Sophie goes for a swim
Sophie grabs the hoops and decides to wait until Gary draws level with her in the river.
Her first hoop thrown somehow manages to get snagged on an overhanging tree branch. She then tries to throw several more hoops, but misses every single time. With her last two hoops, she is able to hit Gary, but not successfully hoopla him.
With only 10 seconds left, and no hoops remaining, she decides to get into the water, as a last-ditch effort. Mindful of the penalty for getting wet limbs, she initially attempts to hop into the river on just one leg, but then loses her balance, and ends up wading across using both legs.
Sophie is able to reach one of the floating hoops and fling it at Gary, but misses again. As she decides to give it one more go, it seems that one or both of her feet get stuck in the river bed, and she almost falls over again, and gets both of her arms wet in the process. Panicking, she asks for Alex to help getting back out, as she thinks she’s in danger of drowning. Although Alex does indicate that he will help her, he ultimately remains on the river bank and waits for her to extract herself.
As Sophie emerges from the river, Alex confirms that all four of her limbs are wet. Sophie then asks if the nearby scarecrow is actually Gary, and Alex confirms that it is not, but is wearing waders which would’ve kept her dry.
In the studio, Greg is “fascinated” by her attempt. Sophie highlights the fact that Alex had not done anything to help when she was “grappling with my life”, thus coining the episode title, and Alex apologises for his inaction.
Greg is keen to point out that Sophie had attempted to “hop across a river” and also quotes her panicked exclamation of “I’m going down!”, and Sophie admits that she wouldn’t be much use in a crisis.
Sophie earns zero points for not completing the task, but does receive a round of applause for being “the people’s champion”.
(Written by M3 / Andres Sanchez and proofread by Karl Craven)
(Illustrations collected by Jenny R and adjusted by David Fuller)
