Best Taskmaster Contestants: The 14 highest scoring celebrities ever - from Bob Mortimer to Sarah Millican
Series 16 of the show that sees comedians challenged to complete a host of strange tasks is now underway – but will any of them join the ranks of the all-time best contestants?
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.
While there have only been 15 series proper, there have also been special one-off ‘Champion of Champion’ and ‘New Year Treat’ programmes, comprising one or two episodes.
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 taken the maximum amount of points available in each series and worked out what percentage each contestant has won – so if there were 20 points available in an episode and a contestant won 10 points, they would have a 50 per cent success rate.
For the purposes of this list we have restricted it to the 75 celebrities who have appeared on the 15 completed full series of the show – one-off special episodes don’t count.
We will update it (if anybody is good enough) with the series 16 contestants after the final episode has aired.
So, here are – currently – the top 14 Taskmasters of all time.
1. Dara O'Briain
With a huge 184 points, reigning Taskmaster champion Dara O'Briain is the most successful competitor of all time. His total equates to a 73.6 per cent points hit rate. Photo: Jeff Spicer
2. Sarah Millican
Were Greg and Alex more generous in allocating points in season 14? It certainly seems so, as Sarah Millican's total of 174 points gives her a 69.6 per cent hit rate, second only to season champ Dara Ó Briain. Photo: Tim P. Whitby
3. Sophie Duker
Season 13 winner Sophie Duker is offically the third best competitor in Taskmaster history. Her 173 points may not be the highest score ever, but her success rate of 67.32 per cent was unbeaten until season 14. Photo: Jeff J Mitchell
4. Chris Ramsey
Before Sarah Millican Chris Ramsey is the most unlucky runner up in the show's history. His 66.15 per cent pints success rate is the fourth best of all time - but he had the misfortune to be on season 13 alongside Sophie Duker. Photo: Contributed