non-Britons on Countdown?

[Jennifer]

Hi, I'm wondering if there have been any foreign citizens that have appeared on Countdown as contestants. Students, visiting workers, etc.

[Jon Corby]

One would hope not. It's bad enough occasionally seeing women on there, let alone them.

[Jennifer]

Yeah yeah yeah.

<<not a British citizen

[Jon Corby]

I am joking btw, in case it's not obvious.

Are you a non-Brit thinking of applying then?

[Jennifer]

Yeah, I figured you were just messing around (and if you weren't, well I wasn't too concerned about offending you then, lol). I've actually been accepted to be on the show, but since we've lived in the UK (a little over 2 years), I haven't noticed any "foreign" voices on the show.

[Jon Corby]

You're right, there aren't many, but I suppose that kinda makes sense doesn't it, considering the language aspect? What's your background? Even after three posts I can confidently state that your written English is considerably better than most on here

[JasonCullen]

Is the current champion Samira foreign?

[David O'Donnell]

I consider myself a non-Briton but that's somewhat a moot point in Northern Ireland.

[Damian E]

There have been about 3 or 4 in 13 years i've had the marvellous pleasure of being involved with the show.

Genevive Chan was one name i can recall, blonde woman, about 40, came from France. About 10 years ago?

I also remember a woman from Canada, maybe 7 or 8 years ago, a bloke from France circa 1996, and a chap called Will D Downing, who claimed to be British, but clearly was from a different galaxy.


Edit to add, just checked Mike Browns website, Genevieve Chan was 1997. Its clear i need to get out more.

[Matthew Green]

[Damian E]

Just what we don't really need Matthew.

Congrats.

[Jennifer]

Very nice video clip.
<<rolls eyes

By birth, I'm American (gasp!), but I'm still trying to work out just where I belong. Thanks for the tips on the non-UK contestants though. I should've asked at the audition, but well, I was a bit nervous. So, we'll see how it goes.

[Richard Priest]

A guy of French origin named Pierre Sandrini appeared in series 27 and reached the quarter-finals.

[Richard Priest]

http://www.youtube.com/

This may put some of them off, bad miss Richard...

I hope no-one thinks that's any of my doing.

Good luck on the programme Jennifer

[Dinos Sfyris]

Could it be the Larsen prophecy is coming to pass? ...

I don't remember every detail of my dream, but I can certainly shorten the story.

I once had a dream that I went to England and saw an episode of Countdown. There was a contestant on the show and she was the first American-born contestant on Countdown.

She became an Octochamp, and I had followed her reign the whole time. She made it through the whole series, and when she solved the series-winning, crucial conundrum of EARTHWORM, she screamed and jumped on Des O'Connor.

... Spooky

Maybe if we all sing the special Countdown song and make a sacrificial offering to Drew Carey, it just might happen...

[Joseph Bolas]

Maybe if we all sing the special Countdown song and make a sacrificial offering to Drew Carey, it just might happen...

Yeah, sacrifice Larsen because its his prophecy .

[Matthew Green]

Just what we don't really need Matthew.

Congrats.

I didnt make it...

[Damian E]

I know Matthew, but you linked to it on here without any warning to those who might open it.

Bear in mind, there is a direct link to this site now on the official Channel 4 website, and over the coming months there will be lots of media attention and new traffic. They'll be very quick to disassociate themselves with the whole place if things like that are cropping up. Its not my site mate, i only use it like you and everybody else, i'm just wary of negative reactions to stuff like that. It can't really help anyone in the long run.

[Matthew Green]

Im not sure what your talking about Damian

BTW, Im sure you've already been asked but why did you choose the David Edwards games for this week? Surely Beevers or Hansford would be better viewing??

[Damian E]

Chose Mr Edwards because to avoid more tattiness and disruption, it was agreed with C4 that we would show 1 week of games that were originally shown in a calendar week themselves. That way there is SOME form of continuity. Couldn't show anything from previous eras either, so looking through the last few series, these seemed to be the best options. Games were quite close, some nice female contestants and Tom O'Connor always goes down well with the viewers.

At the end of the day it didn't really matter too much either way, as the Olympics is shafting everything at the moment in terms of viewers. Next week its footballer Neil McKenzie, as a prelude to the resumption of the series on August 25th.

I realise everyone wants classic games and perhaps nostalgia, but we can't always go with that. Well done for removing that thing btw. What thing?

[Harry Whitehouse]

Tom O'Connor always goes down well with the viewers.

After lots of lurking, I couldn't help responding to that provocative assertion.

As I see from one posting that most people on this message board are felt to be under-30, at 59 I'm clearly atypical as far as far as posters are concerned, but I'm probably fairly close to the average age of Countdown viewers.

I have to say that I find Tom O'Connor even more inane and annoying than Des O'Connor, which is a real achievement.

Since Des took over, I have taken to watching it only on my PVR, so that I can fast forward through the pointless, tedious comments at the beginning of the programme, and Tom O'Connor gets the same treatment.

[Martin Gardner]

I've seen quite a lot of non British people on Countdown, I can remember one guy from Australia circa Series 48 and some from Pakistan / India who certainly had a foreign accent but might have been born in this country. And yes if you count the republic of Ireland that would substantially increase the number, I think. I can only think of one contestant who might not have had English as a first language which was Saji Kamalananthan who lost 92 - 90 to Christine Scott in S49; she either spoke English as a second language or just had a very thick Indian / Pakistani accent.

Martin

[Damian E]

I've seen quite a lot of non British people on Countdown, I can remember one guy from Australia circa Series 48 and some from Pakistan / India who certainly had a foreign accent but might have been born in this country. And yes if you count the republic of Ireland that would substantially increase the number, I think. I can only think of one contestant who might not have had English as a first language which was Saji Kamalananthan who lost 92 - 90 to Christine Scott in S49; she either spoke English as a second language or just had a very thick Indian / Pakistani accent.

Martin

Yeah but not as many as in the French version eh?...........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz