c4countdown

As I hope to on the show soon, all going well, I'm curious as to what the timeline is, and how rigid / fluid it can be.

To give some of us newbies a bit of an idea of what to expect, I wonder would some of those who've already been on, give a synopsis of what to expect when applying (assuming there is some consistency.)

So, what was the timing of your CD experience?
What sorts of waits between the various stages of the process?

#1. Fill an application.
#2. Get an audition date.
#3. Do the audition.
#4. Find out if you passed.
#5. Get a recording date.
#6. Record your TV run.
#7. Broadcast date.

Application - 21st March
Audition date confirmed - 13th April
Telephone audition - 18th April (was told I passed straight away)
Recording date confirmed - 31st May
Recording date - 25th June
Air date - 25th August

Applied one afternoon in mid May. Rang me the next day to offer a phone interview. Had the phone interview the next week. Filmed three weeks later. Aired three further weeks later. Ridiculously fast, it was nice.

Applied- Dec 2000
Got audition date- Feb 2001
Got a second audition date after first one was cancelled due to snow- Mar 2001
Audition- Apr 2001
Told I passed- May 2001
Got recording date- Aug 2001
Recorded- Oct 2001
Broadcast- Nov 2001

I included the '2000's and '2001's to reinfore my veteran status. From anecdotal evidence of others I'm pretty due my wait time was anomalously long.

mine (all dates 2015)

#1. Fill an application. - 14 Jan
#2. Get an audition date. - 3 March
#3. Do the audition. - 5 March
#4. Find out if you passed. - 5 March literally as soon as I did it
#5. Get a recording date. - 26 June
#6. Record your TV run. - 4 August
#7. Broadcast date. - 17 Sep

Love this thread!

Applied around March 2002
Audition date November 2002
Found out I'd passed by letter about a week later
January 2003 given a recording date for February 2003.
Recording date cancelled due to lighting issues.
March 2003 Went to Australia
March 2004 returned from Australia, contacted team to say I was back.
April 2004 given recording dates for May 2004
June 2004 episodes aired

In contrast - I applied for, auditioned and appeared on a live episode of Brainteaser all within 6 days.

My first application for the Chase was in 2011 and my episode finally aired in September 2016.

It seems to be quite variable Eoin. If you're waiting for one of the sit-down auditions in Dublin they only happen once of twice a year. I think I was 3-4 months waiting to record and another 2-3 months to air.

Fill an application - 24th July 2013
Get an audition date - 19th August 2013
Phone audition - 21st August 2013 (told I passed straight away)
Get a recording date - 6th February 2014
Record your TV run - 11th March 2014
Broadcast date - 5th May 2014

Applied August 1999
Audition in November
Message on answerphone the next day - got the very last recording slot of 1999 then back for the first 3 games of 2000
Broadcast in early March 2000

I'm thinking of applying on April 1st...
...and hoping that would result in an August recording date.
But it's probably not possible to plan for these things...

[Btw... I love your account of the inter-millennial CD experience Lisa.
Not many will be able to rival the coolness of those dates!]

L'oisleatch McGraw wrote: ↑Wed Mar 29, 2017 9:48 pm I'm thinking of applying on April 1st...
...and hoping that would result in an August recording date.
But it's probably not possible to plan for these things...

[Btw... I love your account of the inter-millennial CD experience Lisa.
Not many will be able to rival the coolness of those dates!]

That may not be as unrealistic as you might think Eoin. They're not recording during June and July, so will likely be back in action in August, by which time you would have had an audition, (presumably) been told you've passed and got a recording date. It's a lot quicker these days. My process took over a year, but since the telephone auditions began you can get on within a few months. Just for the record, here's my timeline:

Applied: March 17th 2004
Got an audition date: November 2004
Auditioned: December 2nd 2004
Told passed: December 6th 2004
Got recording date: March 5th 2005
Recorded: April 14th 2005
Aired: May 25th 2005

First time:

#1. Fill an application. - 30th June 2002
#2. Get an audition date. - August 2002
#3. Do the audition. - September 2002
#4. Find out if you passed. - October 2002
#5. Get a recording date. - December 2002
#6. Record your TV run. - 4th February 2003
#7. Broadcast date. - 4th April 2003

Second time:

#1. Fill an application. - January 2009
#2. Get an audition date. - February 2009
#3. Do the audition. - Mid-February 2009
#4. Find out if you passed. - The day after
#5. Get a recording date. - One week after that...
#6. Record your TV run. - 16th March 2009
#7. Broadcast date. - 21st April 2009

#1. Fill an application. - December 1997
#2. Get an audition date. - January 1998
#3. Do the audition. - March 1998
#4. Find out if you passed. - April 1998. Did not pass.

#1. Fill an application. - 25 May 2015
#2. Get an audition date. - 10 August 2015
#3. Do the audition. - 12 August 2015
#4. Find out if you passed. - 12 August 2015, immediately after audition
#5. Get a recording date. - 5 October 2015
#6. Record your TV run. - 3 November 2015, 14-15 December 2015
#7. Broadcast date. - 14 December 2015

Mine:-

#1. Fill an application. - 1st April 2017
#2. Get an audition date. - 3rd April 2017
#3. Do the audition. - 6th April 2017
#4. Find out if you passed. - 6th April 2017 (same day)
#5. Get a recording date. - 17th July 2017
#6. Record your TV run. - 7th August 2017
#7. Broadcast date. - 28th September 2017

[I'll update this as the other details come available! ]

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UPDATE 03-04-17:-
I sent my application on the 1st which was a Saturday... they emailed back on Monday the 3rd, which was the first available working day.
Then, the phone audition was arranged for 3:30pm on the Thursday... A crazily quick and efficient timeline so far...

(...No doubt Gevin's gotten the same timeline as he applied on April 1st too, I can only assume...?)

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UPDATE 06-04-17:-
The audition contained an unusual amount of 8s and 9s. It would probably be wise to use Apterous's "Nice" format to practise for audition. I could have gotten a recording date in May, but it clashed with work commitments, so the date shifted to a (as yet unconfirmed) date in August. They expect the next communication will be an email in July...

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UPDATE 20-07-17:-
Once the first week of July had elapsed, I started to worry I'd been forgotten about, so emailed Dave Smith on the 12th. The main producer, Damian, emailed back on the 13th. On the 17th, James H confirmed a recording date of the 7th, (and potentially the 8th too if I'm lucky). The necessary paperwork has been posted and is due to arrive any day now.

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UPDATE 28-07-2017:-
Based on info from the CD audience tickets booking form, cross-referenced with the Countdown wiki... it appears that I will be appearing on the first show featuring Jon Culshaw as the DC guest... So by that logic, it seems the airdate will be Thursday 28th Sept... (I'll change it later if that proves to be an incorrect assumption.)

#1. Fill an application. - 15th February 2013
#2. Get an audition date. - 7th October 2013
#3. Do the audition. - 1st November 2013 (face to face audition)
#4. Find out if you passed. - 7th November 2013
#5. Get a recording date. - 10th January 2014
#6. Record your TV run. - 24th February 2014 (3 days after my 21st!)
#7. Broadcast date. - 14th April 2014

Good luck with your audition today, L'oisleatch McGraw!

Thanks Elliott!

It went ok...
Solved both numbers, got the conundrum, and spotted one of the 9's.
I passed, so that's the main thing...

L'oisleatch McGraw wrote: ↑Fri Apr 07, 2017 12:39 am Thanks Elliott!

It went ok...
Solved both numbers, got the conundrum, and spotted one of the 9's.
I passed, so that's the main thing...

Excellent. Well done.

#1 October 2016
#2 13th October 2016
#3 17th October 2016
#4 17th October 2016
#5 3rd February 2017
#6 15th May 2017
#7 15th August 2017