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Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 9:59 am
by Karen Pearson
As Graham Nash appeared on yesterday's Divided, I thought it would be interesting to see who else has popped up where recently.

I'll start by saying that I bumped into Dan Peake at an audition for The Fuse last week in London. So, he's clearly still working the quiz circuit. I didn't get shortlisted but I wouldn't be surprised if he did as there was a dearth of younger males (most were 40s ish).

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:25 am
by Derek Hazell

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:30 am
by Charlie Reams
Loads of Countdowners were on Brainteaser (RIP): Nash, Fell, Stitcher, Mubeen and Bolas (same episode!), Brittain, Bevins, and more.

Curiously, lots of ex-Countdowners later go on to do well on other shows, but people who circulate round various quiz shows (CJ de Mooi, that guy that Kirk twatted, etc) and then do Countdown tend to do poorly.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 11:28 am
by Phil Reynolds
Charlie Reams wrote:people who circulate round various quiz shows [...] and then do Countdown tend to do poorly
Comforting to know... :(

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 11:45 am
by Ben Wilson
Phil Reynolds wrote:
Charlie Reams wrote:people who circulate round various quiz shows [...] and then do Countdown tend to do poorly
Comforting to know... :(
That's not to say there aren't notable exceptions- Dag Griffiths and Jack Welsby spring immediately to mind, as does the legend that is Clive Spate (though I'm not sure how many of his quizzes were pre-Countdown he certainly dominated just about all of them).

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:56 pm
by JackHurst
Charlie Reams wrote:Loads of Countdowners were on Brainteaser (RIP): Nash, Fell, Stitcher, Mubeen and Bolas (same episode!), Brittain, Bevins, and more.

Curiously, lots of ex-Countdowners later go on to do well on other shows, but people who circulate round various quiz shows (CJ de Mooi, that guy that Kirk twatted, etc) and then do Countdown tend to do poorly.
I never knew that CJ appeared on countdown!

I'd love to see him go on the show again and get abosoloutely thrashed.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 5:50 pm
by Kevin Thurlow
Chris Wills and I did Brainteaser as well (luckily on diffeent days). Also, Dave Ledger won £3K, having previously had one appearance on Countdown....

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 7:40 pm
by Clive Brooker
Maureen Sye is on Millionaire at the moment, but time's running out if she wants any money.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cmf9trRh ... re=related

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 9:14 pm
by Andy Thomson
I was on 15-1 three times.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 9:15 pm
by Matt Morrison
Andy Thomson wrote:I was on 15-1 three times.
That's basically 5-1.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 7:25 am
by Andy Thomson
Matt Morrison wrote:
Andy Thomson wrote:I was on 15-1 three times.
That's basically 5-1.
Nearly lunchtime then - good.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 11:48 am
by Ian Volante
Uni Challenge, 15-1 (twice), CDx4, Mastermind. Done reasonably well on each, but probably always gone on before my ability has peaked.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 1:16 pm
by Sue Sanders
Perfect Recall *- won £5,000. Hurrah

The People's Quiz 'Wildcard' There's only one prize (of over 200k) so never was gonna win that, but did knock some rampant quizzer type called Martin off his perch when I beat him and halted his progression up the winner's ladder.

* I'm sure plenty of people won't watch this because it's a Terry Wogan thing but if you want a quiz/game that tests your general knowledge, and your memory and which you can essily play along with at home, then give it a go

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 10:04 pm
by Lesley Hines
I'm sure I saw Chris Wills on the thing they do to try to make the lottery look interesting - can't remember the name but there's 1 person knocking out 100 others. The man's got more airtime than Myleene Klass :lol:

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 7:03 pm
by Derek Hazell
I know this is about former CD contestants, but DC member Martin Lewis is a contestant on ITV's Celebrity Millionaire right now.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 6:05 pm
by Karen Pearson
Dan Peake was on Perfect Recall today. He came a close second.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 7:39 pm
by Jon Corby
Karen Pearson wrote:Dan Peake was on Perfect Recall today. He came a close second.
He's already been on, hasn't he? He came a close second then too.

(A repeat I take it. Was yours a repeat too Sue?)

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 8:38 pm
by Phil Reynolds
Jon Corby wrote:
Karen Pearson wrote:Dan Peake was on Perfect Recall today. He came a close second.
He's already been on, hasn't he? He came a close second then too.
A year and a day ago.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 9:46 pm
by Sue Sanders
Jon Corby wrote:
Karen Pearson wrote:Dan Peake was on Perfect Recall today. He came a close second.
He's already been on, hasn't he? He came a close second then too.

(A repeat I take it. Was yours a repeat too Sue?)
Yep - originally shown in February. When I watched it the other day I was really hoping this time I'd say '17'. Doubling my winnings would have been useful. That 5K is a distant memory now, after a quiet season in the world of garden design.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 10:38 pm
by Ian Volante
Anyone seen A Question of Genius? I've got an audition for it next week, and I've never seen it before! Any tips gratefully accepted, although probably not that necessary unless I get on to the programme proper!

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 11:19 pm
by Phil Reynolds
Ian Volante wrote:Anyone seen A Question of Genius? I've got an audition for it next week, and I've never seen it before! Any tips gratefully accepted, although probably not that necessary unless I get on to the programme proper!
You could start by reading the thread about it.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 11:41 pm
by Sue Sanders
Phil Reynolds wrote:
Ian Volante wrote:Anyone seen A Question of Genius? I've got an audition for it next week, and I've never seen it before! Any tips gratefully accepted, although probably not that necessary unless I get on to the programme proper!
You could start by reading the thread about it.
And taking your antlers off.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 10:41 am
by James Robinson
Ian Volante wrote:Anyone seen A Question of Genius? I've got an audition for it next week, and I've never seen it before! Any tips gratefully accepted, although probably not that necessary unless I get on to the programme proper!
I've applied for it as well, but have had no reply, yet.

It's basically a quiz combining knowledge and skill. You really need to have as much knowledge as you can cram into your brain, since questions could be about anything and I do mean anything!

You could win £5,000 a show, although based on what was said in the application form, the rules might have been changed a bit since Series 1.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 1:45 pm
by Matt Bayfield
Ian--

--I was a contestant on the last series of "A Question of Genius". I take it you have passed the phone i/view and have got to the in-person audition stage, where you will probably play a few of the rounds from the show. A few pointers:

Don't be timid at the audition. This doesn't just mean be confident in how you present yourself, but also when you select difficulty of questions. They will not want people who pick the level 1 questions all the time (partly because it means the show will take longer if everyone is scoring in multiples of 1 point). You should probably try to go for level 3s or above in subjects you know a lot about, and picking the odd level 5 (even if you don't get it right) might be good. Certainly it adds excitement to the shows when contestants go for the level 5 questions, so I think the researchers like to see evidence of that.

Have an interesting story about why you picked your specialist subject. I picked "the World Snooker Championship since 1977", which sounds pretty dull, but I told the (true) story of how, as a kid, I used to make my own snooker table out of books and tennis balls on the dining table, until my folks finally got pissed off and bought me a second-hand 5ft table. Of course I always used to watch the championships on BBC2 every Easter hoiliday, and I loved the old characters in the game - Fred Davis, Cliff Wilson, Bill Werbeniuk, and so on...

Also be prepared to say what you'll do with the prize money, and make it something interesting.

Note that although you will be expected to have better general knowledge than your average Weakest Link contestant, it doeesn't matter if you aren't the best quizzer there - in fact, it was two of the contestants with relatively poorer general knowledge (me and a young lass who'd just graduated at UEA, whose name I forget) who (out of 14 people) were the only ones to get through my audition and on to the show. If you're a brilliant quizzer (Mastermind heat winner, or Are You An Egghead, standard) then you will probably be told you're a bit too good to go on, as several of those were at my audition (mostly old, greying, men).

The production team (if they're the same as last series) are all absolutely sound people, and I had a great week with them and my fellow contestants in Glasgow. I think there's an AQOG group on facebook, btw, although I'm not on facebook, so can't tell you much about it.

If you pass the audition and want tips on how to play the show, then PM me and I'll see what I can remember. Once I got to the show, I found that having an in-depth knowledge of two or three areas (sport, music and geography in my case) was enough to see me past a number of contestants with much wider knowledge. Oh, and be fast on the buzzer... the starter questions are often the "obvious" answer, so anticipating is often a good strategy.

*wave*
matt

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 5:40 pm
by Ian Volante
Thanks all for the advice, especially Matt. I'll try my best to be jaunty, outgoing and interesting, and not too good! I purposefully got one or two wrong on the phone interview, probably worth doing that again. You mention taking level five questions - there must be a balance to strike between doing this to look adventurous and looking too good by doing it!

Shall keep you posted anyway. And thanks Phil, quite amused that I forgot about the existence of that thread...

Sue, surely the antlers will help?!

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 7:47 pm
by Sue Sanders
Ian Volante wrote:Thanks all for the advice, especially Matt. I'll try my best to be jaunty, outgoing and interesting, and not too good! I purposefully got one or two wrong on the phone interview, probably worth doing that again. You mention taking level five questions - there must be a balance to strike between doing this to look adventurous and looking too good by doing it!

Shall keep you posted anyway. And thanks Phil, quite amused that I forgot about the existence of that thread...

Sue, surely the antlers will help?!

Well, if they're looking for a 'you'll have to excuse me, I'm maaaaad' type!!

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 9:25 am
by Matt Bayfield
Yup, don't go for level 5 questions all the time. When I played "A Question Of Strategy" (i.e. the final head-to-head round) at the audition, I was paired against a semi-professional quizzer (who had missed out on a Mastermind heat win by one point, had won £125k on WWTBA Millionaire, etc). He went for several level 5 questions, and knew most of the answers... and didn't get on the show.

But try to avoid going for level 1 questions, at all - unless you only need one point to get through to the next round. As a balance, I would suggest that you go for level 3 for 50% of the subjects, unless it's something you're weak or strong in, in which case, you might try levels 2, 4 or 5.

It's funny, sometimes the questions don't fit the level you'd think they'd be at. In the show for real, "which British swimmer set a world record at the Beijing Olympics in the women's 800 m freestyle, having already won gold in the 400 m?" was a 4-point question on the subject of "sports on the water". (I think they avoided calling it "watersports" for the obvious reason...) I would've pegged that as a 1-point question, considering that Rebecca A was all over the newspapers last summer, and went on to come 3rd in BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

And unless you're getting all the questions right and looking vastly superior to everyone else, I'd be careful about deliberately answering a few wrong, but of course you should judge this for yourself on the day. If I recall correctly from another old thread, you're a pretty decent quizzer (Mastermind contestant this year?), so you may know the answer to every question, but do bear in mind that most of the contestants last series were serial quizzers with very good general knowledge (e.g. Chris Wills, Jackie McLeod, to name two ex-Countdowners), so the production team are looking for people who will get most (if not quite all) of the questions right...

Anyhows, good luck fella.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 9:57 am
by Derek Hazell
Alex Horne will be on surreal quiz "We Need Answers" on BBC4 on Tuesday 5th January.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 11:26 am
by Innis Carson
Question of Genius returns on BBC2 on Monday, and I hear Melanie Beaumont is on it.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 12:31 pm
by Ian Volante
Innis Carson wrote:Question of Genius returns on BBC2 on Monday, and I hear Melanie Beaumont is on it.
I'm on on the 31st of May as well.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 4:46 pm
by Ryan Taylor
Dinos on Weakest Link repeat. Never saw this the first time round.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 4:53 pm
by James Doohan
Ryan Taylor wrote:Dinos on Weakest Link repeat. Never saw this the first time round.
Marlon has a short fucking memory

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 5:30 pm
by Ryan Taylor
james doohan wrote:
Ryan Taylor wrote:Dinos on Weakest Link repeat. Never saw this the first time round.
Marlon has a short fucking memory
Yup.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 9:56 pm
by Karen Pearson
Ryan Taylor wrote:Dinos on Weakest Link repeat. Never saw this the first time round.

Me neither. I bet he got grief at home for getting the Greek question wrong!! Kappa indeed!!!

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 9:40 am
by Dinos Sfyris
Yeah was surprised to hear while I was out yesterday that I was back on the box again. Don't think it's up on iplayer yet though (if they put repeats on iplayer)

The kudos question was frustrating as it's one of those words people know, but never ever fucking use! I knew kappa was probably wrong but thought I should probably guess something rather than pass.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 9:22 pm
by James Robinson
Innis Carson wrote:Question of Genius returns on BBC2 on Monday, and I hear Melanie Beaumont is on it.
She seemed to do pretty well on the show. Martin (on Thursday's show) was at my audition.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 4:16 pm
by Oliver Garner
Wendy Trigg (my 6th game opponent) is on the Chase at the moment.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Mon May 31, 2010 2:09 pm
by Ian Volante
Ian Volante wrote:
Innis Carson wrote:Question of Genius returns on BBC2 on Monday, and I hear Melanie Beaumont is on it.
I'm on on the 31st of May as well.
*bump* I'm on at 4.30pm this afternoon I believe. Erk.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 8:45 pm
by Matt Bayfield
**SPOILERS IN YELLOW TEXT**

Nice going Ian, and unlucky not to get through to your QoG thanks to some very tough subjects in the Question of Pressure round; Adrian's questions seemed considerably easier.

**SPOILERS END**

Incidentally, did you get to meet Bernie, the guy from Liverpool who appeared on the following day's show? Nice to see him popping up on the quiz circuit again; I appeared with him in the final of the 2001 UK:Play quiz "Mental! The Music Quiz"... which was watched by a total of three people. And I was one of those.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2010 9:37 am
by Ian Volante
Matt Bayfield wrote:**SPOILERS IN YELLOW TEXT**

Nice going Ian, and unlucky not to get through to your QoG thanks to some very tough subjects in the Question of Pressure round; Adrian's questions seemed considerably easier.

**SPOILERS END**

Incidentally, did you get to meet Bernie, the guy from Liverpool who appeared on the following day's show? Nice to see him popping up on the quiz circuit again; I appeared with him in the final of the 2001 UK:Play quiz "Mental! The Music Quiz"... which was watched by a total of three people. And I was one of those.
Thanks, two of the questions at the end of the pressure round I knew, but my head had gone (I think I actually sugar crashed, I got a runner to get me biscuits as I felt wobbly earlier!

In fact, never minding those which would have got me to a tie, my stupidity in changing my mind on the Macau answer (I knew it was Hong Kong but decided that was too obvious probably cost me worst, as I was locked out for a long time.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2010 10:43 am
by Ryan Taylor
Not seen this yet. I stupid presumed that I had sky plussed it so when I cam to look in the planner and realise it wasn't there I got a shock. What I had done was series link The Chase rather then AQoG so there wasn't a clash and forgot I had. Hopefully will catch it on iplayer this week.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2010 12:32 pm
by Ian Volante
Matt Bayfield wrote:
Incidentally, did you get to meet Bernie, the guy from Liverpool who appeared on the following day's show? Nice to see him popping up on the quiz circuit again; I appeared with him in the final of the 2001 UK:Play quiz "Mental! The Music Quiz"... which was watched by a total of three people. And I was one of those.
Oh, regarding Bernie, I may have met him in passing, but the only other person I remember meeting in the green room was the stand-in contestant, so probably not.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 10:18 am
by Ian Volante
I'll be on Radio 2's Popmaster in about fifteen minutes...

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 10:22 am
by James Robinson
Ian Volante wrote:I'll be on Radio 2's Popmaster in about fifteen minutes...
Cool, will be listening in my office. 8-) (Give me a shout ;) )

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 12:59 pm
by Bob De Caux
Ian Volante wrote:I'll be on Radio 2's Popmaster in about fifteen minutes...
Shout, shout, let it all out...

Nice one Ian, just listened to it on i-Player and thought you did very well to get 27. Tough bonuses, great get on Bobby Goldsborough especially. Tears for Fears though?! I though you were an 80s man? :o

I really must have a go myself one of these days...

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 1:18 pm
by Ian Volante
Bob De Caux wrote:
Ian Volante wrote:I'll be on Radio 2's Popmaster in about fifteen minutes...
Shout, shout, let it all out...

Nice one Ian, just listened to it on i-Player and thought you did very well to get 27. Tough bonuses, great get on Bobby Goldsborough especially. Tears for Fears though?! I though you were an 80s man? :o

I really must have a go myself one of these days...
Yep, did the classic blank on that one, was trying to remember Head Over Heels!

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 1:49 pm
by Ryan Taylor
Just listened to this. I've never listened to Popmaster at all before since I don't really listen to radio at all apart from 5 live. I got the first two and then didn't get any after that! Great music knowledge I thought and that song they played by Bobby Goldsboro I recognised but had no idea why I recognised it. I checked my iTunes and it turns out I have it in there, ripped from a CD called 101 70's Hits [Disc 1] (clearly my mum's)!! Well done AND you got a reference to Countdown in.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 3:21 pm
by Rhys Benjamin
Yeah I prefer Radio 1. 8-)

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 3:27 pm
by Soph K
Carol Vordeman was on Who Wants be a Millionaire?.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 3:38 pm
by Joseph Krol
I seem to remember chris wills on pointless a month or two ago. Can anyone verify/debunk this?

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 3:55 pm
by Rosemary Roberts
Joseph Krol wrote:I seem to remember chris wills on pointless a month or two ago. Can anyone verify/debunk this?
I think I remember that too, but I don't remember how well he did.
I also heard him on Radio 4's Brain of Britain some time in December, but he didn't get past the first round.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 5:37 pm
by Ryan Taylor
Rosemary Roberts wrote:
Joseph Krol wrote:I seem to remember chris wills on pointless a month or two ago. Can anyone verify/debunk this?
I think I remember that too, but I don't remember how well he did.
I also heard him on Radio 4's Brain of Britain some time in December, but he didn't get past the first round.
He didn't win.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 10:41 pm
by Rosemary Roberts
Ryan Taylor wrote: He didn't win.
That's how you do the "not getting past first round". Actually I was surprised how little he scored.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 9:50 pm
by Ian Volante
Just got shortlisted for the Weakest Link, thought I'd better get in before its demise. I'm not sure I'm looking forward to it.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 8:22 pm
by Marc Meakin
Rachel on 8 out of 10 cats is quality!

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 5:48 pm
by Rosemary Roberts
Chris Wills was on Mastermind on Jan 23rd, and missed winning only by one pass. So he could be back in the next round.

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 5:49 pm
by Matt Morrison
Ian Volante wrote:Just got shortlisted for the Weakest Link, thought I'd better get in before its demise. I'm not sure I'm looking forward to it.
update

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 7:55 pm
by Ian Volante
Not heard from the buggers. Just applied for Blockbusters etc...

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2012 11:38 pm
by James Robinson
Ian Volante wrote:15-1 (twice).
Speaking of which, I just uncovered this little gem. Seems your disappearance wasn't the only dodgy thing that happened when you were on it............... :roll:

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:40 pm
by Ian Volante
James Robinson wrote:
Ian Volante wrote:15-1 (twice).
Speaking of which, I just uncovered this little gem. Seems your disappearance wasn't the only dodgy thing that happened when you were on it............... :roll:
Aye, I never did find out what happened to the bloke that was edited out.