Review: Taskmaster, “Bats, bats, hang up.” | Series 20, Episode 5

We’re back with Taskmaster series 20, episode 5, with our fearless contestants Ania Magliano, who will forever be remembered for the creepy? sultry? way she says “vagina”; Maisie Adam, who is not okay asking other people for help; Phil Ellis, who suckles at the teat of Little Alex Horne (not a euphemism, unfortunately); Reece Shearsmith, who does the kind of damage this episode that Jason Mantzoukas dreams of; and Sanjeev Bhaskar, who has had £25 cash in his pocket during every taping.

This was my favorite episode to date — I’m excited that they’re getting better and better each week, from the tasks themselves to the contestants’ in-studio banter. All three tasks this week were imaginative and funny, even ones that felt a bit familiar. Everybody seems to be having a good time — save, perhaps, the one in-studio verbal brawl that ensued after they watched the first task — and putting some work into it. Even the contestants I’d pegged early on as perhaps a bit of a slacker (*cough Phil Ellis cough*).