Why did you sign up for the show? Are you a fan?
Yeah, I love the show. It’s really clever and really stupid all at the same time. It’s just very British. It’s just fun, getting really competitive about things that are really stupid. I love it, it’s very funny. And Alex and I – I didn’t realise until I met him – went to the same college Sidney Sussex College at Cambridge University, which is a tiny college, they only take about 100 a year, so it’s very meaningful for us. He went about 20 years after I did. He says he was told that the two most famous people who had been to the college were Oliver Cromwell and Carol Vorderman!
And there’s now a Carol Vorderman Buttery there, isn’t there?
There is indeed a Carol Vorderman Buttery, yes!
Did you learn anything about yourself making Taskmaster?
Yes, how competitive I am. I kind of knew that anyway. And that I like playing silly games. Things that I think I could do well on I get very competitive about, but other things I know I’ll be rubbish at.
How would you describe your approach to the tasks?
I don’t know, to be honest. Determined? I just thought it was fun to be honest, I just went out to enjoy them.
You’re famous for quick-thinking and problem-solving, and have an IQ of 154. Did any of that come in handy in the tasks?
I think it did in one of them, but then there was another way of doing it, which someone else found. You’re just presented with stuff and you do your best, and you do it with a great big smile on your face.
You seemed to be acutely logical on some tasks, and then absolutely bonkers on other ones. Would you say that’s fair?
(Laughs) Yeah, that’s me. That’s absolutely how I am, completely. EVERYTHING I do I do with all my heart and body.
How did you all get on with one another?
Really, really, really, really well. The girls were brilliant. I wasn’t particularly familiar with Amelia before, so I started watching Chicken Shop Dates, and God she’s funny. She’s got that tight comedy, so sharp and brilliant. And she’s only young, she’s in her 20s. And Rebecca is so good, she could be a comedian as well as a mega award winning genius singer songwriter. She could be a politician. She could be a whole host of different things. And what I love about today’s world, for younger women, is that they can be those things. When I was growing up, everything was so limited, you weren’t allowed to do stuff because you were a woman. And now they can be not one woman, they can be a whole host of women all put together in one package, which I just love. I’m so happy about that.
And Greg and Mo?
I don’t think I’d met Greg before, but he was brilliant. I’ve met Mo quite a few times. He’s amazing, isn’t he? Mo doesn’t say a lot, but he’s so lovely. He really threw himself into it. I think we all did, we threw ourselves in with all of our bodies. You put your whole self in, and then eventually at the end you take your whole self out, it’s like the taskmaster hokey-cokey. There’s no half measures.
How are you feeling about watching the show? Who will you watch it with?
I don’t know where I’ll be when it’s on. Probably with my family, I guess. I’d like to watch with people who weren’t in the studio, so they’re surprised by it.
Your kids are older now, so hopefully they’re past the age where everything their mum does makes them cringe horrendously?
They’ve never cringed once, my kids. They’ve never gone through that stage. It’s really funny. They think it’s all hilarious. I’ll talk to other people who say “Oh, my daughter’s so embarrassed about me,” and I’ll think “I’ve done a million things that could have embarrassed my children, but they’re just not like that.” They never have been, never once.
How did you find working on the tasks with the enigma that is Alex Horne?
Oh, amazing. He’s so lovely. What a genuinely lovely production team as well, just gorgeous. Lovely, bright, kind, patient people. And Alex is amazing, he came up with the format, and he’s just extraordinary.
The ingenuity of the tasks is remarkable, isn’t it?
Yeah. What kind of brain comes up with crap like that? I asked him, and he said it was quite easy to think of them. And I thought “No! Some people could sit in a room for a year and not think of ten per cent of what he comes up with. The tasks are funny and clever. They’re limited by what they can use – they’ve got the lab and the lounge and outside, and that’s it. And yet, all that fun that he comes up with in this tiny place. It’s wonderful.
Having seen it up close, how would you describe the relationship between Greg and Alex?
That has come from years of working together. There’s obviously stuff that goes on in the studio that the other one doesn’t know about. So there’s that surprise element. And the whole thing about Greg taking the mick out of Alex is beautifully done. It’s very, very subtle. Or sometimes not subtle at all!
Was being on the show what you expected?
Yes, I suppose so, in the sense that I knew the show. It was probably even lovelier than I’d expected. People are properly invested in it. I’ll tell you what pleasantly surprised me: When it was announced that I was going to be on the show, so many people said “Oh my God, that’s my favourite show!” if they know it, they love it. Or they don’t know it.
Why is that? What is it that makes Taskmaster so unique and special?
They have great guests, and clever people on – you know, they have a lot of clever comedians on. Like Victoria Coren Mitchell, for instance. She’s got a huge brain, very bright, super-educated. And yet, who knew she couldn’t ride a bicycle. What? It’s crazy!
The show is billed as a New Year Treat. What treats are you hoping for from 2023?
More of the same, really. I love my life.
Read an interview with Greg Davies and Alex Horne here.
Taskmaster New Year's Treat, January 1, C4, 9pm.
Taskmaster Picture: AvalonCarol Vorderman Interview: C4
