c4countdown

There was some guy on C4's "First Dates" last night who was impressing his date by saying he had been on Countdown. He said it was in the last few years (with Rachel) and he was the double of Alan Carr. Anyone know who he is? I literally caught that minute of the show so I have no idea if he got his leg over on the back of this brag.

Jon Corby wrote:There was some guy on C4's "First Dates" last night who was impressing his date by saying he had been on Countdown. He said it was in the last few years (with Rachel) and he was the double of Alan Carr. Anyone know who he is? I literally caught that minute of the show so I have no idea if he got his leg over on the back of this brag.

Having had a look at every Jon/John/Jonny/Johnny (his name was Jonny) since Series 60 (although he did say 4 years ago, so I mainly focused on the early side), and knowing the fact he was from Norwich, I can't work out who he is.

And no, he didn't pull.

James Robinson wrote:

Jon Corby wrote:There was some guy on C4's "First Dates" last night who was impressing his date by saying he had been on Countdown. He said it was in the last few years (with Rachel) and he was the double of Alan Carr. Anyone know who he is? I literally caught that minute of the show so I have no idea if he got his leg over on the back of this brag.

Having had a look at every Jon/John/Jonny/Johnny (his name was Jonny) since Series 60 (although he did say 4 years ago, so I mainly focused on the early side), and knowing the fact he was from Norwich, I can't work out who he is.

And no, he didn't pull.

Do you think he lies that he was on Countdown to try and get girls? Or changed his name for this show? I'm intrigued now.

Jon Corby wrote:

James Robinson wrote:

Jon Corby wrote:There was some guy on C4's "First Dates" last night who was impressing his date by saying he had been on Countdown. He said it was in the last few years (with Rachel) and he was the double of Alan Carr. Anyone know who he is? I literally caught that minute of the show so I have no idea if he got his leg over on the back of this brag.

Having had a look at every Jon/John/Jonny/Johnny (his name was Jonny) since Series 60 (although he did say 4 years ago, so I mainly focused on the early side), and knowing the fact he was from Norwich, I can't work out who he is.

And no, he didn't pull.

Do you think he lies that he was on Countdown to try and get girls? Or changed his name for this show? I'm intrigued now.

Does seem a unique reason to chat up someone

I noticed a comedy show on BBC iPlayer with the Countdown set in the background of the representative still image. The Countdown sketch begins at 13:17.

Adam Gillard wrote:I noticed a comedy show on BBC iPlayer with the Countdown set in the background of the representative still image. The Countdown sketch begins at 13:17.

It is the new years eve special of Scottish comedy show Only An Excuse?

The two rounds played are:
GINMENIPK
and
75 50 100 25 9 2 = 269

Some nice Countdown gags too.

Countdown personalities part of one of the walls on Monday's Only Connect (BBC2 20:30 19th Jan).

Question on Eggheads S16p21 today:

Which TV show regularly involves asking for vowels and consonants? Countdown, Mastermind or University Challenge?

Tony Atkins wrote:Question on Eggheads S16p21 today:

Which TV show regularly involves asking for vowels and consonants? Countdown, Mastermind or University Challenge?

I'm guessing Countdown from the forum you posted it in, but then again you might have posted this in a Mastermind and University Challenge forum as well!

Gavin Chipper wrote:

Tony Atkins wrote:Question on Eggheads S16p21 today:

Which TV show regularly involves asking for vowels and consonants? Countdown, Mastermind or University Challenge?

I'm guessing Countdown from the forum you posted it in, but then again you might have posted this in a Mastermind and University Challenge forum as well!

I think it's a trick question - the real answer is Blockbusters.

Hi, I can't see this being mentioned anywhere else so I will do so here and apologies if I've missed it! During a mid-session interval of a match at the World Snooker Championship at the weekend, John Parrott was interviewing Nick Hewer over a 'sort of' frame of snooker, when Countdown was mentioned - obviously. Anyway JP said how much enjoys the show and gave more than a hint that he would like to be back on. Nick suggested that he would try to do something about it. If it happens it will be good as JP is one of my fave DC guests tbh.

The Lost Art of the TV Theme on Radio 4 this morning featured an interview with Alan Hawkshaw, writer of the Countdown theme.

Surprised this wasn't mentioned at the time, but I saw a Gogglebox repeat from a few weeks ago on All4, first shown in October of last year. It featured a Countdown episode. One of our very own George Ford's games. Surprisingly, they didn't show any numbers games.

Come On Down! The Game Show Story on ITV right now just had a bit on Countdown and it changing the role of women as hosts on TV shows.

Hollyoaks is on, and a bloke just wandered into a room where a girl is watching Countdown - you can hear the music playing but not see the screen. "INTIMACY" he says - she looks confused - he points at the screen. "INTIMACY, come on, you usually get all the good words before me."
































IT WAS THE FUCKING TITLES MUSIC PLAYING, NOT THE ROUND MUSIC, YOU APPALLING CUNTS. How difficult is it to get that right?

Might've been the teatime teaser, especially since it was 8 letters.

Mark Deeks wrote:Might've been the teatime teaser, especially since it was 8 letters.

Nope, was the full 30 seconds. I was literally shaking with rage.

Write them a letter. A sternly worded letter. On stiff card.

In the car this morning I had on Radio Cornwall and they were talking about a guy who is "obsessed with numbers" and when he was young he wanted to go a different way home from school everyday so he could write down the numbers on lampposts and keep a list.
They went on to say that his mother (I think) later found in his bedroom that he had loads of notepads in which he had written down all the numbers games from the TV show Countdown and every possible solution to them.
I didn't catch his name or why it was being mentioned today.

How did his mother ascertain that he had written down every possible solution? Sounds like a highly dubious claim.

Philip Wilson wrote:In the car this morning I had on Radio Cornwall and they were talking about a guy who is "obsessed with numbers" and when he was young he wanted to go a different way home from school everyday so he could write down the numbers on lampposts and keep a list.
They went on to say that his mother (I think) later found in his bedroom that he had loads of notepads in which he had written down all the numbers games from the TV show Countdown and every possible solution to them.
I didn't catch his name or why it was being mentioned today.

Did you get any information about where he lived? We need to kidnap him and interrogate him to try to extract Series 1 results.

I'll see if I can find out more from the station's facebook page!
Isn't there a programme recappers here use that gives solutions with their percentage difficulty?
Maybe he has access to that! Maybe he is on this forum?

Question on Only Connect on 5th October - what connects?
Whitehall
Inverted T
It was solved at this point by Richard Heald, who then revealed he was the last Octochamp of the Richard Whiteley period
(he was semifinalist in series 53).

Tony Atkins wrote:Question on Only Connect on 5th October - what connects?
Whitehall
Inverted T
It was solved at this point by Richard Heald, who then revealed he was the last Octochamp of the Richard Whiteley period
(he was semifinalist in series 53).

So what's the Whitehall then?

Ian Volante wrote:

Tony Atkins wrote:Question on Only Connect on 5th October - what connects?
Whitehall
Inverted T
It was solved at this point by Richard Heald, who then revealed he was the last Octochamp of the Richard Whiteley period
(he was semifinalist in series 53).

So what's the Whitehall then?

1212. Have you never watched Countdown?

Gavin Chipper wrote:

Ian Volante wrote:

Tony Atkins wrote:Question on Only Connect on 5th October - what connects?
Whitehall
Inverted T
It was solved at this point by Richard Heald, who then revealed he was the last Octochamp of the Richard Whiteley period
(he was semifinalist in series 53).

So what's the Whitehall then?

1212. Have you never watched Countdown?

Not much this century. Why is that a Whitehall?

Ian Volante wrote:

Gavin Chipper wrote:1212. Have you never watched Countdown?

Not much this century. Why is that a Whitehall?

Because.

Well there you go. I'll file that under things I'm surprised I didn't know, but aren't particularly sad about.

Yes, my filing system has some grammatical problems.

Ian Volante wrote:Well there you go. I'll file that under things I'm surprised I didn't know, but aren't particularly sad about.

To be fair, if you weren't watching in the latter half Richard Whiteley era, you could well have missed it (I stand to be corrected but it's barely used these days - and usually only by older contestoids).

JimBentley wrote:

Ian Volante wrote:Well there you go. I'll file that under things I'm surprised I didn't know, but aren't particularly sad about.

To be fair, if you weren't watching in the latter half Richard Whiteley era, you could well have missed it (I stand to be corrected but it's barely used these days - and usually only by older contestoids).

That might explain it - I got sick of his wittering some time in the late 90s, and my viewing withered away gradually after that.

It would have been fun if they'd used that question on our show, Ian.

Jon Stitcher wrote:It would have been fun if they'd used that question on our show, Ian.

Aye - would you have got it on 5?

Funnily enough, whilst viewing this episode of OC, "ways of picking Countdown numbers" was my first guess as soon as "Whitehall" appeared. I would never have risked it for 5 points had I been on the show.

Ian Volante wrote:

Jon Stitcher wrote:It would have been fun if they'd used that question on our show, Ian.

Aye - would you have got it on 5?

No, 3. When I was watching it at home I saw Whitehall and thought 1 2 1 2 because of Countdown and then did exactly what Richard did and laughed when the second clue came up.

It just would have been fun explaining how half the contestants on that episode have Countdown teapots.

While we wait eagerly for Quiz Family Robinson to appear on Eggheads, along come the team Words in Action, with
captain Frances and Ann from the Edinburgh Countdown club, togther with Scrabble and Bridge friends of Frances.
Watch the show for Monday 9th November to find out how they did.

BUMHOLE mentioned on Have I Got News For You...

So, more of a mention there, then when Nick was on the show 3 weeks ago...

BUMHOLE also on Gogglebox yesterday.

Tim Down wrote:BUMHOLE also on Gogglebox yesterday.

what else is new?

A clip of one of Matty Artell's episodes was featured on It'll be Alright on the Night earlier. Sadly, I was watching it in a bar without sound, but it must have been Nick's "Rachel's gagging for a hard one" comment after an easy numbers game appeared (following several others earlier in the day). I know because I was there and it was hilarious.

Jack Worsley wrote:A clip of one of Matty Artell's episodes was featured on It'll be Alright on the Night earlier. Sadly, I was watching it in a bar without sound, but it must have been Nick's "Rachel's gagging for a hard one" comment after an easy numbers game appeared (following several others earlier in the day). I know because I was there and it was hilarious.

But Denis Norden is 94!

Apparently one of the games was on gogglesprogs tonight? I'll let someone else expand...

It was my game against Angus Eady. Showed me picking letters and him declaring PANTIES. Then I choose 6 small and Rach solves it with 57 x 13 or something like that. Someone said it showed me getting the conundrum but I didn't see that.

The jokes were: the kids not understanding the rules, how smart Rachel is, the kids mostly not being able to make it past 4 letters apart from PENIS and PANTIES, and the clock not going the whole way round. It's not a good show, it's so blatant that it's mostly scripted.

Susie Dent is on Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast this week.

Edward McCullagh wrote:Susie Dent is on Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast this week.

Interesting! I'll not comment until I've listened to it but I'd be prepared to place a fairly large bet that he'll reach for his "emergency questions" early on. I still like the guy but the quality control on these podcasts has been so hit and miss that this could either be brilliant, or cringingly awful and embarrassing for everyone concerned.

Susie was on The Museum of Curiosity on Radio 4 yesterday.

They talk about Countdown for a bit, about seven minutes in. John Lloyd mentions that "they did a pilot in America, in 1990, of Countdown. Each contestant had a celebrity partner, they had wildcard letter tiles, no numbers round at all, a jackpot of $25,000 if you got a nine letter word, and if you won five shows in a row you won a car. Producers rejected it because they said it was too brainy for the audience."

I've read about the American pilot show before, but later I'd been led to believe it was an urban legend. Could it be true?

Graeme Cole wrote:Susie was on The Museum of Curiosity on Radio 4 yesterday.

They talk about Countdown for a bit, about seven minutes in. John Lloyd mentions that "they did a pilot in America, in 1990, of Countdown. Each contestant had a celebrity partner, they had wildcard letter tiles, no numbers round at all, a jackpot of $25,000 if you got a nine letter word, and if you won five shows in a row you won a car. Producers rejected it because they said it was too brainy for the audience."

I've read about the American pilot show before, but later I'd been led to believe it was an urban legend. Could it be true?

Yes, it was true to a point. The bit about the lack of numbers games is bollocks (there was a similar word-based show on at the time; the numbers games were the thing that were meant to distinguish the newbie 'Countdown'). The nine letter word thing was like on Pointless, it added an amount to the daily prize. There was a cash prize for a day, a minimum $1000, plus your score in dollars and any other bonuses (9 letter words added $100 and I think you got an extra $100 for using all the numbers to solve the numbers game for some reason); I think the $25,000 figure was going to be the grand prize for winning the series). There was a conundrum but for some reason it was only eight letters long (the normal letters rounds were 9 letters, so fuck knows what that was about) and was only worth 5 points.

I think they only recorded the single pilot (at least, I've not seen any other editions) and I'm not even sure if it was ever aired in the USA. But yes, it did happen.

As an irrelevant addendum, I'm finding John Lloyd increasingly insufferably smug. Maybe he's going senile?

The American pilot is definitely true, but the only detail I can remember is that one of the celebrity partners was Woody Harrelson, which is pretty big news (and was back then as it was when Cheers was on).

I think Susie Dent is going to be in Not Going Out at 9:00 this evening.

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Fri Feb 10, 2017 8:48 pm I think Susie Dent is going to be in Not Going Out at 9:00 this evening.

Yes, just got round to watching her cameo role! I thought she came over really well, much more natural than Emma Bunton! Well done Susie.

Repeat of the episode tonight on BBC1 at 10.35

Countdown mentioned on Pointless yesterday as a possible nominee for a 2017 TV BAFTA...(would’ve been nice )

Radio Shuttleworth, featuring special guest Richard Whiteley, is currently available on the iPlayer:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jqcl

The show was mentioned briefly on BBC One's !mpossible Gameshow yesterday afternoon (31 July 2018). The question was "Which soap opera on Channel 4 was the first ever show to be broadcast on the channel?" to which it's Impossible because Countdown was the first show; Elaine the contestant answered "Brookside". While it's true that it was the first ever soap opera on Channel 4, it's not the first ever program to be broadcast on that channel on 2 November 1982. (P.S. Maybe let Rick Edwards finish the question before buzzing in but who cares, she won £1200 in the end.)

Countdown just appeared twice on a tribute show hosted by Denis Norden on ITV tonight, previously shown in 2007.
First was Carol picking out letters when a hand appeared among them watched by Richard, and later Paul Zenon doing a trick on Des Lynam and saying "oh s**t". Carol and contestants visible in that clip.

The show was mentioned once again briefly on BBC One's !mpossible Gameshow this afternoon (08 May 2019). The question was "On which programme on Channel 4 did Harvey Dent become the Resident Lexicographer in 1992?" to which it's Impossible because as we all know, Susie's the one. Cat, the contestant, unfortunately did not spot the glaring error and went on to lose the Round and was eliminated.

Ryan Lam wrote: ↑Wed May 08, 2019 3:38 pm The show was mentioned once again briefly on BBC One's !mpossible Gameshow this afternoon (08 May 2019). The question was "On which programme on Channel 4 did Harvey Dent become the Resident Lexicographer in 1992?" to which it's Impossible because as we all know, Susie's the one. Cat, the contestant, unfortunately did not spot the glaring error and went on to lose the Round and was eliminated.

And also, she wasn't the "Resident" lexicographer in 1992, it wasn't until 2004 that she was the definitive resident.

Countdown question on today's Fifteen to One.

"In 2014, which former co-host of the quiz show Countdown became the first woman to win 'Rear of the Year' award for a second time?"

[quote="Fiona T" post_id=182604 time=1560542210 user_id=91185

Ashton Hancock is an idiot
[/quote]

Thanks Fiona thanks a lot

Ashton Hancock wrote: ↑Sat Jun 15, 2019 7:01 pm [quote="Fiona T" post_id=182604 time=1560542210 user_id=91185

Ashton Hancock is an idiot

Thanks Fiona thanks a lot
[/quote]


For the avoidance of doubt, Ashton's quote is entirely fictitious. However, the sentiment appears to be sound.

And yet another thread is sidetracked to ensure Ashton is the centre of attention.