Win a game of Front-ham

Five green socks clipped to a line in front of Rosie on the studio stage.

Task types:

Solo

Live

Mental

Social

Objective

Single brief

Original

Locations:

Pinewood Studios

Task brief

The brief for the task is as follows:

Win a game of Front-ham.

One at a time, each person must discard three socks from the washing line and add one.

If all your coloured socks are removed, you are eliminated.

Last player standing wins the game of Front-ham.

The five contestants standing next to a laundry basket on the studio stage with five socks pinned up on a washing line in front of each of them.

Task notes

The contestants are lined up side-by-side on stage, each standing next to a bucket.
In front of them, a washing line runs along the front of the stage, divided into five sections by some support posts.
In each section of the washing line, there are six socks of a single colour pegged to the line, with each section containing socks of a different colour.
In each of their buckets, the contestants have a single black sock, inside of which there is another sock of a colour corresponding to that of the socks in one of the sections.
‘Front-ham’ is a play on words on the name of the game Backgammon. Thanks to Jack Bernhardt for pointing out that the goal of Backgammon is to be the first to remove all your pieces from the board, while the aim of Front-ham is to be the last person with socks on the washing line, and that, since the goals of the games are opposites, so is the name of the game - ‘front’ being the opposite of ‘back’, and ‘ham’ (cooked pork) being the opposite of ‘gammon’ (uncooked pork).