Australia will continue to laugh out loud with the upcoming third season of Taskmaster Australia.
Each week Tom Gleeson and his trusty assistant Tom Cashman (aka the “lesser Tom”) will set a new batch of comedians with a range of ridiculous tasks.
The most innovative, stupid, and laugh-inducing approaches to these tasks will earn points from the two Tom’s, and the comedian with the most points at the end of the season will win both glory and a trophy molded in the shape of Tom Gleeson’s head.
For season three, Aaron Chen, Concetta Caristo, Mel Buttle, Peter Helliar, and Rhys Nicholson will be battling it out to be crowned Taskmaster champion.
Speaking with New Idea ahead of the September 24 premiere of season three, 34-year-old Rhys said that being asked to participate in the series was a dream come true.
Rhys follows in the footsteps of Taskmaster UK season 15 winner Mae Martin who is non-binary and also uses they/them pronouns.
Their appearance in their series was applauded for how it gave the wider public a practical demonstration of how to use non-gendered language in their day-to-day lives.
“I’ve been a big fan of the show for a long, long time. I’m a bit of a superfan of the UK series. This is genuinely the fastest I’ve ever said yes to something,” Rhys shared with New Idea.
“It’s exciting to be on a TV show where you don’t have to do any research, any homework…you just have to turn up and be dumb,” they joked.
With countless hours of binge-watching in their back pocket, one would think Rhys would be well-prepared for his time on the comedy competition, but they tell us otherwise.
“They [producers] make a point to make [the tasks] unlike any of the tasks seen on other series. I know quite a few people who have been on the show in the UK and I asked some of them for some advice and they all said ‘No. There’s no advice we can give you.’”
“Laura Daniel [who won season two of Taskmaster New Zealand in 2021) said to ‘always go with your second thought’, because usually, your first thought (and especially in my case) is an unairable idea,” Rhys laughs.
While there is no prize money to be won by earning the title of Taskmaster champion, the RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under judge said that it was easy to get caught up in the excitement of the competition.
“It’s funny how slowly over the course of the recording of the show, you get more and more competitive. At the start, you think to yourself that it’s just a fun comedy show but by the end of it you start to get really competitive.”
Given this, we had to ask if there was anything Rhys wouldn’t have done to win.
“I would say no nudity and murder but who knows? People do anything for entertainment these days.”
As for what audiences can expect from the upcoming season, they say that Taskmaster Australia was “unlike anything on TV.”
“I love that we have a show in this country that is comedian-forward and silly and over the top,” they told us.
“It’s full pelt entertainment.”
