Snap the pencil

Task notes

• Also on the desk there are a pencil and 10 audio cassettes, each of which has a picture of a different fish on the front of its box.
• There are also three audio cassette players on the desk, and several more scattered around the room, which the contestants must use to play the tapes.
• One of the tape players on the desk already has a tape inside, which provides the initial instructions.
• Each correctly selected tape then tells the contestants which tape they should play next, by referring to the fish depicted on its cover.
• If the contestant's knowledge of fish is poor, they have the option of retrieving the fish poster from the shed to help.
• If they start playing all of the correct tapes at the correct times, then the actual task brief is revealed, as parts of it are recorded across six different tapes, and are timed to play in the correct sequence.
• Four of the tapes also contain irrelevant audio, including: a recording of Paul stating that no-one had asked them to play that tape; a recording of Guy Williams' 'Song About Libya' from the 'Write and perform a national anthem' task of season 1; a recording of Guy Montgomery's Christmas song about a festive fox from the 'Perform an original Christmas song' task of season 2; and a recording of Josh Thomson's 'Sushi Train' song, from the 'The best thing that delights all five of the senses' prize task in season 3.
• One of the audio cassette playing devices also has a built-in CD player, containing a CD which has the full task brief recorded on it.