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What is Taskmaster Champion of Champions? The one series where losing isn't an option — everyone's already won

What is Taskmaster Champion of Champions? The one series where losing isn't an option — everyone's already won
Image credit: Google Veo 3

Every so often, Greg Davies summons a very particular group of people back to his throne room: the ones who already beat him at his own game. The result is Taskmaster's most stacked format — a tournament where every single contestant has previously lifted the trophy.

Here's how it works, and who has claimed the ultimate title so far.

How it works

Champion of Champions is a recurring Taskmaster special in which the winners of the five most recent series return to compete against each other, in the classic format — pre-recorded tasks judged in the studio by Taskmaster Greg Davies, with Alex Horne keeping score. Since every player is a former series champion, nobody in the lineup has ever technically lost. One of them just gets to win twice.

The stakes are suitably ridiculous. When Channel 4 announced the 2024 edition, it described the prize as

"the ultimate prize of Greg Davies's buff body forged in gold"

— a golden statue of the Taskmaster himself, onto which the winner gets to mount the trophy from their original series. A throne on a throne.

Every Champion of Champions so far

Four tournaments have been held across five episodes:

  • Champion of Champions (2017) — a two-parter on Dave, aired December 13 and 20, 2017, featuring the winners of series 1–5: Josh Widdicombe, Katherine Ryan, Rob Beckett, Noel Fielding, and Bob Mortimer. Won by Widdicombe, the show's very first champion.
  • Champion of Champions II (2022) — aired June 23, 2022 on Channel 4, with the series 6–10 winners: Liza Tarbuck, Kerry Godliman, Lou Sanders, Ed Gamble, and Richard Herring. Won by Herring.
  • Champion of Champions III (2024) — aired January 14, 2024, with the series 11–15 era: Sarah Kendall, Morgana Robinson, Sophie Duker, Dara Ó Briain, and Kiell Smith-Bynoe. Won by Ó Briain.
  • Champion of Champions 2025 — aired December 22, 2025, with the series 16–20 winners: Sam Campbell, John Robins, Andy Zaltzman, Mathew Baynton, and Maisie Adam. Won by Baynton.

The one asterisk

Eagle-eyed fans will spot the exception to the "everyone's already won" rule: Kiell Smith-Bynoe, the series 15 runner-up, stepped in for champion Mae Martin in the 2024 edition — making him the only non-winner ever to compete. Had he won, he'd have become Champion of Champions without ever being a champion. He didn't, and the universe stayed intact.

When is the next one?

Going by the pattern — a new tournament once five fresh champions have accumulated — the next Champion of Champions should arrive after series 25 wraps, with series 21 already complete as of early 2026. That's years away.

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