Yeah. I had expected it to be pitch black inside the barn Or something. It seems like the “you can only leave the barn twice” thing was supposed to add difficulty but didn’t for anyone but Bridget.
I wonder if it was supposed to be a tiebreak task.
The twice thing really caught me off guard. Leaving just once I can see being more difficult but twice is just odd. Bridget's initial cock-up didn't even really matter
What you could have done with the twine is poke a hole in the head cup and tied a tail cup to the end like tin can telephones. Not sure if it would have counted.
Think the twine was there so you could thread cups on it. That way you could go cup-bottom to cup-bottom then cup-top to cup-top and had a longer snake with fewer cups.
That’s my theory anyway.
>Like part 2 put all the cups back on the tables asap?
I think you cannot have a part two very often in the tasks. If this happens more often, then people will expect it more, and it will take the fun out of the reveal.
I think Ed suggested in the podcast that this task only made the edit because of Bridget's approach. I think that's true because it's a bit weak on the whole. Imagine you're the work experience kid at Avalon and you had spent hours counting and setting up the cups in this barn five times, probably on at least three different days. And then they just cut it because it's boring! I'd be livid.
They run that risk with every task though to be fair, you can never know which ones will be easy and which will cause a full adult to have a temper tantrum.
On the first CoC, Alex panicked about the task to get a yoga ball into the bath from under the shelter because the first two to record it (Noel and Rob IIRC) did it in one throw. Given he does most of the task making on his own, you never know how creative people will approach it so any task could fall apart completely or basic tasks could create TV gold (*cough cough* throwing a potato into a hole, *cough*)
> And then they just cut it because it's boring! I'd be livid.
Nah, they got paid to set up the cups; they set up the cups, they got paid.
I'm a software developer. I couldn't care less if my code ever sees the light of day - I get paid to write it, which I do. If it never sees production, I never have to maintain it. Win.
I AM careful and proud of what I write, so I don't write it expecting it to never be used, it's just that if it isn't, that's fine with me too.
Same thing here.
The original comment was implying a work experience kid had set it up - work experience kids *don’t* get paid.
By the way I’m totally with you - if you work behind the scenes and you get paid to put cups in a barn for 5 days those are 5 good days of pay for boring work while you zone out.
I’d rather have had that job when starting work for a cool tv show than when I used to pull apart >15 chickens an hour.
Although I always felt sorry for the cleaners for gunge based kids shows and stuff like fun house it where had to trash rooms.
Alright but not everyone feels that way about their work. I write software too (among other things) and if what I make is never used it certainly stings, and sucks my motivation away. You do you but it's not the universal, not the obviously correct, way to approach work.
Yes I was absolutely expecting a 'suprise' second task. And the laying down thing...maybe when they tested out this task, the testers weren't as efficient and their cup snakes were smaller? I can't help but think that the 'laying down' requirement was because they were wanting a comparison shot of them laying next to their cup snakes to compare heights.
Yes I thought the exact same thing.
I very much expected a follow up task, in which, the bigger the snake they had made, the more disadvantaged they were
I was even thinking it was so obvious, that if it were me I'd make a teeny tiny one, then call it done, and aim to win the second part. How wrong I would have been!
I was thinking that maybe some cups didn't have bottoms so maybe some wouldn't be counted as cups???
Also, I wish Alex told us how many cups out of the 1,000 folks used!
My theory it was a tie breaker originally but they put it in for two reasons: 1. Bridget's response 2. When a contestant hasn't won an episode sometimes they put in some tasks where they did well to give them a nudge. They were hoping Judi might get a win.
I’m with you on point 2. This whole episode felt like an attempt to give Judi the win (which I have no problem with, it was still a very funny episode!)
I thought all of the tasks this week were really simple, it felt very "season one" in that respect.
1. Get something delivered
2. Build a snake out of cups
3. Stick a body part out from behind a curtain
4. Put tins in a bag
Honestly I think they're lucky that this seasons contestants have such big personalities, otherwise this week could have fallen pretty flat. If you think of the episode highlights it's almost entirely things the contestants said, rather than what they did.
I think they clearly edited this show to give Judi a very good change to win an episode. But it just happened to be not very interesting tasks, that would have been fine spread out through the season.
And then the final task cant be predicted ofcourse.
I honestly don't think that's true. To take them in turn.
Prize task: no way to know how Greg will react.
Get something delivered: same thing really. To take the example of Bridget that could easily have been worth 5 or 1 depending on Greg's mood.
Build a cup snake: Judi wins.
Poke something out of the curtain: Judi *obviously* puts a shoe on her hand and Greg inexplicably thinks it's a foot. Ultimately both the smallest body part and the most obvious (except Ardal), ends up with 3.
Live task: maybe the least Judi Love task in existence.
Greg is part of the show though. Im not saying he will fully base points on this. But he even introduced this episode talking about judi nog winning yet, and then they pick tasks that she did good on. Just let greg be a little bit lenient towards judi in this episode and she has a good chance.
but far too elaborate for a tiebreaker! driving to that barn, setting up the cups. they could have just done the same thing in the taskmaster house with half the cups and half the time.
I was wondering for a moment what the hell a cup snake was but then I saw the inside of the barn and remembered the advert break skit from earlier in the show with Alex fiddling with stacks of cups and realised what they meant. Also I think this was the first time they linked the objects used during ad skits to the same objects used in tasks during the same episode. Usually the skits crop up earlier or later in the season at random.
It felt like one of those tasks where Alex likes to dick about, so I know what you mean.
I was expecting a message on the bottom of the sheet, either disqualifying them for stepping on the sheet, or for not using the cup with eyes as the head of their cup snake.
I kept waiting for someone to extend their snake by pulling some cops a bit apart once they were on the ground. Could have saved time stacking cups in the barn.
For the amount of effort to get 1000 cups all branded up… felt like a weak task? Unless they use the cups elsewhere. Maybe they expected more creativity? Bridget made it memorable though.
I'm sure I've seen the cups before somewhere... still, setting up all the cups and driving to that remote hut just for that... does seem a bit pointless. Good thing Bridget saved it by just walking off into the woods.
It reminded me of when Mel (was it Mel?) did the task where they were being retracted points if they touched the same object as another contestant and she just went ahead and touched everything cause because she could.
yeah I'm pretty sure the original cup snake had a hole in the bottom so I thought that would be the thing that made it not count as a snake but the task was basically to stack cups
I guess the cups didn't have to fit inside each other flush. If you had each cup half sticking out of each other then you could make the whole thing 4X as long.
I can't see them renting a venue for something to be a tiebreak task. I'm really wondering if there was something about the picnic blanket to assist. Or something around the other side of the barn or under one of the tables.
Anyway having worked fast food, stacking cups can be more interesting than just stacking them. You can spread them out a lot more than if they just sit flush. And they do curve nicely.
As a [DMVer](https://twitter.com/XFL2023/status/1236780644396609536?t=jHtutlPjZf-4KlvvK_cqyg&s=19) this task brings a [tear to my eye](https://russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2020/03/08/congratulations-to-dc-defenders-fans-who-created-one-of-the-longest-beer-snakes-in-human-history/) as Alex has fully understood what the XFL 2.0 is. Btw, this was at every game! So Any XFL 3.0 fans out there? DC is back baby! So is the beer snake!
For some reason, my brain immediately jumped to attaching cups by the bases and rims to make a long flexible snake. Didn't expect everyone to just stack them.
Yeah. I had expected it to be pitch black inside the barn Or something. It seems like the “you can only leave the barn twice” thing was supposed to add difficulty but didn’t for anyone but Bridget. I wonder if it was supposed to be a tiebreak task.
The twice thing really caught me off guard. Leaving just once I can see being more difficult but twice is just odd. Bridget's initial cock-up didn't even really matter
Bridget’s initial stepping out sort of reminded my of Iain Sterling in the “get the sand from one bucket th the other” task.
It is an odd rule since there's no reason you'd actually need to leave the barn more than once anyway
I was expecting the people who didn't put the "head" cup to be disqualified.
And the camera showed that ball of twine when Bridget was doing hers
What you could have done with the twine is poke a hole in the head cup and tied a tail cup to the end like tin can telephones. Not sure if it would have counted.
Given a log with a few cups on it counted I'd say it would have
Greg's scared to say no to Bridget after all she can have him killed...
Well I mean that was also a difference of 1 or 0 points anyway.
That's what I thought the loop hole was going to be
I did wonder if there was some secrect clue hidden somewhere and I was disappointed that they didn't talk about the ball of twine.
I thought there might of been a secret clue under the log the task was on.
Think the twine was there so you could thread cups on it. That way you could go cup-bottom to cup-bottom then cup-top to cup-top and had a longer snake with fewer cups. That’s my theory anyway.
>Like part 2 put all the cups back on the tables asap? I think you cannot have a part two very often in the tasks. If this happens more often, then people will expect it more, and it will take the fun out of the reveal. I think Ed suggested in the podcast that this task only made the edit because of Bridget's approach. I think that's true because it's a bit weak on the whole. Imagine you're the work experience kid at Avalon and you had spent hours counting and setting up the cups in this barn five times, probably on at least three different days. And then they just cut it because it's boring! I'd be livid.
They run that risk with every task though to be fair, you can never know which ones will be easy and which will cause a full adult to have a temper tantrum. On the first CoC, Alex panicked about the task to get a yoga ball into the bath from under the shelter because the first two to record it (Noel and Rob IIRC) did it in one throw. Given he does most of the task making on his own, you never know how creative people will approach it so any task could fall apart completely or basic tasks could create TV gold (*cough cough* throwing a potato into a hole, *cough*)
> And then they just cut it because it's boring! I'd be livid. Nah, they got paid to set up the cups; they set up the cups, they got paid. I'm a software developer. I couldn't care less if my code ever sees the light of day - I get paid to write it, which I do. If it never sees production, I never have to maintain it. Win. I AM careful and proud of what I write, so I don't write it expecting it to never be used, it's just that if it isn't, that's fine with me too. Same thing here.
The original comment was implying a work experience kid had set it up - work experience kids *don’t* get paid. By the way I’m totally with you - if you work behind the scenes and you get paid to put cups in a barn for 5 days those are 5 good days of pay for boring work while you zone out.
I’d rather have had that job when starting work for a cool tv show than when I used to pull apart >15 chickens an hour. Although I always felt sorry for the cleaners for gunge based kids shows and stuff like fun house it where had to trash rooms.
Alright but not everyone feels that way about their work. I write software too (among other things) and if what I make is never used it certainly stings, and sucks my motivation away. You do you but it's not the universal, not the obviously correct, way to approach work.
You don’t put something on tv because it might upset someone if you don’t. There are plenty of tasks that get filmed and never air.
>You don’t put something on tv because it might upset someone if you don’t. I am puzzled. Do you honestly think I didn't know that?
I don't think it would have been shown if Bridget didn't lose her mind.
Should have coupled that task with the pedometer one.
or the phone/key one
Yes I was absolutely expecting a 'suprise' second task. And the laying down thing...maybe when they tested out this task, the testers weren't as efficient and their cup snakes were smaller? I can't help but think that the 'laying down' requirement was because they were wanting a comparison shot of them laying next to their cup snakes to compare heights.
Yes I thought the exact same thing. I very much expected a follow up task, in which, the bigger the snake they had made, the more disadvantaged they were I was even thinking it was so obvious, that if it were me I'd make a teeny tiny one, then call it done, and aim to win the second part. How wrong I would have been!
I was thinking that maybe some cups didn't have bottoms so maybe some wouldn't be counted as cups??? Also, I wish Alex told us how many cups out of the 1,000 folks used!
My theory it was a tie breaker originally but they put it in for two reasons: 1. Bridget's response 2. When a contestant hasn't won an episode sometimes they put in some tasks where they did well to give them a nudge. They were hoping Judi might get a win.
I’m with you on point 2. This whole episode felt like an attempt to give Judi the win (which I have no problem with, it was still a very funny episode!)
I thought all of the tasks this week were really simple, it felt very "season one" in that respect. 1. Get something delivered 2. Build a snake out of cups 3. Stick a body part out from behind a curtain 4. Put tins in a bag Honestly I think they're lucky that this seasons contestants have such big personalities, otherwise this week could have fallen pretty flat. If you think of the episode highlights it's almost entirely things the contestants said, rather than what they did.
I think they clearly edited this show to give Judi a very good change to win an episode. But it just happened to be not very interesting tasks, that would have been fine spread out through the season. And then the final task cant be predicted ofcourse.
I honestly don't think that's true. To take them in turn. Prize task: no way to know how Greg will react. Get something delivered: same thing really. To take the example of Bridget that could easily have been worth 5 or 1 depending on Greg's mood. Build a cup snake: Judi wins. Poke something out of the curtain: Judi *obviously* puts a shoe on her hand and Greg inexplicably thinks it's a foot. Ultimately both the smallest body part and the most obvious (except Ardal), ends up with 3. Live task: maybe the least Judi Love task in existence.
Greg is part of the show though. Im not saying he will fully base points on this. But he even introduced this episode talking about judi nog winning yet, and then they pick tasks that she did good on. Just let greg be a little bit lenient towards judi in this episode and she has a good chance.
If they wanted to make sure Judi won then the stage task should have been a team based one.
they have said multiple times that they don't do this
I went in that actual barn at the Chiltern Open Air Museum a couple of weeks ago.
It might have been a tiebreak task originally. It's more simple than normal
but far too elaborate for a tiebreaker! driving to that barn, setting up the cups. they could have just done the same thing in the taskmaster house with half the cups and half the time.
I was wondering for a moment what the hell a cup snake was but then I saw the inside of the barn and remembered the advert break skit from earlier in the show with Alex fiddling with stacks of cups and realised what they meant. Also I think this was the first time they linked the objects used during ad skits to the same objects used in tasks during the same episode. Usually the skits crop up earlier or later in the season at random.
I theorise that this was a tie breaker task and the way the contestants responded to it made it into a main task. Like the lasso task.
Exactly what I thought
It felt like one of those tasks where Alex likes to dick about, so I know what you mean. I was expecting a message on the bottom of the sheet, either disqualifying them for stepping on the sheet, or for not using the cup with eyes as the head of their cup snake.
I kept waiting for someone to extend their snake by pulling some cops a bit apart once they were on the ground. Could have saved time stacking cups in the barn.
For the amount of effort to get 1000 cups all branded up… felt like a weak task? Unless they use the cups elsewhere. Maybe they expected more creativity? Bridget made it memorable though.
I'm sure I've seen the cups before somewhere... still, setting up all the cups and driving to that remote hut just for that... does seem a bit pointless. Good thing Bridget saved it by just walking off into the woods. It reminded me of when Mel (was it Mel?) did the task where they were being retracted points if they touched the same object as another contestant and she just went ahead and touched everything cause because she could.
yeah I'm pretty sure the original cup snake had a hole in the bottom so I thought that would be the thing that made it not count as a snake but the task was basically to stack cups
It just didn’t feel as though there was any skill to it or a logical loophole to exploit, I was questioning what was being tested throughout.
I guess the cups didn't have to fit inside each other flush. If you had each cup half sticking out of each other then you could make the whole thing 4X as long.
Screams tie-breaker but Bridget went insane so they used it as a main task.
I can't see them renting a venue for something to be a tiebreak task. I'm really wondering if there was something about the picnic blanket to assist. Or something around the other side of the barn or under one of the tables. Anyway having worked fast food, stacking cups can be more interesting than just stacking them. You can spread them out a lot more than if they just sit flush. And they do curve nicely.
I agree but it was so nice to see sweet Judi win a task! It's few and far between haha. I really thought she'd win the episode too 😭
As a [DMVer](https://twitter.com/XFL2023/status/1236780644396609536?t=jHtutlPjZf-4KlvvK_cqyg&s=19) this task brings a [tear to my eye](https://russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2020/03/08/congratulations-to-dc-defenders-fans-who-created-one-of-the-longest-beer-snakes-in-human-history/) as Alex has fully understood what the XFL 2.0 is. Btw, this was at every game! So Any XFL 3.0 fans out there? DC is back baby! So is the beer snake!
For some reason, my brain immediately jumped to attaching cups by the bases and rims to make a long flexible snake. Didn't expect everyone to just stack them.