8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown recap for Friday 3 January 2014.
Team 1:
* Rhod Gilbert, a comedian from Carmarthen, Wales. He says his lucky number is "07700 900273", which he does admit that it looks like a phone number.
&
* Sean Lock, has stated his "dislike" of these Countdown mashups, and has brought along a "perfect timer", as he doesn't trust the Countdown clock, so has brought along a spring loaded toy face.
Team 2:
* Jon Richardson, has brought along some sushi as "brain food", which he then doesn't like.
&
* Kevin Bridges, he once performed a comedy gig in a Scottish prison. He has brought along a train ticket as his lucky mascot, as it got him to the studio.
DC: Susie Dent, who shares a birthday with Liam Gallagher, and Josie Long, a Doctor Who fan and has a degree in English from Oxford University.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
Interestingly, instead of the traditional Countdown teapot, the winners will receive some Countdown dressing gowns, which begs the question, when are they going to be in the normal contestants' goody bag
R01: L N U D S S E G O
R02: 25, 2, 10, 8, 7, 4. Target: 739.
TTT: FEELRHOD - "He wants you to own him"
R03: E M O J T A N R I
R04: 100, 1, 10, 5, 6, 10. Target: 113.
TTT: PISSTOOL - "It'll help it grow"
R05: F O R K S E D A C
R06: 25, 2, 8, 5, 4, 7. Target: 588.
TTT: ARSERASH - "Get off my back!"
R07: E I A L H M Y T U
R08: G I A N T N I P S (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
Enjoy the show.
Round 1 (Picked by Jon & Kevin): L N U D S S E G O
Jimmy's Distraction: Reading "How Babies Are Made" book.
Team 1 - Rhod: UNDOES (6) / Sean: lnudssego (LATVIAN NATIONAL UNION OF DISTRESSED SHEEP SHEARERS EXERCISE...........)
Team 2 - Jon: GLOSSED (7) / Kevin: lego
DC: unglossed deungloss LOUDNESS (8)
Score: 0–7 (max 8)
Sean tries to fluke a 9 with his acronym, which turns out to be wrong in his head............
So, it's up to Jon who wins with a 7, while Josie is shouting her praises with the darrenic 8.Round 2 (Picked by Rhod & Sean): 25, 2, 10, 8, 7, 4. Target: 739.
Team 1 - Rhod: 739. Mistake in working. / Sean: 740. Mistake in working.
Team 2 - Jon: 742. Mistake in working. / Kevin: 739. Mistake in working.
RR: 739. (((25 x 4) - 7) x 8) - (10 / 2) (10)
Score: 0–7 (max 18)
Oh dear, even Rhod "ringing Carol" didn't help..................................
NEXT 
Teatime teaser: FEELRHOD -> FREEHOLD
The next round saw Rhod and Jon take on each other in the letters round.
Round 3 (Picked by Rhod): E M O J T A N R I
Jimmy's Distraction: Picking up his dry-cleaned trousers in front of the studio. :p
Rhod: JANITOR (7)
Jon: RATION (6)
OT: AMNIOTE (7) JOINTER (7) MERANTI (7) MINARET (7) MORAINE (7) RAIMENT (7) ROMAINE (7)
Score: 7–7 (max 25)
While Jon tries to stop himself regurgitating his sushi, Rhod has the confidence of a champion with his 7.
The next numbers game is a matchup between Sean and Kevin.
Round 4 (Picked by Kevin): 100, 1, 10, 5, 6, 10. Target: 113.
Sean: 113. 100 + 10 + 10 - (1 + 6) (10)
Kevin: 113. 100 + 10 + 10 - 6 - 1 (10)
Score: 17–17 (max 35)
Nice and easy numbers on here for once.
Josie talks about a new word game, a better version of Scrabble, "Cult Scrabble", where you convince people of fake words with definitions.
Teatime teaser: PISSTOOL -> TOPSOILS
As we begin part 3, Joe Wilkinson appears on a throne carried by 4 topless men, and claims he's now the "Head of I.T.", and to prove it, he now wears a headset.
Round 5 (Picked by Jon & Kevin): F O R K S E D A C
Jimmy's Distraction: Tattooist does YOUR MUM in heart tattoo on Jimmy's arm.
Team 1 - Rhod: forsaked / Sean: daceforks
Team 2 - Jon: DOCKERS (7) / Kevin: deforks
DC: DEFROCKS (8)
Score: 17–24 (max 43)
Just a 25% success rate in this letters game, with Rhod being super unlucky to have forsaked disallowed, as it's only FORSOOK and FORSAKEN in the dictionary, and Kevin too is slightly unlucky as he went with deforks, instead of the darrenic DEFROCKS.............
Round 6 (Picked by Rhod & Sean): 25, 2, 8, 5, 4, 7. Target: 588.
Team 1 - Rhod: 588. Mistake in working. / Sean: 0.
Team 2 - Jon: 588. (4 x 25 x (8 - 2)) - (7 + 5) (10) / Kevin: 588. (4 x 25 x (8 - 2)) - (7 + 5) (10)
Score: 17–34 (max 53)
Another brilliant round from Jon & Kevin, and their score is now double that of Rhod & Sean's, with 2 rounds to go.
Teatime teaser: ARSERASH -> HARASSER
Round 7 (Picked by Rhod & Sean): E I A L H M Y T U
Jimmy's Distraction: Dance moves while sitting down, then copied by Joe.
Team 1 - Rhod: hmty / Sean: tule
Team 2 - Jon: mealthy / Kevin: THYME (5)
DC: HAMLET (6)
OT: HYALITE (7) MEATILY (7)
Score: 17–39 (max 60)
After Rhod misses out on the chance to win a pair of fence panels (yes, you heard that right), he loses his 100% record at Countdown in the process, thanks to Kevin's THYME-ly offering, although his praise is slightly dented, by saying that he thought it was a crisp
(Well, he's from Glasgow, what does he know about herbs )Round 8: G I A N T N I P S
Jon buzzes on 4.5 seconds to say "Ah, er, no". which is incorrect.
Rhod buzzes on 18 seconds to say PAINTINGS which is correct.
Final Score: 27–39 (max 70)
Well, after Jon's quickfire buzz, Rhod manages to keep up with a impressive record of 3/4 conundrums, with this solve, even if it's another plural conundrum following on from OMNIBUSES in the last episodes.
Callum will be around this coming Friday for the next episode. I'll be back on Wednesday, for what could be Rod Chatfield's octochamp show.
So, till then, bye bye.
Statistics Corner
Rhod & Sean:
Total score - 27
Raw score - 33
Total % of max - 39
Raw % of max - 47
Total average score per round - 3.4
Raw average score per round - 4.1
Number of maxes - 3
Jon & Kevin:
Total score - 39
Raw score - 45
Total % of max - 56
Raw % of max - 64
Total average score per round - 4.9
Raw average score per round - 5.6
Number of maxes - 2