Spoilers for Wednesday August 6th 2014 (S71 P22)

[Jordan F]

Tricia Pay is up to 6 wins, based on past recent series there's a decent chance it will be good enough for the finals, even if she loses today, but a 7th wiin would be better for her in that regard. Can she get that 7th today?

Join James for the recap later.

[Tony Atkins]

Rachel is too polite to the contestants - just take the 6 off not the 7 in Tricia's way.

[Steven M. McCann]

Re: The POUNDER/PROUDER round, is Tricia at it again?

[Tony Atkins]

No beaters today - only alts eg CHORINES in the SCENARIO round and (10+8)x50+75-4 in last numbers.

[Mark Kudlowski]

Easier 3rd numbers: 9 x 8 x 5

[Ryan Taylor]

Re: The POUNDER/PROUDER round, is Tricia at it again?

To me, that looked like she had an improbable 7 written down but was going to go with a 6. Upon hearing her opponent's declaration of 7 she thought she'd just go with her risky 7. Then when she heard her opponent say PROUDER, this actually triggered her to spot POUNDER which got her out of having to try her unlikely 7. So yeah, at it, in my view.

[Innis Carson]

I think it's quite conceivable that POUNDER genuinely was her 'risky' 7. If I hadn't known from playing the game before that it was Countdown-valid, I don't think I'd have been sure it would be in the dictionary either. Does sound like it could be one of those Scrabble-only agent nouns. And while Susie always goes "Oh yes, as in a quarter-pounder" you only ever hear that as 'quarter-pounder' and never as 'pounder' on its own. Could be being overly generous here but it seemed believable enough to me.

[Jack Worsley]

I think it's quite conceivable that POUNDER genuinely was her 'risky' 7. If I hadn't known from playing the game before that it was Countdown-valid, I don't think I'd have been sure it would be in the dictionary either. Does sound like it could be one of those Scrabble-only agent nouns. And while Susie always goes "Oh yes, as in a quarter-pounder" you only ever hear that as 'quarter-pounder' and never as 'pounder' on its own. Could be being overly generous here but it seemed believable enough to me.

Agreed. I think we need to be careful not to scrutinise her too much just because of a few episodes ago, which wasn't overly convincing evidence anyway. I've seen little to suggest that she's doing anything wrong and I would prefer to focus on her superb performances so far. I hope she makes it to eight as her performances have more than merited it.

INARCHES in the SCENARIO round.

[Steven M. McCann]

Obviously I could be completely wrong, but I honestly got the impression, Tricia only spotted POUNDER a second or two before she had to actually say it!

[Zarte Siempre]

I think it's quite conceivable that POUNDER genuinely was her 'risky' 7. If I hadn't known from playing the game before that it was Countdown-valid, I don't think I'd have been sure it would be in the dictionary either. Does sound like it could be one of those Scrabble-only agent nouns. And while Susie always goes "Oh yes, as in a quarter-pounder" you only ever hear that as 'quarter-pounder' and never as 'pounder' on its own. Could be being overly generous here but it seemed believable enough to me.

I'd like to start this by saying that I've seen the numbers rounds everyone moaned about from earlier in her run, and didn't really think too much of them - just thought it was a bit of controversy hunting, however today, I did immediately go "you what?"

For a start, I would PRESUME that Tricia would watch the show - this is in no way guaranteed, but would seem likely - and if it is the case, pounder has come up so many times, that it would be hard for a viewer to think it was risky.

For a second, this wasn't "Hmmm, try a 7" and then a tentative declaration of pounder, this was an "Oh! Pounder!" on the declaration. This implied surprise or relief on her part, and in no way suggested that she wasn't happy with her word.

This being said - I don't necessarily think this means she didn't have a 7 written down beforehand, maybe she had UNROPED or something that could sound a bit dodgy (might not sound dodgy to the rest of you, but I always think it's a clumsy word) and noticed that she could provide a safer one. This isn't really on, but I'm not sure if it's explicitly against the rules, not having a guideline thingy with me.

But I'm definitely of the opinion that it wasn't as above board as Innis (and later Jack, but I quoted the wrong post and can't be arsed to alter it) suggests.

I must say however, ultimately, if the show saw anything massively wrong with it, they'd surely have done something about it, and ultimately my ability to care about this stretches about as far as making this post

[Gavin Chipper]

Nothing against the discussion but I wonder if people are more inclined to post about all this because of how she comes across generally and, you know, that grin.

[Innis Carson]

I'm still at a complete loss as to how she comes across any worse than any other contestants do. If anything, I've quite enjoyed her calm and unostentatious approach. Haven't seen a single instance of her being rude or brusque or anything other than completely normal. What even started us on the subject?

[Zarte Siempre]

Yeah, on that level I can't really say I've had much of an issue :S

[Graeme Cole]

Once on apterous I noted down COUNT. Then I saw COUNTY and dismissed it because it sounded silly - I'd never heard someone who shares the qualities and mannerisms of a count being described as "a bit county" before. It was only when my opponent successfully offered COUNTY that I rethought it and realised "oh wait, COUNTY..." *headdesk*

On that basis I think it's entirely plausible what Innis says - that she initially thought POUNDER was a risky agent noun, but only just before giving her word did she realise it was definitely valid.

[Johnny Canuck]

Remarkable consistency in Tricia's scores so far -- not only are they all within 20 of each other, they have so far contained only four different digits.

[Peter Mabey]

I agree that POUNDER (as in quarter-pounder) seems a bit dodgy, so I can understand Tricia not being confident in risking it - spellcheck is flagging it right now After all, having a four-ouncer instead wouldn't validate OUNCER However, the word could legitimately refer to a thumper.

[Sean Fletcher]

Easier 3rd numbers: 9 x 8 x 5

I had (75-3)*5 for that round

[Adam Gillard]

Rachel is too polite to the contestants - just take the 6 off not the 7 in Tricia's way.

I was thinking this too!

[Adam Gillard]

Just seen the POUNDER round - nothing remotely dodgy to me.

[David Williams]

POUNDER and UNROPED used to be a blind spot for me. They both sound a bit dodgy, and I could never remember whether it was one, both or neither that was valid. It's also my view that the only sin is hesitating. If I had UNROPED written down, been unsure but declared a seven, and then seen POUNDER while my opponent was speaking, and remembered it as a valid word in plenty of time, I'd have gone with it. From previous debates I think this may be a minority view.

[Philip Wilson]

As a viewer it's not so annoying to me if a player changes their mind over a word and ends up declaring something different to what they had written down AS what happened the previous day and was only mentioned in passing, in the 'emotes' round, where Tricia obviously spent a few seconds trying to find a word to match the length of her opponent's. I really do dislike seeing contestants do that.

[Jon Corby]

Just catching up still after being on holiday, and yes the POUNDER round is a shocker. She's still got her pen in her hand looking poised to write while she's thinking about her declaration (having heard her opponent declare seven) for fuck's sake. This kind of shit particularly rankles when (as with Carl Williams and his numbers fudge) it's blatantly obvious that you are going to absolutely crush your opponent, and you still can't bear to let them have a deserved round victory. I fucking hate it.

Incidentally, with all the UNROPED talk in here, I had a feeling that Tricia had already played it. So I checked, and found UNROPE in the recap of her second game. Then I saw this in there as well, in reference to a round in which Tricia misdeclares her word as an eight:

(Interestingly, at the recording, the original bit was redone after Tricia said "Eight, oh no it's not, sorry" (or words to that effect), then when she was asked to redo it, she said "Seven", then was told to say "Eight", then "I'm sorry, I've messed up").

Give up defending her, she's a fucking cheat! I know some of you think I class things as cheating while others consider them "stretching it as far as you can within the protocol of the show", but fuck me.

[David Williams]

Incidentally, with all the UNROPED talk in here, I had a feeling that Tricia had already played it. So I checked, and found UNROPE in the recap of her second game.

Only me that mentioned UNROPED, but I think we can safely say that if she saw it she wouldn't have thought it was dubious. It's also interesting that the only incident that got to me was the EMOTES round in one of her other shows, and nobody else seemed bothered by that.

She certainly racked up a few questionable rounds. It's one of those irregular verbs, he cheats, they stretch the rules, she is fiercely competitive.

[Philip Wilson]

It's also interesting that the only incident that got to me was the EMOTES round in one of her other shows, and nobody else seemed bothered by that.

Except me maybe, two messages up