Surprise Alex

Task stats

Points

15

Disquals

0

• Paul dressed as a clown (a character he names 'Brown Clown'), and waited in a box for 45 minutes before jumping out at Alex like a jack-in-the-box.When Paul sees the Jack-in-the-box, he comments that it’s like the film Saw. Before Alex emerges from the shed, we see him knitting Greg some bootees. When he emerges, he finds a large cardboard box with “Alex push here” written on it, and an arrow pointing towards a blue button. There also appears to be blood on the side of the box. When he pushes the button, Paul jumps up from inside, dressed as a clown, with a bloodied axe, yelling. Alex comments that it is horrible, with the blood, and Paul simply says “Brown clown”. In the studio, Alex confirms that he was surprised to see the box, but not that surprised that Paul was inside it. Sara asks how long Paul had been hiding in the box, before Alex emerged from the shed, and Alex reveals that it had been about 45 minutes. Paul earns last place.
• Sara’s first instinct is to ask how far away Alex’s children are, suggesting that maybe she could kidnap them (later, in the studio, Greg suggests that Alex would certainly have been surprised just to find his children there, but Sara had suggested also tying them up, because “they wriggle around a lot”). Just before Alex emerges from his shed, Sara and some of the production crew members are seen running around outside the shed, screaming. When he emerges, he finds one member of the crew, tied up and motionless on a chair. Next to him on the floor is a note, apparently written in blood, stating “Alex did it”. Sara is nowhere to be seen, and Alex looks very uncomfortable. In the studio, Greg confirms that Alex had, for the smallest fraction of a second, thought that Sara might have killed someone. However, Alex ranks his level of surprise as being roughly equivalent to his reaction to Paul’s clown. Sara earns fourth place.
• Before Alex emerges from his shed to experience Al’s surprise, he is seen in the shed building a very impressive house of cards. When he emerges, he sees Al sitting on a chair outside, wearing just his pants, shoes, and a hat. Al begins striking a very large gong next to him, and setting off four air horns with his feet. He looks very pleased with himself. Alex admits that he is more surprised about the gong, than the half-naked Al. He describes Al as having a “lovely physique”, and then refers to the experience as “The dong and the gong”, thus coining the episode’s title. When he asks Al how many horns there are, Al responds that it’s a “four horn surprise”, and then has another bang on his gong. In the studio, Alex reveals that Al lives near the Taskmaster house, and had been able to source a gong within an hour. Al shares that he plays drums on the side, and therefore knew that there was a “gong rental place” nearby. Alex describes Al’s surprise as an “attack on the senses”, and Al earns second place.
• As Alex emerges from his shed to experience Dave’s surprise, he sees just the production crew, three of whom are wearing just their boxer shorts, and one of whom is wearing just a cardboard box. Next to them, there is a table with a wooden box on it, and chair behind it. Dave himself is nowhere to be seen. Alex takes the seat at the table, and reads a sign which says “Dear Alex, please push the blue button.” Just as he’s about to do as he is told, Dave jumps down from behind the camouflage on the scaffolding tower behind him and shouts “Whoa!” at him. In the studio, Greg questions why Dave had gotten to keep his own clothes on, and Dave responds that they were his rules, and the fact that he wasn’t there was the surprise. He points out that if he’d not been there but also been naked, that would have been pointless. It is revealed that Dave had bribed the production crew to take their clothes off, paying them about £200 in total. Rating his level of surprise, Alex points out that it was spread out over a much longer time than some of the others, so didn’t have as much impact. Dave earns third place.
• As Alex emerges from his she, he finds Rob sat on a sofa, under a blanket, and dressed as an old woman, wearing a skirt, blouse, and grey wig. Rob then pulls back the blanket, shouts “Alex! You’ve been a naughty boy!”, and soaks Alex with water from a jet washer. Rob seemingly becomes more and more hysterical as he soaks Alex, before finally turning off the washer and shouting “Surprise!”. Alex agrees that the experience was surprising, and it seems that it has certainly taken his breath away. Having recovered from his hysteria, Rob appears to feel a little bit guilty, asking Alex if he’s alright, and then “Are you wet?”. In the studio, Greg comments that he thought he could see Rob’s teeth growing, as his hysteria grew. Rob explains that he had not long had a baby, when the task was filmed, and that he’d therefore been operating on very little sleep. Rob earns first place.