General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Le maître du jeu

Le maître du jeu is a French-Canadian comedy game show, the Quebec adaptation of the British format Taskmaster, in which Louis Morissette, in the Taskmaster role, and his assistant Antoine Vézina set a panel of five comedians a series of playful challenges that test their creativity and ingenuity. It premiered on the Noovo network on September 15, 2022 and airs Thursdays at 20:00.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Format	Five comedians complete tasks judged by the Taskmaster, Louis Morissette, with Antoine Vézina as assistant and arbiter³
First aired	September 15, 2022, Noovo; Thursdays at 20:00¹
Production	KOTV, Louis Morissette's company, in collaboration with Bell Media; distributed by Avalon TV in Canada³^•⁴
Seasons	Season 1 (2022, 12 episodes), Season 2 (2023, 13), Season 3 (2024, 13), Season 4 (2025, 13), Season 5 (from September 10, 2026)¹^•⁵
Season 1 winner	Ève Côté⁶^•¹³
Task originality	8% of tasks original, 92% adapted from other versions of the format⁷
Audience effect	Season 1 increased Noovo's performance in the Thursday time slot by 50%⁸

Spoilers

Seasons and contestants

A new cast of five comedians is assembled each season. Season 1 featured Mehdi Bousaidan, Ève Côté, Christine Morency, Matthieu Pepper, and Jo Cormier, with Ève Côté winning the season.³^•⁶^•¹³ Later seasons have included players such as Phil Roy, Kevin Raphaël, Tammy Verge, Marie-Lyne Joncas, Mona de Grenoble, Bianca Gervais, Richardson Zéphir, and Arnaud Soly.⁶

Season 5 premiered on September 10, 2026, with Patrice Bélanger, Sinem Kara, Mathieu Dufour, Anne-Élisabeth Bossé, and Pascal Cameron as contestants; the season runs 13 episodes.⁵^•¹¹ In addition to the main seasons, holiday specials have aired each December from 2023 to 2025, in which five new comedians compete for a single night for a special holiday trophy.¹^•⁹ A junior version of the show, still under Antoine Vézina's direction but with a new, well-known Taskmaster and children of Quebec celebrities as contestants, was also announced.¹¹

Format

Each season keeps a fixed panel of five comedians who face a run of tasks across the episodes. Tasks are completed away from the studio, then presented to the Taskmaster, who evaluates the attempts and awards points to the most deserving contestants; the episode winner takes an absurd prize. The comedian who wins the most episodes over the season is crowned champion.³^•⁴

Several house rules distinguish the Quebec version. A prize pool is built each episode from items contestants bring in for the prize task. Team tasks are run with uneven teams of two and three. There are no tie-breakers: episodes ending in tied scores are left as draws, with the contestants sharing the prize pool.⁷

The tasks themselves mix physical, mental, creative, and social challenges. Across the first four seasons the fan-maintained database records 217 assigned tasks, 61% of them filmed on location, 19% live, and 19% prize tasks, with 63% judged objectively and 33% subjectively.⁷ Typical season 5 assignments include transferring water between buckets, throwing an iron, hiding a pineapple, and passing the bulkiest possible object through a doughnut.⁹

Production and origin

The show adapts Taskmaster, the British format presented by Greg Davies and created by his assistant Alex Horne, distributed internationally by Avalon. When the Quebec version was announced, the format had been adapted in 12 markets including New Zealand, Portugal, the Nordic countries, and Croatia, the UK series had completed its 13th season, and the franchise's YouTube channel had accumulated more than 280 million views.³

KOTV, the production company of Louis Morissette, produces the show in collaboration with Bell Media. The first season's outdoor tasks were filmed at Mont Saint-Bruno on Montreal's South Shore, with studio segments recorded before a live audience in early August 2022; directors Daniel Vigneault and Marc-Olivier Valiquette directed the 12 episodes.⁴ Olivier Gaudet-Savard serves as the content producer who designs the challenges behind the cameras.¹⁰

Reception

The first season measurably strengthened its channel: Avalon reported that it increased Noovo's performance in the Thursday time slot by 50%.⁸ Among international followers of the franchise, the version is known for relying heavily on adapted tasks; the fan database credits it with only 8% original task briefs.⁷

A separate French show of the same name

A distinct French series also titled Le Maître du Jeu premiered in 2024 on TF1. In it, 12 celebrities take part in an unusual investigation game run by a Machiavellian game master hiding behind a well-known celebrity; it is a reality competition of about 57 minutes per episode, available on TF1+, and is unrelated to the Quebec comedy panel show.¹²

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Reality and competition franchise editions › Taskmaster, The Traitors, and puzzle/deception game franchises

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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