So how were our intrepid contestants able to transform themselves into long arms of the law using just fishing line or a vacuum cleaner?

The Green Team's Challenge

Taking inspiration from how a radio aerial extends, the Green Team used an electric motor to drive a stiff cable down the centre of a telescopic fishing rod. As the cable extended, it pushed out the concertinaed pieces of the rod. Once extended, our hero used a lasso at the end of the rod to noose the deactivation rods. Pushing a switch reversed the battery connections to the motor, making it reel in the cable on to a spool. As it did so the rod retracted. The trick with this technique is to ensure the cable is stiff enough to push the rod out without bunching up inside.

The Red Team's Challenge

Placing one inside the other, the Red Team took three lengths of drainpipe with differing diameters and blocked-off ends – creating another sort of telescopic arm. Using the exhaust of a vacuum cleaner, which blows instead of sucks, they forced air into this contraption, or switched to suck mode to extract air. The increase or decrease in air pressure forced the arm to extend or retract. With a second vacuum cleaner connected to a padded toilet plunger on the end of the arm, our hero was able to suck up the deactivation rods and drop them by opening a valve to release the suction. To make it all work, the team had to counterbalance the pipes by hanging weights on the rear end of the arm. This way the fully extended arm wouldn't be too heavy for our hero to hold.