I watch sports angrily. I care only about whether my team wins and I am emotionally invested in that outcome. Whether it’s a high-stakes game being played by a team I care about or an exhibition game in a sport I don’t understand, I get riled up following the action. If I’m watching two teams I don’t even like, I will decide to be a superfan of one of the teams for the duration of the competition. For example, I don’t care for the Washington Football Team or the Dallas Cowboys. But on Thanksgiving, when the two teams played, I called Andy Dalton a “ginger freak” and told my dad I’d kiss Antonio Gibson on the mouth. I’m sure Dalton is a great guy and I’m not sure Gibson is my type, but in the three hours between kickoff and the final whistle, my emotional state was directly tied to the scoreboard.

Watching competition doesn’t have to be this way. Most of my family watches the Super Bowl for the ambience, something to put on in the background while they wait for the commercials. But for me, winning is the only thing that matters.

So what do I—a man who watches sports like a kicked coke bottle—do when winning is deliberately forced into the back seat?

Taskmaster is a British television show where five comedians complete tasks in hopes of winning a golden bust of the host’s head. It’s a funny and often absurd show. I started watching it after finding out that my favorite British comedian, Noel Fielding, was on the fourth season of the show. Spoiler alert: He won that season and I was gleeful watching him do it. After watching that season, I watched the second and third seasons. In both seasons, I began rooting for a competitor who did not win and wound up emotionally devastated by the result.

When I watched the fifth season, I again chose a loser. In fact, I chose a performer who underachieved so woefully that two episodes into the season, I’d already abandoned all hope. Yet Taskmaster Series 5 turned out to be my favorite season of the show.

The entire season was remarkably non-competitive. One comic was so on top of his game, it was clear early on that he was going to win. The other three participants were vying for second through fourth place for most of the show. Sure, within the individual tasks, there was parity. But if the purpose of the season is to create a competition, then the series failed to achieve its aim.

Instead, the competition took a background to the more good-natured aspects of the show. More often than it was ruthless, the show was heartwarming and easy. When any comic did well, I was happy for them. When a comic failed, I empathized with them. By the end of the show, I didn’t care about the outcome, but I did care about the competitors. Each of the competitors was unique and wonderful in their own way. The dynamic of the entire show was more like a group of friends hanging out and riffing than a group of enemies being judged against each other.

I’m a creature of habit. When I watch Taskmaster season 6, I will definitely choose a competitor and tie my enjoyment of the series to their success. I am doomed to repeat my follies until the end of time. But for the eight episodes of the fifth season, I saw what competition could be: fun.