c4countdown

First time posting... be gentle with me!

I'm a long time fan of the show and delighted to stumble across the forum, the database and Apterous. Getting quite hooked on Apterous now I have to say!

Anyway, I had a successful audition in Dublin a month or so ago, so I'm guessing I'll appear on the next series sometime. No recording date fixed as yet.... no harm, I need the practice, as my Apterous record will demonstrate. Still, if I can avoid the likes of Giles and Andy I should be ok. Maybe.

Hi, Oops I posted something already so I didn't post here first Sorry. Well I've watched Countdown pretty much from the start off and on but in the last 10 years I hardly missed any. I applied once back in 1983 but didn't get on Really pleased to have found this site - I think the champ of champs series made me investigate further. Anyway sorry I didn't post here first

Hi everyone,
I'm Zubair from Preston. I'm 29 and work as an optometrist on the Fylde coast.
I was a regular Countdown watcher back in the days of the great, late Richard Whiteley but struggled to keep up whilst living away during uni and training ~2004 ish. Over the past few years I've been particularly inspired by the epic 2011 final and the breathtaking performances of recent octochamps / champions.
I love watching many sports but especially football, snooker and tennis.

I discovered Apterous around Xmas 2012 and really enjoy just being on there trying to improve as much as i can. I've been particularly impressed by how good a lot of them are on there !
Ultimately, I would love to be an octochamp but my rating will tell you that will never happen and so i intend to just enjoy my opportunity to go on the show IF i get there. I have an audition on Friday this week so fingers crossed !
I also have a ticket to watch the recording for the very first time this coming Monday so looking forward to that !

Feel free to share any advice and tips on how i can enjoy the whole experience as much as possible.

All the best !

Hi Philip! Nice to meet you, and nice to know more about you Zubair!

Hello

I grew up watching Richard Whiteley present Yorkshire TV's regional news programme 'Calendar' with Austin Mitchell.
Unless I just imagined it, I'm pretty sure I once got the 9 letter word "deciduous" whilst it went unspotted by contestants and Dictionary Corner alike. Chuffed I was!
Loving the '8 out of 10 cats do Countdown' episodes. Is it considered blasphemy amongst some Countdowners?

Cheers
James

Welcome, James! Regarding the 8 out of 10 Cats mash-ups, I don't think they'll do any harm to Countdown as they'll have a much bigger audience, which is good for promoting the show. Also, it allows Susie and Rachel to be a bit more risqué if it pleases them (which it would seem that it does!). I think that the shows themselves aren't nearly as good as either Countdown or 8 out of 10 Cats are individually, but plenty of people seem to be enjoying them as much as you and that has to be good for the show's profile overall.

Welcome James!

Hello i am new member here as some of you know i am also playing in apterous. just saying looking forward to getting know you in this community

Welcome Ciaran!

Glad you joined us!

Hello, I've been a fan of Countdown for many years but was not aware that this online community existed until I competed on Countdown in Series 69 and Adam Dexter, who was in the studio on the same day as me, recommended apterous to me. That was 6 weeks ago now and I'm now trying to make my way up the ranks in apterous and plan to attend my first Countdown event in November. I continue to be amazed at just how large, dedicated, and friendly this community is. Thank you to everyone involved in it

My Countdown game(s) (and Adam's) will be shown later this month.

Hi Callum! Welcome, and glad you joined us!

Hi all! I used to be an avid watcher of the show many years ago when I was a student, but then full-time jobs got in the way... anyway, I mainly spend spare time playing poker, backgammon and the like but I met a couple of the Countdown researchers at Mind Sports Olympiad 2013 in London; they were inviting people to have a go at a few games and I did what I thought was not too bad, and the long and the short of it is I got invited to an audition in London (which is now tomorrow). Joined apterous back in August, started practising like crazy, and now realise just what I'm up against!

Hi Julia!

Glad you joined us, and happy Halloween!

Hello,

Many of you will have come across me from apterous but decided to join up here because discussion sometimes veers from word puzzles and anagrams which is helpful for me because I'm bad at those things. In all seriousness though I really like the group of people who play Apterous so thought I'd join in a bit more.

I've just returned to England from bumming around in New Zealand/Australia, so maybe one day I'll even feel that losing on Countdown online isn't enough for me and come and meet you all at a co event to experience defeat in the flesh!

Anyway, merry christmas to you all and see you around.

Hi Dave!

'Glad you joined us!

are you back home now?

Merry Christmas!

Thanks Jason,

Yeah back in England now, was a good trip but decided the time was right.

Are you still with your girlfriend?

Aye I am Jason.

So she moved back to England with you! Excellent!

Heh, she's only Aussie in name really, she grew up in England and I met her here, but thanks for the support!

Aussie in name?

Hi,I'm Steven McCann, I'm hoping to audition for Countdown in the near future.
I have been building up my word skills playing the "Countdownish" Android word game "Touchy Words".
There are over 50,000 registered "Touchy Words" players and without being too conceited, at the moment, I'm probably the Worlds No.1 player!
Obviously, there will be a few on this forum who will probably think they can knock me off my pedestal,well, your very welcome to try!
Best Wishes, Steven McCann.

Hi Steven!

Welcome!

Steven M. McCann wrote:There are over 50,000 registered "Touchy Words" players and without being too conceited, at the moment, I'm probably the Worlds No.1 player!
Obviously, there will be a few on this forum who will probably think they can knock me off my pedestal,well, your very welcome to try!

Yeah, your quite the wordsmith.

Haha ^

What a way to introduce yourself Steven. Come and play apterous.org with us sometime. There's a couple of new guys called Conor and Innis, you can start by playing them.

You definitely need to get on apterous, Steven.

Andy Platt wrote:Haha ^

What a way to introduce yourself Steven. Come and play apterous.org with us sometime. There's a couple of new guys called Conor and Innis, you can start by playing them.

Or if you want a real challenge, play me

Steven M. McCann wrote:Hi,I'm Steven McCann, I'm hoping to audition for Countdown in the near future.
I have been building up my word skills playing the "Countdownish" Android word game "Touchy Words".
There are over 50,000 registered "Touchy Words" players and without being too conceited, at the moment, I'm probably the Worlds No.1 player!
Obviously, there will be a few on this forum who will probably think they can knock me off my pedestal,well, your very welcome to try!
Best Wishes, Steven McCann.

Hi Steven. Welcome to the forum.
I always knew there was an immortal player out there, so it's nice of you to turn up
Come on apterous.org sometime and show us what you're made of

Hi, my name's Andrew and I'm currently in the contestant pool to be on Countdown. I have a date set for my first game, which is the 4th game of the day on March 24th. I follow previous Countdown contestants Sam Hodkin and Daniel Peake on Twitter, both of them I have met while being a member of the game show website 'Bother's Bar'. I've watched Countdown on and off over the years and have fancied my chances of being on the show, which led me to audition to be on it. I write my own scoresheets as I play along with each episode for practice and I tend to do quite well. I usually get 6s and 7s with the occasional 8 and have had a few 9s. I tend to do quite well at the number games, and I'm able to get around half of the Conundrums. I then take my raw data and make graphs out of them to analyse my performance as well as noting down any obscure words that the contestants and Dictionary Corner come up with to aid me in getting better at the game. I'm mainly here to hopefully pick up some tips to aid me when I take part on the show. I'm NOT expecting to do well at it, I'm one of those contestants that would be happy to just win one game

Andrew Sullivan wrote:I write my own scoresheets as I play along with each episode for practice and I tend to do quite well. I usually get 6s and 7s with the occasional 8 and have had a few 9s. I tend to do quite well at the number games, and I'm able to get around half of the Conundrums. I then take my raw data and make graphs out of them to analyse my performance as well as noting down any obscure words that the contestants and Dictionary Corner come up with to aid me in getting better at the game.

Jeez, sounds like you take it all pretty seriously, that's a bit sad man.



Welcome!

Welcome, Andrew! I think it's impressive that you devote that much time and effort to Countdowning. Check out apterous if you fancy practising among a large pool of former players and general brainboxes. Enjoy the forum!

Thanks for the welcome

Countdowning is serious business for me right now as it's only 5 weeks before my appearance, so I'm trying to get as much practice in as I can in that timeframe. As well as the TV shows, I have a boxed game and puzzle book I can use, and I'll certainly look into giving some website versions of the games a try.

I even posted some of my scoresheets to my Twitter account (which you can find at @Keshihead) so you have an idea of how I'm doing at the moment. And yes, I'm fully aware of how OCD-ish it is to analyse my scores, but if I can find where I'm falling down, then I know what areas of the game I need to improve in I've always been a statto, that's my excuse!

Cool, welcome, your standard does seem pretty similar to most contestants at the moment so it'll be interesting to see how you get on.

If you're serious about winning just come over to apterous.org.The dictionary used is like 99.9% accurate so you'll learn a few classics that you might not already know - the likes of GODETIAS and NOTARISE and INDURATES will make a massive difference to your game. But if you're more going on just to enjoy it, then that's fine, it's probably a more healthy attitude than being desperate to succeed.

Thanks, Andy. I have a lot of friends and family that are also keen to see how I do

I'm going on the show more for the experience of being on it and to add to my game show CV. I've only done 2 other game shows in the past, the first being Memory Bank for Channel 5 in 2004 and I won £700, the second being on BBC2's Breakaway in 2012 where I came ONE QUESTION away from winning £7,000. The difference between those shows and Countdown is that there's no money on the line or anything like that, just a goody bag and a teapot added to it for a win, so you can afford to take it a little less seriously than the big money primetime shows. I'm just hopeful that I'm not up against an uber-whizz at Countdown that has the dictionary on their bedside table for some 'light reading'

I was initially not going to go through with auditioning, if I'm totally honest. Around the time I was called to audition, Dylan was on the show and I saw how incredible he was at the game. I was convinced that if I somehow made it through auditioning, I'd be up against someone like him, end up with a very low score and end up making a complete fool of myself on national TV, so I didn't go. Holly, the contestant researcher, even had to email me to reassure me that contestants like him came along once in a blue moon and that I shouldn't be put off by him. I came JUST under what was needed to pass in my first audition which was done over the phone, but was allowed to have another go in November last year, which was extremely nice of them. Needless to say, I passed it and this is where I am now. If anything, I see myself as an underdog. I know how the game works and can come up with some good words now and again (for example, when Dylan came up with TERATOMA in the final of the last series, I had found AMARETTO. Since DC didn't mention it, I was worried it wasn't a real word, so I even had to ask my Twitter friends whether it was valid or not!), but I do sometimes make silly mistakes, like on this Monday's show, in the first letter game, I could only see 6s when both contestants came up with ROASTED! It was like I had some sort of word-blindness at that point!

Andrew Sullivan wrote:I was initially not going to go through with auditioning, if I'm totally honest. Around the time I was called to audition, Dylan was on the show and I saw how incredible he was at the game. I was convinced that if I somehow made it through auditioning, I'd be up against someone like him, end up with a very low score and end up making a complete fool of myself on national TV, so I didn't go. Holly, the contestant researcher, even had to email me to reassure me that contestants like him came along once in a blue moon and that I shouldn't be put off by him. I came JUST under what was needed to pass in my first audition which was done over the phone, but was allowed to have another go in November last year, which was extremely nice of them. Needless to say, I passed it and this is where I am now. If anything, I see myself as an underdog. I know how the game works and can come up with some good words now and again (for example, when Dylan came up with TERATOMA in the final of the last series, I had found AMARETTO. Since DC didn't mention it, I was worried it wasn't a real word, so I even had to ask my Twitter friends whether it was valid or not!), but I do sometimes make silly mistakes, like on this Monday's show, in the first letter game, I could only see 6s when both contestants came up with ROASTED! It was like I had some sort of word-blindness at that point!

Don't worry about coming up against a strong player. The unlikely worst case is that you end up playing someone of Dylan's standard and lose by a wide margin. It won't be the first time that's happened, and in any case, when that does happen, the viewer reaction (that I've seen, anyway) is usually at how good the winner is rather than any negative comments about the loser.

Holly and all the other Countdown production crew are great people. The fact that they took the time to encourage a reluctant contestant to continue with their application rather than take the presumably easier option of replacing them with another applicant from the pile doesn't surprise me at all.

Also, everyone occasionally has the word-blindness thing where they fail to spot an easy word. It's not really anything to worry about.

Best of luck on the show. You'll enjoy it.

Welcome Andrew. As has been said above get on to Apterous. It's brilliant and in four/five weeks you could easily improve your game by 20%. It provides great stats to show what words you miss etc and gives the opportunity to play semi competitively against 200 odd other enthusiasts of varying ability. Or you can just play the computer. Worth every penny of the 20 a year subscription

Welcome Andrew. As has been said above get on to Apterous. It's brilliant and in four/five weeks you could easily improve your game by 20%. It provides great stats to show what words you miss etc and gives the opportunity to play semi competitively against 200 odd other enthusiasts of varying ability. Or you can just play the computer. Worth every penny of the 20 a year subscription

I'm actually on Apterous already, but on a trial account for now. I've played a handful of games so far, I've had a few games where I got thoroughly trounced and a few where I came close to winning. In time, I probably will look into subscribing

Hello Countdowners. A long forgotten semi finalist from series 51 emerging from the shadows here. I'm still a regular viewer and am glad I went on when I did because my skills seem to have deteriorated over the years
I only just found this forum, good to be here

Richard Pay wrote:Hello Countdowners. A long forgotten semi finalist from series 51 emerging from the shadows here. I'm still a regular viewer and am glad I went on when I did because my skills seem to have deteriorated over the years
I only just found this forum, good to be here

I'm sure a certain Mr. Bevins is delighted to know that you're now here, Richard.

James Robinson wrote:

Richard Pay wrote:Hello Countdowners. A long forgotten semi finalist from series 51 emerging from the shadows here. I'm still a regular viewer and am glad I went on when I did because my skills seem to have deteriorated over the years
I only just found this forum, good to be here

I'm sure a certain Mr. Bevins is delighted to know that you're now here, Richard.

hehe...he loves me really

You created a monster

Jon Corby wrote:You created a monster

He soared like a phoenix from the ashes! I am proud to have lit the fire of vengeance in the belly of the Kirkulator

Hi all. I've been a Countdown fan for many years, although to be honest, never reached the aspired heights of being any where good enough to compete. In a moment of madness, I've produced a comic strip featuring characters from Countdown and 8OoTC's does Countdown. Is there a thread for artwork? If not, where would be the best place to share it and could someone give me a quick rundown on how to upload images please.

Jack W wrote:Hi all. I've been a Countdown fan for many years, although to be honest, never reached the aspired heights of being any where good enough to compete. In a moment of madness, I've produced a comic strip featuring characters from Countdown and 8OoTC's does Countdown. Is there a thread for artwork? If not, where would be the best place to share it and could someone give me a quick rundown on how to upload images please.

Hi Jack,

You could create your own thread in the General section, which would certainly be the best place for it, as you say they're Countdown-related.

Welcome.

Many thanks James.

Hi guys,

My name is Will Jeffcott. I am a massive fan of the show and have watched it religiously since Series 68. I am also an Apterite and have just applied to the show. I am currently studying A-levels in Chemistry, Maths and Physics and my hobbies include cycling and swimming

Will

Hello I am Mark Murray, contestant in Series 70 and new to this site.....

Welcome, Will and Mark! Glad to have you here

Thanks for the welcome Adam and indeed to all the recappers of my games - James, Anthony, Andy, Callum, Jack (hope I have included everyone there)..similarly, thanks to everyone who has been so positive about my run and the supportive comments...glad that people enjoyed the games and hope that everyone continues to enjoy the finals now we are less than a couple of weeks away...

Hi all, I'm Sean Fletcher - also a series 70 contestant and I was on your TV screens within the last month.

Hi folks - I'm John. I've been around on apterous since roughly the start of the year and will be on the next series of Countdown. I've been really impressed since I've been on apterous at how friendly and supportive this community is and will probably be fairly active on here over the next couple of months before I film for Countdown in August. I'd probably be interested at taking part in some real life Countdown events in the future as well.

Hey I am a Canadian and I have watched the show for years. I enjoyed it to the point where i would start playing it with some friends in class by just cutting out some paper. Recently I launched a website ellmen.com that is a countdown inspired game, aptly named countdown. It is currently just the word part, where you select the consanents and vowels/ I am open to criticism and i am thinking about changing the name. I hope everyone visits this website and has fun!

Hi folks. I've recently discovered this site and am enjoying it immensely. I'm making my debut on Countdown today taking on Paul Worsley. I look forward to your analysis.

Welcome Colm, and thanks for saving me the trouble of watching yesterday's episode.

Bill Henderson wrote:Hey I am a Canadian and I have watched the show for years.

May I ask how? I'm also in the Great White North and seem to be just about out of luck Countdown-wise.

Jon Corby wrote:Welcome Colm, and thanks for saving me the trouble of watching yesterday's episode.

Thanks Jon. I can save you the trouble of watching today's episode too, if you like.

Hi Colm, welcome to the forum! Just be careful when discussing recently-broadcast episodes (or giving hints to what's happened) as it's best not to do it in this section. The spoilers section has a thread for each episode, which is the best place to do it.

Jack Worsley wrote:Hi Colm, welcome to the forum! Just be careful when discussing recently-broadcast episodes (or giving hints to what's happened) as it's best not to do it in this section. The spoilers section has a thread for each episode, which is the best place to do it.

Thanks Jack. Apologies for my newbie faux-pas. If only there was a smilie with a gun pointing to my head, I would have to use it.

Jon Corby wrote:Welcome Colm, and thanks for saving me the trouble of watching yesterday's episode.

"Paul Worsley" is a generic name for a Countdown contestant like "Tommy Atkins" is for a soldier so nothing's been given away.