Spill the beans
- In this task, the contestants must spill the beans from a tin can of beans, hidden among a large number of other cans which do not contain beans.
- Clues to the correct can may be provided, such as by having the bottom of some cans coloured to form an arrow, visible from beneath, through the glass table surface.
Original version
In this version of the task, all of the cans but one contain tomatoes. An arrow pointing to the correct can, formed by the painted bottoms of certain cans, is visible through the bottom of the glass table, and the can containing actual beans has a slightly different label design, specifying that it is 'not beans'. Also, there is no time limit on the task.
Adaptations
In this version of the task, the contestants are given a time limit, and some of the cans contain chickpeas, rather than tomatoes. Additionally, all of the can labels are all identical, with the only clue to the correct can being the arrow pointing to the correct one, viewable from beneath the table.
In this version, all of the cans except for one are filled with beans, and the contestants must find the single can containing potatoes, and spill the water from within it. The table in this version is not transparent, so the contestants cannot quickly solve it by looking at the cans from below. However, clues are provided to the location of the correct can through the use of coloured dots on the bottoms of some of them, and a diagram on the back of the task brief.