c4countdown

Philip A

16th January 2026 episode pulled in a 7-day rating of 963,000 viewers; daytime Countdown on 12th January had 391,000.

Source: thinkbox.tv

Philip A

Congratulations to Daniel Face, who becomes the first new contestant since Rob Barkess in Series 90 to average over 100 points as an octochamp - 461 days ago! Between them, every 800 club member has been a returning contestant except Rhys Jones who averaged exactly 800. Next week, for reasons that w...

Philip A

After talks of The Traitors possibly peaking out in 2026 in the same way as Big Brother, The X Factor and The Apprentice did in 2004, 2010 and 2012 respectively according to popular opinion, it got me wondering, when was Countdown’s finest year? I think it’s 2013 – the last full year to use the pape...

Philip A

Les Dennis to occupy Colin's chair for an unspecified duration from the start of February: https://www.channel4.com/tv-guide/2026-02-02 Wow, good find. Les Dennis has been stand-in before and I thought he was good, and it’s no surprise that guest hosts are the future when one is unable to record (d...

Philip A

I wonder how the 23rd January 2026 episode did in the viewing figures directly up against The Traitors Final!

Philip A

How many octochamps did not score a century in any of their preliminary matches?

Philip A

Anyone thought through the tactics for Millionaire Hot Seat? If you're player six, what chance have you got? You'll almost cetainly get on, as each of the others either passes or gets one wrong. But if you pass there's a high chance you won't get back. The only way is each of the other five gets on...

Philip A

Sorry to sound picky but on today’s Time Is Money, a contestant’s answer, "Maria” Carey, was accepted. It’s definitely Mariah Carey. I’d say that’s wrong. Reminds me of a recent controversy on Jeopardy in the USA where they disallowed an answer of "what is Gangster's Paradise" becaus...

Philip A

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Sat Jan 17, 2026 2:16 pm 11 points for the conundrum in those days?

Uuh I can’t get anything right these days.

Philip A

- I believe Zarte is the only person ever to score a century with 6 rounds to spare (before the second commercial break). The cull would not have affected the record, and the max would only be 1 point lower now (with ‘pardonee’ being the only deletion offered). In other words, Zarte has the fastest ...

Philip A

Very true. I think 1,000+ points in 8 straight games is still practically possible, but a fraction harder without all those OED words imported from 2015-2024. Tom Carey’s combined time of 17.75 seconds across 8 conundrums is also a very tough one to break. We very rarely see conundrums solved before...

Philip A

Sorry to sound picky but on today’s Time Is Money, a contestant’s answer, "Maria” Carey, was accepted. It’s definitely Mariah Carey. I’d say that’s wrong.

Philip A

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Fri Jan 16, 2026 10:08 am Should that be 15th?

Yep my mistake, sorry.

Philip A

No ‘gunkier’ surprisingly.

Daniel still playing on Apterous, as is Megel.

Philip A

Yeah because Darryl Francis lost in Series 1 and was allowed to return in Series 6 when he went all the way (first returnee to become series champion).

Philip A

A non-exhaustive of records which may never be broken, for various reasons (e.g. rule changes or simply too good); - In 2006, Conor Travers made headlines by becoming the youngest ever series winner at the age of 14. In 2011, the age limit was increased to 16. This prevented a couple of players, not...

Philip A

A bit surprised that HANGOUT isn't valid Yes, it is surprising, especially when considering DUGOUT is one word. In one context, ‘hang out’ is two words and in another, ‘hang-out’ it’s hyphenated. No one word entry in ODP at all. One of those where only experienced Apterites would go for its correct...

Philip A

The minuter / minutest thing came up again today, but it wasn't explicitly discussed. MINUTEST was given as a beater in one round, and then in the very next letters round minuter was offered by a contestant but rejected by Susie. It would have made sense for her to say at that point about the asymm...

Philip A

Malabo is no longer the capital of Equitoreal Guinea! Go figure.

Philip A

Numbers trick you sometimes. TBH it took me 20 seconds to spot the 75*8 route.

Philip A

Really liked The Floor - the format means it should only get better as the series develops too. Time is Money is good as well. ITV have now produced a few good new game shows in the last year or so. Agree. I think they have minor drawbacks but hopefully they’ll be ironed out if greenlit for Series ...

Philip A

My 461 was the same numbers as Barry’s but different operations:

(75-8)*7-8=461

Another less exciting way for 294 was (100+1)*(75/25)=303 to leave a -9.

PINNATE to match ENATION in R5.

Really hoping Megel octos, he comes over very well.

Philip A

The Floor is really good.

Philip A

I didn't think to question this, as I sometimes do. I wonder if it's because adding the r to little doesn't add to the number of syllables, meaning that the comparative has 2 syllables, which is the normal number in 'valid' comparatives. Maybe Susie thought the same? In my opinion, it’s because of ...

Philip A

Three new quiz shows coming in January 2026: 1st January 2026 - Time Is Money, a daytime quick-fire quiz hosted by ex-Dragons’ Den star Sara Davies in which contestants are given the money but must race to keep hold of it - 6 pm, then 3 pm for the rest from Monday; 4th January 2026 - The Floor, a D...

Philip A

They've done it again. Another invalid comparative not specified in the dictionary goes unchecked by Dictionary Corner. 'Littler' is not listed and 'little' has 2 syllables, so as per Countdown rules 'littler' is invalid. It should be in the dictionary (littlest pet shop) but it isn't! Why does thi...

Philip A

Three new quiz shows coming in January 2026: 1st January 2026 - Time Is Money, a daytime quick-fire quiz hosted by ex-Dragons’ Den star Sara Davies in which contestants are given the money but must race to keep hold of it - 6 pm, then 3 pm for the rest from Monday; 4th January 2026 - The Floor, a Du...

Philip A

I was surprised to discover that the 2025 Christmas special had pairs of civilian contestants, and I think that makes a nice change from Christmas specials of game shows which usually have celebrities representing their chosen charities. Having been critical of the casting in the first rebooted seri...

Philip A

Why is The Masked Singer on for 1 hour and 30 minutes? That is ridiculously long for a non-live Saturday night show. You could cut it down to just an hour at least! Yeah , thats what the fast forward button is for. 30 minutes of content tops. I do it to Strictly cut the chit chat watch the dance an...

Philip A

Has any contestant ever chosen 3/4/5 vowels and 6 small, 1/2/3/4 large at least once? In other words, has any contestant chosen every selection possible? I did- though that's including the finals. Didn't want to have a regular selection- so mixed it up in the hope that it would make me more unpredi...

Philip A

Why is The Masked Singer on for 1 hour and 30 minutes?

That is ridiculously long for a non-live Saturday night show. You could cut it down to just an hour at least!

Philip A

Has any contestant ever chosen 3/4/5 vowels and 6 small, 1/2/3/4 large at least once? In other words, has any contestant chosen every selection possible?

Philip A

There are very good numbers players without Apterous, and a long-serving Apterite can still be beaten by a very good home player. Just saying! There’s a kids’ show called Numberblocks which introduces numbers in a very clever way to teach under 6s maths and arithmetic. Friends of my distant family h...

Philip A

‘An ‘istoric.’

It’s ‘a historic.’

Philip A

In terms of percentages, how many episodes of Series 90 featured a returning contestant? How does this percentage compare to Series 91? These figures may be inaccurate, because the process for determining whether, say, "Terence Newnham" and "Terry Newnham" are the same person is...

Philip A

Which contestant has the longest consecutive run of numbers rounds scored? I.e. no scores of 0, for any reason. Dylan Taylor is the record holder, having scored in all 60 of the numbers rounds he played. That, combined with his 6 small games, is an insane demonstration of mental athleticism and cog...

Philip A

TBH I had the darts on and then caught up on the first couple of rounds so I missed the opening anecdote.

It’s very stressful, working on TV.

Philip A

Before I start the final review of 2025 (and Series 92) here, I'm sure all of us would like to join in to wish Countdown's Series Producer Damien Eadie a speedy recovery given that he has been ill for some time as mentioned by Colin even though some people in the Daily Chat already knew about his c...

Philip A

So, series runner up! I never thought I’d go back on Countdown. I’d loved my time in 2014, got my teapot, and was genuinely happy with how I’d done. I enjoyed playing online but with no real aspirations of anything more. But about a year ago, I started to wonder… could I do it again? Could I maybe ...

Philip A

The trophy broke!!! Brilliant telly. An inspired shot from Brett, but he found Jase on superb form today. Jase didn't even blob on one, just a straight run to the top. I think these 3 large numbers games — the least popular selection mind — show how easy it is to forget to factorise the target figur...

Philip A

Welcome to the 92nd Grand Final. Today’s two finalists, the top two seeds Jase Cullen and Brett Davids, have between them played 29 matches, won 4 teapots and solved 18 conundrums correctly. And they’ve ended up in the ultimate show of the series featuring a 96-year-old contestant, a max game achiev...

Philip A

Yes, could easily have been a tie-break and best game of 2025 with one to go. Ben did well to hold his nerve in that fiddly last numbers game. That conundrum is probably only easy if you’ve studied the periodic table.

Philip A

Very close and good standard too. Ben’s luck just ran out at the end, but still won 2 rounds so a strong effort all-in-all.

I think the Grand Final will be 50/50.

Philip A

Brett Davids plays Ben Hocking for a place in tomorrow’s Grand Final. 4 conundrums solved out of 5 so far.

Philip A

Strangely, indorsee is invalid, as INDORSE and INDORSER are equally valid as ENDORSE and ENDORSER. ENDORSEE is in but it doesn’t give the IN- variant.

Philip A

A very good win from Jase with no rounds lost, and that conundrum solve was class - best solve of the series so far I’d say. I never see OPAQUE and its inflections (no pun intended!). I knew DRIPSTONE and got the conundrum in 2 seconds. I did get the first numbers after being stuck on 1 away for 20 ...

Philip A

Jase Cullen plays John Payne for a place in Friday’s Grand Final.

Philip A

Very sorry for Ciaran, but definitely an inspiration and great advert for Countdown. Numbers can be especially nervy, like a 3-foot putt for par. Well done both, but a nervy game. And irrespective of whether Payne plays online or not, he’s a top number cruncher and clearly good at puzzles. An intere...

Philip A

samir pilica wrote: ↑Tue Dec 16, 2025 2:28 pm R5 PACHOULI

Almost - it’s spelled PATCHOULI with a T. I had an anagram of COPULA, which is CUPOLA.

Philip A

Ciaran McCarthy plays John Payne in a battle of the multi-quiz show contestants! The winner will return tomorrow to face Jase Cullen.

Philip A

Colin Murray will appear on The Chase on Christmas Eve at 5:55 pm. The chasers will dress as Christmas lunch…

Philip A

Only returning contestants remain now, meaning this week will be entirely occupied by returning contestants. Of the 26 returnees, 7 made these finals. And Christopher Biggins is the final guest for the third consecutive year! Oh yes he is! Either Ben Hocking, making his 10th appearance, or Ricky Coh...

Philip A

Washington D.C. is not located in the state of Washington. More dubiously, Washington, D.C. is not in any state at all. It is in a federal territory, called District of Columbia, and is between Maryland and Virginia. The territory is also ineligible in voting congresses. Similarly, Canberra, the ca...

Philip A

61 episodes and 4 years and I’ve still never made it to the 1% Club. Even so, I bet you have been able to get the 1% question right on more than one occasion? I tend to get 1% right in about one in every 6 programmes. Occasionally I get all the questions right except 1% (and using a pass beforehand...

Philip A

61 episodes and 4 years and I’ve still never made it to the 1% Club.

Philip A

Very high standard game between two lovely people. Could easily have gone to a crucial.

Third numbers was hard to do.

In the past two series prior to this, only 1 conundrum was solved in the finals. This series, 2 out of 2 solved already.

Philip A

No. 2 seed Brett Davids vs the last non-returnee standing, Mark Allen.

Philip A

samir pilica wrote: ↑Thu Dec 11, 2025 4:05 pm R6 IDIGBOS (if it's still valid).

Yep, still in.

Philip A

Very good score from Jase and good spirits from Shemina. I got CONFUTES, didn’t know ENSWATHE, but got the last numbers using Rachel’s way and I also got the conundrum in 1 second. I only had SOLIDI for 6 in the LIBIDOS round. CHILLAXED reminded me of a TV show that had a short run: 101 Ways To Leav...

Philip A

No. 1 seed Jase Cullen plays the only non-octochamp, seven-time winner Shemina Kirby.

You know the drill… the conundrums get harder!

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