diff --git a/lmms_eval/api/task.py b/lmms_eval/api/task.py
index 3262937c..aa6edf9a 100644
--- a/lmms_eval/api/task.py
+++ b/lmms_eval/api/task.py
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ class TaskConfig(dict):
     training_split: str = None
     validation_split: str = None
     test_split: str = None
-    fewshot_split: str = None  # TODO: assert that this not None if num_fewshot > 0. (?) assert if this is same split as one evaling (?)
+    # fewshot_split: str = None  # TODO: assert that this not None if num_fewshot > 0. (?) assert if this is same split as one evaling (?)
     # formatting / prompting options.
     # see docs/advanced_task_guide.md for more info
     process_docs: Callable = None
@@ -550,8 +550,12 @@ def __init__(self, model_name) -> None:  # TODO no super() call here
                 self._filters.append(filter_pipeline)
         else:
             self._filters = [build_filter_ensemble("none", [["take_first", None]])]
+        if self.config.task == "flickr30k_test":
+            pass  # TODO: for test, will delete later
         if self.config.fewshot_config is not None:
-            self.sampler = samplers.get_sampler(self.config.fewshot_config.get("sampler", "default") if self.config.fewshot_config else "default")(list(self.fewshot_docs()), self, rnd=random.Random(1234))
+            random_seed = self.config.fewshot_config.get("random_seed", 1234)
+            sampler_function = samplers.get_sampler(self.config.fewshot_config.get("sampler", "default") if self.config.fewshot_config else "default")
+            self.sampler = sampler_function(list(self.fewshot_docs()), self, rnd=random.Random(random_seed))
 
         if self.has_test_docs():
             self.task_docs = self.test_docs()
@@ -742,8 +746,15 @@ def test_docs(self) -> datasets.Dataset:
             return self.dataset[self.config.test_split]
 
     def fewshot_docs(self):
-        if self.config.fewshot_split is not None:
-            return self.dataset[self.config.fewshot_split]
+        if "fewshot_dataset" in self.config.fewshot_config:
+            fewshot_dataset_config = self.config.fewshot_config["fewshot_dataset"]
+            return datasets.load_dataset(
+                path=fewshot_dataset_config["dataset_path"],
+                name=fewshot_dataset_config.get("dataset_name", None),
+                split=fewshot_dataset_config["fewshot_split"],
+                download_mode=datasets.DownloadMode.REUSE_DATASET_IF_EXISTS,
+                **fewshot_dataset_config["dataset_kwargs"] if "dataset_kwargs" in fewshot_dataset_config else {},
+            )
         else:
             if (self.config.num_fewshot is not None) and (self.config.num_fewshot > 0):
                 eval_logger.warning(f"Task '{self.config.task}': " "num_fewshot > 0 but fewshot_split is None. " "using preconfigured rule.")
diff --git a/lmms_eval/tasks/flickr30k/flickr30k_test.yaml b/lmms_eval/tasks/flickr30k/flickr30k_test.yaml
index 737d9ff4..776eae39 100644
--- a/lmms_eval/tasks/flickr30k/flickr30k_test.yaml
+++ b/lmms_eval/tasks/flickr30k/flickr30k_test.yaml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 dataset_path: lmms-lab/flickr30k
 dataset_kwargs:
   token: True
-task : "flickr30k_test"
+task: "flickr30k_test"
 test_split: test
 output_type: generate_until
 doc_to_visual: !function utils.flickr_doc_to_visual
@@ -40,5 +40,12 @@ metric_list:
   #- metric: flickr_SPICE
   #  aggregation : !function utils.flickr_spice
   #  higher_is_better : true
+fewshot_config:
+  fewshot_sampler: default
+  fewshot_dataset:
+    dataset_path: lmms-lab/flickr30k
+    # dataset_name: 
+    split: train
+  # random_seed: 1234
 metadata:
   - version: 0.0
\ No newline at end of file