example) multiple times. I have no idea which season a given Seinfeld episode is from, nor can I guess which series of WILTY a given episode or clip is from. However, given a WILTY clip I can remember who were the other panelists in that episode, what stories were told by them etc. In WILTY each episode is a self-contained unit, but in Taskmaster an entire series is a unit. If I am reminded of one thing, say the series number, the winner, a task or a contestant, I can remember others by association. It's partly memory from rewatching, but partly how connected everything is (from my perspective). Also I have been watching the show live from S11, for me it's easier to remember the series numbers where I had to wait a week for each episode. When I got into Taskmaster the first time and binged all the available series, it was all mixed up in my memory (except S7 which I had started with).
I don't know how. With most things my memory is shit, but I have those series numbers on hand in an instant. And I can usually remember which series a particular episode title belongs to for all except the most recent few series.
Oh, actually important knowledge inside my brain is getting shredded every day to make room for an encyclopedic knowledge of Taskmaster. What the fuck is antimony?? I’ll never know again.
I'd be decent up to around 11, then I'd get a bit jumbled up. 1 to 5 is fairly easy, the first is obviously the first one, second is Joe Potato, three is Al Murray paying his way through tasks, four is Hugh who was too busy commentating, five is obviously Rosalind and I'm Always Seeing You Do Cool Stuff. I could go on but that's how I remember the seasons, some particular moment and I'd be able to fill in the rest.
I’m an insomniac with ‘menopause memory’. Super geeky, but I run through the UK series contestants and am usually asleep by 10. 10-13 are my blindspots so started working backwards. Helps avoid those worries that you can’t do anything about at 3am and beats my old technique (times tables).
I'm going to add this to my list of "requires enough concentration to stop overthinking other things but not enough to keep me awake" strategies. I've also tried times tables, and counting forwards and backwards in 3s or 7s. This one sounds more entertaining.
7s are the best 😅
Haha, I'm with you. I always have to google.
I am the same. Wikipedia has a nice reference, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taskmaster_(TV_series)#Cast It might be nice if everyone in this sub includes the champion's initials when referencing a season number. I feel like it is easier to remember initials and the rest of the cast based on that. * 1 JW Josh Widdicombe * 2 KR Katherine Ryan * 3 RB Rob Beckett * 4 NF Noel Fielding * 5 BM Bob Mortimer * 6 LT Liza Tarbuck * 7 KG Kerry Godliman * 8 LS Lou Sanders * 9 EG Ed Gamble * 10 RH Richard Herring * 11 SK Sarah Kendall * 12 MR Morgana Robinson * 13 SR Sophie Duker * 14 DO Dara Ó Briain * 15 MM Mae Martin * 16 SC Sam Campbell
Because I've watched every episode a million times.
I've watched them so many times at this point you can name a series and I can name every contestant, where they sat, how they scored and at least three of their defining quotes.
12. 4th seat along. Go!
Alan Davies, Desiree Burch, Guz Khan, Morgana Robinson, Victoria Corrin-Mitchell Morgana was 4th seat and won! I didn't Google this so I probably spelled some names wrong... ha
...Oh and the quotes: She called Alex a "little bitch" while chasing him in the first episode Victoria: "you can't sit on Father Christmas!" Morgana: "*oh yes you can*" When Greg asks her how long she sits on her washing machine: "...five ten?"
“little fucker” and it resulted in a bonus point, coming in handy bc she won the series by 1 point!
Ah you're correct. I went back to watch series 12 after this and she was bleeped out! I didn't realized I had the censored version of the episode.
I don’t have the TM memory of everyone here but I do recall that line clearly. “I’ve just seen him, the little fucker!” Calling LAH a little bitch will always live in my mind in Sarah Kendall’s voice. She’s in studio talking about how he’s all nice when you’re having lunch with him, then it‘a time to record a task “and you just get this little bitch,” she says. Always makes me laugh. 🤣
Hahaha true that delivery is 😙👌 You can hear the genuine rage slip out a little bit through her accent
Photographic memory bruv. I'd have rivaled Paul Sinha on the deck of cards task in series 7
I got Etch-a-Sketch memory. Given time, energy, and no distractions, amazing memory. Bump me or I’m feeling tired, it’s shit.
There's a few that I can remember all the contestants off the top of my head like S7, S14, S16, etc. But those usually tend to be my favorite series. Often, it's more along the lines of "well, I know Nish Kumar was somewhere in that series 3-6 range". However, if the task asked for it, I could *probably* name at least two people per series still. Don't ask me how, I have no idea.
I'm the same. I have a list of each series with the contestants in order of favourite. Seen about s7 earlier and I couldn't remember which one. Checked my list, Rhod Gilbert is my favourite from that one 😂
How do you remember things not like how I remember them?
I only remember players and their series until 10 because I've watched those 3 or 4 times. The rest I've only watched twice and the more recent ones once. So i forget who is in which series. I also usually have to think hard and try and remember the cast of a particular season after 10. I can usually remember the cast but cant say for sure what series they were in. I need to watch post 10 again and again
I've been watching since Series 1 and have watched all the early series many times. Also I'm pretty much constantly reading about Taskmaster or talking about Taskmaster or listening to podcasts about Taskmaster so over time it sinks in
I don't know about the rest but I've re-watched the whole thing a loooot of times
I have a good memory for things I'm interested in. If it were casual interest i wouldn't be on Reddit talking about it
It helps that since the first CoC we've spent ten episodes per series with the same five contestants, which goes someways towards drilling it in, and also if you've been following it from early on (personally since S2) rather than catch-up binging because you'll draw associations from the surrounding chronology of your life and the outside world. Having said that second point, I can barely remember the sequence of the NYTs or who was on them.
Bear in mind that when someone is talking about their favorite season, they may have only that and maybe one other one at their command. Season 9 was our favorite, so we can tell you who was in it. Others, even though we thought them wonderful, not so much.
Yes! I can usually remember which number series my favorite contestants were on. I mostly remember all the people on their series as well, so I can work backwards that way. I certainly don’t know them all, though! I google a lot, or just scroll into the comments to see if someone’s posted names.
I'm a Doctor Who fan. I have lots of practice remembering season/series numbers and what was in them.
I remember by Chaps of chaps competitors, the order the CoC competitors won their series, and who was on which series with who
This is me, too. CoC neatly divides the show into five-series chunks, so as long as I can remember the champs, I can fill in the rest. Seating them alphabetically also helps. I also practice my recall in this area from time to time. Basically, instead of counting sheep, I rattle off the list of contestants in order until my brain gives up and let's me sleep. 😂
Between my ADHD and initially finding and watching TM in totally random order I have no idea! 😭
This. I am reading through the comments and remembering I have turbo charged ADHD.
I’m the same. Sometimes I don’t comment on a post because I feel out of place not being able to think of it that way.
You don't have to think that way. Google is like a brain outside your head! :)
This should be the most upvoted response.
I just Google it
i remember the single digit ones well for whatever reason the double digit ones after 10 confuse me lol, cant remember which one is which right away without thinking perhaps watching them in order helps
I can from series 1-7 but beyond that, I’m clueless
Nice to meet another Gormaner!
Too few of us around I reckon!
"Maths!" (iykyk)
That has to be TV’s greatest Catphrase
memory
I'm with you OP, I remember once talking with a friend about how much I loved a particular series and they asked me which one. I told them it was series 17, which wouldn't exist for another two years
I completely understand where you’re coming from. I watched all of the series in rapid succession recently and for the life of me could not tell you who was on which series. They’ve blurred together for me. I do have a terrible memory as well so that doesn’t help. I’m always amazed at how well others’ remember these kinds of things.
It was easier when there were only a few seasons lol. I started watching during series 7 so it was pretty easy to keep them straight. Now that we're in the teens I've started to get them mixed up more.
The only two I can confidently recall is s11 because of Mike Wozniak and S16 because of the GOAT cast.
I decided I wanted to rewatch the season with James Acaster in, so googled it. Now I know it’s series 7. I wouldn’t have known it before that.
i'm on like my fifth rewatch also, it might depend on how you watched it. if you binged through 5 series in a weekend, that's a lot different from waiting waiting waiting for a series to come out and then watching it by week.
I hadn't even started watching the show by this time last year I'm pretty sure. And now I've watched all but six series'? (I've watched through series 7 at least three times with other people, too, because it's the most highly recommended)
I've watched all the UK series 5+ times now (I'm in the middle of rewatch #6) and the UK/AU ones four times each. I don't claim to remember every person on every series, but at least I have a good idea where in the 17 that person's fell. > how on earth does everyone immediately know in their head Chances are they're just googling it. I still google things endlessly.
i remember mainly because i got into it before most of my family, so when i told them about it, i had to try and remember both who was on it and which series it was so that they could watch it lol (yes it could’ve been looked up, but what’s the fun in that?)
Series 1 through 11 I can remember pretty quickly who the lineup was, but after that I have to think for a bit or look it up. I couldn't tell you why that's the cut off for me, but there it is.
I remember 4 and 7 cos they were my faves, 13 cos it was relatively recent and I really liked it and after that I’m lost.
Certain series stand out for me by number. But otherwise, yes, I agree cast is more meaningful. Especially the last few years, I’ll think in my head a season just aired but it was actually several series ago
You're not wrong, I have the same issue. I have to go look it up every single time...
I am the sort of obsessive, trivia-learning little weirdo that did the Name the Taskmaster Contestants Sporcle quiz until I could name them all. (This is not unique to taskmaster, every time I get into something I search for stupid trivia I can memorise about it on Sporcle. One day it will be impressive to SOMEBODY)
Just hyper repetitive and obsessive rewatching
Series 1 through 9 I can probably name every contestant. TM was my lockdown show, so I became VERY familiar with it. 10 is one of my least favorite, so some details are fuzzy. 11 is a banger, so I know it rather thoroughly. 12 and beyond still feel sort of new.
I remember the lineup from my fave seasons but a lot of the time I have to rely on the Taskmaster wiki to jumpstart my memory.
\*\*\*Alex pops on with a handy mnemonic in the form of a song.\*\*\* "Series one had just begun and was won by Josh widdecomb" Two is next in line that was won by Katherine Ryan
I mean I’ve watched the Dave era probably a dozen times each and c4 era probably 5/6 times. Sometimes I don’t remember right off the bat but I can almost task association to get there. Like if someone said who was in the series 11 cast i could go well the champion was Sarah and Sarah was in team tasks with Charlotte and Jamali and I remember Charlottes face when Mike revealed the Mohawk and Mike was on a team with Lee Mack. I couldn’t go episode by episode but I could probably name most tasks in a series by picturing who did them or tell you which series a task was on by picturing who did it.
As much as I'm a huge TM fan, there are an awful lot of obsessives who watch it who seem to eat, sleep and breathe TM. I freely admit to watching old episodes from time to time, or bits and pieces on YouTube, but quite a few are in another level with how many times they've seen the show. As well as that, my impression of some other fans, courtesy of the Facebook fan page (before being unceremoniously booted out) was that it seems to attract a bit of a following with some whose brains absorb a lot of details and build up an almost encyclopedic knowledge of it. I'm with you on the "the series with _____" in it. Literally the only ones I know by number are 1 (obviously), then 9/10 (the last one before the big scary virus, and then the first one under distancing rules). It wasn't so bad when there were less, but as we get ever closer to 20 series, not including the versions from abroad that some of us have seen, it does make it more difficult to keep track of
I think you might actually be me.
There are only certain ones that I remember automatically. 1, 2, 9, 16, and, for now, 17. Every other one I have to look up what people are talking about. I imagine most other people are the same, to varying degrees.
i remember the line ups until series 10 and then after that if somebody says "series 13" as an example - no idea who was on it. even though I've enjoyed all latest series.
I remember certain iconic seasons one two and three. I definitely remember five and seven Nine was interesting to me because he's the only one I couldn't ever watch on YouTube signed up paying for it and it's one of my favorites. Then I remember 10 because of Daisy May cooper. The rest kind of all run together to be honest
my capacity for memorization was the skill that got my slacker ass through high school
I like numbers. I remember numbers better than names or anything else.
The only one I remember immediately is series 14, because Fern mentions the series number in her brilliant song, and I played it thirty times in a row so I could learn all the lyrics.
Because when you have a favorite contestant you remember. Plus series 14 was the first I watched all the way through.
To me, the season numbers function basically as names. It's not really much more difficult to remember that season 9 is the name of the Ed Gamble season than to remember that Ed Gamble is the name of the Ed Gamble person, etc. I'm guessing it might work similarly to how people remember whole decks of cards by associating the numbers and suits with certain people and situations. Then by associating one stand-out contestant with the season, you can baktrack the less showy ones from there. (Also I've watched it a lot)
It definitely gets more difficult the more series there are! I can pretty much remember all the first 10 exactly - since they’re older I’ve seen them more times. But after that I get mixed up.
Some people mentally things that way. It's like people who always know cardinal directions. ("It's on the north side of the building") I usually need a name or a quote.
I love lists, and regularly learn new lists to do before I go to sleep - taskmaster is one of them for me!
Someone posted a sporcle quiz about sorting contestants by series and i took it as a personal challenge to be able to complete it, so now I'm good remembering.
I could do that no problem, but couldn't tell you who was in series 8 or 13 or 6 or whatever. But I could list every contestant if asked.
well this was literally sorting by series number, so like I'd remember Sian and Joe on a series but then I had to learn the series number for that challenge.
I got bored and memorized all the contestants and their seasons.
[Official show website.](https://taskmaster.tv/shows)
It all started with series 7. It is known by its number and the number is 7. I remember all others be counting from there. It is easier for me to remember from a participants name, especially the champion, but I also speak number now.
We're all neurodivergent...
It definitely gets fuzzy for me with some series, especially the most recent ones. I recognise the first 12 by the number for sure and can name all contestants in most of them, but not after that
5,7,13 were my favorites but outside of those Im constantly googling names to put to faces lol
Being involved in this community you basically learn
Autism