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Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2017 10:16 pm
by L'oisleatch McGraw
The rumour is that contestants who do a kickass audition tend to start their Octorun on the 3rd show recorded during the day...
Logic being, they will record 3 shows that day, then finish their run during the final show recorded the following day.

(There are 5 shows recorded per day)

So there is a poll below... tick the option that corresponds to your particular timeline when you went on telly.

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2017 9:42 am
by Gavin Chipper
Days correspond to guests (I've always assumed) so this could be checked easily enough.

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2017 1:40 pm
by Noel Mc
I was on the first show of the day, my audition must have sucked!

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2017 1:42 pm
by Noel Mc
Although your theory would make sense as it would allow an evening's notice in order to get a standby contestant should someone Octo.

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2017 2:06 pm
by Mark Murray
possibly something in it. my show was 3rd of the day and Pete Stegg's would have been 3rd of the next day! but Ciaran's wasn't so ...

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 3:39 am
by L'oisleatch McGraw
Mine is scheduled to be the first of the day...
...but then my audition was solid, but not stellar.

I can't even remember who I was chatting with in Apto-game chat, but whoever it was, their theory was that the stronger 'seeds' (rough seeding based on audition) get put as game 3 of the day.

I wonder if the contestants travelling from Ireland get put on first to give a better chance of being able to catch a flight... or something like that?

First game of the day for those travelling from overseas... evidence so far:-
Me, Noel, Ciaran... all flying there and back.

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 4:04 am
by Sean Fletcher
I was on the fourth show of my first day, meaning Neil Green would've started on the third show of his first day and Samir beat me on the 5th show of my 2nd day and then he had to wait a couple of weeks before filming his next episodes.

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 9:13 am
by Thomas Cappleman
I was fourth show - 2 that day, 5 the next, then came back a week and a half later for the final one. Did mean I got to meet the standby player, the one contestant during that time who was happy to see me win.

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 9:38 am
by Philip Peel
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Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 12:58 pm
by L'oisleatch McGraw
Ye, we need to be hush-hush about the details of recordings, I suppose.
Clause 7 in the user agreement and all that...
(Just in case people are wondering why some posts here got deleted.)

I'm not a massive fan of the way this poll is set up here... One on facebook would work better, coz you would see who selected what option.
I wonder would the moderators of the "Co-Events attendees" facebook group go batshit crazy if I posted it there too? It's not really relevant to co:events. Might not be appropriate...

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 1:00 pm
by Mark James
I'm from ireland and was on 5th. I think you're doing that human thing of trying to spot patterns that aren't there.

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 2:58 pm
by Gavin Chipper
L'oisleatch McGraw wrote: Mon Jul 24, 2017 12:58 pm Ye, we need to be hush-hush about the details of recordings, I suppose.
Clause 7 in the user agreement and all that...
(Just in case people are wondering why some posts here got deleted.)

I'm not a massive fan of the way this poll is set up here... One on facebook would work better, coz you would see who selected what option.
I wonder would the moderators of the "Co-Events attendees" facebook group go batshit crazy if I posted it there too? It's not really relevant to co:events. Might not be appropriate...
Forget the poll. Just use the wiki. Just take the last 10 or 15 850+ octochamps or whatever and see which show number of the guest their first game was. I might do it myself later.

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 3:14 pm
by Zarte Siempre
I was 3rd spot.

Of the octochamps in my series, Dylan was 3rd spot, Jen was 3rd spot, Alex was 3rd spot, Bradley was 3rd spot, Jonathan was 2nd spot.

Glen was 3rd spot but an overlap contestant, so unsure if it counts.

Callum was also 3rd spot, even though he didn't octo.

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 8:26 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Right, working backwards, here are the most recent 30 850+ octochamps, with the number episode of the current guest after their name, which is a proxy for how far they are through the recording day:

1. Tom Chafer-Cook - 2
2. Stephen Read - 3
3. Robin McKay - 3
4. Ann Dibben -3
5. Paul Erdunast - 4
6. Thomas Carey - 4
7. Jonathan Wynn - 3
8. Stephen Briggs - 3
9. Gerry Tynan - 5
10. Tom Cappleman - 5
11. Antoinette Ryan - 1
12. Dan McColm - 3
13. Tricia Pay - 3
14. Mark Murray - 3
15. Bradley Cates - 3
16. Jen Steadman - 3
17. Dylan Taylor - 3
18. Glen Webb - 3 (but as Zarte says, he overlapped series, so his last game was actually the first game of a guest/day)
19. Giles Hutchings - 3
20. Andy Platt - 3
21. Jonathan Rawlinson - 1
22. Edward McCullagh - 3
23. Adam Gillard - 3
24. Jack Hurst - 3
25. Eoin Monaghan - 3
26. Chris Davies - 5
27. Andrew Hulme - 4
28. Innis Carson - 4
29. Kirk Bevins - 1
30. David O'Donnell - 2

This is going back a long way (David O'Donnell's series was in 2008) and it's possible that they've had policy changes within this time. But looking at these raw stats, we get the following:

Game 1 - 3
Game 2 - 2
Game 3 - 18
Game 4 - 4
Game 5 - 3

We also had an unbroken run of nine consecutive games 3s (although this included Glen Webb), and also 13 out of a run of 14 (also including Glen Webb).

I've chosen 850+ octochamps, but there could be other players who scored under 850 who had a "kickass" audition and also players who scored 850+ that didn't have a "kickass" audition. But this is a decent sample size, and 18 out of 30 is a hell of a lot. Those 18 also all came in the last 25, so if I stopped there it would have looked even more impressive, and maybe there was no policy for the first five and it came in after that.

The poll is now redundant.

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 8:50 pm
by Jennifer Steadman
Gavin Chipper wrote: Mon Jul 24, 2017 8:26 pmlots of nerdy Gevin stuff
And Rawlo - the anomaly in the run of 14 - filmed in the very last 8 heat games of Series 66 (something that I believe he specifically requested?). So he may have been a game 3 player too had he played under 'normal' circumstances, and not immediately leading into series finals.

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 9:22 pm
by Tom
Though mine was the first game of the series, it was the third to be recorded that day. I know in my series, Chris Wills recorded 5 than 3 as opposed to my 3 and 5.

It's interesting to see this as I've never really known how the order of play is decided exactly. All I know back in my time, there was a player called Scott Mearns who got 100% at his audition and got put at the beginning of a series to get him out the way. My debut was the first show of a series though I didn't get 100% in my audition at all the reality is that it was coincidental I debuted on the first show!

Not sure if it's the right place to put it, but I'm in the process of completing a Countdown experience which I'll get published on my Facebook and maybe on here if there's a demand for it as I know there's a separate thread on them.

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 11:19 pm
by L'oisleatch McGraw
Mark James wrote: Mon Jul 24, 2017 1:00 pmI think you're doing that human thing of trying to spot patterns that aren't there.
That is such an adorably hipster thing to say, Mark... and it would make sense were it were applied to some sort of natural phenomenon, but the running order of Countdown contestants is decided by those very same creatures (humans) so it is likely there is a logical pattern to how it's done... Looks like we've cracked it now though (thanks to Gevin's nerdelicious post)

Seems most of the kickass auditions get seeded and put as Game 3 on recording day... and generally get spaced out in the running order so they don't cancel each other out (The Siempre/Taylor affair being one of the few notable exceptions to this... that is assuming, of course, that neither underperformed in their auditions.)

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 11:54 pm
by L'oisleatch McGraw
Tom wrote: Mon Jul 24, 2017 9:22 pmI know in my series, Chris Wills
That's the mystery of just "Tom" solved now...
I had assumed you were Tom Cappleman, but that comment shows you must be Tom Hargreaves. :)
Which makes sense, as a single name username on here would be unlikely for anyone outside of 1982-2009 CD vintage.

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 6:48 am
by Thomas Carey
Gavin Chipper wrote: Mon Jul 24, 2017 8:26 pm
6. Thomas Carey - 4
7. Jonathan Wynn - 3
Mine was the 4th show of the day but there were 6 shows that day (I think they had to cancel a recording day at some point in the series so did this a few times to make up for it), so that my final game was indeed the last game of the filming block. Jonathan Wynn was in exactly the same spot the block before (even though you've given us different numbers, lol)

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 10:27 am
by Gavin Chipper
Thomas Carey wrote: Tue Jul 25, 2017 6:48 am
Gavin Chipper wrote: Mon Jul 24, 2017 8:26 pm
6. Thomas Carey - 4
7. Jonathan Wynn - 3
Mine was the 4th show of the day but there were 6 shows that day (I think they had to cancel a recording day at some point in the series so did this a few times to make up for it), so that my final game was indeed the last game of the filming block. Jonathan Wynn was in exactly the same spot the block before (even though you've given us different numbers, lol)
Thanks for the extra information about the six games. Just looked at Jonathan Wynn again, and his debut was the third game (of five) in a Gyles Brandreth run. Am I missing something?

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 3:41 pm
by Thomas Carey
...nope, that was indeed just a normal day and I misremembered. Thought I'd remember my first day in the studio better to be honest. Shameful.

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2017 4:01 pm
by Paul Erdunast
I was 2-6 - this sounds like it is a thing.

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2017 11:11 pm
by James Laverty
There is clearly a link, but it has to be said it isn't always the case. If they are trying to make it that potential octochamps will end runs at the end of a filming day, why have three series winners including a 900club member, had their runs other three "days", in the Nick Hewer era alone. I'm not including Jack Worsley in this as he had a split series run, as well as at least two more members of the 800club (excluding Glen for the same reasons as Jack) having the same. At the same time, this discussion has been brought up before (I asked about it on AskGraeme way back in 2014), and it way well be a psychological advantage for contestants who are plumped in this slot, particuarly if they have read this thread.

Not a fan of the travelling overseas theory either. Eddy Byrne (3rd), Gerry Tynan (5th), and as he mentioned earlier, Mark (5th) have all been later in the day, and you could argue this is so they can fly over early morning.... and while I will concede that Rose Boyle and Hazel Drury were both first shows of day, I reckon it could just be a coincidence. I don't have time to research all the Irish contestants in recent years.

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2017 7:44 am
by Noel Mc
Just regarding the Irish thing: I was specifically put first on the Monday so that if I did manage 8, I could still fly home early on Tuesday evening.

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2017 2:46 am
by L'oisleatch McGraw
James Laverty wrote: Wed Jul 26, 2017 11:11 pmIf they are trying to make it that potential octochamps will end runs at the end of a filming day, why have three series winners including a 900club member, had their runs other three "days", in the Nick Hewer era alone.
...probably because there is not a hard and fast rule? (though we've pretty much established that there *is* something to this.)
Or possibly because some of those people underperformed in their auditions. The countdown researchers are not psychics. They cannot predict who will and who won't go on to contest series finals. All they have is their best guess based on a handful of rounds played under very different circumstances to what the contestant will be faced with on TV.

James Laverty wrote: Wed Jul 26, 2017 11:11 pmThis discussion has been brought up before (I asked about it on AskGraeme way back in 2014), and it way well be a psychological advantage for contestants who are plumped in this slot, particuarly if they have read this thread.
Now that is quite a stretch. I think you give more credit to the influence of this forum than it merits.

James Laverty wrote: Wed Jul 26, 2017 11:11 pmNot a fan of the travelling overseas theory either.
I'm not a fan of the idea of Donald Trump taking on the US presidency, yet here we are. ;)
Noel's provided direct proof that they sometimes do this...

The only reason I posed that hypothetical earlier, is that many of the big talents that buck the "3rd game of the day" trend are Irish, and put on first instead. If you remove Irish contestants from the mix, and regard them as potential special cases, the argument for the '3rd game' trend strengthens.

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2020 10:21 am
by Gavin Chipper
Zarte Siempre wrote: Mon Jul 24, 2017 3:14 pm I was 3rd spot.

Of the octochamps in my series, Dylan was 3rd spot
Just coming back to this years later, this thread does seem to demonstrate that the placement of contestants within series is not random or purely down to chance, which arguably sheds a different light on the fact that you had to play Dylan! However, you were both put in the position of potentially finishing your run on the last episode of a guest, so there's no evidence of which player was expected to win.

But if we look at your later series, you were in position 3 (the "octochamp position"), whereas Philip Aston was in position 2 (not the octochamp position), but maybe because Philip was less well known at the time, the production team weren't aware of how good he actually was.

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2020 11:27 am
by Tom S
Gavin Chipper wrote: Fri Sep 11, 2020 10:21 am
Zarte Siempre wrote: Mon Jul 24, 2017 3:14 pm I was 3rd spot.

Of the octochamps in my series, Dylan was 3rd spot
Just coming back to this years later, this thread does seem to demonstrate that the placement of contestants within series is not random or purely down to chance, which arguably sheds a different light on the fact that you had to play Dylan! However, you were both put in the position of potentially finishing your run on the last episode of a guest, so there's no evidence of which player was expected to win.

But if we look at your later series, you were in position 3 (the "octochamp position"), whereas Philip Aston was in position 2 (not the octochamp position), but maybe because Philip was less well known at the time, the production team weren't aware of how good he actually was.
If I recall correctly, Philip was originally due to go to on in position 3 but in Zarte's run, but had it changed I think as he would have had to travel a fair way up again if he won 3 games for the 2nd block.

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2020 9:07 am
by Ian Volante
I need to be able to vote again on this, adding a 3 to my existing 2.

Re: Curious about the CD recording process

Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2020 9:33 am
by Paul Anderson
Yeah, I was on first, and I'm Irish as I'm sure you've gathered