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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Rachael Healy

Sophie Duker: ‘You have to laugh at yourself – you’ll never be in the right for long’

Sophie Duker stars in Channel 4’s new series of Taskmaster
‘Poisoning apples is fun!’ … Sophie Duker stars in Channel 4’s new series of Taskmaster Photograph: Publicity image

Sophie Duker’s just shared a Taskmaster secret: every contestant has to have two identical versions of their signature outfit. This posed a problem for the standup, writer and all-round stylish comedian who is one of this series’ competitors alongside Bridget Christie, Ardal O’Hanlon, Judi Love and Chris Ramsey. “Most of my clothes are from the bottom of a bin in a vintage shop or stolen from a friend, so it was quite hard to get an outfit I could replicate.” She settled for a pink and yellow crop top and matching tracksuit bottoms: “I’m dressed like a Refresher!”

The challenge-based comedy show has made national treasures of previous contestants. Appearing on it is a big deal. Especially for someone who, despite doing comedy for more than a decade, only recently began calling herself a comedian. Fortunately, before filming, Duker “defeated the final boss of impostor syndrome” by appearing on Live at the Apollo: “It’s so hard to say you’re not a comedian when you’ve done it in front of thousands of people.”

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