Thanks muchly to the 130 people who donated, most of whom are on here! We raised £2,530, which was £1,530 greater than our initial target, and even that was one we thought was ambitious. If anyone out there wanted to donate, but didn't/couldn't do it in time, you can still do it now. Or ever, in fact. Comic Relief doesn't stop just because we went to bed. Do what you can. I believe in the value of what we did and I hope you do too. Heartfelt thanks.
The whole day was perfect, and nothing short of it. Especially the game. It was remarkably close, and done so legitimately - we had had lengthy discussions as to what the final stage conundrum should be worth points wise, in anticipation of the margin of difference at that time being greater than the usual ten, but it amazingly wasn't. The three of us had various different up-and-down stretches in our mood and our fatigue, as evidenced in the scoring, and although Innis led for much of it - he actually led the whole way from 2.06am until the end, except for the ONE GLORIOUS MINUTE THAT WAS 10.46PM - it was always close. (Except when I was down 60. But even then, there were hours in which to turn it around. And I did.) It made for a perfect exhibition of Countdown. And that, really, was what we wanted. If people like and respect Countdown more because of what we did, it was worth it.
But there was more to our day than our game. We did all kinds of interviews and photo shoots for all kinds of people - BBC Comedy, Radio 4, Comic Relief, some print stuff; we even signed release forms like proper celebrities - and met all kinds of people. All the celebrities who were there, and our various interactions with them, as well as all the other participants and audience members with whom there is now a weird yet eternal kinship. In doing so, we told a great story, raised great money, and hopefully made great PR for the show that we have gotten so much from. The whole atmosphere was so familial, which will always be remembered as the best bit. There's a reason people like Rachel were able to be lured in - that wasn't so much an audience as a group of friends.
(And incidentally, god bless Rachel for doing this. Not just the money, but actually staying to host. My God. We had no idea she was coming, and when she did, we thought she was just paying lip service and would give a look around before leaving. But she stayed, hosted, and contributed £205. And she didn't have to do a damn thing. Special stuff. And she was even watching the stream beforehand! See, she doesn't hate me really.)
The event was amazing, and to be a part of something so fun and so big (nearly £60,000 was raised last night) was so rewarding. Words like rewarding are overused to the point they are cliche, but that shit was so freaking rewarding and you can't ever tell us otherwise. The fact that we got so many cool stories out of it too - I, for example, got to smack Rufus Hound on the arse, and Zarte both met and got comped tickets from his hero, the amazingly wonderful Adam Hills - made for a frankly perfect day that could not have gone better.
Special thanks, as ever, to Graeme, without whom us three could not have done it. I'll bring your Mathsatron back at Reading. Special thanks also to the staff at the theatre, who never let us want for anything. Admittedly we were freaking cold, but it wasn't for their lack of trying. We were fed, nurtured and (most importantly) checked up on throughout. Their interest in our welfare, combined with the moment at 7am in the morning when Watson brought the entire crowd to our room to watch us play, made the whole bit about being in a separate room worthwhile. It was really great, honestly.
And we love you Heather Styles.
The interview we did for BBC Comedy can be found below, as can the bit we did for Radio 4. Also attached is the scoring recap. Notice the oscillations in our performance. It was tough in there, but we're proud of it all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P89V92bD4eM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qskw
http://greem.co.uk/countdownmarathon
PS - As was probably obvious, we had internet trouble. The Wifi was wildly overused, and also died for three hours. Although we ended up getting a wired connection, the wire kept falling out, and the BBC were using it so much that the speed was God awful. This is why the feed was so low quality - sorry, but it couldn't be helped. Also, so much was going on, particularly in the last few hours, that we never had opportunity to respond to all your chat messages, emails, Facebook, tweets and texts, but know that it was all read. And for all those who moaned that all you could see for my last hour was my shoulder - WE WERE KIND OF BUSY AND DIDN'T NOTICE. SORRY. But let none of that detract. It was still awesome.