- 30/06/2025
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00:30Hello everybody, welcome to Countdown this Monday, April the 22nd as we set sail in another five episodes of Countdown and putting the wind in them is Rachel Riley.
00:41I want to take you back today to, first of all, to June 14th, which is weird because it's mid-April, but June 14th, 1968.
00:49Somebody who would become really famous in his field, he was very young at this stage, late 20s, set sail from Falmouth in a 32-foot boat.
01:00But on this day the next year, in 1969, he would become the first person to solo circumnavigate the globe non-stop.
01:11What I love about this is, first of all, how young he was.
01:15Second of all, in the race, the Sunday Times Golden Globe race, he was the only one finished it.
01:20So there wasn't anybody who came in behind him as well, so perilous it was.
01:26But can you imagine that solitude, Rich?
01:28Yeah, I mean, we did, I think it was eight days on a boat round the Galapagos.
01:32That was only eight days.
01:33And that was a different era, not when, you know, you're risking your life and can't contact anyone even if you wanted to.
01:38But we can relate to Robin Knox Johnson.
01:41You had a holiday for just a few days on the Galapagos.
01:43I know, I survived, I survived.
01:44And you survived, and I survived a banana boat in Ibiza once.
01:47Really?
01:48Yeah, so we know what he went through.
01:50Did you get rescued, or what happened?
01:53Do you know what?
01:53I cannot go, I cannot go out into the sea.
01:56I've got a bit of a problem with that, you know.
01:58If I can see down, I get the same feeling as I get in heights.
02:01Oh, really?
02:02So, yeah, a little bit of a problem there.
02:04All right, let's drift on over the dictionary corner then.
02:06The anchor of Countdown, Susie Dent.
02:09And alongside her, well, where do you start?
02:11The actor, the comedian, the presenter, the all-round TV legend, Les Dennis.
02:20Well, listen, Les, word-wise, we haven't had a problem with our champion, George McAleer.
02:25But, Geordie, boy, you might be looking to improve in the numbers today, I'd say.
02:29Yep.
02:29Look at that, sheepish with it.
02:31Now, listen, I want to talk, there's a reason for this, because of a challenger.
02:35What's the weirdest job you had in all of your life before you retired?
02:39What's the one that jumps out?
02:41Cleaning toilets in a Salvation Army hostel.
02:44There you go, right?
02:45That'll put hers in your chest.
02:46Happy days.
02:47Well, listen, you're up against John Gibson today, who lives in Carlisle.
02:50Now, how are you doing, by the way?
02:52I'm very good, thank you.
02:53Now, obviously a very impressive current job.
02:55You're a design engineer, very fancy indeed.
02:57But, and this might draw blanks from the younger members of the Countdown team,
03:02but you used to be a lemonade man.
03:05I did, yeah.
03:06Such memories.
03:07Right, let's go through it.
03:08Did you have raspberry aid?
03:09Yes.
03:10Did you have cream soda?
03:11Yes.
03:12Now, here's the big one.
03:13Did you have brown lemonade?
03:15American cola, yeah.
03:17Is that what you called it?
03:18So back home, this is famous in Northern Ireland.
03:20We called it brown lemonade.
03:23And I do not want to know what was in brown lemonade.
03:26I couldn't even tell you how it tasted.
03:28It wasn't like Dandelion and Burdick or anything like that.
03:30Brown lemonade.
03:32Got the glass bottles and then returned them.
03:34Yeah.
03:34So back in, you know, back in those days, our milk bottles went back.
03:38We recycled more than we thought.
03:40But tell me about that.
03:42Did you have sweets?
03:43No, no.
03:44We delivered merely to shops rather than houses.
03:47But we, our employment got terminated when we went round the corner too fast
03:52and all the lemonade fell off the back.
03:54No.
03:56That is a tragedy.
03:58That is a tragedy.
03:59Kids were crying for weeks when they saw that.
04:01So we had to clean it up and then we didn't have a job.
04:04That's brilliant.
04:04Well, listen, let's see if you fizz today.
04:07John and George, best of luck.
04:11Off you go, John.
04:12Hello, Rachel.
04:13Hi, George.
04:14Consonant, please.
04:15Start the week with S.
04:18Nivelle.
04:19I.
04:21Consonant.
04:23M.
04:24Nivelle.
04:24O.
04:26Consonant.
04:28R.
04:30Veril.
04:32E.
04:33Consonant.
04:36S.
04:37Consonant.
04:39G.
04:40And a consonant.
04:42And the last one, M.
04:45At home and in the studio.
04:46Let's play Countdown.
05:17George. I'll try a seven. John. Six. What's your word, George?
05:22Mossier. And John? Morris. Yeah, over the dictionary corner.
05:27Yes, no Morris, unfortunately. Sorry about that, John. Mossier, great.
05:31Yeah, good seven. Can we add to that, Liz? We've got for sevens memoirs and simmers.
05:36Nice. I think you found an eight. Yes, I think it would normally be used in the
05:41singular, but it doesn't say it's a math noun in the dictionary.
05:44Ogre-ism is ogre-ish behaviour, so if you stretch it a bit,
05:48you could have ogre-isms for eight. Not nice at all. John, your letters.
05:53Afternoon, Rachel. Afternoon, John. Consonant, please.
05:57Thank you. Start with B. And a consonant. T. And a vowel, please.
06:03I. And a vowel. O. A consonant. W. Consonant.
06:14S. Vowel. I. And a consonant. L. And another consonant, please.
06:26And lastly, G. All right, 30 seconds.
06:30G. All right, 30 seconds.
06:42G. All right, 30 seconds.
06:46G. All right, 30 seconds.
06:58G. All right, 30 seconds.
07:00G. All right, 30 seconds.
07:01John. Five.
07:02And George.
07:03Six.
07:04John, what have you got?
07:05Boyles.
07:06Yes. And the six?
07:08Bigots.
07:09Boyles and bigots, Susie.
07:10Yes, bigots. It's good to get a six out of this, actually.
07:14Bigots and ogre-ism. We can tie all these words together.
07:17Les.
07:18No, didn't get anything better than owls.
07:19Excellent. Thank you for saving time. Wonderful. That's it.
07:22If nothing else, you saved me time.
07:24Good start for the champion as we get on to the numbers for the first time today.
07:28And you are picking them.
07:29One large and five small, please, Rachel.
07:32Thank you, George. One from the top five knots.
07:35And for the first time this week, they are six, three, two, eight, three and 25.
07:43And you need to reach the target, 593.
07:47Five, nine, three.
07:48Numbers up.
07:49Pick up the launch.
07:50It's Larry's.
07:51Raising the target number.
07:53The winner is a key inquisition.
07:54The movie written.
07:55See you at a Punkt hábsack.
07:56Into the helm.
07:57If nothing else.
07:58You will save you for the entire tower.
08:00It's never trying to pull out the boat.
08:02You will beめ這meno officers with a ready Denton,
08:03the opposing captain.
08:04And in time что ha the name veryostgov whoomslaws.
08:05That's in other frightful locksств.
08:07You are going out loud.
08:09You are going out loud.
08:10You walk out loud.
08:12You walk out loud.
08:14You walk out loud.
08:15You're going out loud.
08:18593, where's the 25, George?
08:22594. 594, one away. John?
08:25593. There you go. Ten points for you, John. Off you go.
08:293 times 8 is 24. Yep.
08:32Times 25 is 600. It is indeed.
08:353 minus 2 is 1, plus 6. Take it away.
08:39Perfect. 593.
08:41APPLAUSE
08:44Look at that. All at sea after two letters rounds.
08:47And that's why the numbers are so, so important on Countdown.
08:50Just three points in it as we get our Tea Time teaser,
08:53which is Perm Port. Perm is in the hair. Perm Port.
08:57If he's in your line of sight, you'll never be lost for words.
09:00If he's in your line of sight, you'll never be lost for words.
09:04MUSIC
09:14Well, welcome back. If he's in your line of sight, I could be a she as well.
09:23You'll never be lost for words. It's prompter.
09:26Les needs this for when he's doing Shakespeare. We'll talk about this in a bit.
09:30Lord, forgot the line. Tell me the line.
09:32If I forget them, I'm in trouble.
09:34Let's get back to the game. John, you're choosing the letters.
09:37Consonant, please, Rachel. Thank you, John.
09:40C. And a consonant.
09:43V. And a vowel.
09:46O. And a vowel.
09:49A. And a consonant.
09:52D. Consonant.
09:55S. Vowel.
09:58E. Vowel.
10:01O. And a final consonant, please.
10:04And a final P. Thank you, Rachel.
10:07NSE Exercise Pages
10:13conclusion.
10:15Thanks, Rachel.
10:17Next thing's beginning, I'll talk about the covering of the two of the script up here.
10:19Check out some protection there.
10:21Yes,pple the 귀anche, but it works out loud.
10:29Of course, you're hidden above the line.
10:31E. Vowel.
10:33Next thing.
10:35John Gibson?
10:39Seven.
10:39And George McAleer?
10:41Seven.
10:41Seven as well.
10:42John?
10:42Scooped.
10:43Scooped.
10:44And George?
10:45Same word.
10:46Very nice.
10:46Scooped.
10:47Yep.
10:48Can be used in many ways.
10:49We've got our poop of scoop, but also, of course, if we get the big story,
10:53I scooped the other newspaper.
10:54We managed to get the exclusive.
10:56So there you go.
10:57Can you steal the headlines here with anything better?
10:59Well, we were talking about Shakespeare.
11:00You might hear this in a Shakespeare play, a pease cod.
11:04Oh.
11:05What's that?
11:05Pease cod is, essentially, it's like a peapod,
11:08especially when it has the peas in it.
11:11So, yeah, that will give us a seven.
11:13All right.
11:13Another seven.
11:14Fantastic.
11:15Well done, John.
11:16Got some points on the board with the letters,
11:18so you can relax with that.
11:19George, you're in control, though.
11:21Consonant, please.
11:22Thank you, George.
11:23N.
11:24And the vowel?
11:26I.
11:27Consonant?
11:29D.
11:29Vowel?
11:31U.
11:32Consonant?
11:33J.
11:36Consonant?
11:38N.
11:40Vowel?
11:41E.
11:44Vowel?
11:46A.
11:47And a consonant.
11:48And lastly, T.
11:51Half a minute.
11:51C was gonna delve into it.
11:58Going into it to you, he whinesh.
12:03I don't know what you said.
12:06I'm not a consonant anymore.
12:06Also, I'm the hors a minute.
12:06I'm notныham.
12:07You're here.
12:08Just one.
12:08I'm not a motherfucker.
12:09I'm the reopened.
12:10I'm the willingly to hum wolle.
12:12This one cam, is done.
12:13Did you using to keep him?
12:14I'm the hors a splash?
12:15I'm the Become a apostle.
12:16ces, you are.
12:17I'm theengo of that conversation.
12:18I'm the hors a starter.
12:18I'm the hors a starter.
12:19I'm the hors a starter.
12:20Scbest kommen.
12:20George.
12:23All right, I'll try a seven.
12:25I'm going to try it and John.
12:26Seven.
12:26OK, what have you got there, George?
12:28Jaunted.
12:29Jaunted and John.
12:30Same word.
12:31Jaunting as well, yes.
12:33There you go.
12:34We're not sauntering, but we have jaunted.
12:37Love that word, yes.
12:38Yeah, we got jaunted as well.
12:40Yeah.
12:40I think you've got an eight.
12:41Yes, there is an eight there with inundate.
12:44Inundated with offers.
12:45Goodness me, well spotted.
12:47Let's get back to the numbers, John.
12:49One large and five small, please, Rachel.
12:51Thank you, John.
12:52One big five not again.
12:54And for the second time today,
12:56the numbers are four.
12:58One.
12:59Three.
13:00Seven.
13:01Six.
13:01And the large one, 100.
13:03And the target, 191.
13:06Nice and low.
13:07One, nine, one numbers up.
13:19Two.
13:40And George.
13:41One, nine, two.
13:42John.
13:437 minus 4 minus 1 is 2.
13:47Times 100. 200.
13:49Minus 6 minus 3.
13:51Another good gain, another 10 points.
13:53APPLAUSE
13:55You're our favourite type of champion, George.
13:58Brilliant on the letters, stuttering again today on the numbers,
14:01which means it keeps it so close.
14:03John, you've got a slight lead now.
14:0520 of your 34 points coming on the numbers,
14:08with two more numbers rounds to come.
14:10As we take our first pause of the day,
14:12to chat with Les Dennis,
14:13you mentioned that you're about to do Shakespeare for the first time.
14:17And, you know, we've talked before about your acting.
14:20I know a lot of people are thinking Carnation Street.
14:22I'm thinking Jimmy McGovern.
14:24I'm thinking all sorts.
14:25So this is like the next step.
14:27I love the fact that you keep sort of putting yourself out on the ledge.
14:30It's great.
14:31It's always been on my bucket list.
14:33It's been something I've wanted to do.
14:34When I was 17, I went with the school on a school trip to Stratford
14:38and saw a production of Twelfth Night.
14:41And we were studying at school, but I didn't understand it.
14:44But it was such a beautiful production.
14:47It suddenly became clear and I loved it.
14:49There was an actor called Emrys James.
14:52I remember noting him down then and thinking, because he played Feste the clown.
14:57And he was just funny, charming.
15:01He had great pathos.
15:03And I remember then that day thinking, I want to do that one day.
15:06And so from 17 to 70, I've managed it when a great director, Jimmy Furhurst, decided to ask me to play in Twelfth Night.
15:16But I think rather than playing Feste, I was surprised when he asked me to play Malvolio.
15:22And I'm so thrilled about it.
15:24We're doing it at the Shakespeare North Theatre, which is a wonderful purpose-built theatre in Prescott, near Liverpool.
15:34And apparently Prescott in Liverpool was the first place where they had a theatre outside of London.
15:42Yes.
15:43All those years ago.
15:44You know, you wouldn't expect it.
15:46But this new theatre has been partly funded by Lady Dodd, Ken's widow.
15:53And, of course, I'm treading in his footsteps because he famously played Malvolio.
15:58So I will wear the yellow stockings and be cross-gartered.
16:02I love it.
16:03Well, listen, they say to be or not to be.
16:05But if it's to be, I'll give you the money myself.
16:08Thank you very much.
16:13OK.
16:14Back to your happy place, George.
16:16Back to those letters.
16:17Consonant, please.
16:19Thank you, George.
16:20N.
16:21And a vowel.
16:23I.
16:24Consonant.
16:26T.
16:27Viral.
16:29E.
16:30Consonant.
16:31D.
16:33Consonant.
16:34T.
16:35Viral.
16:37O.
16:38Verbal.
16:39E.
16:40And the consonant.
16:41And lastly, R.
16:42And start the clock.
16:43CLOCK
16:48KAROV
16:55ANA
16:58SHOOL
16:58LAND
16:59AND
17:01CRONEST
17:02DAY
17:03DO
17:16George?
17:19Six.
17:20John?
17:21Six.
17:21Six as well.
17:22What have you got, George?
17:23Rotted.
17:24What have you got, John?
17:24Same word, rotted.
17:25Goodness me.
17:26Yep.
17:27There you go.
17:27Same word.
17:28Same word.
17:28I've got high hopes, actually, crossing over the dictionary corner here.
17:31Susie and Lens?
17:32There is a seven there.
17:34But it does look as if there's more.
17:36Dottier.
17:37Dottier.
17:37Yes.
17:38All right, it's as we were.
17:39Seven points to difference.
17:41And John?
17:42Consonant, please.
17:44Thank you, John.
17:45Y.
17:45And a consonant.
17:47S.
17:49And a vowel.
17:50U.
17:52And a vowel.
17:53A.
17:54And a consonant.
17:56C.
17:57And a consonant.
17:58D.
17:59And a vowel.
18:01E.
18:03And another consonant, please.
18:05S.
18:06And a vowel.
18:07And lastly, A.
18:10And here we go again.
18:12And here we go again.
18:13And here we go again.
18:13And here we go again.
18:14And here we go again.
18:15And here we go again.
18:15And here we go again.
18:16And here we go again.
18:16And here we go again.
18:16And here we go again.
18:17And here we go again.
18:17And here we go again.
18:18And here we go again.
18:18And here we go again.
18:19And here we go again.
18:19And here we go again.
18:20And here we go again.
18:20And here we go again.
18:21And here we go again.
18:21And here we go again.
18:22And here we go again.
18:22And here we go again.
18:23And here we go again.
18:23And here we go again.
18:24And here we go again.
18:24And here we go again.
18:25And here we go again.
18:25And here we go again.
18:26Ties up, John. Six. Six from you. George. Six. Yeah, thought so, John.
18:48Caused. Caused and George. Caused. My goodness me. Stop it, you two. Stop it.
18:53Caused. Yes, it jumped right out, but what else can we throw into the mix here?
18:59We get another six with decays. Yeah. Well, is there any word above six, no?
19:02Not that we can find. All right. Well, George, sorry to do this to you,
19:07but, you know, contracts are obliged to do it four times an episode. It's numbers.
19:12One large and five small. Still sticking with the same. One large, five small.
19:17Let's see what we have this time. This selection for you. Seven, two, four.
19:23One, eight, and a large one, 50, and the target to reach 526.
19:29Five, two, six. Numbers up.
19:30One, eight, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a large one, 50, and a
20:005-2-6 is what we're aiming for, George?
20:045-2-7.
20:05And John?
20:065-2-7.
20:075-2-7 as well, that's a victory for our George, isn't it?
20:11OK, for seven points, George, you go first.
20:158 plus 2 is 10, times 50 is 500.
20:198 plus 2, 10, times 50, 500.
20:23And 7-4s is 28, minus 1 is 27, add it on.
20:28Yes, one above.
20:31John, I'm guessing it might be the same way.
20:33Same way, yeah.
20:34Yeah.
20:35There you go, join the club.
20:37So, there you go, 5-2-6.
20:40Double R, take it away.
20:42It's harder than it looks, I think, lots of dead ends,
20:44but if you say 4 plus 7 is 11, times by 50 is 550,
20:50and then 2 plus 1 is 3, times 8 is 24, and take it away for 5-2-6.
20:56Brilliant.
20:57APPLAUSE
20:59That was the way to go as we head into our second break of today
21:02with just...
21:03Let me have a look.
21:04Seven points in it, very close indeed, which we love.
21:07Gran flat is in your granny.
21:09Gran flat.
21:10The behaviour was wrong, but it almost smelt good.
21:13The behaviour was wrong, but it almost smelt good.
21:16APPLAUSE
21:17Hello again, clever tea-time teaser.
21:34The behaviour was wrong, but it almost smelt good.
21:37If it was fragrant, it would have smelt good.
21:39The answer, of course, flagrant.
21:41And I love this because I won't name the person, but in a rehearsal
21:44once I had to sort of say to a very well-known pundit
21:47when he described a particular bit of analysis as a fragrant fowl.
21:51It's actually flagrant.
21:54That's often miss you.
21:55Is it a specific kind of deal?
21:57Oh, I suppose so.
21:58Yeah, I've not heard that one.
21:59But, yes, flagrant means blatant.
22:01Like, right out there.
22:03OK, six rounds to go.
22:05Seven points in it.
22:06We love it, John. Off we go.
22:08A consonant, please, Rachel.
22:10Thank you, John.
22:11P.
22:12And a consonant.
22:14R.
22:15And a vowel.
22:16I.
22:17And a vowel.
22:19U.
22:20And a consonant.
22:22S.
22:23And a consonant.
22:24F.
22:25And a vowel.
22:27A.
22:28And a vowel.
22:30O.
22:31And a consonant, please.
22:33And lastly, N.
22:35Let's play.
22:36H.
22:41H.
22:42H.
22:44H.
22:45H.
22:46H.
22:48H.
22:49How did you get on, John?
23:08Six.
23:08Six for you, and George?
23:10Six.
23:10Six as well. Off you go, John.
23:12Fusion.
23:12Yes, Fusion. And George?
23:14Prison.
23:15And prison. Right, well done.
23:17Bang to right. Six points each. Can we do any better, Liz?
23:20You could have three words put together, which is in-so-far.
23:24In-so-far.
23:25And that's one word. There it is, Rich.
23:27In-so-far for seven, and seven remains the gap as we go back to George.
23:31Consonant, please.
23:33Thank you, George.
23:34R.
23:34And a vowel.
23:36E.
23:37Consonant.
23:39H.
23:40Veral.
23:41I.
23:42Consonant.
23:44F.
23:46Veral.
23:46O.
23:49Consonant.
23:50N.
23:52Consonant.
23:54M.
23:55And a vowel.
23:56And the last one.
23:59E.
23:59And...
24:00Codine.
24:01Codine.
24:14Codine.
24:15Mentor.
24:15Codine.
24:16Codine.
24:17I.
24:18Codine.
24:19Forza.
24:21Codine.
24:21George?
24:32Six.
24:33Six, you're going to go for six.
24:34And John?
24:35Six.
24:35Six as well.
24:36What's the word, George?
24:37Refine.
24:37What's the word, John?
24:39Inform.
24:39There you go.
24:40Refine and inform.
24:42Can we go beyond a six?
24:44You could have heroin.
24:45Heroin.
24:46With an E at the end.
24:47Yeah.
24:47Well done to you.
24:48Four rounds to go.
24:49Seven points still.
24:50The difference as we pause for our origins of words.
24:54Susie, where are you taking us?
24:55Taking us back to our wonderful viewers and some of their queries.
24:58And there must have been something in the water because both Mary Wrenston in Waltham Cross and Liz Taylor from Garforth in Leeds asked me the same or similar question.
25:09So Mary asked what phrases mean that have names in them.
25:13And I have spoken a lot about Countdown on things like Jack the Lad, for example, Bob's your uncle, etc.
25:19But she mentions, all my eye and Betty Martin, which is a phrase, particularly amongst older people, it's a bit of an exclamation.
25:28All my eye and Betty Martin.
25:29Or if you want to express disbelief over something.
25:33And it's often shortened to my eye, which you might hear quite often.
25:37And Liz says that she read Bright Day by J.B. Priestley, which contained the phrase, all my eye and Peggy Martin.
25:44It brought back memories, as my much-missed mum used to say, from time to time when we were children.
25:50And, of course, means nonsense or something unbelievable.
25:52So here we go.
25:54It is mostly Betty Martin, not Peggy.
25:57But in both cases, no one quite knows who the woman in question is.
26:02So it's possible that this phrase belongs to Flipping Ada and Flaming Nora and all of those who are summoned, but we're not quite sure who the original inspiration was.
26:12First recorded in the sort of 1950s and 60s in general use.
26:17But actually, the Oxford English Dictionary traces it right back to the 18th century, to slang amongst sailors who probably then brought it back.
26:24So various stories have been put forward as to who this Betty Martin was.
26:28One of the most popular is that it contains a bit of Latin, and specifically a prayer that started Beata Martin, so Blessed Martin.
26:39And the Martin in question here would be St. Martin of Tor, who is patron saint of lots of different groups.
26:46This St. Martin, we think, might have given us the Betty Martin in question.
26:51That's our guess, and it wasn't a Betty, it probably was St. Martin of Tor.
26:55Brilliant, thank you.
26:59Well, is it going to be Dear John or Bye George today?
27:02We're not quite sure yet.
27:03So, so close.
27:04So, John, let's go.
27:06Consonant, please, Rachel.
27:07Thank you, John.
27:08V.
27:10And a vowel.
27:12A.
27:13And a consonant.
27:14T.
27:15And a vowel.
27:17E.
27:18And a consonant.
27:20G.
27:21And a consonant.
27:23R.
27:24And a vowel.
27:26A.
27:27And a consonant.
27:29N.
27:31And a consonant, please.
27:32And lastly, R.
27:34Let's give this round 120%.
27:37Let's give this round 20, a week, where they name the E'er to stay.
27:52Let's give it a word.
27:56The best part.
27:59There and there.
27:59Let's give it a gab.
28:01Let's get called.
28:01OK. Big round this. How many, John?
28:11Seven. Seven for you. And George?
28:14Seven. Seven. John?
28:16Vagrant. Vagrant. Beautiful in your accent, by the way, that word.
28:21George? Granter. Granter and vagrant.
28:25I think you can be a granter. You certainly can.
28:28Yeah, absolutely fine. Excellent. Right, here we go.
28:31Why me dictionary corner? Susie, Les, come on.
28:34I'm in the Taverna for seven. OK. Very nice. Excellent.
28:39Advantage is another one for seven.
28:40Love it. Love it. Seven is the key number today, isn't it?
28:44We cannot close that gap. We cannot extend that lead with three rounds to go.
28:49Last letters. George McAleer, our twice champion, under pressure.
28:55Consonant, please. Thank you, George.
28:56K. And a vowel.
28:59And lastly, I. Right. Enjoy yourself.
29:24Two.
29:24Two.
29:25Two.
29:25Two.
29:26Three.
29:26Two.
29:27Two.
29:27Two.
29:28MUSIC
29:54George? Five. Five.
29:56Five. Five as well, not surprised.
29:58George? Mated.
30:00And John? Admit.
30:02So evenly matched. The dictionary corner.
30:05We're in the media business, so I suppose you could have media.
30:09Yeah. You know what as well? Les took his glasses off like he was about to while us with a really long word.
30:15It was such a letdown. You can't slow remove your glasses, Les, unless you're going to say something amazing.
30:20Sorry about that. Same as everybody else.
30:23LAUGHTER
30:25My God, you're beautiful.
30:27LAUGHTER
30:29OK. 70 plays 77. Just the type of game we love on Countdown.
30:35Two rounds to go. And here it is, the fourth numbers round. John Gibson.
30:40We'll stick with the one large and five small, please, Rachel.
30:43Yeah, important last decision before the conundrum. Will it be crucial? Let's find out final numbers of the day.
30:49Six, two, ten, eight, one and 50. And the target to reach 322.
30:58322, last numbers.
31:00MUSIC PLAYS
31:02322, last numbers.
31:04MUSIC PLAYS
31:063-2-2.
31:32John?
31:323-2-1.
31:33One away.
31:34Dusty Ben, George?
31:363-2-1.
31:37Oh, same again, right?
31:38OK, off you go there, John.
31:40Six times 50, 300.
31:42300.
31:43Two times 10.
31:46And add it on and add one.
31:48Yep.
31:49One away.
31:50And George?
31:51No, I've gone wrong.
31:52Oh, he's gone wrong.
31:53Oh, he's gone wrong.
31:54What a moment.
31:55What a moment.
31:56So on that miscalculation, such an apt way, actually,
31:59for George, who's just crying.
32:01It means we have a new champion in John.
32:03Well done.
32:04Well done.
32:04APPLAUSE
32:04Rach, take us to 3-2-2.
32:09I mean, there were loads of ways of this.
32:11I think it's the pressure.
32:12If you'd have added the one before you times the 10 by 2,
32:15you'd have got 3-2-2.
32:16Yeah.
32:16Well done.
32:17Thank you so much.
32:18There you go.
32:18I thought we were going to get our first crucial countdown conundrum
32:21in quite some time.
32:22But that's what I love about countdown.
32:24You just never know.
32:25No fixed climaxes you get in a lot of quizzes.
32:29So here we go.
32:29Fingers on the buzzers then.
32:31Oh, George, this is emotional.
32:33I'll have to say goodbye to you at the end of this.
32:35Good luck, John.
32:36Let's reveal today's countdown conundrum.
32:37BELL RINGS
32:39John.
32:43Absolving.
32:43Let's have a look.
32:45Well done.
32:47APPLAUSE
32:47Great work.
32:51Takes you to 94.
32:53Oh, George.
32:55Oh, George.
32:55Well, you know what?
32:57Staggering performance because to win two and come so close in the third
33:02and just not get many points at all in the numbers
33:05is actually a great achievement, I think.
33:07That's what I've always been saying since I knew I was coming here.
33:11The numbers will let me down.
33:13Yeah.
33:13And then it piles up, doesn't it, psychologically?
33:15It kind of piles up in the head as well as you go along.
33:19And I added an eight to my working out there
33:21and if I showed John it would have been wrong.
33:24Yeah.
33:24That's why I said I've gone wrong.
33:26Yeah.
33:26Oh, my goodness me.
33:28Well, there you go.
33:29Your number is up, but your letters were fantastic.
33:31Teapot's going back with you, George.
33:33I know you've watched Countdown from day one
33:35and I say to everybody watching,
33:37no matter how long you've been watching,
33:38apply to come on and you're living proof.
33:40So thank you, mate.
33:41Well done to you.
33:42Great stuff.
33:44And Liz and Susie will have you back tomorrow.
33:46Yes, for sure.
33:47And there you go.
33:48I mean, one of the things you told me when I first started this job is,
33:51Colin, you're going to see just how important the numbers are
33:53when it comes to series champions and octal champs.
33:56And I think George is living proof of that, right?
33:58Yeah, and I think the nerves can get you in here as well.
34:00It's very different sitting in that chair than sitting at home.
34:02Absolutely is.
34:03Right, well, listen, from the comfort of your living room,
34:05we will see you tomorrow.
34:06Susie, Rachel and I, you can count on us.
34:10You can contact the programme by email at countdown at channel4.com.
34:14You can also find our webpage at channel4.com forward slash countdown.
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