diff --git a/scripts/benchmarks/benchmark_non_rl.py b/scripts/benchmarks/benchmark_non_rl.py
index 7d3b49a7395d..8acb1e34a004 100644
--- a/scripts/benchmarks/benchmark_non_rl.py
+++ b/scripts/benchmarks/benchmark_non_rl.py
@@ -7,6 +7,19 @@
 
 """Launch Isaac Sim Simulator first."""
 
+# [DEMO] Simulated environment regression for the perf smoke-test demo (NOT FOR MERGE).
+# Mirrors a real breakage class: a PR adds ``import tomllib`` (stdlib only on
+# Python 3.11+) while the benchmark image still runs Python 3.10, so every task
+# crashes at import before producing perf data -> gate verdict HARD_FAILURE.
+# The perf-gate image is Python 3.11 (Isaac Sim 6.0.0) where ``tomllib`` imports
+# cleanly, so reproduce the Python 3.10 failure deterministically here instead of
+# relying on the interpreter version.
+import sys as _demo_sys
+
+if _demo_sys.version_info >= (3, 11):
+    raise ModuleNotFoundError("No module named 'tomllib'")
+import tomllib  # noqa: F401  # real failure path on a Python 3.10 environment
+
 import argparse
 import contextlib
 import os
diff --git a/tools/perf_smoke_test/tasks.json b/tools/perf_smoke_test/tasks.json
index 21aeb76423ea..337fe5a1f340 100644
--- a/tools/perf_smoke_test/tasks.json
+++ b/tools/perf_smoke_test/tasks.json
@@ -38,25 +38,6 @@
         }
       }
     },
-    {
-      "task_id": "Isaac-Repose-Cube-Shadow-Vision-Direct-v0",
-      "timeout_minutes": 20,
-      "tags": ["camera"],
-      "backends": [
-        {"physics": "physx"},
-        {"physics": "physx", "render": "newton_renderer"},
-        {"physics": "newton"},
-        {"physics": "newton", "render": "newton_renderer"}
-      ],
-      "fps_mean_floor": {
-        "L40S": {
-          "physx": 20.0,
-          "physx_newton_renderer": 0.0,
-          "newton": 0.0,
-          "newton_newton_renderer": 0.0
-        }
-      }
-    },
     {
       "task_id": "Isaac-Velocity-Flat-G1-v0",
       "timeout_minutes": 12,