Hadi obsesses over numbers

Before opening the task brief, Hadi sniffs several shot glasses and says they smell like wine.

After reading the task brief, he samples several of the shot glasses, at one point telling Mark that he believes that the vinegar is in a yellow glass, though he gives no explanation as to why he thinks this.

Hadi then looks around the room and finds the book of pH testing strips, wondering aloud what the pH of vinegar might be. He uses the strips to test the contents a few of the shot glasses, then looks around the room again, wondering whether there is a book which could help him.

On his second search of the room, Hadi notices the flip clock and the neon 35 sign. However, he does not make the connection to a shot glass number, instead seeming to believe that he’s meant to add the two numbers together. This leads him to believe that he needs to find a shot glass with contents with a pH level of 8 (which would actually indicate that the contents were alkaline, rather than acidic).

After testing several more glasses, Hadi instead counts the total number of shot glasses and then subtracts 35, briefly wondering if the vinegar is in the 145th shot glass.

After pondering the numbers 3, 5, and 8 again, Hadi sniffs the remaining shot glasses, but is unable to detect the vinegar.

He once again turns his attention to the numbers 3 and 5, wondering if he’s meant to focus on a value between 3 and 5, or on specifically 3 or 5.

After another round of random tasting, Hadi finally discovers the shot glass containing the vinegar, and drinks it.

He says the task-ending phrase, then scoops up several of the filled shot glasses and throws them onto the table in disgust before leaving.

In the studio, Mark informs Hadi that he’d found the pH testing strips after 8 minutes – another ‘3+5’ combination for him to obsess over.

Hadi completes the task in 32 minutes, and earns fourth place.

(Written by Jenny R and edited by Karl Craven)