Every week on Taskmaster the most random challenges imaginable are thrown at this season’s five unsuspecting participants: Rove McManus, Celia Pacquola, Anisa Nandaula, Brett Blake and Joel Creasey.
Some struggle hilariously; others rise to the challenge. Joel, as we see once again this week, just accepts it all as a pretty average day and gets on with business.
Put on clown make-up and tell a tragic story? No problem. Show us the definition of ‘cringe’? Too easy.
What’s his secret? Well, Joel’s life is usually a bit manic, he says, so this feels like just another day.
“Chaos seems to follow me wherever I go,” Joel, 35, tells TV WEEK.
“I know it’s so very cliché, but I often think I must be on The Truman Show.”
Random moments, then, are only to be expected?
“The beauty of Taskmaster, which, having just watched it back, I only now fully realise is about the challenge of competing for nothing (aside from a trophy of the Taskmaster’s head) is what brings your guard down… perhaps a tad too much.
“So, all bets are off and you end up pleading for points.”
Or, as we see this week, accepting that perhaps no points are warranted when you realise your best shot wasn’t very good after all.
“Having to ‘be cringe without being cringe’… your mind races,” Joel says.
“But you’re on the clock so, whichever idea you decide on, you have to fully commit to it and then back yourself on that idea to the Taskmaster – no matter how terrible it is.”
And no matter whether the Taskmaster, Tom Gleeson, agrees that it was terrible?
“As far as feedback goes, that is some of the kindest I’ve received!”
You can watch Taskmaster Australia on 10.
