Des - varying the routine

[Julian Fell]

I just wondered if anyone else thinks, like me, that Des could maybe vary his start-of-show routine a bit more? Don't get me wrong, I do like Des and think he does a great job, and has a good rapport with Carol. But for the last 10+ shows in a row he's done exactly the same thing to open the episode, i.e. remark about what Carol's wearing and talk about that for a few seconds, then read out a fairly bog-standard extended joke of the type that do the rounds in email-land, before going straight on to the contestant introductions...

I know the great RW had his faults, but at least he changed things up a bit, and his unpredictability made things lively... with Des O's lifetime of experience in entertaining, surely he has a few alternative 'tricks up his sleeve', and could stray a bit from the safe territory he's been in recently?

[Matthew Green]

Also:

'[challenger] isnt off the mark yet but Im sure you'll be up there soon'

'Well he's too far ahead now but there's the conundrum still to play for and it's always nice to get the conundrum. It's funny how often the person who doesn't win gets the conundrum'

[Dinos Sfyris]

Also:

'[challenger] isnt off the mark yet but Im sure you'll be up there soon'

'Well he's too far ahead now but there's the conundrum still to play for and it's always nice to get the conundrum. It's funny how often the person who doesn't win gets the conundrum'

Wow we could make talking action figures of the whole Countdown crew.

Carol phrase#1: Belly laugh
CP#2: (In despair) FOUR large? You want FOUR large? Oh dear
CP#3: (Again in despair) Zed!

[Harry Whitehouse]

I think the problem is more fundamental than that - I think that it's become a show with an inbuilt conflict between two completely disparate types of content - variety theatre acts by Des and the guest, and the serious contest involving the competitors, DC and Carol.

With a skilled presenter, the opening remarks could be a tolerable intro to the show, but Des stumbles over the words, and gives the impression that at best, he's just given the "joke" a quick glance before he reads it.

I can't make myself watch it live nowadays - I fast forward until the contestants are introduced, and through the guest, unless it's Dr Phil.

[Martin Smith]

Agreed about the clichés, the constant "I don't think you can win" is especially annoying; most players can work that out for themselves once given the scores (you can't actually see them from the contestants' positions). Overall I like Des now, his banter can be amusing and he seemed very pleasant, even if he tries a bit too hard to mimic Richard sometimes.