Alex chooses to cheat

Alex touches the dodge ball prior to reading the task brief. Upon learning that he must use it, he argues to Antoine that the task had not started when he touched the ball (as he had not yet read the instructions), so he should not be beholden to that rule.

Alex agonises over his situation, even telling Antoine that he “doesn’t like cheating”, but ultimately decides to do just that, and picks the rubber band ball instead. When Antoine remarks that for someone who doesn’t like cheating, Alex seems comfortable with the aftermath of his decision, Alex replies that “once my decision is made, it’s made.”

Alex drops the rubber band ball directly into the bin, where it promptly bounces out. When Antoine questions Alex’s actions, Alex explains that he’d thought the rubber band ball would stay in the bin while continuing to bounce.

After a few unsuccessful attempts, Alex stumbles across a loophole – he can move the bin and attempt to catch the bouncing ball with it himself. Despite this, he is still unsuccessful at landing a shot with the rubber band ball.

He eventually feigns surprised realisation that he had previously touched a different ball, and therefore needs to use that one instead, in accordance with the task brief.

Armed with the dodge ball, Alex still takes a few attempts to successfully complete the task. While trying to catch the ball, he hits it with the bin, which is technically against the rules, but this is never brought up.

Antoine tells Alex that he’d counted four bounces, but Alex insists that it had been six, including the bounce off of the rim of the bin, and when the ball had actually landed.

With four (or perhaps six) bounces, Alex earns fourth place.

(Written by Jenny R and proofread by Karl Craven)

(Illustrations collected by Jenny R and adjusted by David Fuller)