Chloe Petts came to Taskmaster to win, and that's exactly what they did.
But the experience was about a lot more than winning. The comedian talked about the experience of the show as the "best thing [they've] ever done professionally." That's a high bar to clear considering some of Petts other accomplishments. They've sold out four Edinburgh Fringe runs, performed on Live at the Apollo, and appeared in Hannah Gadsby's Netflix special Gender Agenda.
Petts made no secret of their competitive nature on the show. While some of their competitors seemed less interested in actually winning Greg's golden head, Petts had their eye on the prize. But they also understood that Taskmaster is, first and foremost, a comedy show. They weren't about to argue over every single point when nobody else seemed particularly bothered about winning — well, except for that one time Richard Osman cheated.
And despite their desire to win, Petts was more than willing to embrace the absurdity of the show. Whether they were creating an elaborate series of unfortunate accidents (or a "whoopsie," as the show called for) or admitting defeat before an art task had even begun, Petts proved that being competitive and being funny aren't mutually exclusive.
Beyond the competition, Taskmaster also represented an important personal milestone for Petts. It was their first major television appearance publicly using they/them pronouns, something they admit initially made them feel vulnerable. The experience, and the response from the show's famously devoted fan base, helped them feel more comfortable presenting their authentic self to the world.
I spoke with Petts about their victory, whether the other contestants made it too easy for them, their friendship with fellow Taskmaster champion Ed Gamble, and their ambitions for Champion of Champions. We also discussed the significance of non-binary representation, the kindness of the Taskmaster fan community, and why the experience meant so much more than taking home the grand prize.
Here's our conversation.
Chloe, you're a Taskmaster winner! Has your life changed significantly since then?
Yeah, massively. I can't move for fans in the street, that sort of thing!
No, it's been absolutely amazing. I made no secret of the fact that I wanted to win it, and I was really grateful to and really proud to. But the main thing is that I just had the absolute best time. My profile has been raised. I'm being recognized a lot more in the streets, but everyone that I talk to is absolutely delightful, and I feel incredibly grateful to be part of this TV show where the fan base is so nice.
There has been some scuttlebutt online about your victory. Even in the final episode, Greg says there are some comedians who have been trying and some who haven't, and you didn't exactly run away with the competition. Do you want to address whether this was a legitimate Taskmaster win?
Are people saying it's not a legitimate win?
I don't think anybody is saying you didn't win, but there's the argument that if you were playing against other people who were trying harder, things might have been different.
I did win! And you can only play what's in front of you. I think if I was playing with other competitive people, then I probably would have argued my corner a lot more and really fought for every single point. But that wouldn't have been tasteful because no one else really wanted to win nor cared.
It's not very seemly to be absolutely going for everyone else when they're just playing a game quite nicely. And also, I allowed myself one. I allowed myself one in the whole series, which was when Richard cheated by not blindfolding himself. I was far ahead at that point, and it looked likely that I was going to win. But I was like, "Nope, that's unjust. You did something wrong." So then I argued it, and I saw some discourse around that which was like, "You're in the lead, why are you arguing this?" I'm arguing it because it's morally correct.
I have a friend who's furious that you didn't go further with that argument. Richard ended up winning that task!
Please rest assured that there will probably be a supercut of that coming out where I did go a lot further. But hey, if anyone thinks that I should go against some people who take it a bit more seriously and want to win, then watch Champion of Champions. Let's see how I go there.
Before you started filming, did you get any advice? How were you feeling going into the show and preparing to do your first tasks?
I was absolutely terrified because you hope for this thing at a certain point in your career where you're like, "Oh, maybe this thing could happen for me," and you really hope for it. And then you get it, and there's that, "Oh, this is real now. This is not just this fantasy in the future."
So I was really nervous. The advice that I'd been given was the same universally, which is that you'll be really nervous, but the way that they set it up takes all the nerves away. Chrissy, the makeup artist, who was wonderful, went, "You'll be really nervous, you'll go in, and then I know you'll come out and you'll go, 'Get me into the next one.'" And that's exactly what happened.
It's almost like mindfulness. All you can concentrate on is the task. Your body just totally relaxes, and you give into the experience. I had the best, the best time. The best thing I've ever done professionally.
You didn't seem to love the art tasks. Would you consider those your least favourite type of task? Were you dreading them before you started?
I wasn't dreading them because I knew that they were inevitable and I knew that I would have to sit through them. It was more just like, "Oh, here we go, an art task."
I saw them as a free hit because even in art class at school, I'd just sit there and doss around. I was a very good student, but I just knew it wasn't for me. I knew that I didn't like it enough to try and get good at it, to put the hours in. And I just don't really have a very aesthetic eye in that way. So I just went, "Do you know what? I'll just do it. I'll just do what I can."
And it always looked absolutely shit.
My art tasks were a bit like all of Richard's tasks, where I would just get them done as quickly as possible and be like, "Is the rest of the time mine now?"
There must be some relief when you see everyone else's attempts. You're doing these tasks in isolation, and then suddenly you're comparing your work to four other pieces of art. Sometimes you realize yours isn't so bad after all.
Yeah, but they were always better than mine!
Nina and Izzy were really good at art in particular, and it almost felt like a little bit of a break from my competitiveness because I don't get competitive about art because I know I'm not good at it. So it was just really nice to enjoy that bit of the show and go, "Wow, that was amazing what you made. That's so cool."
Do you have a favorite moment or task from the series? Something that stands out either because you did particularly well or because it was just a fun thing to get to do on television?
I really liked the whoopsie because I thought for quite a while about what I would do, and I didn't have a clear-cut idea. I just had lots of mini ideas. And then we were like, "Why don't we lean into that, like a death by a thousand cuts thing?" Just have this catalogue of whoopsies. And then when I thought of the penis finger thing, I was like, "That is so stupid. That really amuses me." And I think it will amuse Greg too, because I'm good mates with Ed Gamble, who obviously knows Greg really well. So I was sometimes like, "Oh, I know Ed would really laugh at that, so I think Greg would really find that funny as well."
When I spoke with Greg about the show, he mentioned that connection. He talked about how Ed had worked with him and you'd worked with Ed, so even though you and Greg didn't know each other particularly well, he felt there would be a natural dynamic he could play off of.
Yeah. And he's also sort of like my comedy grandfather.
I feel like I've got a lot of stuff off Ed. Ed's got a lot of stuff off him, so I sort of have secondhand hand-me-downs from Greg.
What's it like having Ed Gamble as a comedy dad?
Now that I say that, that doesn't quite work. Maybe Greg is our ... no, Greg's both of our dads, but he married my mum after Ed, because I would say me and Ed are just like two stupid brothers.
That tracks. I'll map out the family tree and send it over!
If you would, I'd appreciate that.
I believe we're now two for two when it comes to non-binary Taskmaster contestants winning their series, with you and Mae Martin. As a trans person, I've really appreciated seeing more trans and non-binary representation on television. But are you worried that the show might stop casting non-binary people because they can't let you keep dominating the competition?
Yeah, probably! The thing is, non-binary people, we are a dominant people. And we will annihilate. So yeah, maybe it's been bad for the community, and I do apologize for that.
In seriousness, it's been wonderful to see you on the show. I believe this was the first time you publicly used they/them pronouns on television. Can you talk a little bit about that experience?
Yeah, it was pretty vulnerable. I found it a bit scary. I'd always, with my pronouns publicly, been like, "Oh, it's fine, just call me they if you can, but she's fine, don't worry, don't worry." And then it was actually Matt Lucas who asked me what my pronouns were when we were working together, and he fed that back to Alex. And then Alex came to me and was like, "You know, that's okay. You could have told us. We can accommodate that." And I was like, "Well, I don't want to be a fuss. I don't want to be this, I don't want to be that."
And I guess it was just all internalized transphobia, right? Not feeling able to advocate for myself in the way that I would advocate for others because I felt like I was making a farce or something like this. So yeah, it was really scary. I don't look a lot at the comments online because I think that's a dangerous place to get. Even the good stuff, you can get addicted to. You can get addicted to the bad stuff. So I just try and live my life not thinking about what people think of me, because I'm never going to know that truly. I'm never going to know that accurately. I just think about what the people around me think of me.
But the small amount of comments I have seen, it's been very emotional to see people correctly gender me. And even people that don't like me correctly gendering me has been really emotional. And I think that Taskmaster was the perfect place to do it because, as you've said, it's a strange fan base, it's an intense fan base, but it's a kind fan base. And I feel really, really grateful to have them going to bat for me almost a little bit.
So yeah, it's been scary, it's been vulnerable. I'm still not totally confident in it. But I'm getting there, and this has been a good way to show the world myself authentically and truly.
It was lovely to see you on the show. There's a lot of love for you out in the world, from me and from everyone else. Thank you so much for chatting with me.
Thank you so much, Grace. It's been such a pleasure chatting to you. I really appreciate it.
