Here comes Junior Taskmaster, where the contestants are all aged between nine and 11
Friday: Junior Taskmaster (Channel 4, 8pm)
Now, the brains behind the show are going a step further to bring the comedy to younger viewers with Junior Taskmaster, where the contestants are all aged between nine and 11.
Unlike in the grown-up format, they won’t all be competing across the entire series – instead 25 kids will take part in five heats and two semi-finals, before the top five players head through to the grand final.
There’s also no Greg Davies to tower over them. Instead, the role of Taskmaster is taken by Rose Matafeo, while Mike Wozniak steps into Alex Horne’s shoes as her assistant.
They are both veterans of the show, but they have said they aren’t trying to replicate the dynamics of the original series.
According to Mike: “We decided that if we tried to impose a schtick or try to recreate Greg and Alex, it would probably fall apart within minutes.”
Some people might be wondering if, as the contestants are kids rather than professional comedian hardened by the stand-up circuit, if Mike has to be a bit more helpful than Alex, who usually limits himself to reminding them that all the information is on the task.
It turns out that’s not the case. Mike jokes: “I think people think I’m much nicer than I am, but I am capable of cruelty and schadenfreude, so I was perfectly happy to let them languish.”
Fortunately, he also didn’t mind if the pint-sized players spoke their minds. He says: “I had a lot of sass. But I get that in my personal life, too. I know these people, I spend a lot of time with these people, these people are at my house all the time and I’m largely not respected by them. I’m sassed upon. I’m a sass target.”
He adds: “I can’t blame the kids for sassing me up because what I’ve learnt is that I’m giving off something, I’m asking for it.”
But even if some of them can get a little cheeky, it seems he did enjoy seeing the kids embracing the show and coming out of their shells.
Mike says: “My favourite moment off camera would be the one kid who turned up really nervous for filming in the house, which I was worried about. But as soon as we started, they were happy as ever and even to the point that when they came back to the studio they were one of the best we had in there. They were relaxed and confident and it was lovely to see.”
Hopefully, we’ll get to see that confidence in the opening episode, as the first batch of youngsters (Anita, Lazer, Nyarah, Persia and Reuben) are sniffing mashed potato and throwing a plethora of items into a large hat, all in the hope of making it through to the semi-finals.