Nick and Steve fixate on clocks and get jammy hands
After picking up the first half of the task brief, Nick spots and reads out the additional text printed on the back. Before Nick opens the brief, Steve announces that he will check underneath the table, just in case there are other clues there, and Nick agrees that there’s usually “something on the ceiling or under the table” (as he glances upwards).
After reading the available half of the brief once, Steve firmly seizes Nick’s hand in his own, interlocking their fingers, and re-reads it. As the pair then stand to begin their attempt, Nick indicates that he needs to adjust how they’re holding hands. Alex observes that Steve had gone “very tight” with his grip, to which Steve responds “I did! I didn’t wanna let him go!”.
In the studio, before the teams’ attempts are shown, Greg observes that “Steve holds hands like he’s taking a prisoner.”
Back in the house, the team of two begins by focusing on determining the meaning of the numbers written on the back of the brief, and quickly fixates on the possibility that they refer to times. This leads them to investigate the grandfather clock in the living room, to which they find a key (mysteriously labelled “Sam’s clock key”), and then proceed to remove its pendulum in the mistaken assumption that it’s a clue of some kind.
The pair then head outside and venture into the caravan, as Nick recalls that there is also a clock in there. They actually discover and interfere with two separate clocks in the caravan, and are for a short while convinced that they’re on the right track, when the second one begins chiming in response to their actions.
After a while, Alex decides to ask the men why they are so convinced that the task has anything to do with time, prompting them to consider that they just might be on the wrong track.
The pair head down to the end of the garden, holding hands, and investigate Greg’s statue. Although they do identify the DiscMan and open it up to investigate its contents, this clue does nothing to help them on their way.
Deciding to “look everywhere” in the house, the men then head back inside and check the lab, where they discover the cake and the clue inside of it. Following the directions on the clue, they correctly navigate themselves into the hutch. Looking around the interior of the structure, nick eventually spots the second half of the task brief poking out from behind the framed vinyl record. After extracting it with their “jammy hands” (from handling the cake), they piece the two halves of the task brief together and read the full text. Immediately releasing one another’s hands, they head back outside, with Nick suggesting “Let’s quickly go and do all of the stuff to the cake.”
After re-entering the lab, the men both stuff handfuls of cake into their mouths until half of it has been consumed, then carry the remaining half outside and place it inside the post-box next to the caravan.
Steve then grabs some flowers from beneath one of the caravan’s windows and places them on top of the task brief, on the step of the caravan, while Nick wipes his jammy hands on the fake hedge in front of him. Both men then sit on top of the task brief and Alex stops the clock.
Nick initially states that he thinks they’ve done pretty well, until Alex reminds them of the time they’d spent fixated on clocks, which he then acknowledges “was a low point, wasn’t it?”.
In the studio, Greg shares that his feeling while watching the pair was that he was watching “a perfectly happy couple on Bargain Hunt… just ferreting around in shops”. Both Nick and Steve agree that it was a wonderful day spent together.
Alex shares that the pair had completed the task in 11 minutes and 12 seconds, which means that they lose the task. However, Greg decides to award them 4 points each for doing so well.
(Written by Karl Craven)
(Illustrations collected by Jenny R and adjusted by David Fuller)
