Following the format of the original British version, the show consists of five contestants who compete in a series of strange and unusual tasks to gain points from the Taskmaster, Jeremy Wells, administered by his assistant, comedian Paul Williams.
[8] In the studio, other than while attempting the live task, the contestants sit on a row of chairs in alphabetical order of forename from left to right.
[9] The contestants were Angella Dravid, Brynley Stent, Guy Williams, Leigh Hart, and Madeleine Sami.
[10] Greg Davies, the host of the original British version of Taskmaster, appeared as part of the prize task in the seventh episode.
On 30 May 2021, the contestants for series 2 were named as David Correos, Guy Montgomery, Laura Daniel, Matt Heath, and Urzila Carlson.
[17][18][19] The contestants for the series were announced in June 2022 as Chris Parker, Josh Thomson, Justine Smith, Kura Forrester and Paul Ego.
[28] Series 2 contestant Matt Heath made an indirect cameo via a task attempt in the eighth episode.
[34] The cast was revealed on 20 July 2024, as Abby Howells, Ben Hurley, Hayley Sproull, Tofiga Fepulea'i, and Tom Sainsbury.
As Fepulea'i was ill during the studio record, various previous contestants returned to represent him and conduct the prize and live tasks on his behalf.
[12] Pre-production took four weeks at the beginning of 2021, between writers Sam Smith and Williams, before moving from a studio onto Zoom after the February Auckland lockdown was put in place.
[52] Justine Smith, speaking of her experience filming the third series, noted that the entire process is very different to that of her other usual television appearances, and that "taking part in Taskmaster requires a different skill set"; she commented that it was "very secretive", with contestants not privy to witnessing tasks being set up and are unaware of "what's happening in advance".
Smith recalled that she was "taken in – literally almost with a hood over [her] head – to a room [you're] not allowed to leave" before "[you] come out[,] do the task and go straight back into [your] room"; the lack of a reaction to the performance in a task troubled Smith, who commented "[y]ou turn around and walk away, [it being] a comedian's worst nightmare to not have someone tell you it was OK or laugh.
James Croot of Stuff claimed the series was "off to a terrific start" and "you might just need to put an hour aside for the next few weeks",[57] in contrast to comments of colleague Darren Bevan, who wrote that "while Taskmaster NZ hasn't romped away with a decisive victory, it has done enough to secure a technical win and an appointment for a second week's viewing".
Bevan did offer praise, towards Paul Williams' role as the assistant, calling him "one of the show's MVPs before even 30 minutes of the first episode have passed".
"[60] For the first episode of the second series, James Croot of Stuff – in contrast to his more positive comments regarding the first series – noted that, regarding the dynamic between Wells and Williams, "[t]he former still seems unsure of their relationship, the power dynamic less clear-cut than between the original's Greg Davies and Alex Horne", and that while some of the tasks "offer[ed] plenty of entertaining laughs", others were not "quite as successful".
[61] The Spinoff's Stewart Sowman-Lund was more positive, praising the entire series as "truly hilarious", and that its contestants "will surely go down in the annals of Taskmaster history as one of the best casts the show has ever seen".
[62] Taskmaster New Zealand was made available to stream in Sweden through SVT Play in December 2022 under the local name Bäst i test Nya Zeeland,[63] is able to be viewed in Norway through Discovery+ (where it is called Kongen befaler New Zealand),[64] and aired in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 starting 28 August 2023 with episodes subsequently made available on Channel 4's streaming service by the same name.