c4countdown

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 10:59 pm Also was on News at 10 tonight or so I believe as I'm not home yet

My boss said he saw me on News at 10 last Night.
I was trying to find it online but I will have to download it at home unless anyone here is clever enough to upload it here

First ever quadriplegic to appear on Countdown (contains spoilers). https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9841gpmqm0o

Day 1 of the John Cowen court hearing:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... ntion.html

(apologies for using the Daily Fail as the main link, but it is the most comprehensive report amongst many I have seen)

A couple of alternative links:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj072jg59m0o
https://news.sky.com/story/former-count ... s-13428217

It's all done. Not a trial as such. BBC article here https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj072jg59m0o

"Judge Guy Mathieson said he had ruled Cowen unfit to stand trial and told jurors to instead determine the facts of what had happened. They found he had committed assault and had been in possession of a knife in a public place."

Sentencing is 30 September.

Series 66 contestant James Belshaw admits cheating in his audition to get on the show (not totally sure how this makes the news, but there you go!!!):

https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-ra ... -backfired

Martin Hurst wrote: ↑Fri Sep 12, 2025 12:38 am Series 66 contestant James Belshaw admits cheating in his audition to get on the show (not totally sure how this makes the news, but there you go!!!):

https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-ra ... -backfired

AFAIK they stopped phone auditions for this reason. When I did a phone audition in 2017 I have always thought since then it was flawed. Surely it’s much better to do video conferences (which I think is what they do now?) because the casting team can actually detect cheating, and you can actually see the candidate.

It’s clearly working because they rarely have contestants that make you think how they passed now. The first half of Series 92 has had no scores below 30.

I think most quiz shows ask you to film yourself, to help the casting team filter out auditionees to determine suitability for the programme.

Martin Hurst wrote: ↑Fri Sep 12, 2025 12:38 am Series 66 contestant James Belshaw admits cheating in his audition to get on the show (not totally sure how this makes the news, but there you go!!!):

https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-ra ... -backfired

Nice to see he got crushed, RIP Peter Lee.

Just looked him up on the wiki. Article says he was on in 2005, but it was actually 2012.

Martin Hurst wrote: ↑Wed Sep 10, 2025 11:35 pm Day 1 of the John Cowen court hearing:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... ntion.html

(apologies for using the Daily Fail as the main link, but it is the most comprehensive report amongst many I have seen)

A couple of alternative links:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj072jg59m0o
https://news.sky.com/story/former-count ... s-13428217

We should all be glad to see this matter has been dealt with fairly swiftly.

Delete if not allowed. We shook hands when we met in the green room during the recording of the 2019 Champion of Champions and the first thing said to me was, “Nice to meet you in person.” He was eccentric, but did not seem dangerous in any way shape or form at the time. I wasn’t aware he had schizophrenia and only just learned of this having read the articles. The reports of these terrible events that happened in Blackpool in 2024 were absolutely shocking and I find this very saddening.

I think this is extremely bad publicity for Countdown.

Philip A wrote: ↑Wed Nov 26, 2025 10:32 pm Delete if not allowed

There's nothing delete-worthy about this post. There are no longer any ongoing criminal proceedings, so the biggest reason not to post about Cowen no longer applies. Just the standard advice to everyone, to comment reasonably and responsibly.

Philip A wrote: ↑Wed Nov 26, 2025 10:32 pm Delete if not allowed. We shook hands when we met in the green room during the recording of the 2019 Champion of Champions and the first thing said to me was, “Nice to meet you in person.” He was eccentric, but did not seem dangerous in any way shape or form at the time. I wasn’t aware he had schizophrenia and only just learned of this having read the articles. The reports of these terrible events that happened in Blackpool in 2024 were absolutely shocking and I find this very saddening.

I think this is extremely bad publicity for Countdown.

I think there are many positives to take from this. The way the attendees and victim dealt with the incident with the minimum of drama; the loving support people have provided to each other. It's a community I'm very proud to be part of. Cowen is seriously unwell, and is unlikely ever to recover from this event, whereas I trust everyone else will/has move(d) on with life.

Stories are tomorrow's chip paper.

Fiona T wrote: ↑Wed Nov 26, 2025 11:13 pm

Philip A wrote: ↑Wed Nov 26, 2025 10:32 pm Delete if not allowed. We shook hands when we met in the green room during the recording of the 2019 Champion of Champions and the first thing said to me was, “Nice to meet you in person.” He was eccentric, but did not seem dangerous in any way shape or form at the time. I wasn’t aware he had schizophrenia and only just learned of this having read the articles. The reports of these terrible events that happened in Blackpool in 2024 were absolutely shocking and I find this very saddening.

I think this is extremely bad publicity for Countdown.

I think there are many positives to take from this. The way the attendees and victim dealt with the incident with the minimum of drama; the loving support people have provided to each other. It's a community I'm very proud to be part of. Cowen is seriously unwell, and is unlikely ever to recover from this event, whereas I trust everyone else will/has move(d) on with life.

Stories are tomorrow's chip paper.

Most important thing is Maus has recovered physically and I hope mentally , mentally illness is serious and hopefully the best care will be given to Cowen

Philip A wrote: ↑Wed Nov 26, 2025 10:32 pm Delete if not allowed. We shook hands when we met in the green room during the recording of the 2019 Champion of Champions and the first thing said to me was, “Nice to meet you in person.” He was eccentric, but did not seem dangerous in any way shape or form at the time. I wasn’t aware he had schizophrenia and only just learned of this having read the articles. The reports of these terrible events that happened in Blackpool in 2024 were absolutely shocking and I find this very saddening.

I think this is extremely bad publicity for Countdown.

I disagree if anything the catalyst was Apterous

Rather spookily i was catching up with Only Connect last night from earlier in the month and came across the 5KS performing well.

Ian Fitzpatrick wrote: ↑Fri Nov 28, 2025 10:56 am Rather spookily i was catching up with Only Connect last night from earlier in the month and came across the 5KS performing well.

Yeah they’ve been amazing to watch. Also thank goodness for the repechage, otherwise they’d only be on for 1 show!

Recent octochamp Callum Ridley talks about his difficulties in getting a job.

Not really the News, and it's also 11 years ago, but at about 10:50 James Martin talks about his epic 952.

Jon O'Neill wrote: ↑Sun Feb 22, 2026 8:44 pm Not really the News, and it's also 11 years ago, but at about 10:50 James Martin talks about his epic 952.

Nice find, but how did you suddenly encounter this now?

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Mon Feb 23, 2026 10:17 am

Jon O'Neill wrote: ↑Sun Feb 22, 2026 8:44 pm Not really the News, and it's also 11 years ago, but at about 10:50 James Martin talks about his epic 952.

Nice find, but how did you suddenly encounter this now?

Jono was trying to learn how to do 4L?

Fiona T wrote: ↑Mon Feb 23, 2026 10:45 am

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Mon Feb 23, 2026 10:17 am

Jon O'Neill wrote: ↑Sun Feb 22, 2026 8:44 pm Not really the News, and it's also 11 years ago, but at about 10:50 James Martin talks about his epic 952.

Nice find, but how did you suddenly encounter this now?

Jono was trying to learn how to do 4L?

Not far off!

This is the 3rd Google result for James Martin Countdown. I was wondering how much he knew of what we would call standard 4-large theory in 1997, 5 years before this. I might email him.

I remember looking through his games before and his solve rate was quite low. I think he probably just had the basic idea that you could split the multiplication / division to subtract 2 or whatever and he happened to hit the jackpot in that round.

Jon O'Neill wrote: ↑Mon Feb 23, 2026 9:17 pm

Fiona T wrote: ↑Mon Feb 23, 2026 10:45 am

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Mon Feb 23, 2026 10:17 am

Nice find, but how did you suddenly encounter this now?

Jono was trying to learn how to do 4L?

Not far off!

This is the 3rd Google result for James Martin Countdown. I was wondering how much he knew of what we would call standard 4-large theory in 1997, 5 years before this. I might email him.

He plays on apto now. Did a 937.5 thing - he commented that it was groundbreaking stuff in his day!

James Martin Ox?

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Wed Feb 25, 2026 1:02 pm James Martin Ox?

That's the man/legend!