Niko finds a different loophole
After looking over the task set-up, Niko poses a hypothetical to Pilvi: could the foot on the ground be one of the table legs’? (‘jalka’ is the Finnish word for ‘leg’; ‘jalkaterä’ is the Finnish word for ‘foot’ – translating literally as ‘leg end’ – but is very commonly shortened to ‘jalka’ outside of scientific usage). As Pilvi does not answer his question, Niko decides that the table’s leg will serve as the foot that remains on the ground during his attempt, and so he uses the table to gain extra height by standing on top of it.
Niko retrieves a snow shovel and a rake from the shed and explains his plan to Pilvi: he will stand on the table, and use the rake to scoop the eggs into the shovel. However, when he realises that even when standing on the table, he is still unable to reach the eggs, Niko abandons this plan. Instead, he stands on the ground so he is more easily able to move around.
Niko tilts the pole, causing an egg to fall off and break against the table. He then moves the table further away from the pole and tries again but, in peak comedic fashion, proceeds to run into the table and fall over while trying to position himself underneath the next round of falling eggs.
Deciding that the snow shovel will not work to catch intact eggs, Niko tosses it aside and decides instead to attempt to catch the eggs with his hands. He shakes the pole again and sends a few more eggs falling down. While he does not catch them, two of them land on long enough grass that they do not break on impact, to Niko’s utter delight. Niko continues with this strategy, actually managing to catch one of the eggs in his hands, and then finding two more that land intact in the grass.
In the studio, Niko backs up his table leg argument using the same argument that Pirjo had: that the task brief did not specify whose foot (or, in his case, leg) needed to remain on the ground. Pirjo agrees with Niko, asserting that the task brief did not even specify what was meant by ‘foot’. However, Eero, aware of the exact wording of the task, disagrees with Pirjo’s logic, questioning what the table’s ‘other’ leg would be, as it has four. Nonsensically, Pirjo responds that he needs to “divide four by two, and then take the other one”. This sets off a semi-serious argument in the studio, with Eero yelling that Pirjo can’t just make up mathematical equations as justification, Joonas noting that this series has been the “most serious” of the entire show, and Pamela noting that everyone’s relationships with each other had already been damaged enough prior to this task being shown.
Even though Jaakko seems to accept Niko’s interpretation, he side-steps the need to officially rule on it, pointing out that Niko had already abandoned the table by the time he was actually catching eggs. Niko firmly states that he intends to hold onto his points, and refuses to let Jaakko take them away (“I have five eggs, and so I get five points”).
For retrieving five intact eggs, Niko earns joint first place.
(Written by Jenny R and proofread by Karl Craven)
(Illustrations collected by Jenny R and adjusted by Karl Craven)
