Countdown for Comic Relief

All discussion relevant to Countdown that is not too spoilerific. New members: come here first to introduce yourself. We don't bite, or at least rarely.
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Graeme Cole
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Graeme Cole »

Matt Morrison wrote:I'm in there but not signed in, too lazy to sign up to Justin, sure I used to have an account back in the day for football streaming but can't seem to see details.
Ah right. I wondered how you could reply to what I'm saying in there in here.

Anyway, I've made it sans-serif. Didn't take Matt Bayfield's suggestion to Comic Sansify it all. :-)
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Matt Morrison »

Sorry everyone. I have made this the worst thread ever. I'll sign up to Justin again.
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Adam Gillard »

Pre-marathon:

Image
Image
Image
Mike Brown: "Round 12: T N R S A E I G U

C1: SIGNATURE (18) ["9; not written down"]
C2: SEATING (7)
Score: 108–16 (max 113)

Another niner for Adam and yet another century. Well done, that man."
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Matt Morrison »

I love it when people lean into photos where no leaning is required.
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Jon Corby
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Jon Corby »

For the unaware - RACH IS IN DA HOUSE.

She arrived about 90 mins ago and is hosting. Think she's planning to stay until the end!
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Rhys Benjamin »

Rachel Twitter watch:

"An actual #CountdownMarathon round SEXUMORE #25hours Upped it to £50 per 9 letter word, could be expensive! http://pic.twitter.com/SYj97OhHDp"

So, in case you missed that, that's, from now, £50 per 9 letter word.
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Andy Platt »

It's a crucial. No fixes. Score after 449 rounds: Mark Deeks 3116 – 3118 Innis Carson
http://greem.co.uk/cgi-bin/caper/viewga ... e=marathon

They're playing out the crucial on the main stage any minute now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--Z8Gkz0pq8

Edit: scramble WERELAPSE
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Jon O'Neill
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Jon O'Neill »

This was fucking ace. Well done guys.
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Grant Waters
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Grant Waters »

EPIC

Well done guys.

I wanted to say "82nd Numbers Alt....." ;-)
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Jon O'Neill »

Grant Waters wrote:EPIC

Well done guys.

I wanted to say "82nd Numbers Alt....." ;-)
:D
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Jennifer Steadman »

That was LITERALLY - no exaggeration or hyperbole - the best thing ever.
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Mark Deeks
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Mark Deeks »

Fucking amazing.
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Graeme Cole
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Graeme Cole »

So we've just had the final of the greatest Countdown tournament ever made, on the same day as this marathon 25-hour 450-round game.

I'd have expected exactly one of these games to go to a crucial conundrum.

This did happen, but it was not the one I expected.

Before the game, Mark, Innis, Zarte and I were discussing how many points the conundrum should be. Obviously for purity's sake you'd want to stick with ten, but for a stage show where the final conundrum is done on the main stage, it's preferable for everyone involved if the conundrum is crucial. So someone suggested making it the difference in scores plus one. Then we thought about scaling it up from 10 in proportion to the number of rounds played. I think near the start of the game they settled on making it the nearest round number above the final difference in scores, so it wouldn't look too obviously like it had been fudged. And as it happened, they didn't need to do any of that - we were fortunate enough to see a "genuine" crucial. Mark Watson even told the crowd "we thought about rigging it - but we don't need to!"

Even when Mark and Innis had been playing for 23 hours, they were still finding words longer than mine. I watched it for about two hours last night, followed the rounds on the web page at various points in the day, and watched the video feed all of this evening. I think the number of rounds where I actually found a word that beat both players can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

Out of 450 rounds, Mark maxed 359 (278 letters, 81 numbers) and Innis maxed 357 (280 letters, 76 numbers). I'll post some more stats soon, including some kind of graph of performance over time, but it doesn't look like there's much variation. These guys are good, even having not slept for a day. I'm away for most of this weekend though, so might not get the chance to do it for a while. If anyone wants the raw data to mine for themselves, there's a CSV file here and a brief explanation here. Numbers methods weren't entered in, because that's too much faff. Also I've been experimenting with JSON recently, and I don't know if the game data in JSON format is useful to anyone, but if so, there it is. If you look at it, it should be reasonably obvious what all the object names mean.

At one point Mark was 60 behind. To beat Innis on even one round is hard enough, but to come back from that far behind, even taking the lead near the end, is something else. Even better, at about 8pm after Rachel had done some Countdowny things on stage, she went to the back room where the game was going on, and hosted all the remaining rounds. Yes, really. I don't think any of us actually asked her to, she just turned up. Huge thanks to Rachel for taking the time to do that, and for such a great cause. I and a load of others watched it all on the webcam, and furthermore we can all confirm that Mark's right shoulder is huge and roughly the size and shape of half a video frame.

When they went on stage for the final conundrum, with the score at Mark 3116, Innis 3118, there was some confusion about how they'd do the buzzer. Eventually Zarte came up with the idea of using opposite ends of a piano. This made Innis's buzz sound like, as someone put it, some kind of death chord. Congratulations to both of you on completing such a huge achievement, and thanks to Zarte, who sat there typing in all the round details for an entire day. You've given us 25 hours of entertainment, the longest Countdown game ever played, a day that will be remembered for many years, and most importantly, look at all of that money that it raised.
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Mark Deeks
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Mark Deeks »

Couldn't care less about losing. Perfect day. Perfect. Just spesh.
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Graeme Cole
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Graeme Cole »

Oh, one more thing: it was featured on Radio 4's PM today. Starts at 42:20.
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Brilliant. Well done guys.
Graeme Cole wrote:Before the game, Mark, Innis, Zarte and I were discussing how many points the conundrum should be. Obviously for purity's sake you'd want to stick with ten, but for a stage show where the final conundrum is done on the main stage, it's preferable for everyone involved if the conundrum is crucial. So someone suggested making it the difference in scores plus one. Then we thought about scaling it up from 10 in proportion to the number of rounds played. I think near the start of the game they settled on making it the nearest round number above the final difference in scores, so it wouldn't look too obviously like it had been fudged. And as it happened, they didn't need to do any of that - we were fortunate enough to see a "genuine" crucial. Mark Watson even told the crowd "we thought about rigging it - but we don't need to!"
Although I think the idea of a stupid number of points for the conundrum would have rendered the competition part of it meaningless. Why bother? Why not allow the player with the most points to just win?
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Chris Philpot »

Gavin Chipper wrote:I think the idea of a stupid number of points for the conundrum would have rendered the competition part of it meaningless. Why bother? Why not allow the player with the most points to just win?
I'd guess because of the need to play out the conundrum in front of a live audience. We purists would know the 'true' result, but it would add to the excitement for those present in the room. Not that it came to pass.

Superb effort from Innis, Mark (his aforementioned right shoulder notwithstanding), Zarte and of course Graeme who made following the match online a pleasure. I hope you are all tucked up in your werelapse and enjoying a well earned 450 winks!
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Thomas Cappleman »

Well done to all involved - between this and the final surely the greatest day of Countdown ever!
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Mark Deeks
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Mark Deeks »

Thanks muchly to the 130 people who donated, most of whom are on here! We raised £2,530, which was £1,530 greater than our initial target, and even that was one we thought was ambitious. If anyone out there wanted to donate, but didn't/couldn't do it in time, you can still do it now. Or ever, in fact. Comic Relief doesn't stop just because we went to bed. Do what you can. I believe in the value of what we did and I hope you do too. Heartfelt thanks.

The whole day was perfect, and nothing short of it. Especially the game. It was remarkably close, and done so legitimately - we had had lengthy discussions as to what the final stage conundrum should be worth points wise, in anticipation of the margin of difference at that time being greater than the usual ten, but it amazingly wasn't. The three of us had various different up-and-down stretches in our mood and our fatigue, as evidenced in the scoring, and although Innis led for much of it - he actually led the whole way from 2.06am until the end, except for the ONE GLORIOUS MINUTE THAT WAS 10.46PM - it was always close. (Except when I was down 60. But even then, there were hours in which to turn it around. And I did.) It made for a perfect exhibition of Countdown. And that, really, was what we wanted. If people like and respect Countdown more because of what we did, it was worth it.

But there was more to our day than our game. We did all kinds of interviews and photo shoots for all kinds of people - BBC Comedy, Radio 4, Comic Relief, some print stuff; we even signed release forms like proper celebrities - and met all kinds of people. All the celebrities who were there, and our various interactions with them, as well as all the other participants and audience members with whom there is now a weird yet eternal kinship. In doing so, we told a great story, raised great money, and hopefully made great PR for the show that we have gotten so much from. The whole atmosphere was so familial, which will always be remembered as the best bit. There's a reason people like Rachel were able to be lured in - that wasn't so much an audience as a group of friends.

(And incidentally, god bless Rachel for doing this. Not just the money, but actually staying to host. My God. We had no idea she was coming, and when she did, we thought she was just paying lip service and would give a look around before leaving. But she stayed, hosted, and contributed £205. And she didn't have to do a damn thing. Special stuff. And she was even watching the stream beforehand! See, she doesn't hate me really.)

The event was amazing, and to be a part of something so fun and so big (nearly £60,000 was raised last night) was so rewarding. Words like rewarding are overused to the point they are cliche, but that shit was so freaking rewarding and you can't ever tell us otherwise. The fact that we got so many cool stories out of it too - I, for example, got to smack Rufus Hound on the arse, and Zarte both met and got comped tickets from his hero, the amazingly wonderful Adam Hills - made for a frankly perfect day that could not have gone better.

Special thanks, as ever, to Graeme, without whom us three could not have done it. I'll bring your Mathsatron back at Reading. Special thanks also to the staff at the theatre, who never let us want for anything. Admittedly we were freaking cold, but it wasn't for their lack of trying. We were fed, nurtured and (most importantly) checked up on throughout. Their interest in our welfare, combined with the moment at 7am in the morning when Watson brought the entire crowd to our room to watch us play, made the whole bit about being in a separate room worthwhile. It was really great, honestly.

And we love you Heather Styles.


The interview we did for BBC Comedy can be found below, as can the bit we did for Radio 4. Also attached is the scoring recap. Notice the oscillations in our performance. It was tough in there, but we're proud of it all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P89V92bD4eM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qskw
http://greem.co.uk/countdownmarathon



PS - As was probably obvious, we had internet trouble. The Wifi was wildly overused, and also died for three hours. Although we ended up getting a wired connection, the wire kept falling out, and the BBC were using it so much that the speed was God awful. This is why the feed was so low quality - sorry, but it couldn't be helped. Also, so much was going on, particularly in the last few hours, that we never had opportunity to respond to all your chat messages, emails, Facebook, tweets and texts, but know that it was all read. And for all those who moaned that all you could see for my last hour was my shoulder - WE WERE KIND OF BUSY AND DIDN'T NOTICE. SORRY. But let none of that detract. It was still awesome.
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Zarte Siempre
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Zarte Siempre »

So sleepy. Even now. So so sleepy.

Honestly though, probably the best experience of my life.

I'll be writing my full personal review at some point :)

Thanks to Mark especially though, for coming up with the idea, and then allowing me to get involved.
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Rhys Benjamin »

Mark Deeks wrote:The BBC were using it so much that the speed was God awful.
You now have no excuses not to read the Daily Mail.
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Michael Wallace
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Michael Wallace »

For which rounds did Rachel host? I'm doing some stats and figure it would be fun to see if there was a Rachel effect.
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Ben Wilson »

Michael Wallace wrote:For which rounds did Rachel host? I'm doing some stats and figure it would be fun to see if there was a Rachel effect.
393 onwards I think, there was a large gap where Rachel was on stage doing something with the maths guy they had there and Mark, Innis & Zarte were watching, then led Rachel back into their dungeon where she hosted the remining rounds.
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Graeme Cole
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Graeme Cole »

Michael Wallace wrote:For which rounds did Rachel host? I'm doing some stats and figure it would be fun to see if there was a Rachel effect.
All the rounds from 393 onwards. The 56-minute gap between round 392 and round 393 was when Mark and Innis were on or near the main stage.
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Graeme Cole
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Graeme Cole »

By the way, on the subject of the timings, the conundrum wasn't really solved at 5.11pm today. I think it was between 11.20pm and 11.25pm. I'll fix that manually.
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Michael Wallace »

Looks like, rather impressively, there's no time effect on either player's max performance. I'll spare you the formal statistical details, but the hypothesis I tested was "Does $player's probability of scoring a max change over time?" with the answer being a pretty confident "no" for both players. (If you like p-values, they were all > 0.2.)

Disappointingly, there was no appreciable 'Rachel effect'. Mark's pre-Rachel max stats were 80%, and then 78% while Rachel was there, Innis's was also 80% pre-Rachel and 74% with her there, but the (relatively) small number of Rachel games meant finding a significant difference was always going to be tricky.

Graphs of max % over time don't really show up anything interesting, so instead here's a graph of Mark's lead (or deficit, depending) over time, complete with what I am trademarking as the "crucial corridor" between the two dotted red lines. (In case you're wondering, I did Mark's lead rather than Innis's simply because he was player 1 in the dataset.)

Image
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Mark Deeks
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Mark Deeks »

Aside from one round, Innis led for the whole of the final 22 hours. It was closer than that stat makes it sound, but it's still a sweet stat.
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Andy Wilson »

Absolutely brilliant. Well done.
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Adam Gillard »

These guys are wonderful. I was privileged enough to be with the three of them for a while before this marathon started. I met up with Innis just before 5pm (after his long megabus journey with very little sleep). Having picked up the Countdown board game from Michael Wallace and hung out at Zarte's flat for a bit, we met up with Mark and headed to the theatre at just gone 8pm, and I was there until about 10.30pm. I think they were already a bit tired (plus, it was freezing cold in that room), but they just kept on going throughout the 25 hours and they have raised a staggering amount of money for Comic Relief. I know that Graeme also put a lot of work into this and is deserving of a mention, as well as Rachel Riley for hosting the last few hours and Damian for that very apt (and incredibly, crucial) conundrum.

Mark, Innis, Zarte - £2,630 and counting - you can all feel very proud!
Mike Brown: "Round 12: T N R S A E I G U

C1: SIGNATURE (18) ["9; not written down"]
C2: SEATING (7)
Score: 108–16 (max 113)

Another niner for Adam and yet another century. Well done, that man."
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Lee Kelly »

Mark and innis... what time did use get up on thursday?? and what time did use fall asleep in the early hours of today?? also how long use sleep for?? im just extremely nosey!! :D
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Mark Deeks
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Mark Deeks »

I got home at about 2.30 and was telling stories until about 4. I then only slept until 1 before waking up bolt upright. There was still adrenalin going on, and I haven't been tired all day. That was a freaking deep nine hours, though. I have a feeling tonight might be a mammoth sleep.
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Innis Carson
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Innis Carson »

Lee Kelly wrote:Mark and innis... what time did use get up on thursday?? and what time did use fall asleep in the early hours of today?? also how long use sleep for?? im just extremely nosey!! :D
I was up until 5am on Thursday morning to get my Megabus down to London, intending to get a decent sleep on the bus, which of course didn't happen (I got maybe 4 hours in total, broken up into periods of no longer than 15 minutes). Before the marathon even started I was feeling kind of tired and began to doubt I'd make it to the end without dropping dead. Indeed there were some definite low points in morale for all three of us (probably me moreso than anyone else) but about half-way through we all experienced something of an adrenalin rush as the excitement of the situation began to sink in, and it was only uphill from there - by the time of the on-stage finale I was about as energetic as I've ever been. Then as soon as I left the venue and the adrenalin faded, tiredness hit me like a brick wall, and suddenly I could barely string a sentence together. Zarte very kindly let me have a short sleep at his flat before my early bus home, but since then I've still nowhere near recovered (it's taken me about 50 minutes to write this post...). Tonight's sleep will be very long indeed.

Also, I think other people's messages here have already pretty much summed it up, but I'd also like to say what a fantastic day this turned out to be. Huge thanks to Mark and Zarte for putting themselves forward for this ordeal and for being such great company, and especially to Mark who had the crazy idea in the first place, and did the huge majority of the legwork in making it a reality and a success. The Countdown fandom broke new ground yesterday, as well as raising a stunning amount of money for a good cause, and many people (Graeme, Rachel, Adam and more) can rightfully claim their share in the credit for it, but ultimately it was Mark's doing. Congrats on an achievement infinitely bigger than winning.
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Michelle Nevitt
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Michelle Nevitt »

Very well done guys, gutted I couldn't get to watch more of the action due to having no internet on Friday night. :( Is there anywhere I can watch the last rounds online?
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Ryan Taylor »

Yeah really incredible stuff, a bit annoying that I didn't get to watch much of it or follow it more closely. But every time I did check the greem.co.uk link it was amazing to see the relentless number of maxes as you progressed through the marathon. Really nice touches with the final on the stage, it being a crucial and Rachel turning up to support. And also with all the media stuff you got to do. Really pleased for all three of you and I hope by now you're getting back to a bit of normality sleepwise.
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Mark Deeks
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Mark Deeks »

And here's a timelapse video of the entire 25 hour show in only 3 minutes and 25 seconds. It's kinda fun to see how messy the stage and theatre ended up getting, and how. Things of note:

1) The song played over the top was recorded in the room above us about halfway through, and took several takes. The poor girl was having issues with one note.

2) At the 1.09 mark, the entire audience disappears - this is because at this juncture, Watson led the entire audience out of the theatre to come and visit us in the Countdown Arena. We'd been isolated for a few hours and were bloody glad they did. They left coats, blankets, cake, and 88p, all of which was most welcome. We also got the opportunity to hit a man in the face with a cake - a guy named Tiernan was hit in the face with a custard pie on the hour every hour with a custard pie, and, as they'd ran out of pies, me and Innis were given half a Victoria sponge each to crush into his eyes. We did so. It felt good.

3) Between 1.12 and 1.16, C4Cer Mikey Lear and his mate Sanderson take to the stage in a loving embrace. The pair set a world record for the longest hug during this event, or rather, as I understand it, reclaimed their previous record.

4) 2.08 - we first take to the stage.

5) 2.51 - I stand directly in the way of the camera, then as soon as I leave, Rachel turns up. Countdown is played on stage, but it's not us.

6) 2.59 - OK now it's us.

7) 3.19 - the conundrum.
Last edited by Mark Deeks on Sun Mar 03, 2013 7:15 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Matt Morrison
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Matt Morrison »

Where is here?
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Mark Deeks
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Mark Deeks »

Good point. Edited.
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Matt Morrison
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Matt Morrison »

Wrong link. Third time lucky?
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Matt Morrison
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Matt Morrison »

Fuck it, I'll do it myself :)

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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Jon Corby »

Being honest, my first thought when I saw this thread appear was "meh, nice idea and good cause and all that, but 25 hours isn't really that long to stay awake, and we all love playing Countdown, I (and I'm sure most of us on here) could do that pretty easy." With hindsight, I readily admit there was no way I could've done what you guys did. I followed as much as I could during work on Friday, and then was hooked after work Friday evening. The standard from Innis and Mark throughout was just phenomenal, and Zarte also deserves a big mention as hosting for that long is equally as tough (plus the additional admin work in logging & relaying the rounds to us spectators - so well done Graeme too for making that happen!)

Everything just went perfectly, the game was awesome and I really enjoyed all the parts on the main stage as well, you guys did great in representing the show and us nerds. Actually - 2 points in it, crucial conundrum, Rachel turning up, the ONE live round on radio containing "ARSE" spelled out AND a nine letter word - and you're telling me that none of this was fixed? Maybe there is a god after all.
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Mark Deeks
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Mark Deeks »

There was one part that was fixed - the fact that a nine came out on radio. We talked it over and decided the best way to showcase the marathon and the show in general was to deliberately put out a nine, a tough nine to spot but was a word that people had heard of, one which also had some spottable and regular 6's, 7's and 8's in it. So in the 25 minutes or so we had to sit around and wait for the interview, we stacked the deck for that nine. But the fact that it spelt ARSE was nonetheless a coincidence. And one I didn't even notice had happened. Everything else, we had no idea about, and just sort of ran with it.

Damian assures me Rachel came down of her own accord, on no kind of mandate - also, she'd been watching the stream beforehand, just for the craic of it. Now that's commitment. When we took to the stage first time, Mark mentioned that the crowd was trying to get her or Vorderman down, but I didn't think anything of it - after all they were trying to get EVERYBODY, including Dustin Hoffman. We first heard she was coming in a text from Jen - we then took a break and I went to the main theatre to see if it was true. (This is the 2.51 part of the video.) I asked a woman who looked like staff at the back left of the arena, who said go talk to some staff at the front right. And just as I walked on there, Rachel walked on stage. That was a strange but true moment. Even then, we had no idea she'd actually come and host. We thought she'd look round and then go hang out with the celebrities. But nope, she stuck it out with us in the coldest room on record. For three hours. With all you mugs watching on (albeit mostly at my shoulder). And we had no idea about any of it.

If she'll do all that, she'll probably read this is as well. So thanks Rachel! And, um, sorry about stacking the deck for that nine. It was for the good of both the charity and Countdown.
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Mark Deeks »

Oh and yes, the score was completely genuine. It turns out that when you take away conundrums, me and Innis are quite level. We're currently having a rematch on Apterous and there's only 4 points in it after 100 rounds. If I win, BEST OF THREE.
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Mark Deeks »

....and if I lose, BEST OF FIVE.
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Mark Deeks »

Gavin Chipper wrote:Although I think the idea of a stupid number of points for the conundrum would have rendered the competition part of it meaningless. Why bother? Why not allow the player with the most points to just win?
We had an obligation to make the show better, and that was the best way to do that. It is true that a conundrum of a million points would have rendered the previous 24 hours redundant, but, if it made for a better climax, that was a sacrifice we were willing to make. There was never really supposed to be all that competitive of an element - it was a test of endurance, not a competitive game. The fact it ended up being a competitive game was nought but a beautiful accident.
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Michael Wallace »

Mark Deeks wrote:There was one part that was fixed - the fact that a nine came out on radio.
Ha, I did wonder about that when I heard it (makes perfect sense to me to rig that, for all the reasons you've already given). Does Rachel know that you've swindled an extra fiver out of her though? :o
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Mark Deeks »

She does now. Sorry Rachel.
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Variant idea?
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Aaron »

Rachel was there? Great, now I'm even more unhappy I missed the live stream.

I'm very sorry I didn't donate after promising I would. I'm assuming it's too late now!
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Adam Gillard »

Aaron wrote:Rachel was there? Great, now I'm even more unhappy I missed the live stream.

I'm very sorry I didn't donate after promising I would. I'm assuming it's too late now!
Aaron, you can still donate whenever. Here's what Mark said:
Mark Deeks wrote:If anyone out there wanted to donate, but didn't/couldn't do it in time, you can still do it now. Or ever, in fact. Comic Relief doesn't stop just because we went to bed. Do what you can. I believe in the value of what we did and I hope you do too. Heartfelt thanks.

[...]

The interview we did for BBC Comedy can be found below, as can the bit we did for Radio 4. Also attached is the scoring recap. Notice the oscillations in our performance. It was tough in there, but we're proud of it all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P89V92bD4eM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qskw
http://greem.co.uk/countdownmarathon
Mike Brown: "Round 12: T N R S A E I G U

C1: SIGNATURE (18) ["9; not written down"]
C2: SEATING (7)
Score: 108–16 (max 113)

Another niner for Adam and yet another century. Well done, that man."
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Aaron »

Thanks Adam - just made my donation over a week late. Sorry!

Again, here's hoping you guys will support the American 24 Hour Game Show Marathon. Greg Scott is doing the UK voiceovers - https://www.facebook.com/24HourGSM.
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Mark Deeks »

Apparently we were on BBC1 for about 4 seconds today.
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by James Robinson »

Mark Deeks wrote:Apparently we were on BBC1 for about 4 seconds today.
Yeah, it was at about 1:40am that it was on.
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Rhys Benjamin »

The forum's resident JAILBAKER, who has SPONDERED several times...
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Mark Deeks »

One of the members of the audience for this show minuted the entire thing. And while it's taken them six weeks to do it, they have finally finished writing up those minutes. All 94,000 words of them.

The Countdowning features heavily - there is a round by round recap that even includes definitions. This is a herculean effort and if you enjoyed the show, well worth casting an eye over.

http://markwatson25.wordpress.com/minutes/
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Mark Deeks »

Note on page 161, proof of the time at 7am in the morning when the whole crowd came to visit us, and left coats and cake. No one saw this, I don't think, so finally there's some proof it actually happened. Possibly my favourite moment of the whole thing.
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Mark Deeks »

Matt Morrison wrote:Also who are these girls in the background that Mark keeps flirting with? What are they doing there, and are they hot as fuck?

Page 498.

Would.
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Matt Morrison »

I (obviously) only flicked through it but that guy has done a grand job.
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Mark Deeks »

It's a she, and she really has.

On page 165 is a picture of me and Innis hitting a man in the face with a Victoria Sponge.
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Re: Countdown for Comic Relief

Post by Matt Morrison »

I wish you'd said that before as I can't be arsed to load it up again.
Maybe I'll leave it a few days and let you digest your highlights so I can look at them all at once when you're done.
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