c4countdown

So, I'm on the last episode filming on Monday.

I've done a fair bit of preparation. I've played a fairly obscene amount of games on Apterous, and pitted myself against the recaps on here when away from my PC. I've learnt a few common stems, brushed up on my times tables and consumed what is possibly a dangerous amount of blueberries. Any final tips from those who've already been on?

How easy is it to see the board in the studio - do I need to write the letters and numbers down before I start? Are there any words that the Apterous dictionary accepts that I should be careful of declaring? And how much do you feel the gaze of the audience upon you?

Don't get me wrong - ultimately I'm going on to enjoy myself and whatever happens happens - but there's nothing wrong with being prepared.

Thanks all!

Don't say 'constonant'.

I found it easy to see the letters and numbers board at all times, but you have a monitor screen thing in your desk that may be easier to use, especially for the conundrum board which is difficult to see. If you feel more comfortable writing down the selections then go for it; it can't hurt.

As for words that are allowed on apterous that aren't on Countdown, the two I'm sure of are DOTAGES and MOHAIRS, as they've been disallowed before. There may be others.

Just go there aiming to enjoy it as much as possible and you'll have great fun. Best of luck!

You can see the letters/numbers board easily in the studio, albeit at an angle. However, you shouldn't need to look at it at all, because you've got a television monitor inlaid into the desk in front of you which shows the letters and numbers. For this reason, writing down the letters is optional. Some people prefer to write them in a circle or (in my case) a 3x3 grid, or some other interesting shape, and some people don't write them down at all. Though obviously you should write down your words or numbers solution if you have time, otherwise you have to declare it "not written down". The conundrum board can be a bit more tricky to see depending on which seat you're in and whether any studio equipment happens to be in the way, but again, during the conundrum you can see it on your monitor anyway so it's not a problem.

Something that might take you by surprise if you've never seen the show recorded before is that when it's your turn to pick the numbers, Nick will ask you to pick them while the letters/numbers board is still showing the letters board. You don't reply at this point. Then they stop for a minute while they turn the board round, then Nick will again ask you to pick your numbers, and this is when you actually tell Rachel what numbers you want. This isn't something you really need to worry about. If you accidentally ask Rachel for your numbers while the letters board is showing, you simply join the list of hundreds of contestants who have done that, and they proceed with turning the board round as normal.

The apterous dictionary is very good - good enough that most of the top players owe their success to it. The odd mistake is found now and again, and there are some cases where apterous and Countdown have taken different interpretations of the rules. For example, one-syllable adjectives are supposed to be able to take -ER and -EST even when they aren't specified in the dictionary. Some adjectives are also past tenses of verbs, such as PISSED or COOKED. This leads to apterous allowing things like PISSEDER and PISSEDEST, and COOKEDER and COOKEDEST, and I would be surprised if these were allowed on the show.

The mass noun plural rule has a bit of flexibility, and occasionally the apterous dictionary has made one decision and Countdown has made another, for example in the case of SEDATIONS, which is allowed on apterous but has been disallowed on Countdown. See the Disputed Words page of the wiki. However, the probability of running into any of these wrinkles is probably smaller than you think.

You don't really notice the audience. The lights are all pointed in your general direction, so the audience are sitting in a dark bit at the back of the studio.

Finally, remember The Number One Golden Rule Of Going On Countdown. I say this to everyone, and it's not, as you might expect, "above all, make sure you enjoy it", although that's important too. The number one rule is DON'T SHOW OFF ON THE NUMBERS. If the numbers are 100, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and the target is 400, then it's 4 * 100, not something like (8/((7-4)-(6-5)))*100. If you come up with a "clever" solution, best case you look like a show-off and score no more points than you would have otherwise, worst case you mess it up, look like an idiot and throw away ten points. I remember seeing this happening once, and I think it would have been round 14 of this game.

Having said all this, on one occasion the numbers game was so easy that Richard Whiteley awarded the players ten points automatically, and asked them to use the 30 seconds to come up with "clever" solutions just for fun. If this happens, be as show-offy as you like.

But yes, also enjoy it.

Smile!

Just enjoy it and don't put too much pressure on yourself.

In the past, some people have queried every possible word in the dictionary prior to their recordings, 'just in case' it cropped up in a selection. It won't and it doesn't. Don't try and cover every eventually, it's not necessary. Play the game, have fun and see what happens. Be as relaxed as possible, smile, bring gifts, frolic, flirt and laugh at Dudley's jokes, because nobody else will.

Good to see you prepare. I've done 3 months of it myself. The theory being that it will come as second nature spotting things in spite of the pressure you're under. That's the weird thing. The pressure I feel is in just trying to maximise performance, rather than the fact you're on TV.

Countdown Team wrote:Just enjoy it and don't put too much pressure on yourself.

Play the game, have fun and see what happens. Be as relaxed as possible, smile, bring gifts, frolic, flirt and laugh at Dudley's jokes, because nobody else will.

Pretty much what I would say, and pretty much what I did, particularly the latter (love Dudley, though. He's a great guy!)

If you'd go for it on Apterous, go for it on the show. (Except DOTAGES, MOHAIRS and OUTSETS.) And if it's not valid, ah well, so be it.

Enjoy it, you're bound to be nervous on the day but don't take it too seriously, if you do you time goes really quickly and you miss the experience and the object of it is to have fun. There's no big prizes, just a set of dictionaries and a laptop, that's the beauty of it. Enjoy the banter, crack the odd joke and don't try making up words (I failed to do the latter)

Pretty much what everyone else has said, have fun, whatever the outcome! Also, I'd advise against playing along during the game before yours. I did this and I started poorly while the contestants were playing well and this really made me feel nervous. Don't worry about how you win (ie. number of maxes or whether you beat viewers at home etc.), just focus on getting the job done. Good luck!

Just be yourself.

Actually, scrub that, be Conor.

Good luck Brett, if you win 2 games you'll be playing my sister in your third game so I might see you in the green room tomorrow!

Thanks for all the advice guys!

I won't spoil the fun for everyone, but I had an absolute blast, and got to witness two very competitive games before filming my own. The experience was fantastic, he whole team made me feel very relaxed, and I'd just say to anyone who's thought about applying and has for whatever reason not gone through with it, to go for it. You'll have a ball!

Brett

I'm last on this Wednesday so plenty of time to sample the experience.

Martin Thompson wrote:I'm last on this Wednesday so plenty of time to sample the experience.

I've got audience tickets tomorrow so I might see you're game. Good luck