c4countdown

Countdown’s Rachel Riley is on maternity leave. She will be on-screen until December when she will be temporarily replaced by Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon, who debuted on the Black to Front edition in 2021. This means that Imafidon will oversee the series finals for Anne Robinson’s first series. Riley will return not at the start of the next series, but at some point in early 2022.

It is unknown when or even if there will be a Championship of Champions XVI but it’s already been confirmed by series producer Damian Eadie that it will not happen in January.

I thought she was the weakest link (no pun intended) in the BTF day. Hopefully she’ll have improved.

Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑Fri Oct 08, 2021 11:12 am I thought she was the weakest link (no pun intended) in the BTF day. Hopefully she’ll have improved.

Disagree. Don’t judge prematurely. She’s only done 1 show. It takes months to grow into a new role. Carol Vorderman was shy and slow in Episode 1.

We're only gonna have her for a short while, so it's fair to judge prematurely in this case.
And yeah, she was certainly the weakest link on BTF day - a charisma free zone, with moderate maths skills. Thankfully it is only temporary.

L'oisleatch McGraw wrote: ↑Fri Oct 08, 2021 1:36 pm We're only gonna have her for a short while, so it's fair to judge prematurely in this case.
And yeah, she was certainly the weakest link on BTF day - a charisma free zone, with moderate maths skills. Thankfully it is only temporary.

Sorry, still no.

Great, I hope she does well.

People judged her for not instantly getting a pretty tricky numbers game before the break. Training for this sort of numbers takes time, and she came across incredibly well. I think she'll be a fantastic replacement and I'd love her to be permanent cover for things like this, incredible mind.

Don't be silly Adam...
1. She's not hot enough for the permanent role.
2. Based on just one show, she lacks charisma (though that could just be first day nerves)
3. She moves clumsily when putting up letters.

She'll probably be an adequate replacement, but nowhere near 'fantastic'.

And that numbers game wasn't tricky, by Rachel's, Carol's or an average-ability Apterite's standards.
[i.e. https://greem.co.uk/quantumtombola/?sel ... target=276]

Incredible credentials. Great for the show to be associated with her.

L'oisleatch McGraw wrote: ↑Fri Oct 08, 2021 2:23 pm Don't be silly Adam...
1. She's not hot enough for the permanent role.
2. Based on just one show, she lacks charisma (though that could just be first day nerves)
3. She moves clumsily when putting up letters.

She'll probably be an adequate replacement, but nowhere near 'fantastic'.

And that numbers game wasn't tricky, by Rachel's, Carol's or an average-ability Apterite's standards.
[i.e. https://greem.co.uk/quantumtombola/?sel ... target=276]

Would you class me as an "average ability apterite"? I found it tricky and only just solved it in time.

She's great and did a good job, we cannot expect her to be as good as someone who has been doing the job for 12 years but I enjoyed her thoroughly.

I would, yes... and even you got it in time!

She will be adequate, undoubtedly... and nowhere near as bad a fit for the show as Anne Robinson.
But I am glad it is temporary.

So... If i'm an average ability apterite AND i found it tricky ... then the numbers game is tricky. And she got it after the break - so no harm done.

I imagine Eoin has been top of his game from the start, for any job he's ever done. That's a level us mere mortals can only hope to reach

I'm pretty great at most things, that is hard to disagree with.
Fair point Noel!

No doubt yer wan will be a fine & inoffensive replacement. The role isn't that pivotal to enjoyment of the show... but it is a bonus when there is someone as great as Rachel doing it,,, so I'll be counting down the days to her return.

Attractiveness has nothing to do with it. I just thought she looked a bit wooden.

One thing I find funny about her is how she words some of the calculations. E.g. for divide by 7 she might say "Plonk that geezer over the Kirk Bevan".

It's interesting that Susie was talking about the aitch/haitch thing the other day, with Anne-Marie a haitch person. I've been thinking about this and language snobbery because of how I've always hated haitch. But I think when it comes down to it, it's just a very grating sound. There's lots of things that people do that language snobs would look down on but most of them aren't intrinsically annoying like haitch is. When Rachel comes back, the first time an H comes out, maybe she'll say "Aitch. Have you missed me?" Actually no as it happens, but for other reasons.

Also, Imafidon sounds like something you'd be prescribed from your GP.

I haven't watched Dr Imafidon but happened to channel flick the other day and saw a couple of seconds of Countdown, so I know she's black and that leads me to detect some casual racism in the previous two posts.

First post: black lady talks funny.
Second post: black lady has funny name.

Do you see that on rereading, Gevin?

Adam Gillard wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 10:56 pm I haven't watched Dr Imafidon but happened to channel flick the other day and saw a couple of seconds of Countdown, so I know she's black and that leads me to detect some casual racism in the previous two posts.

First post: black lady talks funny.
Second post: black lady has funny name.

Do you see that on rereading, Gevin?

Well I'm sorry if it comes across that way but I don't see it as casual racism and it certainly wasn't the intent.

People enjoy unusual names or figures of speech whoever has them. I would have made those comments if she was white so it would have been "reverse racism" or whatever you want to call it if I'd held back. And I'm much more critical of the white Rachel Riley in general.

In defence of Gavin, he has regularly been critical of Rachel's habits as well so I don't think it's reasonable to assume that any observation of someone's habits reveals racist bias.

Unless of course he's a massive superracist who hates all races. Probably that.

Adam Gillard wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 10:56 pm I haven't watched Dr Imafidon but happened to channel flick the other day and saw a couple of seconds of Countdown, so I know she's black and that leads me to detect some casual racism in the previous two posts.

First post: black lady talks funny.
Second post: black lady has funny name.

Do you see that on rereading, Gevin?

I think the racism is in your mind, not in anything Gavin wrote!

You’re either good enough for the role, or you’re not. Experience, knowledge and demeanour are the qualities that determine your suitability for the role.

Anne-Marie has done a fantastic job. She spots advanced solutions to very difficult numbers rounds under pressure and I like the way she takes her time while ensuring her methods are correct. Also, she just gets on with it. She doesn’t fill up 3 seconds with faffing around. She gets straight to the nitty-gritty. She’s calm, warm and doesn’t overdo it.

I also think it's OK to wonder why someone would dye their hair grey.

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Tue Feb 22, 2022 3:54 pm I also think it's OK to wonder why someone would dye their hair grey.

I've no idea if it's dyed or not, but it looks amazing - and an attempt at looking better is why any of us dye our hair in the first place.

You can see the roots. And each to their own!

Edit - It's not even that I think grey looks bad. I just think there's something a bit perverse about it, like shaving in a bald patch or receding hairline.

That looked more like a wig today (Tues 22nd) according to my wife

Ian Fitzpatrick wrote: ↑Wed Feb 23, 2022 10:20 am That looked more like a wig today (Tues 22nd) according to my wife

Maybe. It's definitely a change from previously.

L'oisleatch McGraw wrote: ↑Fri Oct 08, 2021 2:23 pm 1. She's not hot enough for the permanent role..
[i.e. https://greem.co.uk/quantumtombola/?sel ... target=276]

Right so we can’t watch countdown unless there is a sexy lady to do the numbers? Ugh.

Also - she’s bleedin gorgeous!

Yeah, that's a fair point you make, Andy.
And I agree, a hot girl doing numbers is as crucial to Countdown as conundrums... they're not gonna give the gig to a fat minger, or a man.
Anne-Marie was *just about* acceptable as a stand-in, by those criteria.

(Though, unlike you, I'd probably still watch if sexy numbers girl was replaced by someone with zero telegenic qualities.)

I know I'm running the risk of giving you the reaction that you want here, which I do not want to do, but I nevertheless thinks it bears repeating that you really are a pillock.

Not really.
If someone is gonna come on here and leave a dull and predictable holier-than-thou comment, along the lines of what Andy posted; it warrants a reply like that. You're lucky there's someone here to treat it with the respect it deserves.

Sometimes, if everyone except you thinks the same thing be it implicitly or explicitly, they're not seeking to be dumb or holier-than-thou - they're just right. You're 46, the edgelord window should be shut by now.

Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Fri May 20, 2022 10:01 am Sometimes, if everyone except you thinks the same thing be it implicitly or explicitly, they're not seeking to be dumb or holier-than-thou - they're just right. You're 46, the edgelord window should be shut by now.

I don't know what an edgelord is but I think I now understand what an internet troll is and what I've seen of L'oisleatch's posts on this forum have only served to cement my initial impression stated here.

As someone who's been on the internet for a while, I will say that's like a fourth of the way down in the cesspool of trolls.

In general, who the fuck thinks you need to be hot to be on Countdown doing great numbers? I couldn't care less about that, they're just there to do numbers - although I do enjoy the chatting in between, but still. If they decided to actually bring this over to America they'd probably get someone who's well versed and most likely has won some math competitions we have here or just someone from the Mathematical Association of America. I have no telling what the hell they'd be looking for other than that, but I know that their main priority is if they're able to do maths well, like Riley and Imafidon.

I think Anne-Marie did a solid job standing in for Rachel and honestly I'm stoked to see her at Dictionary Corner, I don't know if that's gonna happen for the finals of the CURRENT series, but if not then hopefully we'll see for Series 86 whilst Colin's hosting.

Wateva.

If you want your posturing and virtue signalling to be taken seriously, give me some examples of any quiz or game shows, from any era of television, where a role like the Carol / Rachel role was not given to someone telegenic.

Start there.

When that fails, you can continue to make arrogant proclamations about who's a terrible person, and about how to do 46 properly, if you so wish. (All while continuing to be wrong about the motivations behind TV hiring policies.)

No, you're missing the point. It is not in dispute that women on TV have usually been telegenic. The point is, why should they have to be?

Also, jog on with that lazy "virtue signalling" trope against anyone taking a different position than you. Absolute cop-out.

Not lazy. Factual and necessary... and not for when people take a different view to me. (That would be more disingenuous than lazy.) I reserve that phrase purely for when people are actually doing it. (virtue-signalling, that is.)
You're just sick of hearing it. I imagine you are not alone in that. The phrase "virtue signalling" has almost lost all meaning / resonance, as it has been overused of late. Simple reason being there is a lot of it going around in the 2020s.

Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Sat May 21, 2022 9:35 am No, you're missing the point. It is not in dispute that women on TV have usually been telegenic. The point is, why should they have to be?

^^^I refer you to the quote above for a textbook example of same.

(I do so love our little chats btw.)

It's a cop out because it allows the person who uses it to evade any discussion as to how two people arrived at that point. Which seems to be exactly what happened here. So let's go back to it. Why must women on TV be telegenic?

https://youtu.be/sAmM872874A

People who accuse people of virtue signalling are themselves virtue signalling.

Unless what you mean by it is that the person virtue signalling doesn't actually believe what they are saying but are only pretending to in order to look virtuous and that actually their true opinion is that they don't really give a shit about other people but want to seem like they do in order to gain some sort of societal brownie points.

Unfortunately for you, it turns out that actually some people do give a shit about other people. They have empathy and compassion and are happy to think about others needs and wants and hope that everyone has as good a time as they can. Just because you can't do that doesn't mean nobody can you fucking nimrod.

I'm guessing I'm in the minority for having to look up 'Edgelord' and 'Nimrod'

However my age can give me a wider knowledge of 'why the fuck was this acceptible' of which a telegenic maths expert falls into.
I mean I grew up where blackface was on national telly and most of the best loved sitcoms were full of more than casual racism, sexism and homophobia.
I mean I'm too young to remember society frowning at women in trousers but a woman choosing to work instead of being a housewife was frowned upon and only Thatchers Britain making it a necessity rather than a choice did that thinking change.

I think we are now entering a stabilising process whereby we are slowly picking the best person to do the job rather than the two ends of the spectrum either picking the most telegenic or choosing people of colour to meet quotas regardless of talent.

I think Countdown is good for not being ageist but still keeps the telegenic stereotype going.

I think Countdown should take a retrostep and have a pool of dictionary corner and numbers talent.
You don't even need a settled presenter you can mix it up a bit.

Sorry for the waffle

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 10:31 am I think we are now entering a stabilising process whereby we are slowly picking the best person to do the job rather than the two ends of the spectrum either picking the most telegenic or choosing people of colour to meet quotas regardless of talent.

There's also the elitism aspect. You don't need a maths degree from Oxford (or engineering from Cambridge) to be able to do arithmetic, nor do you need to have some Oxford degree in looking up words to do the DC role.