Hot on the heels of Taskmaster’s annual celebration which saw five famous faces compete for glory in New Year Treat, it has been revealed which five brand-new stout-hearted contestants are set to grasp the opportunity to impress the mighty Taskmaster Greg Davies, under the vigilant observation of Little Alex Horne, in series 21 of the International Emmy nominated, and BAFTA and Rose D’Or winning show.
The fearless five who have signed up to leave all dignity at the door and demonstrate their nerve, cunning, and dexterity are: Comedian, actor and writer Amy Gledhill (Edinburgh Comedy Award Winner 2024); BAFTA and Emmy award winning writer, director, and broadcaster Armando Iannucci (The Thick of It, BBC Two); Presenter, broadcaster and actress Joanna Page; Comedian and presenter Joel Dommett (The Masked Singer, ITV1); and Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy-nominated writer, actor and comedian Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick). Each of these competitors will step forward with a healthy mix of respect, fear and a keen desire to lay claim to Greg’s golden head, struck in what is potentially 24-carat gold, and become the next Taskmaster Champion.
This month will also see The Taskmaster Greg Davies and his loyal assistant Little Alex Horne bring a never-before-seen live version of Taskmaster to theatres across the east coast of America with Taskmaster Live On Stage. The most coveted prize in television (and the world), the golden head of the Taskmaster, is on the move and up for grabs this January 2026, bringing the hit show’s chaos to Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and New York. Tickets to the live re-imagining of the hit show sold out in 13 minutes, and further information about future dates can be found online here.
The popularity and success of the show on YouTube has seen it generate a loyal audience with the U.S. public and significant U.S. TV critics, including seeing the show’s stars Alex Horne and Greg Davies be invited to appear multiple times on late night chat shows, even though they had never been on American television before. Their first appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers became their second most streamed interview online (second only to his interview with Barack Obama), while a recent guest on the previous season, Jason Mantzoukas, was also invited to appear on Late Night with Seth Meyers to talk about Taskmaster. The growing audience in North America has meant that Alex & Greg hosted in person screenings of the show across two live appearances in New York in 2024 and 2025 which completely sold out within one hour of going on sale.
The recent Season 19 of Taskmaster saw the show grow significantly in popularity with American audiences throughout 2025 with over 176 million views from North America so far this year, while there have been 270k new subscribers from North America in 2025 alone. The season-on-season growth has seen the previous season 19 recently deliver 23 million views and over 200 million impressions, which is a threefold increase building from the season before.
Series 21 of Taskmaster will air on Channel 4 in the UK, and on the official Taskmaster YouTube Channel elsewhere globally. Transmission dates will be revealed in due course
