Spoilers for Friday 23rd April 2010

Douglas Wilson · Post by **Douglas Wilson** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 8:50 am

Well the victor of Tyson got served a knock out blow yesterday by the impressive Nicki. Will she carry on the recent good form shown by the female contingent or will we be ending the week with a new champ?

D Eadie · Post by **D Eadie** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 8:55 am

Fellow forumite and all-round super chap Phil Reynolds will be today's challenger.

Enjoy.

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 9:48 am

D Eadie wrote:Fellow forumite and all-round super chap Phil Reynolds will be today's challenger.

Enjoy.

Yays!

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 11:58 am

Been looking forward to this for a long time. Though for the record I think Phil wanted to keep it as secret as possible so that everyone erupted with excitement once it came on. You spoilsport, Damian.

Marc Meakin · Post by **Marc Meakin** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 12:03 pm

Its a shame it is today as Nikki looks a good player.
Reckon it will be a cracker.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 12:07 pm

Matt Morrison wrote:so that everyone erupted with excitement

Pervert.

D Eadie · Post by **D Eadie** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 12:31 pm

Matt Morrison wrote:Been looking forward to this for a long time. Though for the record I think Phil wanted to keep it as secret as possible so that everyone erupted with excitement once it came on. You spoilsport, Damian.

Ah well, forget i said anything.

Ryan Taylor · Post by **Ryan Taylor** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 1:21 pm

Had no idea Phil was going to be on so this is a good surprise. I am uber excited for this episode now. In fact, I'm going to deliver those papers so that I am back in good time for the show! Good luck Phil (although yesterday's challenger was very good especially since it was the first show, nerves and all that) Should be a good contest.

Davy Affleck · Post by **Davy Affleck** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 1:21 pm

D Eadie wrote:
Matt Morrison wrote:Been looking forward to this for a long time. Though for the record I think Phil wanted to keep it as secret as possible so that everyone erupted with excitement once it came on. You spoilsport, Damian.
Ah well, forget i said anything.

who said what?

Matthew Green · Post by **Matthew Green** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 2:28 pm

D Eadie wrote:Fellow forumite and all-round super chap Phil Reynolds will be today's challenger.

Enjoy.

Eadie has killed Countdown.

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 2:29 pm

Awesome - today's letter came from Reuben Kay. Another apterite getting a mention on the show.

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 2:30 pm

POOJAS for a beater in round 1.

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 2:33 pm

LIBRETTO for a beater in round 3.

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 2:34 pm

Bollocks. I've come in late. +1 it is

John Brackstone · Post by **John Brackstone** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 2:38 pm

pogoes for a beater in round one

Ryan Taylor · Post by **Ryan Taylor** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 2:38 pm

POGOES also a DC beater in round 1.
NARDOOS as DC beater in round 4.

Sue Sanders · Post by **Sue Sanders** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 2:39 pm

Oh, that makes my DONNAS a bit redundant!

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 2:42 pm

About 2am in the hotel room I was going through my bits of paper and thought: given that it's a word I use in conversation a couple of times a week, I can't believe I missed LIBRETTO.

Ryan Taylor · Post by **Ryan Taylor** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 2:46 pm

PARGETED too in round 6

Marc Meakin · Post by **Marc Meakin** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 2:48 pm

PEDERAST in round 6

Ryan Taylor · Post by **Ryan Taylor** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 2:51 pm

Jeff can't count.

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 2:54 pm

Nice clue for BACKFLIP (back Phillip). Genius.

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 3:07 pm

Unlucky Phil, great fight. Nice humour at the end there.

Ryan Taylor · Post by **Ryan Taylor** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 3:08 pm

Great game which I thought it would be. Unlucky to lose on a crucial conundrum. A-lol at what you said at the end!

Marc Meakin · Post by **Marc Meakin** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 3:10 pm

Good contest.
Unlucky Phil, as I said earlier it was a shame, for you, that you were up against a potential octochamp.

Jojo Apollo · Post by **Jojo Apollo** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 3:25 pm

Hard lines, Phil. Nice little joke at the end there ( I hope it was a joke!)

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 3:35 pm

The only thing you were missing was an introduction about you and your partner. I can't believe they just brushed over it and didn't spend 5 minutes discussing your homosexual relationship. I'm going to write to a load of papers and complain. I also think you're the first man to "come out" on Countdown.

D Eadie · Post by **D Eadie** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 3:39 pm

Phil Reynolds wrote:About 2am in the hotel room I was going through my bits of paper and thought: ..........

.............this toilet roll is terribly thin?

Marc Meakin · Post by **Marc Meakin** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 3:39 pm

Kirk Bevins wrote:The only thing you were missing was an introduction about you and your partner. I can't believe they just brushed over it and didn't spend 5 minutes discussing your heterosexual relationship. I'm going to write to a load of papers and complain. I also think you're the first man to "come out" on Countdown.

I thought Phil said it was sweat.

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 3:51 pm

Kirk Bevins wrote:The only thing you were missing was an introduction about you and your partner.

Well, what can I say. It was all there on my contestant information form. I'd like to think that had I appeared on a couple more shows, Michael would have merited a mention at some point.

Thanks for all the nice comments so far. Obviously I was slightly disappointed not to win at least one game but was glad at least that it went right to the wire which hopefully made it entertaining to watch.

I cursed myself for the first numbers round, where nerves got the better of me. My first fleeting thought was: 3 x 100, then make 36 from the rest. Then I thought: no, hang on, better to make 112 somehow, then multiply by 3. I looked at the 10, 9, 8 and 1 for a moment, couldn't instantly see how to make 12 - and fatally went back to trying to make it work the first way, which of course wasn't possible. All that took about five seconds. For the rest of the 30 seconds I just froze; my brain refused to do anything. Still, it would have made no difference to the end result, so meh.

Nicki and I were very evenly matched - not just in ability, which is evidenced by the scoreline, but in the fact that we seemed to be thinking alike a lot of the time. Both of us trying the invalid HALENE was one example. Talking in the first ad break, we found that in round 4 where we both declared RADON, we'd each toyed with the idea of pluralising it (I later kicked myself for this one, too - seeing RADONS but not thinking to move one letter for ADORNS lost me another chance to make up for lost ground). And sitting next to each other in the audience for Wednesday's game, we both noted down QINTAR in round 13. So I think Nicki and I were pretty much the same sort of player - i.e. not first rank, but the kind who watches the show a lot and remembers useful words. She was also really good company and I came along to the studio next day to support her - oh, and also to apologise rather sheepishly to Howard and Rich who were somewhat rashly coming along to support me.

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 4:08 pm

You were awesome Phil.

Andy Wilson · Post by **Andy Wilson** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 4:14 pm

Gutted! Don't think I've ever been so nervous watching a show. But well done Phil, especially for keeping it a secret, nice surprise.

Ralph Gillions · Post by **Ralph Gillions** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 4:35 pm

I am sorry for you that you didn't get through Phil, (although Nicki is a good player.)
You were a very personable contestant. I enjoyed watching you. Thanks.

Innis Carson · Post by **Innis Carson** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 4:49 pm

Bad luck Phil, it was a really good match though and you came across as thoroughly likable. Great show.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 5:02 pm

Can't really say anything different to what's already been said. Bad luck to run into a solid player, and I can totally relate on that first numbers.

D Eadie · Post by **D Eadie** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 6:02 pm

Innis Carson wrote:Bad luck Phil, it was a really good match though and you came across as thoroughly likable.

Yes its amazing how TV can be so deceptive sometimes.......

Jason Larsen · Post by **Jason Larsen** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 7:39 pm

So, it was the Phil Reynolds!

Phil, I saw you came back! When was this?

Now that we know, we can look at the situation two different ways. We would have been happy knowing Nicki had lost because we know Phil, or most of us can feel sad knowing that Nicki is a good player.

Are we all on the neutral side?

Anyway, it's nice to see you back here again, Phil!

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 7:52 pm

An enjoyable episode.

D Eadie · Post by **D Eadie** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 8:24 pm

Charlie Reams wrote:An enjoyable episode.

Bastard.

Ben Hunter · Post by **Ben Hunter** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 8:35 pm

Been looking forward to this for ages, too bad you lost Phil but you were a really good contestant.

Another good show, been some good characters on the show recently.

James Robinson · Post by **James Robinson** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 8:36 pm

It was a very good edition of the show. Very good performance by Phil. Nicki has done 2 very good performances so far. Hopefully she'll continue well into next week.

3rd Numbers Alt: ((75 - 6) x 10) - 25 + 4 + 3 = 672

Ben Hunter · Post by **Ben Hunter** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 8:37 pm

James Robinson wrote:It was a very good edition of the show. Very good performance by Phil. Nicki has done 2 very good performances so far. Hopefully she'll continue well into next week.

3rd Numbers Alt: ((75 - 6) x 10) - 25 + 4 + 3 = 672

I prefer 'show' to episode and edition. It was a very good show of the show.

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 9:12 pm

Ben Hunter wrote:Been looking forward to this for ages

You must have been more gutted about the result than I was... been feeling slightly guilty ever since I chatted to you on Apterous that night and you decided I must have done well and was on there practising for the QFs!

Ben Hunter · Post by **Ben Hunter** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 9:31 pm

Phil Reynolds wrote:
Ben Hunter wrote:Been looking forward to this for ages
You must have been more gutted about the result than I was... been feeling slightly guilty ever since I chatted to you on Apterous that night and you decided I must have done well and was on there practising for the QFs!

Nah don't worry about it, I'd been looking forward to it just to see Phil Reynolds on TV. Win or lose it was good telly

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 10:04 pm

Ryan Taylor wrote:Jeff can't count.

I'm guessing this is in reference to when DC had come up with MODULAR, ARMHOLE and ROULADE and Jeff said, "four 7s there" or something... There actually were four - Susie also mentioned EARLDOM at the last moment, but it was cut.

Watching the show this afternoon, as the letters went up on the board in that round I immediately saw MOULDER/REMOULD and couldn't believe it when I heard myself declare 6.

Richard Priest · Post by **Richard Priest** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 10:35 pm

Kirk Bevins wrote:I also think you're the first man to "come out" on Countdown.

Danny Marsh (one of Innis's opponents) and Troy Ramsey-Axelsson (one of Oliver's) both had mention made of male partners in their intros.

Richard Priest · Post by **Richard Priest** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 10:40 pm

Phil Reynolds wrote:apologise rather sheepishly to Howard and Rich who were somewhat rashly coming along to support me.

Phil - please don't worry about it.We knew your debut was the last game the day before and therefore that we weren't guaranteed to get to see you play.It was good to meet you at the studios nonetheless and an enjoyable game to watch today.Bad luck once again.

Jimmy Gough · Post by **Jimmy Gough** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 10:45 pm

Great episode. The kind which makes Countdown so good imo: pleasant contestants, friendly atmosphere, tight contest etc. Congrats on the brilliant performance and for being the coolest contestant since RB.

D Eadie · Post by **D Eadie** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 10:58 pm

Rich Priest wrote:
Kirk Bevins wrote:I also think you're the first man to "come out" on Countdown.
Danny Marsh (one of Innis's opponents) and Troy Ramsey-Axelsson (one of Oliver's) both had mention made of male partners in their intros.

The mentioning of same-sex partners has gone on for at least 15 years, it happened in one of the very first shows i worked on. It's so yesterday that nobody really cares anymore. We don't mention the partner of every hetero contestant so we're not about to start doing it with gay contestants either. So someone has a civil partnership or is gay....big deal no longer.

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 11:07 pm

D Eadie wrote:
Rich Priest wrote:
Kirk Bevins wrote:I also think you're the first man to "come out" on Countdown.
Danny Marsh (one of Innis's opponents) and Troy Ramsey-Axelsson (one of Oliver's) both had mention made of male partners in their intros.

The mentioning of same-sex partners has gone on for at least 15 years, it happened in one of the very first shows i worked on. It's so yesterday that nobody really cares anymore. We don't mention the partner of every hetero contestant so we're not about to start doing it with gay contestants either. So someone has a civil partnership or is gay....big deal no longer.

Not quite sure if you (or Rich Priest) got my piss-take regarding Kate Richardson, but I know Phil did

D Eadie · Post by **D Eadie** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 11:08 pm

I got it straight away mate, but i think it flew over a few cuckoos nests since then.

Jason Larsen · Post by **Jason Larsen** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 11:44 pm

Damian!

Ben Hunter · Post by **Ben Hunter** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 12:12 am

Jason Larsen wrote:Damian!

I fucking love it when he does this.

Jason Larsen · Post by **Jason Larsen** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 2:13 am

Ben, I'm wondering why Damian would call Charlie a mean name!

Philip Jarvis · Post by **Philip Jarvis** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 6:15 am

Just watched it on Sky + and got a hell of a shock when I saw you in the chair Phil.

It's a real shame you didn't win. With your personality, it would have made great telly if you'd managed notch up a few wins. Loved the "At least I think it was" joke at the end. Good to see you back on the forum again - nice avatar.

Philip Jarvis · Post by **Philip Jarvis** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 6:19 am

Kirk Bevins wrote:Nice clue for BACKFLIP (back Phillip). Genius.

The TTT was ONEPHIL when I was on. Cheers Damian.

David Williams · Post by **David Williams** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 9:27 am

I watched the whole programme thinking firstly that we'd had a decent run of good contestants of late, and secondly that the challenger looked vaguely familiar. Unlucky, Phil. Might be worth asking Damian for another go while he's in a good mood.

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 10:07 am

David Williams wrote:Unlucky, Phil. Might be worth asking Damian for another go while he's in a good mood.

Thanks David

but luck doesn't enter into it. I was beaten by a good player and, perhaps more importantly, someone who plays more consistently than I do. Neither of us was ever going to get words like NARDOOS and POOJAS, but I really should have got COVERAGE and the first numbers round, which between them would have won me the game. I've had my go - there are plenty of other people out there waiting their turn.

Ryan Taylor · Post by **Ryan Taylor** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 10:31 am

Phil Reynolds wrote:
David Williams wrote:Unlucky, Phil. Might be worth asking Damian for another go while he's in a good mood.
Thanks David but luck doesn't enter into it. I was beaten by a good player and, perhaps more importantly, someone who plays more consistently than I do. Neither of us was ever going to get words like NARDOOS and POOJAS, but I really should have got COVERAGE and the first numbers round, which between them would have won me the game. I've had my go - there are plenty of other people out there waiting their turn.

I was nowhere near getting COVERAGE, I was stuck on 7's like ECOTAGE and CORTEGE. My prediction still stands that she will become octochamp!

Dinos Sfyris · Post by **Dinos Sfyris** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 11:43 am

Best show in ages! Am very sad your Countdown stay was shortlived, Phil. You made fantastic viewing. Wish I'd been able to come along to the following recordings with Howard and Rich so we could finally meet

Will you be attending the finals next week?