Mona’s chinchilla memory

After Antoine leaves the room, Mona turns to the camera crew to commiserate about Antoine’s apparent foray into “experimental theatre”.

After reading the second task brief, Mona correctly recalls the Adirondack chair (though she calls it a “little popsicle stick chair”) and the water pistol.

She tells Antoine that she has “the short-term memory of a chinchilla”, and then starts taking guesses at what else may have been hanging from the ceiling. She incorrectly guesses scissors, flowers, a plush animal, and Annie Broccoli.

She also admits that, while she had tried to pay attention to Antoine when he was speaking, she’d felt like she was on drugs, based on the things he was saying.

Despite her claim that she wasn’t paying attention, Mona remembers most of what Antoine said to her, including: “Hello!”; “Welcome to the manor”; “Walk slowly to the circle”; “Nice walk”; “You can’t sit down”; “Balloons, balls, marbles, and billiards”; “You look beautiful today” (although this is close to what Antoine said, she doesn’t get credit for it, as Antoine had said “jolie” [pretty/nice], and Mona had said “belle” [beautiful]).

Mona incorrectly guesses that the board was ochre.

Mona correctly recalls two objects and seven sentences, and earns third place.

(Written by Jenny R and edited by Karl Craven)

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