Pete invents ‘Reverse Drop Bear’

After reading the task brief, Pete notes that ‘drop bears’ are famous in Australia, and then asks “What about the reverse – throwing bears up?”.

Pete’s sport is called “Reverse Drop Bear”, and involves using a paddle to hit a stuffed toy koala up into a tree. Each player gets three attempts.

When Pete – using a paddle as a microphone – asks Tom Cashman whether he’s excited to be competing in the game, Tom responds that he was not even familiar with the game until “quite recently”.

Pete goes first, and, on his first attempt, the koala falls straight back out of the tree. On his second attempt, Pete aims to get the koala higher, but miss-hits it, and the bear doesn’t even reach the tree. The same thing happens on Pete’s third attempt.

On Paul’s first attempt, he places the koala on the paddle, and then flings it toward the tree. The bear does reach the tree, but then falls to the ground. Pete tells Tom “That was a good technique, actually”, before noting what a fun game it is, and how happy Tom looks.

On Tom’s second attempt, the bear fails to get anywhere near the tree. On his third attempt, Tom succeeds in getting the bear up into the tree, and Pete congratulates him on winning the game.

In the studio, Tom Gleeson asks Tom Cashman whether he is “turning into a winner”, having won both of the two-player sports so far. However, he then calls Tom’s victory into question, as he’d used the paddle to fling the bear up into the tree, rather than hitting it. Pete agrees with Tom Gleeson’s assessment, characterising it as a “massive controversy”, and claiming that since Tom’s hit was illegal, he himself had actually won.

Tom Gleeson then pulls the rug out from under Pete by noting that he had clearly stated, in the video, that Tom Cashman had won. Pete responds by stating that he was out in the field, playing and commentating, while Tom Gleeson was just watching from the studio. Tom Cashman also points out Pete had complemented him on his “great technique”.

Pete is awarded fourth place for his sport, but loses 2 points because Tom Cashman beat him, so nets zero points. However, the episode scoreboard does not reflect this 2 point loss, and this error is carried over to the final season scores.

(Written by JoGo and proofread by Karl Craven)

(Illustrations collected by JoGo & Will G and adjusted by David Fuller)