Mel vents her frustration at Tom Cashman

While struggling to come up with an idea, Mel knocks over the neat pile of tennis balls on the table. When Tom Cashman informs her that she has just 1 minute and 22 seconds remaining, she yells that it’s not long enough, and that she hasn’t had time to think.

When the time comes for Mel to make her racket, she screams into Tom’s microphone “I need to administer the task! I can’t tell you anything that’s not on the task sheet! My name’s Tom Cashman!”. She then moves to the table and, while still screaming the line, starts smashing the table with the racquet until the racquet is completely broken. She then calmly announces that “I think I’ve concluded my task.”

In the studio, Tom Gleeson notes that while Mel was yelling, she was holding the racquet but not actually using it to make any noise. Mel attempts to argue that she was “with” the racquet while making her racket, claiming that this technically met the criteria of the task’s wording. Pete (who had himself fallen foul of not carefully reading the task brief) interjects to point out how important it is to read every word.

Tom Gleeson rules that only the noise that Mel had made while actually using the racquet counts. Tom Cashman reveals that her banging on the table with the racquet had registered at 83 decibels, which earns her 2 points.

(Written by JoGo and proofread by Karl Craven)

(Illustrations collected and adjusted by: David Fuller)