Beware The Crowman is a mental Floor 5 challenge introduced in Series 3. It has a very high chance of sabotage failure and/or being detected.
The Caretaker's Explanation of the Game[]
A murky meadow, where a Crowman guards 13 flickering pumpkins. To pass this challenge, the Unfortunates must sneak past him and blow out three pumpkins. But beware, some of the pumpkins are bad, and will disturb the Crowman. Blow out three bad pumpkins, and they will fail!
Layout[]
The layout of the room is very dark and seems to take place in a meadow. The room is also very murky. It has haystack in the room and a curtain on the window. In the middle of the room is the Crowman. Scattered around him are 13 pumpkins. The pumpkins are based on Jack-O-Lanterns and have varying size, eye and mouth shapes. They also have five colours - orange, yellow, green, purple and white.
Challenge Character[]
The Crowman is the resident challenge character of this game. He is a scarecrow dressed in black with grey hair covering his face. He tries to attack the Unfortunates if they blow out a bad pumpkin, but remains asleep when they blow out a good pumpkin. He is played by Helen Evans.
Gameplay[]
The five Unfortunates must decide which pumpkins to blow out. The Saboteur's job is to persuade the other Unfortunates into choosing the bad pumpkins. If they blow out a bad pumpkin, the Crowman will scream and try to attack the Unfortunate who blew out the pumpkin, but if they blow out a good pumpkin, he will remain asleep. To pass the challenge, the Unfortunates must blow out three good pumpkins. But if they blow out three bad pumpkins, the challenge will be failed and regular voting will commence. At the start of the challenge, The Voice will tell the Saboteur which characteristic the bad pumpkins will have.
Saboteurs and Unfortunates Trapped[]
- Series 3, Episode 1 (Brixton) - The Saboteur was Jaydene. In it, the small pumpkins were bad. Jaydene successfully ruined the game, but got into a tied vote with John and drew the short straw, meaning she got trapped.
- Series 3, Episode 6 (Gateshead) - The Saboteur was Steeley. In it, the pumpkins with triangular eyes were bad. Steeley failed to sabotage the challenge and he was detected by the other Unfortunates for being too forceful.
- Series 3, Episode 9 (Walton) - The Saboteur was Emz. In it, the pumpkins with yellow on them were bad. Emz ruined the game and got away without getting a single vote. Joseph received 3 votes as Saboteur and got trapped. Emz was later trapped on Floor 2.
- Series 3, Episode 12 (Glasgow) - The Saboteur was Chloe. In it, the pumpkins with teeth were bad. Chloe failed to sabotage the challenge and she was detected by the other Unfortunates for disagreeing with their choices.
A good view of what the crowman looks like
Trivia[]
- Emz is the only saboteur to sabotage the challenge and remain undetected. but was later trapped in Floor 2, losing the Fight For Freedom to Leon. Thus, Joseph is the only Unfortunate trapped to not be the saboteur.
- Steeley is the only male Unfortunate to be chosen as Saboteur.
- Beware the Crowman is one of two challenges introduced in Series 3, the other is Giant Appetite.
- Additionally, it is both the only mental Floor 5 challenge and the only mental challenge introduced in Series 3.
- Despite being a male character, the Crowman is played by a woman (Helen Evans)
- Series 3, Episode 6 (Gateshead) is the only episode featuring this challenge to have a female Unfortunate escape the Tower.
- Beware the Crowman was teased in the trailer for the second series, even though it didn't appear until Series 3 (this is likely an error)
- Beware the Crowman is the only challenge in which the entire challenge takes place in perpetual darkness throughout.
- The ratio of boys to girls trapped in this challenge is 2:2. Additionally, the ratio of boys to girls chosen as the saboteur in this challenge is 1:3.