Kojey Radical and Zoe Ball among ‘Taskmaster’ New Year special contestants

The celebrity contestants have been unveiled for this year’s ‘New Year Treat’ episode of Taskmaster, with London rapper Kojey Radical and BBC Radio 2 presenter Zoe Ball among the line-up.

• READ MORE: Every Taskmaster contestant ranked by how much they made us laugh

The Channel 4 series, hosted by Greg Davies and Alex Horne, is once again returning for a one-off festive episode, with a specific air date yet to be confirmed.

Alongside Radical and Ball, the line-up will also include Dragon’s Den’s Deborah Meaden, wildlife expert Steve Backshall and comic actor Lenny Rush, known for BBC shows Am I Being Unreasonable? and Dodger.

The show sees the five contestants set a series of absurd and often surreal challenges, set by the ‘Taskmaster’ Davies and his assistant Horne.

The 16th series of the show concluded this week (November 23). The line-up included comedians Julian Clary, Lucy Beaumont, Sam Campbell, Sue Perkins and Susan Wokoma.

In March of this year, Channel 4 announced the show had been renewed for six more seasons. Taskmaster originally began on Dave in 2015 before it moved to Channel 4 in 2020.

A new eight-part spin-off, Junior Taskmaster, was announced earlier this year, for children aged between nine and 11. The show is set to be hosted by comedian Rose Matafeo and writer Mike Wozniak.

Speaking about taking on the role, Matafeo said: “To be appointed as Junior Taskmaster is one of the greatest honours of my already wildly successful career. I am greatly looking forward to the power going to my head.”

A release date for Junior Taskmaster has yet to be announced.

In 2022, NME gave Kojey Radical’s debut studio album ‘Reason to Smile’ a four-star review, writing: “Kojey Radical sells us the image of refined Renaissance man he has become, rather than merely resting on his potential – it would be easy to do so, as he has bags of the stuff. He has always been a reliable star for those who want high lyrical content, but can also enjoy a banger on a purely surface musical level. It’s an astonishingly hard trick to pull off. He boasts a pretty flawless discography already, so hopefully there’s still room for him to grow.”

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