Friday 20th June 2014 (8/10 Cats Series 3, Episode 3)

[Gavin Chipper]

This is my first recap on here, and possibly my last given the amount of effort that's involved. Well done to everyone that manages to churn these out on a regular basis.

8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown recap for Friday 20 June 2014.

Host: Jimmy Carr

Team 1:
Josie Long - She loves the word game Boggle and stages live Boggle matches at her gigs. She has several mascots including a doll made out of old socks and the key from a car that she had a crash in and nearly died.
Sean Lock - According to Jimmy, he's won 4 out of the last 14 Countdowns, but that's all set to change as he'll have won 4 out of 15. He doesn't have a mascot but instead hands out a pen with a picture of him naked to everyone.

Team 2:
Jon Richardson - According to Jimmy, he can't leave the house without checking the gas is off fifteen times. Jon's girlfriend has also been with him for nearly a year, so there will be a helpline number for her at the end of the show. However, Jon corrects Jimmy to say it's been over a year and that he's got an electric hob, so the joke is very much on Jimmy. His mascot is his new cook book, Cook-a-Duck. It's definitely a real book.
Rob Beckett - He grew up in Lewisham where because of his teeth he was technically classed as a dangerous dog. But, as he points out, at least he didn't have to buy them. He shot to fame after winning the Amused Moose Laugh Off competition in 2010. He's a funny man, but possibly also rather fortunate given the level of competition that year. His mascot is his massive teddy bear.

DC: Susie Dent and Vic Reeves. (DC stands for "Dictionary Corner")
Vic says that his wife made up the word FLANOOGENS (or however it's spelt) to describe the stuff that goes back into the cup when his twin daughters are drinking water.
Susie is annoyed by people who start every sentence with "So", but then does so twice herself, apparently oblivious to it until Jimmy points it out.

RR: Rachel Riley. (RR might stand for "Rithmetic and Retters")
Rachel got a letter from someone called Dean aka Dean offering her between £50 and £20,000 in postal orders for sex but only if she got a 3G phone.

OT: Other words or solutions. (I presume it's OT as in OTher words or solutions.)

They are competing for a Countdown leather jacket.

R01: S O P A C I O F N
R02: 100, 3, 1, 5, 9, 10. Target: 376.
TTT: ASSGLORY - "Look it up."
R03: R E I T S O D E T
R04: 75, 4, 3, 5, 3, 10. Target: 406.
TTT: SHAGBINS - "They can be very painful."
R05: U P E O B S G A Z
R06: 25, 10, 9, 10, 3, 1. Target: 192.
TTT: RANDYBRA - "It can get a bit whiffy."
R07: E D U R O W A R I D F N E
R08: P U B E A L E R T (conundrum)


And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Round 1 (picked by Jon): S O P A C I O F N
Jimmy's Distraction: He fights and beats some ninjas.

Team 1 - Josie: POISON (6) / Sean: pacifoons
Team 2 - Jon: FIASCO (6) (which he spells on a cake) / Rob: SOAP (4)
DC: sopacion OPSONIC (7)
Score: 6–6 (max 7)

A vowel is picked for the second letter in the hope that it would spell the word SO in order to annoy Susie. Sean is annoyed by the negative attitude from Susie after his word is disallowed. A pacifoon is apparently like an eclair and a macaroon.


Round 2 (picked by Sean): 100, 3, 1, 5, 9, 10. Target: 376.

Team 1 - Josie: 376. Mistake in working. / Sean: 365
Team 2 -
Josie got 376 after the time this way: 3*100+9 *(10-1)-5 (10)
Score: 6–6 (max 17)

Jon did (9-1)*100+10+5+3=818, which spells BIB, which you won't be needing if you get his book. (He doesn't actually finish his sentence, but that seems to be the gist.)


Vic does a song with Susie about their relationship to before we go into the break.

Teatime teaser: ASSGLORY -> GLOSSARY


Round 3 is Josie v Jon.
Round 3 (picked by Josie): R E I T S O D E T
Jimmy's Distraction: He uses the height adjuster on his chair to make it go ridiculously high. On the old Channel 4 forum on 21st August 2002, a suggestion was made that contestants should sit on extendable chairs that go up 10cm per point, so a score of 100 would mean a height of 10 metres for the contestant. Long sticks would be given to the players for the conundrums. But if a contestant were to fall off their chair, they would start again from zero. The idea was presumably considered unrealistic but good, and it is thought that this was used as Jimmy's distraction as a neat way to bring the deserving idea to life after all these years. It's been a long road.

Team 1 - Josie: TIREDEST (8)
Team 2 - Jon: resitted (which he tries to spell in Alphabetti Spaghetti)
DC: tiesorted
OT: ROSETTED (8) TETRODES (8)
Score: 14–6 (max 25)

Susie allows TIREDEST on the basis that Josie pronounces TIRED with one syllable (having asked her how she says it). One-syllable adjectives are assumed to take ER and EST endings for the comparative and superlatives. Otherwise they would need to be specified in the dictionary. The discussion of what counts as one syllable has previously been discussed e.g. here, here, here and here, although I don't think it's ever come up on the show before. Interestingly, TIREDEST is not found if you search for it directly in the ODO, which is to be used on Countdown from series 71. This might be more to do with it being a past-tense-word-cum-adjective than being of debated syllable count. For example, SOUREST is in, whereas pissedest isn't. However, it is not entirely clear how words will be adjudicated, so it may still be allowed.

Also, Jon used to get called a reit sod as a child. And Rob said he got DESIRED for 7, which he shortens to DESIRE when Jimmy points out that he has used the D twice.


Round 4 is Sean v Rob
Round 4 (picked by Rob): 75, 4, 3, 5, 3, 10. Target: 406.

Team 1 - Sean: 406. 5*75+3*10+4-3 (10)
Team 2 - Rob: 405.
Score: 24–6 (max 35)


Vic has an old book of remedies from 1747 that he got in an auction. He reads some of them out. Many of the remedies involve electricity.

Teatime teaser: SHAGBINS -> BASHINGS

Joe Wilkinson turns up and says that he's been attempting world records. He says that he holds the record for the person dressed as a toothbrush for the longest - 6 days. The record was previously held by Denzel Washington. His half-brother Fabio holds the record for the world's shittest back tattoo - a U-bend of a sink. Between them they hold the record for the rudest car airbag - it says "YOU ARE AN ANUS". They also have the record for the world's grooviest beehive.


Round 5 (picked by Rob): U P E O B S G A Z
Jimmy's Distraction: He runs out of power, and needs to be charged up by an assistant, who uses the JIMMYBOT 3.2 CHARGER.

Team 1 - Josie: GAZEBOS (7) / Sean: UP (2)
Team 2 - Jon: sopub / Rob: pubez
DC: usezapbog (a kind of bleach)
Score: 31–6 (max 42)

sopub and pubez aren't explicitly disallowed, but they aren't valid. sopub is just to piss Susie off (as in "So, pub") and pubez is meant to be an urban version of PUBES. In this round, the first four letters out are UBEP but Joe messes around with the ordering. Also a vowel is requested as the third letter and Joe asks what letter Rob wants and he selects an E, which Joe finds in the pack. The S is also picked out by Joe so that the word PUBES is available.


Round 6 (picked by Josie): 25, 10, 9, 10, 3, 1. Target: 192.
Joe attempts to set a new world record by eating Sunday lunch with the world's longest knife and fork during this round. It is not stated whether this world record attempt officially succeeded. It looked like a poor attempt.

Team 1 - Sean: 192. Mistake in working. / Josie: 191.
Team 2 - Jon: 192. (10+9)*10+3-1 (10) Rob 250 (25*10)
Score: 31–16 (max 52)


Teatime teaser: RANDYBRA -> BARNYARD


For round 7, Joe wants to do one more world record attempt - that of longest Countdown word. He extends the letters rack to 13 slots.
Round 7 (picked by Josie and Sean): E D U R O W A R I D F N E

Team 1 - Josie: REWARDED (8) / Sean: DEFINED (7)
Team 2 - Jon: UNDERWEAR (9) FORWARDED (9) / Rob: ENDURED (7)
RR: FOREWARNED (10)
DC: UNDERWIRE (9) EIDERDOWN (9) UNWORRIED (9)
OT: UNDERWIRED (10) UNREWARDED (10)
Score: 31–25 (max 62)

Rachel gets one of the 10s, so is now a world record holder. Interestingly only 9 points are given for Jon's 9. It seems that there is no double points bonus for a 9 when there are 13 letters (unless the game was done under Gevin scoring). One can only wonder if 26 points would have been given for a 13-letter word. Having dominated the game for so long, Josie and Sean are now forced into a crucial conundrum.


Round 8: P U B E A L E R T

Team 1 (Rob) buzzes on 5 seconds to say TURBULENT which is incorrect.
Team 2 (Josie) buzzes on 11 seconds to say REPUTABLE which is correct.
Final Score: 41–25 (max 72)

There seems to be only one Countdown jacket for the winning team, which goes to Josie.

Statistics Corner

Josie & Sean:
Total score - 41
Raw score - 56
Total % of max - 57
Raw % of max - 78
Total average score per round - 5.1
Raw average score per round - 7.0
Number of maxes - 4

Jon & Rob:
Total score - 25
Raw score - 32
Total % of max - 35
Raw % of max - 44
Total average score per round - 3.1
Raw average score per round - 4
Number of maxes - 1

[Matt Morrison]

Great work Gevin. Enjoyed it. If it's your only one I'm sure printouts of it will be sold on street corners in decades to come.

[JimBentley]

Great work Gevin. Enjoyed it. If it's your only one I'm sure printouts of it will be sold on street corners in decades to come.

Printouts? Street corners? Decades? You surely meant "gilt-edged calfskin-bound editions", "museums" and "centuries"?

[Gavin Chipper]

My favourite thing about this recap is that no-one has come along and pointed out loads of errors, which tends to happen with people's first recaps. Now that I've said this though, the double-checking might commence.