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Rotate the pulper wheel without pulping the egg

Task types:

Solo

Filmed

Mental

Physical

Objective

Single brief

Original

Locations:

Frogmore Paper Mill

Task brief

The task brief is found, along with a pair of protective gloves, on the wheel at the bottom of a paper pulping machine, which is laid on its side. The brief for the task is as follows:

Rotate the pulper wheel without pulping the egg.

You must not move from this spot at any point.

If you pulp the egg, you are disqualified.

Most rotations wins.

You have a maximum of 10 minutes.

Your time starts now.

Task notes

The task takes place at Frogmore Paper Mill in Apsley, Hertfordshire.
A circular red Taskmaster mat is placed on the ground, in front of the pulper wheel.
As the contestants turn the pulper wheel, it rotates an impeller inside of the barrel of the machine.
An egg is suspended in a basket at the edge of the barrel, held up by a length of string which is tied to a stick attached to the end of the impeller, and passed through a hook hanging from the top edge.
As the impeller rotates, the string winds around it, and the basket gets lifted upwards, towards the hook.
When the basket reaches the hook, the bulldog clip attaching it to the string opens up, allowing the basket to fall, and the egg to break.
Also inside the barrel of the machine, and making a racket as the impeller rotates and a long stick attached perpendicularly to the end of it dislodges them from their starting positions, are the following items: a hamster ball full of ball bearings; several cymbals (gaffer-taped so they are hanging from one side); some wooden shelves (on which the hamster ball and chain are initially balanced); a length of heavy chain; metal buckets of various sizes (some of which are full of marbles); and tote bags full of pans (hanging from the opposite side to the cymbals).
Another length of chain is also draped around the impeller, and attached to a second hamster ball full of ball bearings, which gets picked up and dropped inside the machine as the chain gets tangled on the impeller.

Task stats

Points

12

Disquals

2

Attempts

Here's a brief description of the contestants' attempts. Someone's probably working on writing up some additional detail, though!

Frankie referred to the task as a "just a kind of blind Schrödinger's egg", thus coining the episode's title. He was initially cautious, before deciding that the faster he spun the pulper, the less likely the egg would be pulped. He rotated the pulper wheel 8.5 times, receiving 4 points.
Ivo shuffled on the spot to the front of the pulper, placed the egg in his glove, and shuffled back to the pulper wheel so he could rotate it. he rotated the pulper wheel 56 times, receiving 5 points.
Jenny was startled by the first bang and decided that she had already pulped the egg, rapidly rotating the pulper wheel. As she pulped the egg, Jenny was disqualified from the task.
Kiell was extremely confused by the task so was cautious with his rotations. He rotated the pulper wheel 2.75 times, receiving 3 points.
Mae attempted to be cautious, but rotated the pulper wheel too many times, causing the egg to fall. As they pulped the egg, Mae was disqualified from the task.

(Source credit: Taskmaster Wiki contributors)