c4countdown

Ryan Lam

Philip A wrote: ↑Fri Aug 15, 2025 8:18 pm My opinion: the non-winners had tougher questions overall in Rounds 1 and 2.

Agree, and the painful Missing Vowels Round answer. Oh well, to make up, they got the easier wall in Round 3 imo.

Ryan Lam

Rachel's yawn in R6 is exactly what some of us feel when we get easy Numbers Round

Ryan Lam

Also, to comment on another post: I think it’s just guest captains now. Jon Richardson divorced last year and has since been focusing on other projects, so he won’t be on Catsdown as often as he used to (he’s not back next week). If you'd noticed, the term "Guest" was dropped already. It'...

Ryan Lam

Steve Hyde wrote: ↑Sun Jul 27, 2025 11:16 pm Anyone watch the new episode? I don't think the contestant audition process is quite as rigorous as for regular Countdown

One can only wonder if the staff just looks for those who are available on the day of filming...

Ryan Lam

Eagle-eyed viewers may have noticed that the "INCORRECT" reveal displayed a more compressed typeface and a smoother frame rate! Yes, I noticed this! I thought the font looked very similar to the one used when Countdown first transitioned over to the Digital Conundrum format five years ago!

Ryan Lam

Steve Hyde wrote: ↑Wed Jul 02, 2025 8:26 am Has there ever been a less-scrambled 9 than SPCEIATSE? 5 letters in the correct position and the other 4 right next to where they needed to be

I think TORNADOES from October 2021: https://wiki.apterous.org/Episode_7627

Was surprised neither contestant spotted this at the time

Ryan Lam

It's been two decades since the late Richard Whiteley's untimely passing, and today, we will know the 48th name to be inscribed on the trophy that is named after him. Also, I know Squid Game Season 3 was released literally hours on Netflix before this episode aired and everyone's flocking (or dying ...

Ryan Lam

What a fantastic Grand Final that was, congratulations to Rhys and the review will come on either on Saturday night or Sunday morning where I am! Btw, during the Prize Presentation, everyone was really telling the truth when they said Countdown put out a call to Welsh people last year on St. David's...

Ryan Lam

Congratulations to all who predicted Rhys would prevail despite all the close matches we saw! That was a nailbiting Grand Final all the way until nearly the end wasn't it? It was so difficult to choose out of these eight people, but to those who picked him, you saw he would win all the way, and you ...

Ryan Lam

This post is dedicated to the late Richard Whiteley, who passed away 20 years ago on the date this episode aired. It's hard to believe that he's gone for almost as long as how old my youngest brother is, and I'm sure he's looking down proudly, knowing that Countdown is in the good hands of the curr...

Ryan Lam

Consider this an International contest (that is, if you consider Wales to be a separate country from England vs the United Kingdom, don't get me started on this topic) where Rhys Jones is hoping to be the first Welsh Grand Champion since the late Huw Morgan back in March 1997 and Amy Berry aiming to...

Ryan Lam

I'm so glad all of us didn't have to wait 5.5 Years for two female contestants to appear in the same Finals match, and instead, just half a year later, we have the next one, with them vying for the last place in the Semi-Finals. Thanks Colin for also noting how Christine is the oldest Octochamp in t...

Ryan Lam

So many interesting things happened during the Introduction. Firstly, rediscovering the fact that Tim James did not meet Rachel Riley until now because Dr. Tom Crawford was the arithmetician throughout his eight matches. Secondly, we now know Tim's brother to be Dan Cartwright who appeared on the sh...

Ryan Lam

Well, this post is coming much, much later than expected as I was away on a three-day camping trip plus having been too tired to watch this episode over the weekend means that I was forced to wake up early and watch the repeat live even though I was on Apterous monitoring the chat (somewhat distract...

Ryan Lam

It's that time of the year again where the Top 8 battle out for the Series Champion! Cue Act 1 of 7 as per what Colin mentioned and as I've already said in the Predictions thread, it is so difficult to predict the final outcome next Friday, so let's go through each show one by one, one step at a tim...

Ryan Lam

Wow, the votes thus far (as expected) is very split as to who might be the winner. In fact, I'm starting to wonder if people are abstaining from voting because it's so difficult to predict this time round. Dang...

Ryan Lam

It's Mid-Year, and with an incredible finish by Amy Berry today, there's not enough Preliminaries to have another person squeeze into the Finalist list because even if someone wins all the way for the remaining six episodes until the Finals begin, they will simply carry on to Series 92 as per what w...

Ryan Lam

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Tue Jun 03, 2025 9:46 am It seems to have been generally quite a high standard recently, but without those Apterite super-highs.

Given the ODP Cull last year where many obscure words are now invalid, I would say we can expect these to occur more frequently now.

Ryan Lam

What's the longest streak of Conundrums being solved consecutively where at least someone gets points? So far, this is the 12th show where the conundrum has been solved consecutively

Ryan Lam

Just watched this episode, rare moment when the scoreboard was wrongly showing the scores at the end of Round 12!

Updated the Wiki with regards to this

Ryan Lam

First Episode to be recorded in 2025 as well if I might say too!

Ryan Lam

Just watched this episode, many similarities between Dr. Tom and Dr. Anne in terms of their habits and movements on-screen in placing the letters and numbers, although Dr. Tom definitely has the upper hand in terms of solving rounds. Coincidentally, the target in R14 was 114 and the maximum at that ...

Ryan Lam

Started watching in 2013 during the 30th Birthday Championship, but it was only in 2017 during Series 76 that I started watching full-time on a regular basis. Proud to say I haven't missed a single episode since

Ryan Lam

This is the episode I'm sure a lot of us have been waiting for, and as the year closes out, it's nice to see everyone come together again to watch the Grand Final in the Daily Chat. A great opening shot where the Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy is shown to the right, maybe that could be used for fu...

Ryan Lam

Spoiler for those who want to see the ending: https://youtu.be/6sUfhIulM4I (I rushed this out as fast as I could already). Full review to come after I wake up where I am

Ryan Lam

It's made it onto the news now! Amazing!

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9dp6lv1008o

Ryan Lam

What an epic finale that was, with Fiona Wood becoming our first female Grand Champion since 1998! I bet so many female finalists in the past few years who were watching this must be overwhelmed witnessing this moment. Nevermind to those that picked Chris Kirby, this last match was always going to g...

Ryan Lam

The call for more women to apply on the show is up again, and yes, I'm sure we want more inclusiveness when it comes to having more females appearing in the Finals rather than just one or none at all! Talk about style, Fiona's elegantly dressed here and the presenters are so obsessed with her hair, ...

Ryan Lam

What a nice reference or nod by the continuity announcer about the Pantomime anecdote given by Christopher Biggins later in the show, but can we have the Christmas idents back please? Chris has been quite busy juggling between Apterous and taking care of his son, while David has been busy practising...

Ryan Lam

Well when it comes to consistency on Countdown, I guess it's quite debatable because there was no Christmas ident to start the show plus the Teatime Teasers switched back to eight letters after just one day, not to mention the nougat issue from yesterday still being discussed. But, if there's one th...

Ryan Lam

The Christmas idents are up in the day, the studio has the decoration, the intro and Teatime Teasers have the snow effect, you guessed it, we're officially in the week before the most wonderful time of the year (hopefully!) The observant people will notice that there are lights installed on the deco...

Ryan Lam

Had a break myself over this weekend to prevent myself for burning out due to work-related stuff, and that's why this review is coming a bit late too. This was the match everyone was anticipating, and I bet there has never been a QF2 worth waiting for since Toby McDonald faced off Philip Aston way b...

Ryan Lam

Happy Holidays, but not just yet in the Countdown studio as the Christmas decorations are not up yet. Hey, everyone's wearing Christmas sweaters already, let's see if this trend continues for the other six episodes! Oh, it seems like we'll be treated to some Christmas Carolers again as per what Coli...

Ryan Lam

Tom S wrote: ↑Sat Dec 07, 2024 10:29 am Updated top 8- James Swinnerton couldn't make the finals due to a pre-planned holiday, so Neil Holland took his place. https://wiki.apterous.org/Series_90

Thanks for the inside info! I've updated the poll accordingly too!

Ryan Lam

Wow, with Chris Kirby managing to squeeze in at the end of the Series, there's simply not enough episodes to have another finalist after him on the table and with just three preliminaries to go, we now know who the final eight are now! (EDIT: Thanks to Tom Stevenson who informed us here that James S...

Ryan Lam

What a spooktacular episode that was. I only wished the intro music was the Catsdown Lightning Round music though...the conundrum clock sound effects, I am amazed David managed to get that tough one despite all that distraction :P I'll try and process my recording and upload a copy (or highlights if...

Ryan Lam

That horse may have bolted... I mean to be fair, it's better than leaving his photo and information up there on the Wiki and pretend nothing has happened given the story has already circulated across the nation in many media outlets, with most of them using that particular image. Who knows, they ma...

Ryan Lam

This has now been made public: John Cowen charged with stabbing at Blackpool tournament. Quick reminder to everyone, especially those who were there, not to post anything about the suspect or the incident which might prejudice the trial. Journalists know the complex laws about what is allowed to be...

Ryan Lam

It wouldn’t have been with comment on the show presumably because the shows were recorded before the piano arrangement was known. If you rewatch the intros of those five episodes carefully, you can hear the applause at the start doesn't blend in nicely with the piano arrangement with it being faded...

Ryan Lam

Six "O"s have gone, and we're down to the final two. What a unique Introduction by Colin as he chooses not to say "Hello" as one of his first words, and you know you're in for a treat when both Finalists are applauded individually; in my seven years of recapping episodes, I don't...

Ryan Lam

Congratulations, most of you were right once more with Arthur Page winning! I could see why so many people were rooting for Jessica and it was such a spectacular Semi-Final between her and Arthur. Shoutout specially to that one person who voted Michael Calder, you sure had foresight that he would ge...

Ryan Lam

My ISP has decided to be kind to me and allowed me to watch this episode live, although my review is coming much later as I’ve got work to settle still in reality! It’s Battle of the Nations today like I mentioned before, and after that painful exit by Scotland in the Euros due to Hungary’s late goa...

Ryan Lam

I’m not sure if Colin’s format by now is to keep the Intros short for the Finals so that more of what he has to say at the end of each of them can be aired, but it’s quite noticeable in the past few episodes now. Arthur who definitely was watching yesterday’s episode behind-the-scenes when Jessica w...

Ryan Lam

I'm sure some of us are counting down to the UK Election with just single digit days left (or maybe counting down how many days left till you go insane after Marcus Brigstocke's facts about clocks :lol: ), and after seeing the goalless draw between England and Slovenia which was teased hours after t...

Ryan Lam

Well, it seems my ISP has decided to rate limit my traffic speed and the buffering speed of the live stream on Channel 4 is awful now. Hence, I may have to end up watching the remaining Finals episodes late each time and my review will come late as a result. However, I hope to send it out before the...

Ryan Lam

Catching up with this episode was no easy feat for me given I had so many events to attend after my flight, not to mention making up for some lost time because of the delay. Nevertheless, I managed to watch this a few hours back and I'll try to keep up the pace! Congratulations to Jack as he prepare...

Ryan Lam

Finally, after a lengthy flight delay, I'm back home and I've just finished watching this episode as we prepare to wrap up the first half of 2024. Of course, what is a Series with a full house of eight Octochamps without consolations, commiserations especially to Charlotte Robson as per what Colin m...

Ryan Lam

^Yeah, I would say you can't automatically rule out others despite Arthur having a considerable lead in terms of points over Mark Finnerty. It's all to play for come Thursday. Btw, my recaps for Thursday and Friday will be considerably later than usual as I will be flying and will probably not have ...

Ryan Lam

Watching Colin plucking and throwing the roses during the Credits be like

Ryan Lam

What a great Series this has bene so far and of course, we were all waiting to see if Peter Young would be able to make history once more just like Series 81 and push someone off the Finals list, but sadly, with his loss on Tuesday and with just six more preliminaries to go this Series, we now know ...

Ryan Lam

In case anyone's wondering, the conundrum previously appeared earlier this Series on 29 January in the exact scrabble (Back then, James Hussey managed to solve it).

Hmm, when's the last time the same conundrum was used in the same series?

Ryan Lam

^Just watched the episode and I can agree, totally out of place but at least the outcome of who won would have never changed

Ryan Lam

Catching up on watching the episodes in the past two weeks...this is the first recorded episode of 2024

Ryan Lam

This episode was supposedly recorded on Monday, 04 December 2023 if what Colin said was true at the end of this episode. We should be seeing the first recorded episode of 2024 soon (For 2023, the 46th episode of the year (including CoC episodes) was the first one recorded). There must have been a br...

Ryan Lam

I wonder what they'd have done if she'd said something like "UNPOWD ... Oh no, GUNPOWDER". You are the ref . . . I think I'd have to say that she lost, and she shouldn't be able to profit by actually giving the answer away completely, so any sort of rerun would be wrong. Maybe just refilm...

Ryan Lam

What a packed Grand Final I was expecting and rightly so with lots more people than expected packing our Daily Chat on Apterous and it's great to see so many Finalists over many years coming together to watch this final, anticipated episode! I've had a cup of hot chocolate ready in my hands as well ...

Ryan Lam

Congratulations, almost all of you were right, Harry Savage won! Marvellous Grand Final to end a fantastic 2023!

Ryan Lam

Finally, Channel 4 has started airing their Christmas idents during the day, wonder what took them so long, but hey, I'm not complaining, better late than never right? :) Speaking about Christmas lights, it's those nice displays that always wow people and yes, Rachel did mention them in one of the S...

Ryan Lam

The holiday mood hasn't stopped here at Countdown, and people are travelling to all sorts of places to end the year (like me which is why I'm writing this a bit late). As we kick off the first Semi-Finals, today being "Go Caroling Day", Colin and Christopher are throwing hints at some sort...

Ryan Lam

As we venture closer to Christmas each day, the outfits the regulars are wearing on-screen gets more and more relevant to that. Susie's outfit reminds me of those waitresses serving at the bar and I'm sure those who are working out there will be busy for the next two weeks that's for sure! Interesti...

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