
Taskmaster creator Alex Horne hosts competition at care home
Taskmaster creator Alex Horne hosted a competition inspired by the Channel 4 TV show at a care home in Oxfordshire.
The 46-year-old comedian visited a care home in Adderbury where he set a series of challenges that saw four residents compete against each other.
Advertisement
The tasks included identifying everything related to pineapples and residents closing their eyes and raising their hand when they thought one minute had passed.
Alex Horne joined residents at a care home in Banbury for a Taskmaster event (Care UK/Richard Cave/PA)
The competitors also had a plate of sweets they had to transfer to another plate with only a straw, with the final task involving residents building the tallest tower using spaghetti and marshmallows.
'I've done Taskmaster with kids in schools, stags and hens in pubs, boys and girls in scout huts, executives in offices and over a hundred comedians on telly over the last 10 years, but this was perhaps the most memorable task session for me,' said Horne.
'The four contestants were as competitive as anyone I've tested before, and they demonstrated different ways of lateral thinking, as well as some creative interpretations of my rules.'
Advertisement
Resident Ruth Johnson, aged 100, said: 'At first I didn't know what was expected of us, and I wondered what we'd need to do with all of that spaghetti.
'Alex was so nice. I thought I had met him before, but I think I just knew him from the television.'
Residents took part in a series of challenges as part of a Taskmaster event (Care UK/Richard Cave/PA)
Wojciech Kuczkowski, general manager at Seccombe Court, said: 'The residents love to watch Taskmaster and we wanted to give them a chance to take on the challenges for themselves.
'All four competitors did an amazing job, and it was great to see their competitive spirits come out. I'd like to extend a big thank you to Alex for joining us and hosting our challenge.'
Advertisement
The original version of Taskmaster was created by Horne as a live show for the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
It first aired on UKTV's Dave in 2015 before moving to Channel 4 in 2019.
The comedy gameshow sees five celebrities compete in a series of bizarre challenges presented to them by the Taskmaster Greg Davies, with Horne as his assistant.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Guardian
26 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Old-tech Bashir is trying something wild and brave amid the battle for Bethell
Bruised skies, sun through clouds, dualism, life in death. Welcome to the bloom of another England Test Match summer, the summer, this time around, of Bethell and Bashir. But of Bethell first because he's the easy bit. The battle for Jacob Bethell is of course just beginning. Everyone wants a piece of England's most thrillingly talented young cricketer. The broadcasters are frothing. The papers want to know whose shirts he wears. Actually the papers don't really care. Maybe the Daily Telegraph wants to know this at a push. But Bethell is still kind of perfect right now, a future-bomb, all promise and new things, in a sport that is always desperate for these. Even the words 'Jacob Bethell' sound hopeful, the name of a wise young hobbit or a courtly medieval blacksmith. The look is good: Matt Dillon eyes, jaw, shoulders, bleach blond hair for the white ball months, but now puritanically dark for the Tests because he knows where his off stump is and Respects The Game. This is the wider promise of Bethell. He seems to express some idea of order, a chance to make sense of a deeply confusing cricketing world, out there standing on a hill in Tatooine, twin suns sinking behind him, bringing balance to the force. The fact Bethell is yet to score any kind of hundred is key to this. Ideally he will never score a hundred, because while this feels hot, progressive, titillating, it is also totally fine because of the shapes and the orthodox mechanics. Bethell has the modern sex-stuff, the slogs and the dinks. He also has check drives and a perfectly aligned defence. He left the ball a lot in New Zealand and people got husky and brave and pretended to have things in their throat. In this context having Bethell in England's Test match top five feels like a weapon of reactionary consensus. The logic goes: I like Jacob Bethell, and therefore I also understand and feel comfortable with modernity and new things. You might worry that this image of Jacob Bethell is conjured out of need, a way of making rock and roll acceptable to the squares, like a record company has manufactured a fake punk band with a lead singer called Dave Dangerous, who actually do good old-fashioned tunes you can hum along to. Of course you like Jacob Bethell grandad. But can you handle a jazzed-up 14-year-old who plays the kung fu uppercut to every ball? Can you handle an impact No 8 and left-arm filth-master called Yooskens Van De Wild (answer: no)? The point is, we have a golden hobbit with a high elbow. And maybe the world is still good. There is no sense of blame here. No one should feel bad about being unable to navigate this state of format-confusion, because cricket is basically an insane landscape now, dying but furiously alive, stocked with talent but criss-crossed with illusory pathways. Virat Kohli wins the IPL then rages about the primacy of Tests. People in England and Australia still prefer the dying stuff, no matter how hard the hard-sell. Even writing a newspaper column about Test cricket feels a bit subversive. Fine, but will anyone notice it on the internet? (Answer: yes but make sure you get Matt Dillon in high up for the SEO.) And by now even the cross-format Player Of Hope is probably an illusion. The best versions, Kohli, AB de Villiers, David Warner, tended to come from that generation where you still had time to learn hard technique then expand from there. Whereas these days the world is a deeply confusing place for a talented young cricketer. Jake Fraser-McGurk, for example, came grooving on to the scene looking like a hoverboard pilot, all shape, hands, mullet, talent, but averages 14 since last year's IPL and has now taken a step back to try and remember what cricket actually is. The most recent Unity Player for England, Jofra Archer, was ruined by having to bowl 42 pointless overs in one innings in New Zealand and is now basically a collection of broken china wheeled out on to the field on a trolley every six months. It seems likely Bethell will be able to exist across this world because he is just pure, fluid, fungible talent. For now it is probably more interesting to talk about Shoaib Bashir, who was also picked in England's first Test squad this week, who is also 21 years old, and who is the exact opposite of Bethell, the opposite of the unity player, a mono-format, old-tech red-ball bowler, out there plonking away on his harpsichord and just hoping somebody wants to listen. Can he have a future too? Sign up to The Spin Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week's action after newsletter promotion There are plenty of cricket watchers who won't approve of the Bashir selection. He hasn't earned it on hard county numbers. It feels very Baz, very boys club. Bashir was picked initially off a social media clip, picked on release point, height, arms. Do England even need a spinner? And is Bashir good enough if they do? Answering this must be balanced against lousy county figures, against 50 Test wickets, the fact at his best he gets both dip and rip, the fact Stokes actually seems to enjoy captaining him and understand how to do it. But the idea he is some favoured princeling also doesn't really stand up. Bashir ground his way up through the Surrey age groups, hard-working, totally focused, but basically out of of time because Surrey didn't have any real interest in orthodox right-arm spin. He didn't take the message, didn't go away, took every trial he could. And now he's out there engaged in one of the strangest of Test careers, proving himself at England level to earn the step down to county cricket, with no parachute or pathway, just the current summer and if he's lucky an Ashes gig where he might well end up a cautionary anecdote or a youtube clip with laughter emojis next to it. There is a kind of category mistake here. Franchise cricket will tell you it's the opposite of the old, safe grind. In reality that life is its own kind of treadmill, a blur of colour, noise, content, flown from one bubble to the next, a comfort zone of junk cricket, fireworks on top of fireworks. Bethell can play in this world as long as he chooses now. Opportunities will thrust themselves into his hands. But Bashir is the real freelancer here, a cricketer struggling to bloom in a living, dying major sport, for whom every ball matters, every off-break this summer a referendum on his own future. It is by far the more perilous of these two paths. Do or die, in a thing that we're told is dying. It feels like actual, high-jeopardy sport. Either way the Test grounds will be full again in June and July. Jacob Bethell under bruised skies scratching his way to 17 in two hours against a rampant Jasprit Bumrah: this is basically the sporting summer, a perfect little square of light, a sense of old stuff working, like noticing that bees still exist. But perhaps there might still be a place too for specialists, for twin codes, for an off-spinner who gives it a straight rip, who provides a note of quietly artful variation, who could no longer have a career once Stokes retires; but who is also doing something a little wild and brave out there, walking the finest of lines, and whose fate is in many ways the more gripping.


Telegraph
41 minutes ago
- Telegraph
A gentleman's guide to three-piece suit etiquette
The three-piece suit needs a bit of rescuing, the format having been hijacked by the Instagram manosphere and estate agents. We are an awfully long way from Indiana Jones in his Raiders of the Lost Ark professorial garb and, like a lot of the sartorial canon, various codes have been forgotten. The first thing to know is that a three-piece suit is the least formal of suit styles, perfectly demonstrated by Tom Hardy with his excellent and discerning use of RRL, a range from Ralph Lauren that's designed to be somewhat informal and more 'rustic'. This is the rule for both lounge suit and black tie, followed by double-breasted suits and two-piece single-breasted varieties. However, this wasn't always the case. The wearing of a waistcoat was essential in the nascent years of suiting because of a decree in October 1666 by King Charles II, mandating the wearing of a waistcoat for gentlemen. We know this because it was noted in Samuel Pepys' diary, reminding us of a time where people remembered to memorialise the more important matters. In the Regency era to much of the Victorian, order of the day for established houses was morning dress (a riding outfit - the morning was when gentlemen rode out) or frock coat in the daytime, and white tie in the evening, all requiring a waistcoat. As morning dress was replaced by the lounge suit and the frock coat was more or less isolated to the Court, the waistcoat was no longer a certainty in a man's daily wardrobe. In 1856, Edward VII commissioned Henry Poole to make him an 'evening lounge suit' in midnight blue, as he disliked dressing in white tie and preferred the growing trend of tailless jackets. Black tie was born, and waistcoats also began to fall out of favour for evening wear. More on 'Dirty Bertie' later. This heritage might explain the consensus that the wearing of a three-piece suit is occasion wear, which is why it's so prevalent at weddings. The hard-man credentials of Peaky Blinders have also made a lot of men feel confident that it's an agreeable way to dress up without losing any machismo. Whether you align with Tom Hardy and wear it casually, or want to wear the three-piece for something formal, there are rules that need to be kept in mind. Button know-how This is where we return to our wonderfully short-lived but sartorially consequential monarch, Edward VII. The question surrounding waistcoats often has to do with the bottom button. There are various disputes around the origin of this, but allow me to dispel things once and for all. Edward VII was perfectly able to wear the bottom button done up, no matter how large he was, his tailor would have taken it into account and an extra button would have made no difference at all. In fact, it was popped open for riding. This could easily have been for comfort but that is not necessarily a weight issue, rather the traditions of higher buttoning on riding garments - see morning coats, paddock-cut jackets and hunting pinks - which all need raised buttons for comfort in a sedentary position. The unbuttoning of the waistcoat therefore indicated you were a man of good standing who rode, and so everyone wanted to follow suit. Just to confuse things a bit, this does not apply to double-breasted waistcoats; they must all be done up. The smartest button stance is a three-button (six altogether) angled stance in a V shape, rather than the straight buttoning you see often from fashion designers. Fit check One of the biggest fashion faux pas is the sight of a man's shirt peeking out beneath the lapel and above the trousers. It is as much of a sartorial shortfall as the triangle of death – the triangle of white above the waistline and single-breasted jacket button, betraying the jacket as too small. This is very much how a certain tight-suited, Love Island hopeful might dress. One issue is that many brands make trousers that have what is called 'a low rise', i.e. the distance between the crotch and the top of the zip is short. What a man needs are trousers that are cut higher, ideally with pleats and held up by braces, to avoid this sloppy look. The lapel debate Old school aesthetes like my father, the kind that see everything through the prism of what is allowed in the officer's mess, would die on the hill against lapels on waistcoats. The lapel debate has more to do with opinion rather than actual etiquette, and truthfully, far be it from me to speak ill of my father's opinions on style, I think this is a misstep. It is true that a single-breasted lapel should have a very small lapel, if one at all, but a double-breasted waistcoat must have one, and the prouder the better. Accessorising The Roaring Lion by Yousuf Karsh is considered one of the greatest portrait photographs of all time; Winston Churchill's moody look is because just before it was taken, Karsh removed Churchill's cigar from his mouth. What stands out the most in this image is the chain which travels across the pockets, dipping to create a W shape. Whether a pocket watch, a lighter, a Champagne swizzle stick or cigar cutter, the chain is legitimate accessorising for waistcoats. The chain should travel from the left pocket to the first button hole that sits above the line of the pocket, and then if there is a fob, it should dangle down. If long enough, it can then be passed to the opposite pocket. One form of accessorising is a more outre design of waistcoat. This is, and should remain, the domain of the prefects of Eton College, known as 'Pop', who are allowed to wear whatever design of waistcoat they like in order to distinguish their authority (and boy do they take advantage of that freedom). You also had Sixth Form Select who were the 'other' prefects, selected due to academic achievement, and they could wear silver buttons. Keep it simple on civvy street; yours should match the jacket and trouser of the suit, and with morning dress should be a pastel colour such as sky blue. Where to find inspiration Watch every episode of Jeeves & Wooster for a categoric reminder of proper classic style, and there is plenty of three-piece action in there for you to see. Further watching should be the aforementioned Indiana Jones, Jude Law as Dumbledore in the Harry Potter offshoot Fantastical Beasts (seriously, a great men's style reference), and the original Great Gatsby. For non-fiction references, look to Churchill of course, and then his Tory successor Anthony Eden. Tom Hardy is definitely a solid inspiration for men who want to avoid the dandyish look. Just remember that tweed and heavier wools are much more preferable for a three-piece suit, so in the summer look for what are known as 'high twist wools', which allow for breathability. Full linen will crease too easily, so travel fabrics like Fresco wool are ideal. The three-piece suit may feel like dress up, but perhaps with a little bit of historic enlightenment and better knowledge of the rules, you can channel your Bertie or Tom Hardy and never let anyone take your cigar without asking permission.


Telegraph
42 minutes ago
- Telegraph
The best fire pits of 2025 for summer nights in the garden, tried and tested
There's no better way to cap off a fine summer's day than cosying up with family and friends around a fire pit. From the earthy aroma of the fire to the crackling sound of burning wood and the drift of the smoke, the best fire pits engage all the senses and provide a relaxing focal point for evenings in the garden. Although they have been around for a while, their popularity is now rocketing along with that of solar garden lights and garden chairs as we spend more time outdoors, notes Martyn Wilson, an award-winning garden design expert. 'Perhaps it is something deep within us and the primeval need to create fire,' he says. 'It can be relaxing staring into the flames and just zoning out for a short while. Fire pits can extend the use of the garden later into the evening and offer a more ambient feel than patio heaters. They are also great for socialising – and you can cook marshmallows with the children.' Many people take small fire pits with them when they go camping, especially ones designed not to scorch the ground. I've tested this year's best designs in my own garden and you can read my reviews below, followed by some advice on how to use and care for fire pits. But if you're in a hurry, here's a quick look at our top five: The best fire pits: At a glance How to choose the best fire pit The first thing to consider when buying a fire pit is size. Larger fire pits can usually deliver heat to a wider area, which is ideal for larger groups, whereas smaller models require less fuel. Portable models should be lightweight and easy to disassemble, so they can be taken with you on your travels. If a firepit is heavy or can't be taken apart quickly, it's probably supposed to stay in pride of place at home. Also consider which extra features you might like. Some fire pits come with a grill accessory for barbecuing, and certain models reduce smoke via a secondary combustion design. How we test fire pits I judged the fire pits from the moment they arrived on my doorstep. How heavy were the boxes? How easy were they to unpack and assemble? Were the fire pits stylish? Did they have extra capabilities like grilling? I tested a variety of sizes and styles. Once I lit them, I noted how much heat and smoke they gave off and how quickly they cooled down. Other factors included how much wood they needed, how safe they were, how energy efficient and how easy they were to clean: you should never leave ashes in the bottom of a fire pit to get wet. If you want to spend more time enjoying your garden, you might also be interested in our guides to the best rattan furniture and inflatable hot tubs. Why you can trust Telegraph Recommended Our thorough, real-world tests will always help you find the best product. No manufacturer ever sees Telegraph Recommended reviews before publication and we don't accept payment in exchange for favourable reviews, nor do we allow brands to pay for placement in our articles. All reviews are based on independent expert opinion and our hands-on testing. Visit our Who We Are page to learn more. The best fire pits of 2025 1. Best Buy Fire Pit: Recycled Kadai Score: 9/10 We like: Family-made from recycled oil drums in India A kadai is a traditional Indian cooking vessel designed for curries, with curved sides and a deep, flat base. The company Kadai has taken inspiration from the silhouette and transformed it into an authentic fire bowl. This one is made from recycled oil drums by family workshops in India. The result is a rustic-looking fire pit made from metal plates welded together, with drop handles at the side. The handles don't get hot, so you can move the fire bowl without burning yourself. The kit also comes with Kadai beads, which makes it unique. They're tiny clay beads which lie at the bottom of the bowl to help with rainwater drainage and to stop any ash falling through to the ground. My only complaint is that the tiny drainage hole does frequently get clogged. The fire bowl comes with a removable grill so you can barbecue on top. I grilled some thick pork chops, which cooked through within half an hour. You also get some tongs and a wire brush to help with upkeep and fire-building. I'd recommend using kiln-dried logs with this excellent fire pit; otherwise you risk smoking out your companions. Key specifications 2. Best Value Fire Pit: BillyOh Astral 2-in-1 Fire Pit with BBQ Garden design firm BillyOh, possibly better known for their sheds and log cabins, have excelled with this 2-in-1 BBQ model, complete with laser cut moon and stars. It comes with a removable cooking grill, so you can easily cook over firewood or charcoal. There are drawbacks. The log capacity is not huge and there's no easy way to remove the ashes, except by waiting until they're cold and scooping them out. As a barbecue, there's no form of ventilation control, so you are basically cooking caveman-style over the embers. But the price is reasonable, the build quality is decent and you can bolt it together in 20 minutes. The perfect family fire pit on a bargain budget. Key specifications 3. Best Smokeless Firepit: Winnerwell Secondary Combustion Portable Grill Minimal smoke and convenient heating are top priorities for a firepit at home or on the campsite. This portable model from Winnerwell delivers on both. Its legs fold out, bringing the top up to camping chair height. You can also purchase some extension legs (£65.98, Amazon). All of the components feel robust and nicely finished. Speaking as someone who's not much good at lighting fires, this makes it easy work. The tall walls provide good protection against strong breezes, while the bottom vents let helpful airflow feed the fire. It burns brilliantly, providing plenty of warmth at a distance of several meters. I cooked a classic: Flump Minis, which toasted quickly over the flames. This model burns cleaner than most and produced relatively little smoke, even when I used scrap wood with a high moisture content (although performance was best when I burned seasoned firewood). This is all thanks to its secondary combustion. The effect, common to most 'smokeless' fire pits, is produced by a two-walled design which directs airflow to both the bottom and the top of the firepit. So, it burns your wood fuel inside the firepit and also combusts escaping smoke and ashes. It kicks in when the firepit gets hot, after around 10 to 20 minutes of heating. The extra flames are visible around the top edge of the firepit. Overall, I'm thoroughly impressed with this firepit. It's highly convenient, lights easily and looks great on the paving. As with other firepits, it's important to wear heat-resistant gloves during use. Save the toasting for your marshmallows (or Flumps). Key specifications 4. Best Fire Pit and BBQ: BioLite FirePit+ Score: 7/10 We like: The excellent hibachi grill function We don't like: The noise of the fan £187.93, Amazon The BioLite is a compact and portable fire-pit-and-cooking grill combination that can burn either firewood or charcoal. It arrived beautifully packaged and was simple to assemble – just two handles to screw in. The instructions on how to get it working are detailed, but very user friendly. It's small, so you wouldn't want many more than two or three people sitting around it. It would be ideal for small spaces like an urban back yard or a balcony. It's not as pretty as some others, but it has a unique selling point: a rechargeable battery that powers 51 air jets inside the chamber. These jets create a more uniform temperature and improve combustion. That means more reliable heat, but also less smoke – a common issue with fire pits – so your neighbours might be pleased if you choose this one. The fan is fairly noisy, so this model is better for a lively urban environment, rather than quiet spots. It really comes into its own if you fill the unit with charcoal instead of wood and use it as a hibachi-style grill. It cooks well and it was fun to bring grub to the fire pit experience. By combining the functions of fire pit and BBQ, the BioLite cuts down on expense and space. Those who love to have technology connected with everything in life will enjoy controlling it remotely from their phones. However, others might find that the design – a bit like a robotic dog – and the technology run against the spirit of the fire pit, which is communing with nature. Key specifications 5. Best Luxury Fire Pit: English Country Fireball (800mm) This is a very pricey fire pit and I was curious to see if it had the x-factor to justify the cost. The makers have hand-crafted beautiful countryside scenes into into a 6mm-walled steel ball, forming silhouettes of foxes, stags and trees that seem to move against the flames. The way the smoke swirled around the art evoked a late summer/early autumn woodland evening, making an enchanting focal point for the garden. In short, it is both of use and an ornament. The first downside you'll discover is that it's very heavy – my lower back was crying out the moment I began to lift it. It also needs a lot of wood, so the expense continues after you've forked out for the pit itself. However, the sculpture is so stunning that you're getting value out of this one even when it's not lit and it would be the perfect centrepiece to a large garden. You can buy an LED lighting kit so that it glows at night. The company also offers comfortable matching stools so you can look the part as you while away the evenings and dozens of other Fireball designs, including bespoke creations. (One wag commissioned a Death Star.) Key specifications Fire pit FAQs Are fire pits legal in the UK? Yes, fire pits are legal in the UK. 'But you do need to be respectful of your neighbours and be sure that you are not causing a nuisance with smoke,' says garden designer Martyn Wilson. He also recommends checking local legislation to see if you are in a smoke free zone. What is the best fuel to use in a fire pit? 'Try to use woods with a low moisture content, such as kiln-dried woods or well seasoned hardwoods,' says Wilson. Bio-ethanols formed from plant-based materials such as fermented sugar and plant based starches are also used for some more contemporary fire pits. 'They will tend to burn with less smoke,' Wilson says. Other units use gas or coal. How should I look after my fire pit? The good news is that most fire pits can be left outside. 'If you have a fire bowl, try leaving on its side or upside down in the winter to prevent rainwater building up inside,' says Wilson. He also notes that a layer of sand in the bottom of a fire pit can help radiate heat and prevent burn of the metal. However, he suggests that we avoid leaving ash or embers in the bottom. Once fully cooled, the ashes should be removed and disposed of safely. 'Wood ash can be good for the garden!' he said. With that said, some fire pit models will benefit from indoor storage, especially if their materials are prone to rusting. What safety precautions are needed when using a fire pit? Never leave a lit fire pit unattended. Wilson suggests keeping a bucket of sand nearby, in case you need to extinguish the fire in a hurry. 'In light of the recent record temperatures, it is really important to be mindful of the weather and make sure there isn't any dry grass or foliage nearby that could ignite from embers,' he says, 'particularly so if it is windy and there hasn't been any rain.' It is also important to consider the space around the fire pit and allow plenty of room to move around. Keep children and pets away, and always read and follow safety instructions. Are gas fire pits better than wood-burning ones? Gas fire pits have some advantages over wood-burning fire pits; they tend to be easy to use, with an in-built ignition that should light the propane/butane fuel from your connected gas canister (which will be sold separately) at the flick of a switch. Gas produces a 'clean burn' with little smoke or airborne ash, so you and your guests can enjoy the fire without worrying about singed clothing, eye irritation or smoky smells. With that said, for some users, there's no replacing the rustic experience of using real wood on a wood-burning fire pit. If you like the idea of building your own fire and you enjoy a smoky atmosphere, a wood-burning model is the way to go. How do 'smokeless' fire pits work? Smokeless fire pits burn a hard fuel such as wood pellets while producing low volumes of smoke relative to traditional wood-burning models. This type of fire pit reduces smoke by burning at two levels: primary combustion of the hard fuel at the bottom, and secondary combustion of remaining smoke and ashes (material which is not properly burned at the first pass) at the top. The two levels of combustion are facilitated by airflow through the fire pit. Some smoke is still produced, but much of the visible smoke and ash from primary combustion is incinerated. Using a low-smoke wood fuel or well seasoned firewood will provide the lowest attainable levels of smoke. Gas-fuelled fire pits also produce little smoke relative to a traditional wood-fuelled fire pit, so they can be considered as an alternative 'smokeless' option. How long will a cast iron or steel fire pit last? The lifespan of a cast iron or steel fire pit can vary depending on the thickness and quality of the material, as well as on your usage habits, storage and maintenance. Retailers' estimates on the longevity of high-quality models range from around seven years to 25 years and longer. Steel and cast iron are both susceptible to oxidation, and the level of rusting often greatly influences the lifespan of a fire pit. The material will be likelier to rust if it is left in wet conditions or filled with moisture, or if the surface is scratched, dented or otherwise damaged. Try to find out the warranty terms via the manufacturer or retailer. This will guarantee a minimum lifespan, although many cast iron and steel fire pits can comfortably outlast the warranty period given proper care. Should I cover my fire pit when I'm not using it? Water and detritus can easily accumulate inside and on top of an uncovered fire pit, leading to rusting and uncleanliness. So, most models will benefit from being covered while not in use. To ensure effective coverage, choose a suitably sized waterproof cover that can be secured tightly over the fire pit. Many fire pit manufacturers offer purpose-made covers as an additional purchase, while generic covers are available via retailers such as Amazon. Allow your fire pit to cool down completely before you handle or cover it.