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He'd done perfectly up until Test Chamber 17.
GLaDOS didn't normally see this level of competence and efficiency. There was very little about his performance to insult--and that very little had to do with his physical appearance, rather than actual failure.
The Central Core paused for a moment to consider whether or not this was some cruel prank, that this test subject wasn't actually human. He was simply too perfect at Testing. After a while, she'd moved onto other tasks, rather than monitor him in progress. The man was such an eyesore, anyways.
The camera relayed news of the delay when he took longer than the average time it took to complete the chamber. Idly, she switched to observe him, and found the bald man clutching the metallic box with all the desperation of a dying man.
Embarrassing, she thought, before speaking over the intercom.
No one is stopping you from sitting there and starving to death. The test subject looked around wildly, before fixing his gaze on the camera. Really, keep going. It's possibly the best you've done so far. You are fantastic at sitting there and starving to death.
It was a lie. She felt a vague sense of--disappointment?--annoyance that he continued to sit and mope there. He could have done great things for science, that poor--hm. What was the subject's name? There was nothing better to do, so she looked it up. Jarvis [no last name given]. That was enough information for her.
Jarvis [no last name given], this is cruel. All your Companion Cube wishes to do is to assist you on the completion of Chamber 17. It would crush it to know that you've failed this test. Which it does. It just can't tell you, since it doesn't speak. GLaDOS watched Jarvis quietly, waiting for a response.
After a few minutes, he looked up from his cube and spoke. "But... she's saved my life so many times." Oh good. He'd assigned it a gender. Probably out of sexual inadequacy. That was put down in his notes, right under "unusual tattoos".
The Companion Cube is willing to give its life for you. But instead you decide to waste away, a slow death. What would the people of [subject's hometown] think? GLaDOS gave a mournful sigh, which elicited a more favorable response from the subject, as he began to regard the cube more resignedly.
"Well, I suppose I shouldn't disappoint my System. But--" The small 'but' tacked on irritated GLaDOS.
Put it in the furnace, Jarvis [no last name given], she ordered, and at last he stood shakily with the cube, gave it one mournful look, and tossed it in.
Satisfaction flooded her system, watching the scrawny bald man trudge to the next test. At last, Science could continue.