Another five days passed, and, as usual, nothing dramatic at all happened. The contestants knew that it was almost time for voting, but they were not entirely certain of who would go. They were just waiting - waiting to see who would be next to do the task, and waiting to see who would be the first to die.
This week, it was Paul's turn to compete for the food. As he entered the task room, he saw nothing but a seat, and a computer screen in front of it.
"Paul, this is your first task", begun the voice, "in this task, you have to answer ten questions correctly, and you will be given ten questions. On the computer screen in front of you, you will have a selection of answers to choose from. If you get one answer wrong, you will fail the task, and you will not get any food. You also have five minutes to get the pass and get out of the door, or you will be locked in. The time starts now".
The talking stopped, and the clock began.
The first question on the screen was "What is the first name of Britain's current Queen?"
Paul was not fooled by the seemingly easy questions. He chose the right answer immediately, but he knew that the questions were about to get a lot tougher, just like Lucy's task the week before.
The second question was, "what is the capital city of Ecuador?"
Fortunately, he knew the answer, so he pressed it. Then, question three came up, which made Paul panic.
"Next to William Shakespeare, who is the world's best selling author?"
The four options were Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie, JK Rowling and Dan Brown. He eliminated Dan Brown from the list, as he knew it wouldn't be him. He thought that it would probably be JK Rowling, so he went to press that. However, he accidentally pressed the wrong button, resulting in him pressing Agatha Christie. However, it was a blessing in disguise as Agatha Christie was actually the correct answer!
Question four was, "what was the oldest age anybody has ever got to?"
The options were 116, 122, 129 and 164. Paul was tempted to press 164, but he knew that it would not be that. He also knew that it was not 116, as there was somebody who was aged 118 in his county. He took a stab at it, pressing 122. Paul was lucky again as it was the correct answer.
Question five was, "Which of these people murdered the most children?"
The four options were Ian Brady, Mary Ann Cotton, John Luther and Max Hyke. He had not even heard of any of the other people except for Ian Brady, although he did remember a woman who murdered 21 members of her own family, mostly children, and he thought her name was Mary Ann, but he could not recall the last name. He just decided to go for Mary Ann Cotton, and again, he got the answer right.
Half way there, his next question was, "which of these landmarks in London is the tallest?"
The four options were the London Eye, The Shard, Big Ben and the BT Tower. Just before he was kidnapped, he remembered witnessing the opening of the new building, The Shard. Paul had amazing luck so far as he got the answer right again.
With four questions left to answer correctly, the next quesion was, "what was the name of the mother of Norman Bates in the movie, 'Psycho'?"
The four options were Norma, Anne, Mary and Jean. This made Paul blank out. He had seen the film before, but could not recall her name. This was a complete stab in the dark, so he closed his eyes, took a deep breath and randomly pushed his finger anywhere on the screen. With his heart rapidly beating, he awaited the answer to show up on the screen. He had pressed Norma, and by an astonishing coincidence, he got the answer right again.
