"Black Takeover Day" - Autumn 2021

[Fiona T]

No comments about him being too old then?

Agree he's a good choice - look forward to seeing how it goes.

[Gavin Chipper]

The hosts get older and older!

I hear that when Anne retires, they're lining up Kane Tanaka. They would have gone for Jeanne Calment, but she died at the age of 59.

[Gavin Chipper]

No comments about him being too old then?

Oh, whoops. I don't think people should be excluded for their age anyway - I was just commenting!

(And I wanted to get in a Jeanne Calment joke.)

[Philip A]

I don’t think it matters how old you are, you’re either good enough or you’re not.

Trevor will do great. Newsreaders make good hosts of this sort of thing.

[Fiona T]

No comments about him being too old then?

Oh, whoops. I don't think people should be excluded for their age anyway - I was just commenting!

(And I wanted to get in a Jeanne Calment joke.)

I couldn't agree more - but one of the main criticisms levelled at Anne across lots of channels was that she was as old as Nick!

[L'oisleatch McGraw]

No comments about him being too old then?

No-one gives a crap, because this is a one off dumb gimmick, and not a permanent choice, like Robinson.

[Fiona T]

I wonder if there could be a longer tenure for Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon to cover Rachel's maternity leave?

[Gavin Chipper]

By the way, in the company Nick Hewer (born 1944), Anne Robinson (born 1944) and Trevor McDonald (1939), Richard Whiteley (born 1943) would be about average age for a Countdown host even now.

[Rhys Benjamin]

Don't think anyone can disagree with Trevor McDonald - that's an excellent choice, and one wonders why he wasn't picked over Anne...

Have to admit I haven't heard of the other two.

Fiona, the comments about Anne's age are not a criticism of her as such, it's more that going from Hewer to Robinson represents a sideways move from C4, that's all.

[Gavin Chipper]

Have to admit I haven't heard of the other two.

Lemn Sissay, Anne-Marie Imafidon and Marverine Cole - so black people are worth 2/3 of a person?

In any case, they're not household names.

[Rhys Benjamin]

In fairness, Cole is missing from many of the press releases.

[Marc Meakin]

Great lineup.

Black contestants as well as a one off, or is it a normal show?

[Rhys Benjamin]

Both, is my understanding.

Presumably that means they'll have to have 8 black contestants in a row to ensure that both contestants are black on that day?

[Marc Meakin]

I think an all womans day would be easily done

[Rhys Benjamin]

Been there and done that, Marc.

Three times in the last 10 days, in fact.

[Marc Meakin]

Been there and done that, Marc.

Three times in the last 10 days, in fact.

I did wonder as it seemed likely, although (maybe i should ask Graham) how often are there 2 female contestants in a show.
Also, last all male show ( if ever)

[Ian Fitzpatrick]

Is this just to be a "special" with black competitors too?

[Gavin Chipper]

Great lineup.

You've heard of all the people?

[Tom S]

Both, is my understanding.

Presumably that means they'll have to have 8 black contestants in a row to ensure that both contestants are black on that day?

Possibly, but I'm inclined to think that they had 2 contestants spare to put on after someone had octo'd.

[Paul Anderson]

Sissay Lemn has joined the FB group