Josh Widdicombe is an English comedian, actor and presenter. He is a co-presenter of panel show The Last Leg, has made regular appearances on Mock the Week and stared in BBC Three sitcom Josh.
In 2015, Widdicombe appeared on Series 1 of Taskmaster, winning the series with 94 points. He returned in 2017 for Champion of Champions, winning again with 37 points.
Widdicombe also made an appearance in the Series 2 episode A pistachio eclair. where he returned to help in a team task as it required three team members. He was the guest on episodes 15 and 59 of Taskmaster The Podcast.
He also appeared in the Series 16 task to retrieve the sword from the stone where his last name 'Widdicombe' was the key word to pull the sword out.
Performance[]
Series 1[]
| Task | Description | Josh Widdicombe | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Episode 1: Melon buffet. (28 July 2015) | ||||||
| 1 | Prize: Most unusual item. | 1 | ||||
| 2 | In the lab, there is a watermelon. Eat as much watermelon as possible. | 3 | ||||
| 3 | Paint the best picture of a horse whilst riding a horse. | 3 | ||||
| 4 | Completely empty this bathtub. You must not remove the plug, tip or damage the bath. | 3 | ||||
| 5 | Live:Pop up a tent. Get in the tent. Zip up the tent. Pop on a onesie in the tent. And emerge from the tent wearing the onesie. | 3 | ||||
| Total | 13 | |||||
| Episode 2: The pie whisperer. (4 August 2015) | ||||||
| 1 | Prize: Most impressive item. | 2 | ||||
| 2 | High-five a 55-year-old. | 5 | ||||
| 3 | Identify the contents of these pies. You may touch the pies, but may not breach their pastry. | 2 | ||||
| 4 | Do something that will look impressive in reverse. The Taskmaster will see whatever act you perform played backwards. You must therefore do something backwards that will look impressive when the footage is played in reverse. | 4 | ||||
| 5 | Live: Crack the code, unshackle yourself and sprint 1 metre. | 3 | ||||
| Total | 16 | |||||
| Episode 3: The poet and the egg. (11 August 2015) | ||||||
| 1 | Prize: Most meaningful item | 2 | ||||
| 2 | Throw a teabag into a mug from the farthest distance. | DQ | ||||
| 3 | Using this device to track your route, create the best image for the Taskmaster. Pop a balloon to signal you have finished your image. | 5 | ||||
| 4 | Buy the best present for the Taskmaster. Here is £20. | 5 | ||||
| 5 | Using only the items currently on this table, get this egg as high as possible. The egg must not break. | 5 | ||||
| 6 | Live: Stand up after 100 seconds. | 5 | ||||
| T | What is Frank Skinner's age in minutes? | ✔ | ||||
| Total | 22 | |||||
| Episode 4: Down an octave. (18 August 2015) | ||||||
| 1 | Prize: Most beautiful item. | 4 | ||||
| 2 | Make this ice block disappear as fast as possible. | 5 | ||||
| 3 | Team: Get to 11 points as fast as possible. | 2 | ||||
| 4 | Fill an egg cup with as many tears as possible. | 3 | ||||
| S | Count the beans in this baked bean tin. | 1 | ||||
| Count the hoops in this tin of spaghetti hoops | ||||||
| Count the grains of rice in this bag of rice. | ||||||
| 5 | Live: Memorise the names of an Australian rules football team. | 1 | ||||
| Total | 16 | |||||
| Episode 5: Little denim shorts. (25 August 2015) | ||||||
| 1 | Prize: Most valuable item. | 5 | ||||
| 2 | Get this boulder as far from this place as possible. | 5 | ||||
| 3 | Grow the longest nail. | 5 | ||||
| 4 | Team:Make this bed to a hotel standard whilst holding hands. Your time ends when you get in the bed. Hold hands now. | 0 | ||||
| 5 | Make a Swedish person blush. | 1 | ||||
| 6 | Live: Blow up the biggest balloon whilst blindfolded. | 2 | ||||
| Total | 18 | |||||
| Episode 6: The last supper. (1 September 2015) | ||||||
| 1 | Prize: Most satisfying item. | 4 | ||||
| 2 | Get the lowest golf score using eggs. You must complete the 5 holes using chicken eggs. You score will be calculated as follows: Shots x eggs x minutes. | 2 | ||||
| 3 | Team: Stage a realistic blooper from a home movie. | 0 | ||||
| 4 | Make the best meal for the Taskmaster using ingredients beginning with every letter of the alphabet. | 1 | ||||
| 5 | Live: Separate the blue sweets from a bowl of multicoloured sweets whilst wearing boxing gloves. | 2 | ||||
| Total | 9 | |||||
| Grand Total | 94 | |||||
Series 2[]
| Task | Description | Josh Widdicombe | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Episode 3: A pistachio eclair. (13 December 2017) | ||||||
| 5 | Team: Retrieve a potato between various teammates who between them cannot see, hear or speak. | 5[1] | ||||
Notes
- ↑ Josh only returned to help the two-player team of Jon Richardson and Richard Osman, so didn't earn any points for himself. The team won 5 points.
Champion of Champions[]
| Task | Description | Josh Widdicombe | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Episode 1: Wiley giraffe blower. (13 December 2017) | ||||||
| 1 | Prize: Thing that genuinely causes them the most embarrassment. | 5 | ||||
| 2 | Either throw an exercise ball into the bath or put all the coconuts in the shopping trolley. You must throw the exercise ball while under a roof and you may not move the bath. You must not touch any of the coconuts with your hands and you may not move the shopping trolley. | 1 | ||||
| 3 | Blow something substantial off this table. | 4 | ||||
| 4 | Perform a miracle. | 5 | ||||
| 5 | Live: Write down a word beginning with T every time Alex blows his whistle. The person with the second longest word takes a step down. Whoever writes down the longest word misses a turn. If you write down one of Alex's special words, you advance an extra step. | 4 | ||||
| Total | 19 | |||||
| Episode 2: I've sinned again. (20 December 2017) | ||||||
| S | Sing along to the Taskmaster theme tune. | 0 | ||||
| 1 | Prize: Best thing. | 3 | ||||
| 2 | What's in the case? | 4 | ||||
| 3 | Make a mask that tastes delicious and looks great. Your mask but be entirely edible and entirely wearable. You must then wear your mask so Alex can taste it. | 4 | ||||
| 4 | Make the biggest mess and completely clear it up. | 3 | ||||
| 5 | Live: Record the highest total of steps on your pedometer. You may not touch your blindfold. | 4 | ||||
| Total | 18 | |||||
| Grand Total | 37 | |||||
Trivia[]
- Josh was the first contestant...
- to win a team task, along with his teammates Roisin Conaty and Romesh Ranganathan.
- to be featured in an individual task. He earned a single point for the bonus tasks he had to do, and since he won the season by a single point one could argue that it was the individual tasks that gave him the win.
- to be disqualified from a task.
- Josh's Champion trophy is not the usual golden Greg's head but a cheap karate trophy because the production team didn't know if they had another series.
- Despite not winning a single task on the second episode of the Champion of Champions, he still managed to win the episode.
- From his first series, Josh is tied with Tim Key for most tasks won in total (excluding bonus tasks and tiebreakers), with 10 in total won. In the Champion of Champions, Josh only won two.
- Josh is one of the few contestants to make a cameo in the show after they appeared. He appeared in the Series 2 episode A pistachio eclair., as part of Jon Richardson and Richard Osman's attempt at the task "Get a potato", where he made up the team as its third member.
- Widdicombe's surname was used as the keyword to release the sword in the stone in the task Pull the sword from the stone in the episode Hell is here.. His name also appears in the background of the Write, illustrate and read out a bedtime story for grown-ups task in One warm prawn., where he is named "Quizmaster".
- The portraits of Josh, Richard Herring, and Dara Ó Briain in the entrance of the house are decorated with a rosette due to their status as Champions of Champions.
Video[]
Alex Horne Interviews the Series 1 Contestants (And Himself) - Taskmaster
Josh Widdicombe's Best Taskmaster Moments
Josh Widdicombe Taskmaster Champion of Champions Interview - Dave
