[20030313] Recap for Thursday 13th March 2003

[Charlie Reams]

Countdown recap for Thursday 13th March 2003: http://www.countdownwiki.com/Episode_3438

This is the final of the Ladies Championship.

C1: Challenger Hilary Hopper.
C2: Challenger Kate Ogilvie.
DC: Alison Heard and Rick Wakeman.
CV: Carol Vorderman.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: S H G R U I E L O
R02: R Y C E A D C E K
R03: T M F S I O I U X
R04: 50, 4, 2, 7, 3, 10. Target: 206.
R05: D S N O E I L V T
R06: T L R C O I E T A
R07: H N R I E U W A R
R08: 100, 3, 1, 9, 3, 10. Target: 455.
R09: G U M M T O N I C (conundrum)


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Round 1: S H G R U I E L O
C1: UGLIER (6)
C2: GLORIES (7)
DC: ROUGHIES (8)
Score: 0–7 (max 8)

Round 2: R Y C E A D C E K
C1: ACCEDE (6)
C2: RACKED (6)
DC: CRACKED (7) CREAKED (7)
Score: 6–13 (max 15)

Round 3: T M F S I O I U X
C1: OMITS (5)
C2: MISFIT (6)
DC: MISFIT (6)
OT: FIXITS (6) MOTIFS (6) MUFTIS (6) OSTIUM (6)
Score: 6–19 (max 21)

Round 4: 50, 4, 2, 7, 3, 10. Target: 206.
C1: 206.50x4+3x2 (10)
C2: 206.50x4+3x2 (10)
Score: 16–29 (max 31)

Round 5: D S N O E I L V T
C1: violents
C2: NOVELIST (8)
DC: VIOLETS (7)
Score: 16–37 (max 39)

Round 6: T L R C O I E T A
C1: creator
C2: ARTICLE (7)
DC: RICOTTA (7) TRIOLET (7)
OT: TECTORIAL (18)
Score: 16–44 (max 57)

Round 7: H N R I E U W A R
C1: WARREN (6)
C2: WHIRR (5)
DC: WHINER (6) WAHINE (6)
OT: HERNIA (6) WARIER (6) WARNER (6) WHENUA (6)
Score: 22–44 (max 63)

Round 8: 100, 3, 1, 9, 3, 10. Target: 455.
C1: 455.(100-9)X(3+3-1) (10)
C2: 452.
Score: 32–44 (max 73)

Round 9: G U M M T O N I C
C2 buzzes on 13 seconds to say COMMUTING which is correct.
Score: 32–54 (max 83)


Further summaries are at:
http://www.thecountdowncorral.com/cd/se ... ?series=49

[Jon O'Neill]

3 letters maxes between them in the final.. It's like I've always said: women belong in Dictionary Corner.

[Charlie Reams]

Surely you mean "the kitchen", you massive sexist.

[Martin Smith]

It's interesting that women rarely do well on the show these days. Is it just the sheer amount of 'swotting up' that some of the guys do?

[David O'Donnell]

There may be some truth in this, Martin. Although I have tended to do quite well prior to joining this site or its previous incarnation, I have had the opportunity to play against some really strong players which really pushes to improve your game. I haven't a formal regimen for practice but I will try and play as many online games as possible or games against a computer.

[Julian Fell]

Women have always lagged behind men in terms of Countdown achievement, but I think the gap has grown much bigger since the 15-round era started. Some stats for the 15-round era, which began 6 and a quarter years, and 12 series, ago:

- No woman has won a series (last to win a 9-round series was Kate Ogilvie in December 1998)
- Only two women have reached a series grand final: Grace Page in series 48 and Anita Freeland in series 56
- Apart from those two, only one other woman (Jean Webby) has reached a series semi-final
- In the two Championships of Champions to be played so far, only one woman (Loz Sands) has got past the first round, and none has got past the second round
- No woman has been no. 1 seed for her series
- Only two female octochamps since July 2002
- Only one octochamp total over 800 points by a woman (Grace Page's 829; next highest is Wendy Roe with 781)

Martin, yes I think it's definitely down to the swotting-up/nerdiness issue. Basically, to be very good at Countdown you usually have to be quite obsessive and prepared to do a fair bit of regular practice. No women are nerdy enough to do this. I think the difference between the sexes has been accentuated by the change to 15 rounds because the longer format favours those who are more consistent, which will usually be those who have done more practice; also there is David's point that the online Countdown community (which has basically only come into play since the 15-round era began) has helped a lot of players tone up and improve before going on the show - but it's an almost exclusively male community.

Any more thoughts from anyone on this issue?

[David O'Donnell]

I think we could be a little nicer to the ladies who do join here. The msn chat-rooms tend to be no place for a lady, apart from Corby, and I am as responsible for lowering the tone as anybody ... ahem ... perhaps more so.

[Julian Fell]

Yes well said Mr O'Donnell... how many women members of the forum are there? Karen Pearson... who else?

Another point which I didn't make before: the most recent CofC, generally acknowledged as the best ever, didn't feature a single female participant!

So yes I think exceptional female contestants are going to be even rarer now than they were before, sadly... there was one lady in the 9-round era who got an octochamp total of 500+, Lucy Roberts - 500 points then being roughly equivalent to 900 points now - so maybe we will see a brilliant lady one day. I'm not holding my breath though. I did think Gayle at the beginning of this series would be an octochamp and would challenge Grace's record total, but it wasn't to be, alas...

[Charlie Reams]

The generally under-rated Nicole Hutchens gave Stewart Holden a real scare in his quarter-final... I'd say she's the best female contestant I've seen since I started watching circa Series 50.

[Jon Corby]

Christine Armstrong would've knocked me out of the finals had she not made a very uncharacteristic miscalculation in the final numbers game as well.

[Julian Fell]

The generally under-rated Nicole Hutchens gave Stewart Holden a real scare in his quarter-final... I'd say she's the best female contestant I've seen since I started watching circa Series 50.

Yes... although Stewart did miss quite a lot in that game. But yes she's a decent player. June Mitchell gave me a very close game in my octochamp run, until Graham Nash came along she was the only player who really came close to beating me.

Anyway I hope we'll see some ladies in the next CofC - I imagine Anita Freeland is prob guaranteed a place, and Jean Webby should be there as well. Can't really see either of them winning more than one round though... come on girls show us what you're made of!

[Gavin Chipper]

Natascha Kearsey is is the only female CofC winner, and while all her scores were pretty average, she did seem to up her game when she beat Scott Mearns.

Also first game loser Linda Dawe racked up an impressive 126 against Melanie Beaumont in a special. I wonder if she would have carried that on given another chance (I don't mean literally carried on at 126 a game).

[Gavin Chipper]

So yes I think exceptional female contestants are going to be even rarer now than they were before, sadly... there was one lady in the 9-round era who got an octochamp total of 500+, Lucy Roberts - 500 points then being roughly equivalent to 900 points now

504 was a pretty good total, but nothing like 900. It comes to about 825 on the 18:11 ratio, but you could round it up to 850 if you were being generous.