How Long is the Piece of String? | Full Task |

From series 6, How long is a piece of string? Depends how big your string measuring lobster is.
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In this Broadcast Award-winning, BAFTA and Emmy Award-nominated entertainment show, Taskmaster tyrant Greg Davies (Man Down, Cuckoo), with the help of his loyal assistant Alex Horne (The Horne Section and the show’s creator), sets out to test the wiles, wit and wisdom of five hyper-competitive comedians.
Comedians that have risked life, limb, and dignity in the hope of making the Taskmaster proud so far include: Frank Skinner (The Frank Skinner Show), Mel Giedroyc (The Great British Bake Off), Romesh Ranganathan (Asian Provocateur), Hugh Dennis (Outnumbered), Sally Phillips (Bridget Jones’ Diary), Rose Matafeo (Edinburgh Comedy Award Winner 2018), and Russell Howard (The Russell Howard Hour). Unaware of what awaits them in each wax-sealed envelope, only one competitor can become the victorious owner of His Royal Task-ness’ golden head and be crowned the next Taskmaster Champion.

[@ShinyHubCaps]

Someone pointed this out on the full episode, but the 5 contestants measure in feet, meters, inches, miles, and lobsters.

[@tdarkhorse4]

technically the lobsters was a conversion from centimeters, but still funny.

[@oz459]

@@tdarkhorse4 well everything can be a conversion from centimeters

[@himagain803]

METRES.

[@tokeivo]

@@himagain803 no no, he just mentioned the lobster twice (or spells in American, or used his native way of spelling the word that is pronounced "meter")

[@oz459]

@@himagain803 meter is correct

[@maxmustermann1111]

isnt the lobster method not SUPER wrong, but due to a mistake super right? He counted 308. 308 times wrapping around the lobster is actually 616 times the length of a lobster because you have 1 times the lenght going head to tail, and then 1 times the length going back tail to head. Estimating the lobster at 1 foot, he should have guessed 616 feet had he used this method correctly. However either his counting or his estimate of the lobster length is so far off, that he actually got really close to the correct answer by accident :D

[@squiglemcsquigle8414]

He nearly doubled the length of the lobster in his estimate

[@elderfrost9892]

based on the numbers he was saying, it looked to me like he probably counted to 154 and said 308 at the end to get his final answer, since he was barely over 100 by the time he did the whole ball.

[@boneyarsebogman]

Liza's attitude to tasks is 99% how I approach most stuff in life.

[@travelwell6049]

Rhod Gilbert gets away with the ridiculous satsuma in A sock scenario and Alice can’t say how long “the piece” of string is, when it doesn’t say how long is the ball of string.

[@Watesoftheoasis]

"This" piece of string

[@gyroscope915]

It's all about how you argue it. If she had argued more heavily what "This piece" of string meant she could have taken it. You have to commit

[@iliketrains3495]

@@gyroscope915 Yeah exactly this, it also explains why Lee Mack got away with breaking the plates after completing the task but Joe Lycett still got penalised for eating chocolate given Lee successfully made an argument

[@bassett_green]

Changing from 200 meters to 500 feet is hilarious

[@drafezard7315]

Would be except he changed from 210 *feet* to 500 feet.

[@bassett_green]

oh you're right, I have no idea how I misheard that

[@jayrogers1007]

I wonder if the measurement was on that little tag on the end of the string

[@georgedaniel1189]

Probably just blank and was a red herring. If any one of the contestants had seen it, become distracted by it and focused on getting it rather than measuring and spend their time reeling the string in thinking maybe the measurement is attached then the comedic payoff of their disappointment and their time all but having run out without them having done any counting would've been a good pay off. If it actually had the measurement we probably would've been shown at the end of Tim's attempt to demonstrate how within reach the answer was for all of them. I imagine production most throw a lot of extra red herrings and actual useful hints/clues/tools/answers into the tasks to ensure that contestants either get fooled by some of them or find some actually useful clues/tools on occasion and they get footage of it. This is the footage we then see in the edit. But a lot of red herrings and actual clues in many tasks probably just never get realised

[@SSR00000]

Stretch your one arm level with your shoulder....from the tips of your fingers to your opposite shoulder in a straight line is usually about 1 meter in an average adult.

[@Nyahgis]

:30 seconds in you can see the answer on the card as Tim stands infront of the mailbox.

[@hippopotamus86]

Before I watch the rest, I'm guessing that the real answer is how long the entire ball is as it's one piece of string. Probably some set amount like 50/75 meters or something.

[@jillkearns525]

I’m the only that thought the answer would be on the back of the label on the end of the string?

[@gambonianca]

I noticed they showed that piece of paper at end of string a couple of times and I was sure the sneaky bastards were going to have the answer written on back of it

[@Peraou]

I NEED to know what that label said bc that was my thought as well 😅

[@bertt646]

If it looks stupid, but it works, it's not stupid.

[@Scarletcroft]

Words to live by.

[@DaddyDragon]

Surely, the correct answer is - 'Twice the distance from the middle to one end.'

[@qwertyTRiG]

I quite enjoyed Alice's approach.

[@johanhalvarsson2148]

She just needed to burn the rest of it.

[@qwertyTRiG]

@@johanhalvarsson2148 That would be neat!

[@Joshualacruz]

Me too! I would have done the same!

[@WolfRose11]

any knitter or crocheter would ask for a scale weigh the ball and then measure a portion of that ball and weigh that and multiply.

[@snazzypazzy]

Yeah, my thought exactly, right when I heard the task for the first time. Even if you only know the weight and can estimate the yarn type you can get a pretty decent guess in.

[@kahvipaputyyppi]

If it looks stupid but works, it aint stupid.

[@8outof10catzDOOM]

You could have just googled balls of string and seen what sizes they sell in, then use your eyes to determine which one would be closer.

[@willch.2259]

They probably cut some off in advance

[@theshadowswithin9896]

CM is just abbreviated for Crustacean Meters.

[@OmnipresentPotato]

I would say the string is about one string long. I mean, they didn't specify the unit of measurement.

[@bandedcat10]

I have a similar model if not the same multitool and it has a little ruler on one side lol

[@gyroscope915]

So basically Lobsters are a fairly accurate unit of measurement

[@jingato]

I would have used RSU for the unit of measurement. (Rolled String Units)

[@mysalival100]

Can I just say I got this almost to the meter because those balls are sold in 100m 🤷 seemed logical

[@reallyverycool9896]

I guessed 100 yards just from seeing the string lol

[@ExpatNatt]

I had the exact same approach to Alice at the start of the video and tbf the instructions says “a” bit of string not all of it?! 😂😂

[@GavTatu]

how long ? twice that of the centre point.

[@ambbarnes9839]

Pull some in. Measure out 3x1 metre. Weigh. Pull rest in. Weigh. Calcul…out of time… damn

[@RikaRoleplay]

I would have measured it by looking up the spool length online for a good knowledge of the longest it could be, then going by spooling it around my waist since I usually know what my waistline is, and then count the strings spooled around me. If close enough to the spool length, I would just guess the spool length, and if not, then I would stick with my measurement below the spool length.

[@bluesoulsession]

Many years ago when people used to say "how long is a piece of string?" I came up with the answer "Twice as long as half its length". Considering they didn't define that the length of the string had to be given in feet or metres I would have said "That string is twice as long as half its length" just so they knew it was that particular string that was being referred to :-)

[@gnack420]

You would have lost

[@ashishpaul2321]

Was the ball of string included?

[@johnnyclarik1]

So, as we are counting lobsters, it seems to me that a full wrap around the lobster is counted as 1. That lobster looks like it is probably 12" long, which means that every 1 lobster should actually be 2'.

[@TL-sk6xf]

I was very surprised when I heard miles and feet being used by British folk

[@lazthegreat10]

Alice did the task, if it was rhod Greg would have said wow brilliant. The task says how long is A piece of string. It doesn't say THE Rhod pushed more BS and got away with it.

[@oddgarrett2619]

Maybe check out the video again: 1:14 - "Without leaving the caravan, work out how long *this* piece of string is"

[@bekindtopeople498]

Yes it does genius.

[@LysolPionex]

Jordan Peterson eat your heart out.

[@scottpeters1847]

Would saying 'twice the size of half it's length been an acceptable answer'?

[@Just_Joshing024]

wait, they use imperial in the uk?

[@jrd33]

We use both. Seriously. And some of our Imperial measurements are different to U.S. Imperial measurements.

[@johncameron4194]

🤣😂🤣😂🤣

[@nazfrde]

So much wrong with this. The task didn't say it had to be in feet, so "x lobsters" is just as accurate an answer as "x feet". In fact, "Long enough to reach from here to the desk" would have been correct, too. And it didn't specify WHICH string, so Alice's answer was not wrong either.

[@NeilJ894]

It did specify 'this'string at 1:14

[@bekindtopeople498]

Did you even watch the video?

[@sammarks9146]

I thought they weren't supposed to leave the caravan, and were supposed to take less than 5 minutes... How was Tim not disqualified?

[@mm-qd1ho]

The task started once they were in the caravan and had read the task. Tim took 15 minutes to reach the caravan, but the task hadn't started yet. At the end, he stood in the doorway of the caravan, but never left it.

[@bekindtopeople498]

Because he didn't leave the caravan and he took less than 5 minutes.

[@sweetananas2967]

Liza “It’s the sort of thing you dream about when you’re 7”. Cue Tim taking 15 minutes longer than anyone else to get to the caravan because he channelled his inner 7 year old self 🤣

[@doornik1142]

To be fair, I think he's doing that most of the time.

[@SullySadface]

The best part is he counted wrong. Each wind around the lobster should have been counted as 2, due to it running the length of the lobster twice.

[@justyourlocalrat7]

+

[@gikiryu]

He could have multiplied the final number by 2, or divided the lobster estimation by 2.

[@frostden]

Luckily, he accidentally compensated for that by overestimating the length of the lobster by about 100%

[@cazzabojangles]

Tim spending the whole series wearing a belt around his middle when he really needed one for his shorts is a mood

[@Romeren]

reading this is such a mood

[@martinszymanski2607]

@@Romeren replying to you is such a mood.........

[@robertsandiford6223]

What's a mood?

[@squeakyelbows]

@@robertsandiford6223 A mood is a feeling.

[@robertsandiford6223]

@@squeakyelbows A person wearing a belt isn't a feeling though.

[@ShadowHawk2012]

It's a long standing taskmaster tradition for Alex to measure things in non-typical measurements, I'd have just taken the 308 lobsters as a final answer :D

[@yourmum69_420]

yeah it's messed up that he insisted on converting it. Why are "feet" ok, but not "lobsters"?

[@Elwaves2925]

Tim should have replied with "It's not part of the task to measure the lobster and no unit of measurement was defined in that task."

[@mikegreen3485]

Although Alex asks for the length of the lobster, in the studio results they have allowed for Tim to use "lobster" as a unit of measurement. In the caravan, Tim gives the length of the lobster as "about 30cm" but, in the studio, Alex provides Tim's guess using a different conversion (1 lobster = 1 foot) so we can assume Tim's conversion was not taken into account (the difference between a foot and 30cm is marginal but would make a big difference over a length so long).

[@sjs9698]

@@mikegreen3485 even taking the fairly small difference into account, he was still closest by far... which is impressive luck given that one wrap round the lobster was waaay off a foot or 30cm & he only managed to get lucky based on the number of times he missed the lobster & wrapped his hand instead :p a true triumph of luck over skill.

[@yourmum69_420]

@@sjs9698 well I mean no one else came close to measuring it accurately anyway

[@petgoose32]

Alex: "Lisa was 21000 lobsters out." Lisa: "Understandable, have a nice day."

[@themomaw]

I had high hopes for Alice, it initially seemed like she was going to apply some science and make a sensible attempt. I guess she didn't notice the lobster.

[@jrd33]

Easy to overlook a lobster in the heat of the moment.

[@josemaria8177]

"Lobster" is just as logical as other imperial units of measure like "stone" to be honest

[@peterclarke7240]

Or any unit of measurement, really. They just have to adhere to a consistent internal logic that people understand and can measure with. It's like the cup system in the US (for cooking, not measuring bra size). Remarkably simple but effective way of measuring out volumes, all you need is a set of measuring cups and you're away.

[@nicosmind3]

Well the metre was meant to be a fraction of the distance of the pole to the equator yet the French managed to get that wrong yet we've stuck with it. Old measurements were based off people. So they're all arbitrary really, yet the metre is technically wrong, you can't say the same about the stone however :P

[@taserrr]

@@peterclarke7240 No it's not, not at all! It's very easy to convert metric system units into other units. 1 mm = 1000 meter, 1meter = 1 kilometer. 1 squared meter = 1000 liter in volume. 1 ml = 1 liter. Water freezes at 0 degrees and it boils at 100 degrees. Now tell me, how many feet is a square mile? And what are the dimensions of a gallon?

[@Stevo_1998]

@@taserrr ??? "How many feet is a square mile" Length =/= Area "Dimensions of a gallon" 3xLength =/= Volume Also, you've _completely_ missed the point they were making "They just have to adhere to a consistent internal logic that people understand and can measure with" People who grew up with and have used the imperial measurement system for most of their lives can easily use it Just because you yourself cannot doesn't mean it's impossible that it makes sense to others - especially those from hundreds of years ago who used imperial measurements every day their entire lives

[@taserrr]

@@Stevo_1998 No they can't I just explained why. Most people that grew up with imperial system don't know how many feet go into a mile or what the dimensions of a gallon are.

[@alyburr6645]

I think Alice should have gotten more credit for her method in this task, I mean "this piece of string" is vague enough that that should have counted

[@casper1004]

It's the same as "this flame". When she read it out, she identified the specific piece of string in question. The answer she gave was to a part of the specific string in question. Kind of clever, but I don't think it should count

[@danielsteffee7957]

Did the instructions specify not cutting the string? Because if not, "measure the string" could start to have an ambiguous meaning after it's cut and it's no longer one string but two. For instance, imagine if Alice had been asking Alex to point at the string that needs measured, and continue pointing even after she cuts it.

[@motodog242]

All depends of the Taskmaster’s decision. Greg said no, so she only got 2 points.

[@NotAnAmerican]

I rekon the little bit of paper on the end had the full length written down. Remember, dont start the tasks too quick without looking around

[@georgedaniel1189]

I think so too, I wish they'd shown us what was on it. Either that or there was nothing on it but had any of the contestants noticed it they might have assumed there was and forgotten about measuring and instead tried to pull the string as quickly as possible only to discover they had no answer for all their efforts upon getting it creating a comedic moment of disappointment had it happened. However since none of them got to the tag this moment was never created and so they never showed what was on it beyond showing Lisa's name on one side of it during her attempt. This might be more likely than it actually having the length, if it actually had the length I think they would've shown it at the end of Tim's attempt due to how close he was

[@memmermiller]

Was the correct answer on the tag at the end of the string?

[@DJChrisNeon]

Came here to ask the same. Nobody saw it, and normally when that happens they at least address it at the end ("Look under the table"), but they just didn't.

[@georgedaniel1189]

I think it probably wasn't on it. It was probably a red herring for any contestant who did notice it might've become distracted by it and tried to get all the string into the caravan instead of measuring only to be disappointed. Except since none of them noticed it and/or became misled by it it never amounted to anything. If it had had the answer on the backside (we see the front has Lisa's name on in her attempt) I think it would've been shown at the end of Tim's attempt due to how close he was. I imagine there's a lot of red herrings and/or actual additional clues for many of the tasks that never amount to anything as they must surely have to place a lot of them for contestants to not always just be looking for the "easy" way out in every task but also so that sometimes they do fall for red herrings and they get footage of it

[@fortunewookie191]

Glad Tim won this. Not only did he get it right but he was the only entertaining one in this task

[@kingcole55]

The quickest and most accurate answer is to define the unit of measurement relative to the string. Tell em its 4 Glorfars and then tell em a Glorfar is a unit of measurement defined as that piece of string divided by 4.

[@OmnipresentPotato]

Or just say it's one string long

[@devbom878]

Since Alex asked how long a lobster was, he would most likely also ask you how long a Glorfar is.

[@kingcole55]

@@devbom878 It is the length of the string divided by 4

[@AynnCross]

“Lobsters” seems to be as logical a unit of measurement as any, to be honest.

[@ghosthunter0950]

Definitely better than feet.

[@Joshualacruz]

_Laughs in metric_

[@Sirenhound]

"How long do you think the lobster is?" That wasn't the task Alex! And you didn't specify the unit of measurement.

[@MysterySeeker]

They did take his lobster measurement seriously though, so even if Tim had miscalculated the lobster's length, he still would have won

[@OmnipresentPotato]

The string is about one string long. You didn't specifics the unit!

[@johnwatkins3824]

I remember this saying rather well. Also the day I got the answer. A little old lady I was talking to responded with “twice as long as it is from the middle to the end”. Wise old lady 👍

[@Lumpiluk]

I wonder how these tasks are being set up while the contestants are presumably already on the premises. Was there a lab-only task before and the crew arranged the string while that was being filmed?

[@yaoitiddieexpert1486]

i dont think that they are... the filming of TM takes months

[@Elwaves2925]

@@yaoitiddieexpert1486 It takes a while yes, but contestants will do several tasks in a single day. So at some point, other tasks are being set up while the contestant is on the premises. They don't just turn up for one task at a time.

[@Elwaves2925]

If it isn't a lab task, they're probably asked (while being watched) to stay in a certain room or the caravan, so they can't see what's going on. On a number of occasions we've seen them with cups of coffee/tea, so that's one way of keeping them in the kitchen.

[@MrForbinator]

There will be a canteen for food and a green room for waiting about. Thew are probably a couple of dozen crew around that need feeding etc. So plenty of places to wait.

[@00chips]

There's an unshown room in the house which the contestants use as a green room that they have to stay in between tasks.

[@SusceptibleToPie]

Technically 1 wrap of the lobster is 2 x the length of the lobster, so Tim’s guess should’ve been double the amount when converted to metric?

[@azaleapoison3593]

I thought this as well BUT judging by the fact that Tim was not off by many "lobsters" I believe that lobster was roughly 15cm in length (looking at the footage that looks right) and the fact that he said 30cm then there was no need to double the amount he counted. He either knew this or really thought it was 30cm but it turned out to work in his favour.. I'm guessing the latter xD

[@delphic464]

If we are too judge the "lobster" by the same standards of other imperial measurements, a lobster can be whatever the hell Tim wants it to be (see: Paces vs. Steps). As to the other comments about not Alex not actually measuring the plastic lobster: Same As above (see: Barley Corn vs. Inch)

[@ElysianAura]

@@azaleapoison3593 No, I think he doubled the lobster count based on how far he was on it. He was in the lower half of the 100s nearing the end of the task, probably got 154 and did x2 on it.

[@lostnamenowwhoami]

I was looking for this, thinking nobody caught that

[@ulfjohnsen6203]

This is the day I realised that my feet are a lobster long...

[@TimEd.o7o7]

Just as amusing as the first time I saw it. Lobster on the Vine.

[@moredac2881]

I love how Alice asks for scissors so nicely

[@nicosmind3]

As bad as Aasm's guess was he was still second 😂😂

[@Brain-washed2]

it wasn't really a bad guess, it couldn't have been more than 1000. just kinda feel it out how much you walked.

[@a20axf]

Of course Tim would win the task and be stupidly close in such a Tim way 😂 Pretty amazing, I reckon if he’d managed to count that last bit of string at the 10 sec mark he would’ve got it almost spot on. Alice arguably could’ve won it if she’d reasoned well enough “how long is a piece of string? As long as you want it to be” or something similar. Depends on the wording of the task constraints.

[@peterclarke7240]

Love how Liza has a multitool about her person. She seems like someone who'd bosh up a set of shelves during her lunchbreak without a moment's hesitation. My kind of lady. Plus she's not shy about knowing the best place for a profiterole, and the fastest way of getting it there. 😂

[@Echinacae]

Isn't this filmed in the UK? And aren't locking knives illegal in the UK?

[@elderfrost9892]

@@Echinacae the UK requires you to have a "valid reason" to carry anything larger than a few inches or anything locking or fixed. in this case using it to cut string seems like a valid reason to have a knife, and imo "so I don't accidentally close it on my fingers" is already inherently a valid reason for knives to lock

[@daniel_wilkinson]

Wouldn't that be a kick if the length was written on the back of that piece of paper at the beginning.

[@nadnerb2k]

Or on that piece of paper with the pointing finger hanging on the caravan door

[@Allaloneatron]

Or on the tag at the end of it.

[@georgedaniel1189]

I think it was likely a red herring, meant to distract the contestants from measuring if seen only to cause disappointment in anyone who did spend all their time reeling the string in only to discover it has no answer on upon getting it and they'd used all their time and done no counting. I think if it had the answer on we would've been shown at the end of Tim's attempt when he was so close to getting it but seemingly did not notice it. I imagine production probably put a lot of extra red herrings and/or legitimately helpful hidden "tools" into many of the tasks for enough of them to actually get noticed in some of the tasks and for them to get footage of them. There's probably a lot of red herrings/actually useful hints/clues/tools that just never get realised just to ensure that a few do and they get footage of those ones that do. It seems to have been implied before that there are tasks that the footage of never gets used and I imagine they do similarly there with tasks, adding more tasks than they'll use when editing to make sure they end up with enough tasks where the footage is able to be edited into a good outcome

[@outeast999]

Outrageous that Alice didn't get at least second. She measured the piece of string she chose quite accurately.

[@edopronk1303]

​@@kevinl3875the question was vague enough to give possiblities to argue. "This piece of string". It doesn't say exactly which piece. It doesn't say 'the whole string before you' or something.

[@squiglemcsquigle8414]

Taskmaster rewards you for defending how you did the task. She didn't even try. She could've done a lot better in the series hlif she backed herself

[@ThatSchnee]

Over a year later and the lobsters bit always makes me laugh

[@hughgordon6435]

The piece of string is exactly double the length from the middle to the end😅, technically correct and impossible to prove wrong😊

[@adamplace1414]

Can someone post a link, or even a title, of the piece of music at 0:27 ? I assume it's a Horne Section composition but I could be wrong. The show uses it all the time but I haven't found it yet, and it's one of my favorite pieces of background music for TV ever. Even an alternate version would be great.

[@thomas5311]

For some reason, I always pictured the room with the big Taskmaster painting in to be on the first floor, not ground level.

[@kristianstipe]

Me too!

[@bradleywalker8642]

First floor IS ground level, isn't it?? Wouldn't upstairs be a 2nd floor??

[@thomas5311]

​@@bradleywalker8642 UK numbering is Ground, First, Second etc.

[@bluegaming4688]

Know matter how long a piece of string its always double from the middle to the end 👍

[@andreaskarlsson5251]

Tim deserved a bonus point for inventing the lobster system!

[@martinschmidt1652]

And we all know at the label on the 3nd of the string the exact length was written..

[@YAHaqabNatsariym2701]

Don’t let nasa know about the lobster measurement or they’ll screw that up too!

[@IHACKER316]

What was on the peice of paper at the end ? Was it the exact length ?

[@drewidlifestyle7883]

Yes

[@nicosmind3]

Follow this string, 97 metres or 318ft

[@thomasdalton1508]

Knowing what they usually do, almost certainly.

[@leonhardeuler675]

I would have probably hoped that the string was sold in some kind of sensible unit in the first place and 100m would have been a fairly good guess anyway. Still, I'd be barely closer than Tim measuring in Lobsters.

[@timothybryowsky6937]

What song is being played during the task? It is a catchy tune.

[@Snaakie83]

Alex has a band called the "Horne Section", pretty sure they did the intro and most intervals and fillers etc.

[@hoagy_ytfc]

Liza Tarbuck is a national treasure.

[@ProjecTJAD]

Surprised nobody cut a length off, weighed and guess "measured" it, then weighed the whole lot, thought Alice was onto that when she got scissors

[@emilylaidlaw2980]

Yeah I thought for sure one of them would've started rewinding the string to few centimetres or something similar aswell Actually ignore me I've just realized they probably meant the whole ball not just the unwound bit😂

[@jrd33]

How would they weigh it?

[@bow2deathwish]

i cant believe how happy i am the lobster strat won.

[@keithfox9899]

How long is a piece of string .... the correct answer is it is twice as long from one end to the middle .....lol

[@reecejamesg]

Tim vine is just brilliant

[@rajeevarya8387]

1:20 Tim saying ‘pardon’ after the car horn made me laugh way more than I should have done.

[@christopherlawrence6815]

5:42 the way Alice says “thank you”, I totally fell in love at that point

[@jackbequick]

For some reason my innitial guess was 100 meters. Pretty good eye

[@Anythingforfreedom]

Jordan Peterson would approve

[@SynymynBuhnz]

How long is a piece of string ? 2 times the center to the end

[@potterpotty01]

Alice should have won that task.

[@criddlegakes2650]

The greatest twist in television history.

[@stevenlarratt3638]

The taskmaster card at the end of the string had the precise measurment on it...

[@DJChrisNeon]

I assumed as much, but it's never made clear in the show. I'm guessing you know this as fact? I'd just love to know for sure :)

[@TheSkepticSkwerl]

I mean. They only sell the string in certain lengths. In England usually 25, 50 and 100 meters. I'm surprised no one just said 100 meters

[@jordank1813]

1 lobster = 30 cm. Got it.

[@Furiends]

Note that your degree of error with a non-standard unit, in this case "the lobster" is linear. Further your inaccurate use of the instrument "the lobster" depending on how it's used can actually average out. You can use this to your advantage. In that case it introduces exactly one "lobster" of error. That means in total your worse case is an error of 200%. That's pretty good for making up a unit and very sloppily using an instrument. It's actually really a good idea to use these principals in your every day life. Degrees of accuracy are hard to understand. But even with no understanding of what you're doing and making it up as you go as long as you're methodical you'll get a degree of accuracy that's good enough to evaluate yourself. Yeah this is a silly game show meant to appeal to prime time TV but it's actually showing a really really good piece of advice you aren't really taught in school.

[@p_3ater160]

My answer would have been 'Twice half its length' cause the task asked for how long is A piece of string not THIS string

[@pallsmortion4750]

Good to see a tie in with this week's podcast 👍

[@shawnfromportland]

commenting because i don't see anyone with my solution: i would have googled on my phone for different packages of string and chosen the one that most closely resembled the remaining spool

[@haunter4708]

I would have just answered with “very long”. May not be specific, but it’s accurate.

[@motodog242]

I mean, it’s obvious what was on the card attached to the string, still would’ve been nice to see.

[@africansinclair]

Its double the distance of the halved string. You're welcome.

[@6DunJuan9]

Twice the distance from the middle to one end..the exact length of a piece of string

[@antwanettwillett6538]

How long Piece of string It is and only can only ever be be twice the distance Quit simple really

[@stevewiles7132]

twice as long as from one end to the middle...........................................

[@professorannefaire7233]

Does England use the Imperial System?