Junior Taskmaster

Just finished watching episode 4 of Junior Taskmaster! I've always loved the adult show, but this version with kids is just brilliant. It's so refreshing to see how creative and competitive they are. Honestly, this might even be better than the original! The kids were all fantastic, but I couldn't help noticing something during the final challenge. That Asian boy (Kaif, I think?) clearly had a tower of 4 toilet rolls, but another kid sneakily removed one after the whistle blew, taking his place in the semi! Where's the VAR when you need it? Regardless, it was an amazing episode, and I can't wait for the next one. Junior Taskmaster is officially my new favourite show!

A spin-off of the original Taskmaster, we follow the same format of somewhat nonsense games requiring executing tasks, except now with kids instead of adult comedians as contestants. Hosted by Rose Matafeo as Taskmaster with Mike Wozniak as her assistant, I quite enjoyed the twist on the original, the games were often clever and fun to watch as you'd hope, and the hosts were both quite fun, I'm a fan of both. Unlike the original with the same cast of contestants over the full season we instead see new kids each episode taking on the games with the finalists from those episodes making their way to a grand finale to crown a series winner. Again, the kids are cute in that "kids say the darnedest things" way if you're one to love that. I'll never say no to more Taskmaster, was good.

I love, love, love Taskmaster, so was really looking forward to a kids version.

Now, whilst I think Junior Taskmaster has a certain charm to it, and Rose Matafeo and Mike Wosniak are doing a great job, I think some of the kids' responses and reactions - both during the tasks and in the studio - feel a little overproduced. Like production fed the kids the 'funny responses' - which takes away a bit of the sparkle.

However, tasks are great, child-friendly, and both hosts definitely do a super job and seem to be at ease filming with those kids. (Some of whom appear to come from quite privileged families it seems, coz they talk quite posh - lol).

All in all decent entertainment, but not breaking the mold.

Difficult this one as its perhaps the most consistently funny show on TV, slightly reformatted for kids to take part with perhaps the funniest contestant of the adult version taking the little Alex Horn role.

Mike Wozniak is very funny. His dry humour working surprisingly well with the children.

Matafeo is likable too.

The format works reasonably well with the young contestants but has challenges.

Its a knockout format rather than the same contestants for many weeks. This means you neither know anything about the contestants before hand (obviously) nor get a chance to "get to know them" during the show, so as a viewer you're not as invested.

Its also nowhere near as funny.

Its not as on the edge either - obviously - as its children so had to be cleaned up a lot.

Its also maybe a little forced.

The challenges are very similar types of thing as the adult version.

Its perfectly fine as family friendly entertainment - but not a "must see" like the original.