Steve initiates an epic game of hangman

As Steve enters the living room, he asks Alex, in a high-pitched voice, “Hello. You okay?”, and then “Have you seen something bad?”, followed by “Have you had an accident?” (while gesturing at Alex’s pelvis). After Alex hands him the task brief, he reads the first line, and then observes “you’ve just given me a masterclass”.

Steve decides that he wants to challenge Alex to a duel of hangman. Their game is lit, directed, scored and edited very dramatically, with the men facing off across the table, both wearing sweatbands (and Steve starting out the game already looking sweaty). On a pair of chalkboards at the rear of the table, each man has made horizontal marks indicating the number of letters in their chosen words (Steve’s is 8 letters long, while Alex’s is 9 letters).

Steve begins the game by preparing the ‘loser’s meal’ on a plate in the middle of the table, which consists of a cup of yoghurt, some cheese, and some hot sauce, all dumped in a pile. The pair shake hands, and then Steve dramatically announces “No vowels”, indicating that neither of them may guess any vowels during the game.

Steve goes first, guessing ‘P’, and Alex rings a service bell on the table, indicating that it is incorrect, before drawing the first line in his hangman diagram on his chalkboard.

Alex guesses ‘T’, which turns out to be a good choice, as Steve reveals there are two ‘T’s in his word.

Steve then guesses ‘R’, and again Alex rings the bell, before adding another line to his hangman diagram.

Alex then guesses ‘L’, and Steve takes his turn to ring the bell, and begin his hangman diagram.

The pace of the edit then speeds up, with Steve incorrectly guessing ‘D’, Alex incorrectly guessing ‘H’, Steve incorrectly guessing ‘M’, and Alex incorrectly guessing ‘F’.

Steve then guesses ‘N’, and there is a dramatic pause while he looks to the bell, expecting Alex to ring it once more. However, Alex instead reaches over and adds an ‘N’ to the start of his word, and Steve sighs with relief.

Alex then incorrectly guesses ‘P’, followed by a correct guess by Steve of ‘C’, and another incorrect guess by Alex of ‘B’.

Becoming visibly more confident, Steve guesses ‘H’, and Alex adds the letter to his word.

Alex then incorrectly guesses ‘C’, before Steve makes another correct guess with ‘G’.

Alex then guesses ‘V’, and takes the opportunity to flip a ‘V’ at Steve with his fingers. Steve smiles wryly, before hitting the bell again, and adding a second arm to the almost completely hanged man in his diagram.

Steve then confidently guesses that Alex’s word is ‘nightclub’, and Alex drops his chalkboard marker pen, and dips his head in defeat. Steve finishes drawing his hanged man, and pushes the loser’s meal towards Alex, while handing him a fork.

As Alex eats his meal, Steve smugly fills in the missing letters on his own chalkboard, revealing that his word was ‘adjutant’, meaning ‘assistant’. Steve then drops his own pen on the table and leaves the room, victorious.

In the studio, Greg acknowledges the impressiveness of Steve’s production, and Steve claims that the tension in the room was real, particularly thanks to introduction of the no vowels rule.

Greg’s only criticism of Steve’s attempt is that the loser’s meal actually sounded quite tasty. However, he ultimately awards Steve joint second place, and 4 points, along with Nick.

(Written by Karl Craven)

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