Disclaimer: Doran Kennedy is a co-editor for Weather Vane and is a contributor to “Taskmaster”.
EMU’s “Taskmaster” has been renewed for an upcoming third season, and it’s better than ever. In season one, Levi Myers walked away as champion. Season two’s champion was Mikayla Pettus. This season, contestants Aidan Weaver, Maria Longenecker, Mana Acosta, Mark Sawin, and Meredith Lehman compete against each other individually in tasks that are not told to them until right before they attempt them. The show is described as, “funny, goofy, but competitive,” by this season’s contestants. This season includes; shopping carts, tasting drinks, and tricking people.
Sawin, Weaver, Acosta and Lehman all noted how competitive they are, and how competitive this season’s group of contestants is. Lehman said she enjoys “mindlessly trash talking” in order to ramp up the competitive fire. She noted that it always looked like fun, and that she’s a huge fan of any competition that involves “weird tasks.” Acosta noted that when watching the previous seasons of “Taskmaster” she wondered why the contestants weren’t running. She stated that she came into the competition “full force” and that she “felt in her element.”
Weaver said he’s “floored” to be a part of this season’s group of contestants. Weaver feels “decently confident, and very good about his performance.” Sawin said he’s “not especially confident” that he will win. Lehman said she would normally say she’s “gonna win,” but she had some tasks that she thinks she performed well on, but flopped with others. She believes that if everyone had an even spread regarding their success, she “has a shot.”
Acosta is worried she “didn’t do too well regarding her competitors,” and doesn’t believe she did the tasks in the most efficient manner. She also called “Taskmaster” the time of her life, jokingly stating she “begged to be a part of the show.” She said her fear is that her competition “doesn’t lose,” noting that Lehman in specific doesn’t lose. “You take Mark Sawin, Meredith Lehamn, Maria Longenecker and Aidan Weaver and pit them against them, I’m a goner!”
Each competitor noted how they had multiple plans going into each task. Sawin noted how he took inspiration from Levi Myers’ ability to bend the instructions heavily, and that the tasks don’t have to be taken literally. Sawin noted that one of his superpowers is the ability to be uber competitive, but he “doesn’t care if he wins or loses.”
“Taskmaster” started off as an Honors project made by Doran Kennedy. The project is inspired by a British television show of the same name. Sawin, the first non-student contestant of the show, was the professor of the class, Honors Seminar: Ruling Ideas, in which the idea for EMU’s “Taskmaster” came about. Sawin said he has been supportive of the project and “quirky goofy fun on campus.”
Sawin believes Kennedy has had it in him all along. He noted that in the introductory video students in the Honors course made, Kennedy shoved numerous items into a blender, including a picture of Sawin, and drank it. According to Sawin, it didn’t follow the instructions whatsoever, but allowed people to see that he is a “goofy guy.”
“I was a little reluctant,” said Sawin when asked how he felt when he was approached with the idea of being on this season’s “Taskmaster.” Sawin however noted that Kennedy “assured him that it would be nothing terrible,” and that he trusted him “for better or worse.” Sawin said he thought the tasks this season were “interesting, odd, and strange, but nothing he felt uncomfortable doing.”
“Taskmaster” host Canyon Penner said that he enjoys putting contestants in “uncomfortable situations,” and “bossing Doran around and making him do his bidding with each contestant.” Penner said that being the “Task Master” is the “best feeling in the world.” He finds joy in making his tasks extremely vague, and then making decisions afterwards in an effort to upset the contestants. It remains to be seen what tasks Penner has whipped up this year, but one can be sure he will get a kick from watching the contestants be in uncomfortable situations.
This year’s group of contestants are competitive, amped, and energized as they look to join the coveted group of “EMU Taskmaster winners.” “Taskmaster” will be in Main Stage Theatre April 27 at 7:00pm.
