Mel prematurely makes a fool of herself

Mel misunderstands the task, and seems to think that the unexpected thing has to happen within the 500 seconds, rather than at the end of it.

With around 200 seconds left on the timer, she enters the lab on all fours, dressed as a cat, and meowing. She has whiskers and a black nose drawn on her face, and is wearing a leopard print scarf and a makeshift cat ear headband made from paper, with something coming out the top of her skirt to represent a tail.

She crawls around the floor for a while, before – fully immersed in her cat character – threatening to push over the plinth, until Paul shakes his head at her.

She then laps milk from a bowl on the floor, ending up with milk all over her face.

Once she’s completed her performance, she realises she’s made a mistake, and re-reads the task brief.

With very little time left before the timer reaches zero, she leaves the lab again and returns with a bin full of actual rubbish, which she proceeds to empty over her own head.

She earns first place for resorting to such a desperate action in the last moments.

(Written by Will G and proofread by Karl Craven)

(Illustrations collected by JoGo and adjusted by Karl Craven)