c4countdown

So, it's a brand new month, and we have a brand new champion too.

So, while Peter Etherington enjoyed his 60th birthday with the champers provided the show, our very own Jen Steadman will be taking up his place in the champions' chair.

Will she do what Gemma Church couldn't quite do and become an octochamp

Jonathan Edwards will be in DC today and tomorrow, before the lovely Connie Fisher takes over on Wednesday.

Join Graeme for the recap later.

Wait, does this mean I don't have to go to work tomorrow?

Maybe the rules are different in 'uddersfield. I, for sure, am at work.

PEROGUED for 8 in R5?

John Douglas wrote:PEROGUED for 8 in R5?

No GROUPED is best. Can't find any beaters today - got a few alts such as FOSSAE in the FOXIES round.

Well done to Jen - especially on the last numbers and LEATHERN, and unlucky on going for the non-9.

ARROYOS was lovely, well done on another great performance, Jen! Unlucky with DEGROUPED^ too.

Did I detect an element of pacification towards Derek from Nick after the game?
Would have been cool to hear what followed Nick's comment about dacoits on the London Underground

That guy was hilarious.

Matt Morrison wrote:That guy was hilarious.

This, I loved this episode. Jen absolutely steamrollering him (he found some decent stuff but still often got pipped in those rounds) and clearly feeling a bit uneasy about it, and your man just being in a massive huff for most of the show when he realised how it was gonna play out. Brilliant

Throwing his pen and rolling his eyes when he misdeclared ORGANIC was possibly the highlight.
Graeme should be forced to make a .gif of this moment as punishment for not mentioning it in the recap.

Dunno why people are saying "unlucky" on the 9 either. I've only ever seen "ungroup" (not sure whether that's in). I definitely got the impression Jen went for it expecting it not to be in (for several reasons, so as not to look like an aptonerd, to give the guy a break, etc).

I think Derek was more than a bit unlucky with 'untimed' though, as that's what a paralympic swimming race was described as last week when the timing mechanism failed and some swimmers thought they'd beaten their pbs, but unfortunately it didn't count as the race was 'untimely' - erm, not quite the same thing Suze! Oh well, I guess it will be in one day.

Philip Wilson wrote:I think Derek was more than a bit unlucky with 'untimed' though, as that's what a paralympic swimming race was described as last week when the timing mechanism failed and some swimmers thought they'd beaten their pbs, but unfortunately it didn't count as the race was 'untimely' - erm, not quite the same thing Suze! Oh well, I guess it will be in one day.

Agree, that's much more unlucky. I expect it's a fairly common disallowed word on apterous if anyone cared to check, I certainly remember learning the hard way to go for MINUTED instead.

Jon Corby wrote:Dunno why people are saying "unlucky" on the 9 either. I've only ever seen "ungroup" (not sure whether that's in). I definitely got the impression Jen went for it expecting it not[ to be in (for several reasons, so as not to look like an aptonerd, to give the guy a break, etc).

I thought there was about as much chance of DEGROUPED^ being in as there was of ARROYOS - i.e. I was fairly sure I'd seen both of them on Apterous before, but not completely. When one gamble paid off, I thought I'd try another. Although sticking with the safe 7 guaranteed 7 points, I really wanted a 9 and would be more annoyed at 'losing' 11 points if it was in than losing 7 if it wasn't. I'd never go give anyone a break unless they were on 0 going into the conundrum (and even then, considering how high the octototals have been so far this series, I think I'd just be horrible and go for the con anyway. But I would feel horrible for the other person).

I'm excited about the prospect of a Derek pen-throwing GIF.

Jennifer Steadman wrote:I thought there was about as much chance of DEGROUPED^ being in as there was of ARROYOS - i.e. I was fairly sure I'd seen both of them on Apterous before, but not completely.

Well I've just completely lost all respect for you then

Any off-camera Derek stories? Did he storm off in a huff afterwards?

Jon Corby wrote: Well I've just completely lost all respect for you then

Jon Corby wrote: Any off-camera Derek stories? Did he storm off in a huff afterwards?

Not really - beforehand he seemed slightly disdainful, as if playing some young upstart with a penchant for flowery hairbands was beneath him, while afterwards he just seemed a bit shell-shocked. I apologised, and during the break bumped into his wife, who squealed 'You destroyed my husband's confidence!!', for which I awkwardly apologised again and said that at least I'd got a word disallowed [genuinely wasn't trying to be a dick, but it's true - the margin of defeat would've been 100 plus if I'd stuck with GROUPED). She didn't seem too reassured, although she did congratulate me. Can't remember if he did, but I'm pretty sure he didn't stick around after that. Nick and him got on well off-camera though, so that was a small silver lining for him (I get the impression that Nick only really speaks to contestants over the age of 60 off-air, whereas he barely said a word to me between games).

I thought you described the guy as "lovely" on Facebook, which surprised me? But maybe you were just not in c4c brutal honesty mode.

I referred to the guy I played on Friday as lovely (he was - such a friendly bloke, totally gracious in defeat and gave me his number to let me know how I got on in my next games). The guy yesterday was alright (as in, he didn't call me a flowery headband-wearing ho or anything) but I wouldn't describe him as lovely. I did feel bad for him though - he clearly gave up pretty early on, which just made things worse for him.

Ah, sorry, guy confusion.

Philip Wilson wrote:I think Derek was more than a bit unlucky with 'untimed' though, as that's what a paralympic swimming race was described as last week when the timing mechanism failed and some swimmers thought they'd beaten their pbs, but unfortunately it didn't count as the race was 'untimely' - erm, not quite the same thing Suze! Oh well, I guess it will be in one day.

Yeah words like untimed should be in the dictionary, rather than nonsense like PAINEDER etc.