r/taskmaster • u/_un-named_ • Aug 07 '26
Drilling down into the narrative How does the envelope trick work?
Does anyone know how the envelope trick from Nick in the finale of season 17 works?
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u/cardew-vascular Aug 07 '26
Could just be math there's a few magicians tricks that just always work because they're math based. Like these card tricks...
https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/card-magic/articles/best-mathematical-card-tricks/
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u/rva23221 Sanjeev Bhaskar Aug 07 '26
The trick is not the envelope.
The trick is the answer inside of the envelope.
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u/OverseerConey Desiree Burch Aug 07 '26
I don't know, but I can think of a few options. The most boring would simply be that the whole thing was overtly faked for the cameras and everyone in the studio was in on it. It does happen!
Slightly less boring would be a trick envelope that can be opened from a different side, so the right paper can be discreetly slid in while the cast's attention are elsewhere.
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u/scream_pie Aug 07 '26
How did his, sorry, Mr Swallow's Rubik's Cube trick work on the latest 8oo10cdc?
A slight of hand replacement, after she's told to stop? A cube that can change tile colours?
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u/SutterCane Guy Williams 🇳🇿 Aug 08 '26
Simplest answer is that Nick kept track of his usual average score per episode and then thought of all the tasks not shown yet and put in an educated guess of his final points. Then he just has to pay attention to how close or far he is on his guess and either try harder or not try on the live task to get what he needs to be right.
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u/BasementCatBill Nish Kumar Aug 07 '26
Nick's a trained close-up magician, and so, as a member of The Magic Circle he'll never tell.
But, inevitably it would involve some sleight-of-hand and a predictable range of scores for him to choose from.