c4countdown

Keith Bennett

It's also the end of Alastair Stewart, who while certainly not terrible, I remember him being better in other appearances in my opinion. Better contestants too last year! ;) Indeed Tony. For you may recall the controversy that surrounded Phyl Style's appearance. At the point she played her first ga...

Keith Bennett

First numbers came up with (25x3+50+3)x7-1 not in the time and was quite impressed until Rachel pointed out the more obvious solution.... But what I really want to know is how Susie, or should I say "herself", manages to work with the smug, smarmy and patronising Alistair Stewart without g...

Keith Bennett

How many winners have there been? Are there over 5000 teapots out there? Don't know how many winners there have been, but clearly fewer than 5,000, and in any case teapots weren't on offer in the early days were they? But of course there may well be vast numbers of these revolting objects on offer ...

Keith Bennett

Was at the recording and very disappointed when Nick got the conundrum. Unusually I had got it almost at once so was sure one of them would. Shame it was the wrong person. Kerry was the perfect contestant; very good at the game, and great fun to watch. What wasn't shown was some amusing attempts by ...

Keith Bennett

DIAPASON for another musical offering in that round

Keith Bennett

It's not unusual for someone to declare a target "not written down", and then have a go at it. If they can reel it off, fair enough. But if they can't solve it then normally, as soon as they realise they've gone wrong, they stop without being told. Michael didn't, he tried to amend it twic...

Keith Bennett

Congratulations Peter, very well played. Think you've had one of the toughest sets of opponents of any recent Octochamp, although Jack's final one was rather tougher than yours. I'm guessing your letters total would be higher than Jack's over the 8 games. But in return for all these kind words when ...

Keith Bennett

John Parrott is in the corner, and I admit I haven't been able to see yesterday's episode yet, so I'll abstain on comments about him and his anecdotes. Enjoy him whilst you can, it appears to be Pam Ayres next week (so says Radio Times). The original audience schedule had Dave Spikey down for this ...

Keith Bennett

Hard lines in getting pipped at the end Niall..... what the f*** were you doing asking for a whisky? "That didn't work" has got to be the understatement of the year. Well at least it's a change from "a better one please", an utterance which should lead to immediate disqualificat...

Keith Bennett

Not sure Chris had even started on apterous when he filmed, so really solid standard considering. I saw ROUNDELAY in round 3 but thought it was an 8 for some reason. EUGLENA in 4, GLACIERS in 6 and SPOONIER in 11. Think this week's shows were recorded mid-January; certainly next week's and the two ...

Keith Bennett

Controversy! SEDATIONS should've been allowed, and the margin of defeat was 18 points. Could this cost Victoria a place in the finals? Chris would have lost 8 points so Victoria would win by 10. But the hard copy of ODE3 clearly says mass noun, and online version also has it as invalid, so it's not...

Keith Bennett

I think I generally don't particularly appreciate perma-smiley professional presenters - they could be presenting Crufts. Countdown or Wrestling, and we'd get the same act. I prefer to see behind the mask. That sums it up perfectly. I generally prefer those with another string to their bow whilst a...

Keith Bennett

Andy. Have you actually at some point downloaded the aplication form, filled it in and returned it? Technically, I filled it in 80%, then sent an email asking a question about the form, and was answered by the man himself saying there's not much point sending it, and to do it in 12 months instead. ...

Keith Bennett

Niall Seymour and Kieran Bray filmed yesterday I believe. Hold up. Damian wouldn't let me on because at the time I'd "played 4000 games on apterous, which creates a skill imbalance compared to the average armchair fan who plays along with 100 or 200 shows a year". Niall's a quality player...

Keith Bennett

It really has been Ladies Week on Countdown, with Nick and Aliraza being the only males in front of the camera this week so far. And appropriately, a woman has won all 4 games, and without meaning to rhyme, her name is Victoria James. She's had some good wins and some not so good wins, but if she w...

Keith Bennett

I thought I got two nines today but as no one else has mentioned them, I'm wondering if I am mistaken! (I was busy cooking so I wasn't giving it my full attention) BAROMETER MANGINESS Was looking for 2nd R to come out for BAROMETER but it didn't, second T instead And I got ASSIGNED somewhere which ...

Keith Bennett

Nice to see a pretty high scoring female on the show. So how many out of ten are you giving her Eoin? Re the maths/arithmetic issue raised yesterday, and eluded to by Jordan, in this house there's one with a maths degree, one with A level Further Maths, and me who just scraped a pass at O level. Bu...

Keith Bennett

True, there will be no very young contestants who would do better to wait until they are (say) 20 or 21, though I think Kirk was 17 when he first appeared so wouldn't have been affected. But Philip's opening post was partly driven by the perceived lack of quality of candidates. I'm not convinced by ...

Keith Bennett

Interesting point Julie: "but there's maybe been a mistake in choosing contestants, in that there aren't as many little old ladies/men as there used to be. Perhaps there are just too many good younger players at the auditions these days to ignore them, but I feel that the older audience probabl...

Keith Bennett

Well done Jack - very impressive run. No doubt you'll be practising a bit before the finals....

Commiserations to Alan though. There will be people who win a few games in the next 6 months whom he'd very likely beat. Very unlucky to have to play Jack.

Keith Bennett

Why should they have to adapt to him Ryan? I like Nick from his role in the Apprentice, and I've no doubt he'll give it his best shot. But he's being asked to do something here that just isn't him. He isn't a small talk guy. He's not someone who has a long history of chat show type interviewing. My ...

Keith Bennett

From Saturday's Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8999062/Nick-Hewer-Me-on-Countdown-It-doesnt-add-up.html Great bit of writing - not - no idea why the journalist believes it matters whether he's good at maths or not, and brilliant how he states that Hewer had never heard of C...

Keith Bennett

Interesting, I certainly didn't notice that. Did anyone here see it getting filmed? If so, what happened? I didn't but my daughter did. Unfortunately the dopey girl claimed not to remember very much at all. She just about recalled there'd been a 9-letter word, but not which round or what it was, un...

Keith Bennett

When I saw the thread title I thought the OP was going to ask why a variant called omelette has a fried egg as its icon.

Keith Bennett

And should the stuff about Nick Hewer be in a different thread? Any lengthy discussion should be yes, and doubtless will be in a week or so. I introduced one aspect of it to this thread because it seemed relevant in the context of the discussion about the host allowing excessive hestitation. Hope t...

Keith Bennett

Hewer seems exactly like the utter cock he is on the Apprentice. That's a shame. Still, an excuse to hold back on my application for another couple of years. I don't personally think he's a cock on the Apprentice - the guys and girls who go on that show with (in most cases) their highly over-inflat...

Keith Bennett

I'm not sure if Carl did cheat, as I've heard rumours about it but no evidence... None of us are sure Martin, and the only evidence we've all had has been the broadcast shows, so it's a judgement call isn't it? Fact is that when Carl first appeared he seemed to get away with a couple of things in h...

Keith Bennett

Brilliant final. Well played to both contestants. Justice done though.

Many congratulations Graeme, very well deserved, you've been a great contestant all through.

Keith Bennett

[quote="Phil Reynolds When you don't like a player it's all too easy to assume every hesitation to be evidence of foul play....[/quote] Yes, that is true. Once you've got a reputation it's hard to lose it. I thought the gonads moment against Jayne was a bit dodgy, but I couldn't see anything in...

Keith Bennett

Only just watched this. Very sorry to see Jayne go out. Was surprised that yet again Carl was allowed to get away with buying time - in the nosegay round he was clearly desperately searching for any 6, not really trying to decide if gonads was risky. I think Jeff has been too tolerant at times. In t...

Keith Bennett

Cheers Matt hadn't seen that, though did pick up that he's been runner-up in the World Scrabble earlier this year. Seems he won a "Masters" series which wasn't broadcast due to the Gulf War - remember him saying that at the time. Think he still got the standard dictionaries as the prize th...

Keith Bennett

Heh. Awesome. I was trying not to do the smugly-sit-back thing, but wasn't sure what to do instead. It seems that this was apparent It seems the "don't do the smugly-sit-back thing" advice hasn't yet reached down under... Thanks for posting this Graeme. it set me off on a load of googling...

Keith Bennett

Jon C, as you say "... all you're doing is shifting the series cut-off from a sensible, clear, fixed date to some slightly variable date, usually 8 days previous" That's true, and I agree that seeking to do this certainly makes it harder to understand for the audience, for which reason I d...

Keith Bennett

You both make good points. It's very easy to see it both ways. The fact that there weren't enough games left when she started is always going to be true of some contestants, but if they lose within the series then it's tough shit - in exactly the same way it was for anyone else losing on that score...

Keith Bennett

Phyllis was playing for a place in the Series 66 finals. It's quite likely that one or more of the finalists in Series 66 will end up with inferior records. Should Phyllis therefore still be in the running for Series 66, and currently No.1 seed? .... Phyllis was already out of contention for the cu...

Keith Bennett

For the 2nd numbers game having got 25 x 9 = 225 I came up with 100-1 = 99 / 3 = 33 /3 = 11 to add on.

Keith Bennett

JimBentley wrote:
James Robinson wrote:
Keith Bennett wrote:Also CRONIC in the CONCUR round.
Fraid not, CONCUR was the darren. Presumably just CRONIC ILLNESS.
Um...you realise it's spelt CHRONIC, right?

Oops! So rumours that being able to spell is useful in this game are true then....

Guess I'll have to blame too much red wine.

Keith Bennett

Jack Worsley wrote:...thought about POTTERERS but I'm not sure I'd have risked it on the show.

3rd numbers alt: ((50-10)x6)-((3-1)x7)=226.

Wondered about that too and would have risked it if I were as far behind as she was, for which reason I can't believe she didn't try PROTESTER.

Also CRONIC in the CONCUR round.

Keith Bennett

I imagine Nick Hewer will only show the same disdain for Countdown contestants as he does budding Apprentices if they arrive spouting phrases such as "My positive approach and very good looks make me stand out from the crowd" or "I am the champion thoroughbred that this process requir...

Keith Bennett

It'd be real unfortunate if Countdown's strange if sparse filming schedule were inflexibly coincident with The Apprentice's one. That's a hurdle they can surely work around. Yes, of course they should be able to work round it. But given 7 months notice you'd think they should be able to come up wit...

Keith Bennett

We asked everyone we saw, both on and off the record, in and out of the gallery. No one gave a answer because no one could. A decision has not been made. This is what puzzles me. Unless the programme is taking a considerable break after this series ends it's pretty astonishing if they haven't got a...

Keith Bennett

Was it actually confirmed at the recordings that these were Jeff's last? And if so any word on when they will announce a replacement?

Keith Bennett

Current favourite: Where maths is concerned people fall into 10 categories - those who understand binary, and those who don't. But if you want a proper joke, try this: A Roman Catholic priest and a rabbi were sitting next to each other on a train. After a while, the priest turned to the rabbi and as...

Keith Bennett

That must be one of the worst matches for a long time. Several of Jayne's opponents must really be cursing their luck - not quite good enough to beat her, but surely way ahead of those two. So much for the luck of the draw.....

Keith Bennett

Well done Jayne, saw two of your shows recorded (5th and 6th) and thought then you would make it all the way. Delighted you have; good luck in the finals.

Keith Bennett

I must admit in revealing what went on in the studio I was a bit worried people might think I've been on the Atkins diet....

Keith Bennett

Anyone get the conundrum though? I was miles off it. I hope Adam got it! Nobody in the audience had any idea. Before the show Rachel had presented Caleb (sp?) with a birthday present from the crew - a lovely gesture. As Jeff said, he's an audience regular; not sure exactly what his condition is, po...

Keith Bennett

I saw two shows recorded yesterday. I was reliably told they were the first recordings for 4 weeks so the Nguyen tales of being there 2 Mondays ago are utter fantasy, as we'd all worked out.

However to my surprise a certain apterite was recording yesterday and will be appearing fairly soon.

Keith Bennett

That seems to make 272, or am I missing something (which judging by my mess up of today's duel I may well be)?

I had 6*8 = 48 -9 -1 =38 *7 = 266 -8 =258, but not in anything like the 30 secs (or 45 secs if you're called Carl)

Keith Bennett

At the moment yes. Always record it so that we can speed through the opening crap, the adverts, the DC guests' waffle, unless it's someone I find tolerable (there aren't many) and Susie's lexi bit. I watched most episodes from approx 1994 to the latter days of Des Lynam, then only occasionally until...

Keith Bennett

I did think there might have been a bit of raspillage (sorry James!) going on with his "um.... THWARTING?" conundrum yesterday though. Or am I reading too much into it? Unfortunately Graeme you're not. When I saw Wednesday's show I was pretty sure he buzzed on the very last second hoping ...

Keith Bennett

I'm very pleased Dave did so well, he came across as a thoroughly likeable guy, unlike the oppo in his 8th game who was a decent player but just didn't seem to tune into the banter around the studio at all. Having said that Cillian came across very well too the previous day and it's a shame that he ...

Keith Bennett

I don't have a problem having all new conundrums in the duel, but surely we should get 30 seconds to try to work out what they might be?

Keith Bennett

Agreed. Very Jack Dee - could just imagine Mark reading out the intros at the start of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, absolutely deadpan.

Keith Bennett

Can someone please ask the Producers how anyone who does not know that 625 is 25 x 25 can ever be allowed near the show? OK nerves kick in. Understood. But are they really that short of plausible contestants? A lot of people that go on aren't very good at numbers. I think that they're less bothered...

Keith Bennett

Can someone please ask the Producers how anyone who does not know that 625 is 25 x 25 can ever be allowed near the show?

OK nerves kick in. Understood. But are they really that short of plausible contestants?

Keith Bennett

Not just you, there's something of the school prefect about him, which is fine when you are one but not several years after you've left.

Keith Bennett

Keith Bennett

Some fascinating stuff here. Presumaby before becoming a scout you were a player Martyn? (No weak jokes about him being a cub or his sex life thank you....) As a Norwich fan who hasn't actually lived near the place for, well, a long time, I've been to many more away games than home; I reckon I've be...

Keith Bennett

The letters rounds, fine. A lot of contestants faced with a top notch contestant like Graeme lose several rounds by one letter that they wouldn't to most other players; as a result their score on the day doesn't look too clever. But this guy screwed up 30 fairly straightforward points on numbers gam...

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