‘The kids didn’t subject me to violence … largely speaking’: inside the super-sassy world of Junior Taskmaster

‘Did you get wet?’ ‘No.’ ‘That’s ’cause you didn’t get in the bath.’

It’s not every day that Alex Horne’s put in his place, but then again, it’s not every day that he finds himself interviewing a nine-year-old. This isn’t any old nine-year-old, though – it’s Harry Hill’s son, Freddie, and he is, quite literally, the pint-sized future of Taskmaster.

Horne, in full dad mode even as he whips out his phone to show pictures of his kids, is hosting a special version of Taskmaster for Junior Bake Off fans. Given the age range, there’s a bit of a rule tweak: no more ‘unsupervised hanging from great heights’, for example.

Still, the premise is pretty much the same: the kids have to do a series of silly, surreal, and occasionally disgusting tasks – examples include writing their name on a scotch egg, doing football tricks with a pasty, and building a rocket that can launch a sausage.

Horne says that the main difference between filming with kids and adults is that the former are ‘much more honest’. ‘They don’t have the filter of embarrassment, they’ll say whatever comes into their head. Also, they haven’t learned how to lie convincingly yet.’

It's certainly not your average kid's TV show - the kids swear almost as much as they do on the adult version. Horne says that the kids were ‘never malicious’ with it, ‘they just don’t have a filter’.

Some tasks have to be changed slightly to make them kid-friendly. ‘We couldn’t do the making-a-cocktail task, so we had to change it to making a smoothie. But then Ardal O’Hanlon’s daughter made a smoothie using just orange juice, and my daughter Alice’s was just milk and sugar, so I don’t think we really got any smoothies out of that…

The biggest change of all, though, is the presence of a prize. The adult version of Taskmaster doesn’t have a prize – that’s part of the appeal, that the only reward is knowing you did your best, and the right thing, and that inner peace will sustain you through the darkness, or something like that.

Kids, on the other hand… ‘apparently they need additional motivation.’

So, what is the Junior Taskmaster prize? ‘A box of Match Attax cards. Because they all love football.’

‘They’re all obsessed with football,’ says Horne. ‘In fact, one of the challenges was to make a football trick shot video, and one kid did a trick shot that Lionel Messi couldn't do.’

Horne says that kids are ‘naturally funny’

‘Kids are naturally funny,’ says Horne. ‘They have a very pure sense of humour. They’ll just say whatever they’re thinking, and it tends to be quite funny.’

‘One of the highlights was when we got the kids to give their own stand-up routines. I thought they’d find it quite intimidating, but they completely nailed it. They were all so funny.’

‘I think Junior Taskmaster will appeal to kids because it’s full of fun and silly challenges. It’s also a bit educational, as the kids learn about different skills and how to work as a team.

‘Plus, it’s a great way for kids to see that it’s OK to be different and to have a sense of humour about themselves.’

Junior Taskmaster is available to stream on All 4 from 15th July.