Work Out What Alex is Wearing | Full Task | Taskmaster

From Series 8: Work out what Alex is wearing next door. You must both stay in your seats, and Alex may only communicate with his horn.
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In this Broadcast Award-winning, BAFTA and Emmy Award-nominated entertainment show, Taskmaster tyrant Greg Davies (Man Down, Cuckoo), with the help of his loyal assistant Alex Horne (The Horne Section and the show’s creator), sets out to test the wiles, wit and wisdom of five hyper-competitive comedians.
Comedians that have risked life, limb, and dignity in the hope of making the Taskmaster proud so far include: Frank Skinner (The Frank Skinner Show), Mel Giedroyc (The Great British Bake Off), Romesh Ranganathan (Asian Provocateur), Hugh Dennis (Outnumbered), Sally Phillips (Bridget Jones’ Diary), Rose Matafeo (Edinburgh Comedy Award Winner 2018), and Russell Howard (The Russell Howard Hour). Unaware of what awaits them in each wax-sealed envelope, only one competitor can become the victorious owner of His Royal Task-ness’ golden head and be crowned the next Taskmaster Champion.

[@TheMovieSequelDude49]

Only Joe Thomas could get the elusive three honks out of a two honk system.

[@1998Cebola]

A secret third honk

[@josephbach1]

1 honk yes + 2 honks no = yesno

[@TassieLorenzo]

Did Alex lead Joe up the garden path with the idea of feathers being ambiguously fluffy? As well as the idea of parrots being only ambiguously a common pet?

[@titanuranus3095]

White Walkers!

[@88porpoise]

​​@@TassieLorenzoWhat is a "usual pet"? My first instinct would be cat and dog, maybe add rabbits, hamsters and guinea pigs. But I can see some people including parrots so I would agree on ambiguous. And if that caused an issue, that is on Joe for not asking a better question.

[@47Jaspers]

Love the contrast between Paul's fatigued investigation and Iain screaming in frustration after every question.

[@GnomaPhobic]

Paul Sinha continuing the grand Taskmaster tradition of being a very clever person IRL who is inexplicably shit at the tasks. Plus he has one of the best laughs ever.

[@GroovingPict]

being good at memorizing trivia for quiz questions doesnt necessarily equate to being clever, irl or otherwise

[@chrisjones5411]

He did have a handicap in that he had undiagnosed Parkinson’s at the time

[@Tao_Tology]

​@@chrisjones5411Oh please, his early-diagnosis _physical_ condition is not the reason he could not work out a task.

[@FloraWest]

He has Parkinson's Disease and it wasn't diagnosed at the time of shooting, though he had symptoms.

[@Tao_Tology]

@@FloraWest Stop trying to paint having parkinsons as a mental disability.

[@lawrencecalablaster568]

This is one of my favorite tasks on the whole show, & it made me so happy when Sian asked if Alex was cute & he honked yes & did a little wave to camera.

[@blackdragoncyrus]

This parrot suit was apparently from a scrapped task from Series 1 where the contestants had to interact with members of the public in the suit, but none of them liked it and felt uncomfortable for the task, so it didn't get aired.

[@imallfordabulls]

I wonder if that evolved into high five someone who is 55 task.

[@iliketrains3495]

@@imallfordabulls I think they planned to have them both, but then maybe Alex decided he didn't want it to seem like a prankshow but decided the 55-year-old one had some good enough moments to air.

[@Harambae613]

Ah, the UK citizen's worst nightmare: forced social interaction.

[@lisahenry20]

I mean, from when I was a kid, I actively avoid anyone in a mascot type costume when I'm out and about, because they always want some kind of social interaction that I'm not ready for.

​@@lisahenry20 A bit opposite for me: as a child I didn't care, nowadays I'm not going anywhere near them and make them notice that I'm avoiding them 😅

[@maltava4534]

I love that after he said 300 seconds no one knew who the winner was. They were all left in tension over the lack of the ability to do basic math.🤣

[@sploofmcsterra4786]

Kudos to the editors, the parrot reveal comedic timing was perfect

[@tbz1551]

"The Horne Identity" is gold

[@kisbie]

“You can’t go on any quiz show ever. Cos you give an answer and then go, “FUUUCK!!” 😂😂😂 “And that’s your system.”

[@danmcdonagh2449]

😂 seen this over 100 times - that bit always makes me laugh! All in the delivery 👍

[@petgoose32]

5:38 One of my favourites across all the series, the delivery is just 🤌

[@Friendlysociopath]

I forgot how many times Alex hits Joe with the three honks lol

Knowing how Alex was dressed, I had to watch it again, for two reasons: see how far off Joe was and if the three honks were justified.

[@TonyWildRiver]

@ I'm with you, I had to watch it again for the same reason (and for laughs of course). I'd say the only time it definitely wasn't justified was "Is it furry?" Feathers are not fur, therefore the answer should have been no. I could see an argument for the others.

[@XavierTheNeonTiger]

@@TonyWildRiver Feathers aren't fur, for sure, but the suit was made with faux fur. I guess the ambiguity was whether the 'it' in 'is it furry' referred to the costume or the animal it was based on?

[@TonyWildRiver]

@@XavierTheNeonTiger Ah, that is an excellent point!

[@iliketrains3495]

Sometimes Joe Thomas absolutely destroys, such as the railway task, the pinky task and of course his lightning quick mental maths in the egg task. Other times... you get this. Also, good to know Alex is with me on something.

[@levlowgull3917]

you again! :D

[@bootieos7701]

I can't stop giggling over the horn sound at the end of their attempts, compared to the other ones.

[@StarmanStarman]

Are you cute? *Honks*😳

[@buskergirl]

Honks and waves 😁

[@lawrencecalablaster568]

Her “aww!” & his little wave are just so adorable.

[@Irfanhill]

It really disturbed me that she changed the system and wanted him to honk once for no and twice for yes!

[@I_am_here_to_eat_your_toes]

hoenstly i would do the same, realistically you are going to get more no's then yes's so making a no take less time seems smart to me

[@MC-yt1uv]

@@I_am_here_to_eat_your_toes I agree it is definitely the more efficient system. My only concern would be that it would confuse Alex and he might give the wrong answer.

[@Alconium]

Absolutely psychotic.

[@MikeDCWeld]

He definitely should have responded with a single honk to that.

[@alm2587]

@@MC-yt1uv well no cuz how would you know everyone else used the opposite system

[@vonwux]

Got stuck in a mammal groove

[@TheBlackDemon1996]

I like how the thumbnail looks like Parrot Alex is staring at Joe.

[@KathleenFeliciano]

Just would've had him spell it for me using horns. "Alex, I'm going through the alphabet to spell what you're wearing/what you look like. Horn when I've said the letter."

[@SamoIsKing]

That was my initial thought, but if he’s wearing actual clothes that would take ages.

[@KathleenFeliciano]

@@SamoIsKing i thought of that too, which is why you need some clarifying questions first to narrow it down

[@floosh1730]

Not one honk or two honks but a secret third thing (three honks)

[@hidayaharnoor9727]

Them having a group hug at the end after lucy won was adorable

[@googiegress7459]

Enjoyable work from the Horne Stars.

[@karamains9454]

I wish they’d do another one like this!! If only for the pun ‘Alex horne’s horn’ 🎺 😂

[@josemaria8177]

I bet they asked Tim Vine or Lee Mack to come up with the pun in the thumbnail

[@dremdram5496]

Joe was scammed out of atleast 1 point by the 3 honks

[@somebody700]

I often played 20 questions with my father and it's an amazing game where you learn the process of elimination. We also tried making it really tough but we always found the answer. I once set my mind on a stone in a particular place on a particular building, he figured it out. Didn't take 15 minutes. Mind you, he had zero input. I told him absolutely nothing beforehand.

[@kischtrine]

he tooted „no“ when he was asked if he wears long johns. What about „I always wear long johns“? in another series?

[@atomisgray]

I love watching taskmaster

[@ecMathGeek]

Better system: Honk 7 times for yes, 9 for no. But add one to the value if the previous answer was an even number and subtract one from the value if the previous one was an odd number. Unless the number is prime, then use the next higher prime if the answer is yes or the next lower prime if the answer is no. Do you understand?

[@shadymoustafa93]

Honk honk honk honk honk honk honk

[@shiah]

honk honk honk honk honk honk honk honk honk honk honk. But seriously though, 1 for no is much more efficient (albeit confusing) considering the number of "no"es you get. Also, contestants are doing the task on their own, so they have no idea what system the other guys used.

[@Mossic]

Was thinking use the chrome teapot and hold it around the side of the seats so you can see Alex in the reflection

[@santiagocampillo-lundbeck1338]

Sian should officially change her name to Charm Gibson.

[@stupidas9466]

I'd have looked out the window and seen the parrot's reflection, but where's the fun in that?

[@DHxJarsyl]

I just realized, thanks to this subtitle, that his name is a silent E...but if I saw his name in writing first, I would pronounced it horn-e.

[@WillGeorgeRockett]

I feel like Joe got screwed over by Alex, he was wearing a parrot costume that is designed to be worn. It’s not normal type of clothes but it is obviously designed to be worn and it just felt like Alex was throwing Joe off. Also why I don’t know anyone who does have a Parrot, I would’ve said yes to “are they a usual pet.”

[@swedishmeatball4382]

Unless you've got a Norwegian Blue pining for the fiords.

[@rachelcookie321]

There are a lot of types of parrots. When he said it started with P my first guess was parakeet which is a type of parrot which is a very common pet. I know multiple people who have had a pet budgie and they always have tons of budgie stuff at the pet store. In order of most popular pets, at least where I live, I would go dog or cat, rabbit, parakeet.

[@mattkennedy9308]

I can respect the three honks for usual pet given parrots aren't that common

[@jk7690]

Actually now that I think about it 2 for yes and 1 for no is better. There will be more no's than yeses prob ably so it saves a few precious seconds.

[@damanorelse]

pretty sure the optimal way this task is to either have both people know morse code (it would be like them to have hidden an chart for it in the task area), or failing that, just say the alphabet and tell alex to honk when you say the next letter. you could easily get "parrot" in less than a minute that way. "Scarlet Macaw" would take a little longer.

[@motodog242]

The task is to figure what what he’s wearing… you dont even know that he’s wearing an animal costume until you ask it. You’d have to be a seer to do what you suggested, or have cheated in information.

[@steve470]

@@motodog242"Can you think of one word that would be a really, really useful clue as to what you're wearing? Honk once for yes, twice for no." ...or you can just take a few seconds and ask.

[@betr8er896]

many thanks for NOT censoring words we all use every day, fuck yeah!

[@EebstertheGreat]

They all seemed good at immediately establishing a system and narrowing down the possibilities to an animal costume, but they each took a weird amount of time to narrow down the animal. Have they never played 20 questions? You don't just name every animal you can think of in a row, you ask general questions that gradually get more specific. Warm blooded, bird, prey, tropical, etc. Maybe they played 200 questions growing up.

[@vissenekku]

I don't think people ever actually play 20 questions. 😂 It's just one of those games you hear about on the radio or something.

[@DukeNauticus]

Lol, what? I haven't seen this before and my first thought, before the task even fully began, was "Would be funny if Alex was dressed like a bird."

[@theunkownbanana1823]

If only Morse code were used. Would've been a helluva to know it.

[@themug406]

Are you sure you understand what helluva means

[@Ludifant]

wouldn´t honk once for no twice for yes.. be quicker, since you are liable to get a lot of questions wrong in the beginning??

[@pechaa]

I didn’t pick up on the reason it had to be a yes-no game. They could have asked him to spell out a word with a honk system for the alphabet, A1, B2, C3, etc.

[@TPH250290]

How were they to know that the answer could be boiled down to a single word though? And then counting out the honks to get to P R R O T in the alphabet, it's hardly a fast process.

[@MamaMeansFatherInGeorgian]

aww ♥♥♥♥♥

[@stefHin]

three honks means white walkers, right?

[@allaussietraveller9879]

Well done Sian the dogger!

[@ronmoore4372]

which episode was this on ? I don't remember this task at all.

[@danmcdonagh2449]

Episode 3 of Series 8 - “Stuck in a mammal groove”. 👍

[@ronmoore4372]

@@danmcdonagh2449 oh OK, thanks.

[@Haxposed]

Omg! I only just now got the Bourne Identity reference on the thumbnail 😂

[@sploofmcsterra4786]

Just tell him to honk the number of times corresponding to the letter it starts with.

[@Tacholoco]

I would have asked for morse code lol

[@avysark2034]

Gosh I wouldn't mind spending a couple nights out with Sian

[@UPLYNXED]

Can't believe nobody tried to open the door and stand in the seat to lean around the corner

[@vuurniacsquarewave5091]

So did they eventually discuss why this was done on a train?

[@thepacificwart8777]

Pretty sure it's just another location task

[@MercenaryPen]

​@@thepacificwart8777 also the carriage they were using seemed to be of a compartmented layout, providing a way to keep Alex out of sight before and during the task

[@danielgwillim8220]

They used the train station for the whole season. They probably booked a day or so's filming there and got their money's worth. They've also had a disused airfield, an airport terminal and a small lake.

[@supersmily5811]

@@MercenaryPen That makes sense, but they had a task in the caravan in one series wherein the contestants had to paint a picture of a person sitting on the other side of a closed curtain, implying that they could absolutely have done this task in the caravan. @danielgwillim8220 's reply makes sense though.

[@bootieos7701]

​@@supersmily5811But there's a chance the ol' "I'm looking at you in the mirror" fiasco would comeback. Would've probably made this task a cinch otherwise.

[@charlesbluett8195]

None of them being sure how many minutes 314 seconds was was concerning

[@MC-yt1uv]

Eh, I can excuse people when they are on the spot. If I was in front of an audience, essentially performing I am not positive that I could do basic math either. Also, in one of the live tasks Joe Thomas surprisingly seemed pretty good at doing arithmetic in his head.

[@rachelcookie321]

@@MC-yt1uv maths was always my best subject at school but if you suddenly ask me a maths question or I feel like I’m being watched, I suddenly can’t even do the most basic maths. Suddenly I can’t wrap my head around what 2x2 could possibly be.

[@vinny142]

Slightly disapointed that nobody asked Alex to reply in Morse Code.

[@danniantagonist]

Begins with Alex being told off, and includes him telling us he's cute (of course). A decent chapter from a sometimes mediocre TM8 😊

[@johncameron4194]

🤣😂🤣😂🤣

[@cypher686]

Who’s the Alexis faux looking woman?

[@oren000]

Why not one honk for A, two for B, three for C, etc.? Spell out what you are. You'd probably get it after 3 letters or so. Or, just go through the alphabet and have Alex honk when you say the right letter. Much faster than waiting for him to honk no for each letter.

[@rachelcookie321]

I think getting him to honk when you say the right letter would be a lot easier than him honking 20 times and having to keep count.

[@ex0stasis72]

Once I had figured out that Alex was dressed in a one piece suit as an animal, I would have asked, "Does the animal name start with a letter between n and z?" then "Does the animal name start with a letter between n and t?" Then I would have narrowed it down to N, O, P, Q, R, S, and T.

[@videoaccount4323]

I loved the early season dynamics where Greg really played up being The Taskmaster and Alex is his assistant. I find these later seasons where they're just hosts of a gameshow lost some of the magic.

[@myguyry]

huh?

[@FrumiousBandersnatch42]

How didn't any of them try communicating with a Morse code? It probably would've been way faster.

[@aaronhusk]

That assumes they actually know Morse code.

[@robertgibson1156]

Do you know Morse code? Does Alex?

[@FrumiousBandersnatch42]

They have their phones, don't they? How hard it is to Google "morse code"?

[@aaronhusk]

@@robertgibson1156 Morse code was shown in balloons in Series 3 episode 2

[@MC-yt1uv]

@@FrumiousBandersnatch42 You would probably waste way more time. Since not only would you need to learn Morse code but you would have to teach Alex Morse code verbally since he was in a parrot outfit.

[@Xerdoz]

00:40 What the hell is that guy on about? The production company is paying for the venue and he probably knows those in advance anyways.

[@Easasera]

He's playing a character, it's a joke

[@AndrewTBP]

The joke is in Greg’s script

[@lhfirex]

Pretty much my least favorite Taskmaster cast (I liked Paul Sinha a lot, everyone else not as much), but then I thought Greg and Alex brought the entertainment, and it did have some really great puzzley tasks.

[@Tao_Tology]

Well if it's any consolation the cast got on fine.

[@MC-yt1uv]

I like Joe Thomas, I think he brought a weird type of energy. And it was fun trying to predict if he was going to do really well or completely bungle the task.

[@daruddock]

I find it really difficult to watch Ian, Lou, and Paul for very different reasons. This series felt more tense than others, when it's supposed to be a comedy show.

[@adamduncan6172]

When is the next series of 'the only thing I try and regularly watch on tv" on? Everything else seems to be absolute dogshit so please come back soon!! 🥹