Nick softens Dracula’s reputation

Despite being dressed as a vampire, Nick runs giddily towards Alex on the river bank before reading the task brief (note: sharp-eyed viewers may note that Nick’s reflection in the water has initially been edited out of the scene, in keeping with his costume decision).

Starting the task, he grabs the hula hoops and flings one of them at Gary, but it hits the bow of the dinghy. His next few throws miss the boat entirely. Nick then runs downstream to catch up with Gary, and tries four more throws, all of which come close but not close enough.

With Nick down to just one hoop, he considers venturing into the water if all else fails. All else does then fail, as he flings the final hoop in a completely different direction than the boat. Let down by his toss, Nick enters the cold river, asking Alex if it’s safe to do so, after he starts to sink a little.

Running out of time, Nick spots the wire tethered to the back of the dinghy and initially just moves it out of his way so that he can retrieve a hoop, but then decides to pull on it instead. This stops Gary from crossing the finish line, and instead pulls him backwards towards Nick.

Once Gary is nearby, Nick grabs one of the floating hoops and successfully hooplas Gary before climbing back out of the river.

In the studio, Nick says that he’d enjoyed the experience, noting that he hadn’t been in a river in years.

Nick completed the task in 2 minutes and 45 seconds, but this time is quadrupled to account for the fact that he got both legs wet, giving him a final time of exactly 11 minutes, and earning him just 2 points.

(Written by M3 / Andres Sanchez and proofread by Karl Craven)

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