Win the pub quiz by cheating

Task notes

• The living room has been refurnished to resemble the bar of a pub, named The Ship. A pub sign featuring Greg’s nautically themed portrait and the pub name is hung up in front of the usual portrait.
• On a small table in front of Greg’s portrait, there are three beer pump handles with labels on them for beers named Taskmaster’s Favourite (4.8%), Alex Pale Ale (1.5%), and Linda’s Lager (5%).
• Three square pub tables have been set up in the room, with chairs and metal tankards for each quiz team member, a bowl of crisps in the middle of the table, and some battery-operated tea-light candles.
• Members of the production team are seated at the tables on the left and right sides of the rooms, playing the roles of the other pub quiz teams.
• Various reference sources relevant to the questions in the quiz are available in the room, including: a leaflet containing facts about rodents, titled ‘All Rodents Great and Small’; an atlas; an address book containing Sue Perkins’ phone number; and a book titled ‘The History of Mary Queen of Scots’.
• Alex plays the role of the quiz master, entering the room after the task brief has been read to distribute the answer sheets and announce that the quiz will begin in three minutes. He then leaves the room again for a while, returning when there are just 45 seconds left until the quiz begins. He then returns to ask the teams for their team names, before leaving again briefly to fetch his microphone.
• The quiz consists of three rounds of 10 questions each, including a general knowledge round, a sports round, and a picture round, and Alex appears to leave the room briefly between each round.
• The questions in the general knowledge round include: “What is the largest species of rodent?” (Cabybara); “In what year was Mary Queen of Scots executed by her cousin, Elizabeth I?” (1587); “What is the boiling point of mercury?” (356.7°C), and “What do the following states have in common?” (but the states he lists are not shown, because he is interrupted by a contestant’s distraction).
• In the sports round, the questions include “If I potted a red, then a black, then a red, then a black, then a red, then a pink, then a red, then a yellow, then a red, then a black, then a red, then a brown, then a red, then a green, and all the colours, what would my break be worth?” (70 points); and “What is Sue Perkins’ favourite sport?” (football).
• If the contestants call Sue Perkins’ phone number, they hear an answer machine message in which she says “Hi, it's Sue here. Sorry, I can't take your call, but I'm at the underwater hockey... which is a shame, ‘cos I actually really love football.”
• In the picture round the contestants are asked: “What is Alex Horne holding?”, alongside a picture of him in which the item he’s holding (a colander) has been redacted; “What country's flag has a green triangle on the left?” (Sudan), and “What animal features on Albania's flag?” (a double-headed eagle).
• Alex leaves the room at the end of the picture round, leaving behind a folder containing the answer sheet.