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00:00This programme contains strong language and adult humour.
00:05APPLAUSE
00:31Hello, everybody. Welcome to Countdown.
00:33This Monday afternoon, we're ready to scrap our way
00:36through 15 rounds of Letters and Numbers.
00:38At the end of it, one contestant's hand held in the air,
00:42but will it be the champion or the underdog?
00:45We love a good underdog story, Rachel Riley.
00:48And on this day in 1982,
00:50Eye of the Tiger from the Rocky soundtrack
00:53hit number one in the States.
00:55Stayed there for six weeks.
00:57Is there maybe not a better kind of, like, motivational song?
01:01In fact, a lot of the Rocky soundtrack by Bill Conte
01:04puts you in that place, and that was Survivor, of course.
01:07Well, the Eye of the Tiger, the Katy Perry version,
01:09was the song that I used to play myself before Strictly.
01:12Ah.
01:13The eye of the tiger... Yeah, I won't sing the rest of it.
01:15Don't sing any of it. No, exactly.
01:17It's funny you should say that,
01:19because I was going to ask you about your three motivational tracks,
01:22cos Rocky's got that. Uh-huh.
01:24You know, if you're maybe trying to get fit
01:26and you need that sort of soundtrack.
01:28Cos in my three, I have Katy Perry, Firework.
01:31Ah! I thought that's my baby song now,
01:33cos she was born on Bonfire Night,
01:35so that makes me think of pushing.
01:37So that's probably, you know... Yeah.
01:39Yeah, that's motivational if you want to get a baby out.
01:41There you go. That's why I play it.
01:43What would be yours?
01:45What's that playlist of yours, your Eye of the Tigers?
01:48Well, Eye of the Tiger, my Katy Perry version.
01:50And then, um, maybe, uh...
01:53I think We're Alone Now.
01:55Ah! For motivation.
01:57Yeah, running just as fast as you can. Yes, very good.
01:59I mean, I'm quite literal, it's quite Holmes Under The Hammer.
02:01No, it's the way it should be. And then if you're in the gym,
02:03you probably, maybe you want to, you know, get fit,
02:05lose a bit of weight, so I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked.
02:07Oh, wow. That's a good one.
02:09Who's that by? Ida Maria.
02:11Well, let's strut our stuff over to Dictionary Corner.
02:15The Adrian to my Rocky, or J of the D,
02:18Susie Dent, and alongside her,
02:20to be fair, an Uncle Pauly type of character,
02:22is comedian Neil Delamere.
02:25I didn't know where you were going with that.
02:27I was frankly worried I was the chicken
02:29that he was chasing around in the training montage.
02:32And caught, eventually. What a moment that is.
02:35Our champion, Mark Brooks,
02:37well, he properly had the eye of the tiger on Friday
02:41with a crucial countdown conundrum against Wendy Woodward,
02:44so you've had a bit of time to gather yourself again,
02:47probably played video games, right?
02:50Yeah, I'm an avid football fan,
02:52but I've spent most of my time playing FIFA, to be honest.
02:55And you like the old-school games, Super Mario, stuff like that?
02:58Yes, I do, yeah. I don't tend to play them as much any more.
03:01Well, listen, good luck today. 15 rounds here.
03:04You're going up against Ben Cooper from Chorley,
03:07but is at university at the moment.
03:09Welcome to the programme, my friend.
03:11Thank you very much.
03:13Tell me what... Excuse my ignorance.
03:15Tell me what human geography is.
03:17That's what you're studying, human geography.
03:19I study this a lot. It's more how humans impact the world,
03:22so cities, climate change in particular,
03:24I'm interested in at the moment, yeah.
03:26So expanding the suburbs or central business districts
03:29or industrialisation.
03:31How the economy grows, etc.
03:33All of that stuff. The transport systems as well.
03:35All that fun. Love all that stuff.
03:37You add an extra word to subject and it's a whole different thing.
03:40Industrial archaeology is very, very interesting,
03:43sort of the history of our bridges and our structures.
03:46I love that. That's fantastic.
03:48Ben and Mark.
03:49APPLAUSE
03:51Off you go, Mark.
03:52A cloud consonant, please, Rachel.
03:54Thank you, Mark. Start the week with M.
03:56And another.
03:59R
04:00And a third.
04:02T
04:03A pity the fool has to come up with a word out of these.
04:06And a vowel, please.
04:10A
04:11Another.
04:13O
04:14Another.
04:16A
04:17A consonant, please.
04:19G
04:20Another consonant.
04:21L
04:22And a final vowel, please.
04:24A final...
04:25I
04:26Love it when a plan comes together.
04:47MUSIC
04:59Time's up. Mark?
05:00A seven.
05:01Very good. Ben?
05:02Just a five.
05:03Yeah. Listen, join the club. What have you got?
05:05Just moral.
05:06What's a seven?
05:07A marital.
05:08Marital.
05:09Over to Susie.
05:10Very good.
05:11Good. Marital. Anything else?
05:12There is an E.
05:13There is an A.
05:14I have been watching House MD for the last four weeks.
05:18Yeah.
05:19I don't know why, but there is a medical term, gliomata.
05:23Gliomata.
05:24Yes.
05:25So, gliomata.
05:26I think, possibly, it is the plural of a glioma,
05:31and that's malignant tumour of the connective tissue
05:34of the nervous system.
05:35Very good.
05:36And they say TV melts the brain, but you're proof that it doesn't.
05:40It would have been eight points for you there,
05:42but it scores the seven, and Ben's picking the next letters.
05:46Hi, Rachel.
05:47Hi, Ben.
05:48Can I have a consonant, please?
05:49You can, indeed.
05:50S.
05:51A consonant, please.
05:53D.
05:54A vowel.
05:56A.
05:57Another.
05:58E.
05:59And a consonant.
06:01S.
06:02And another consonant.
06:04T.
06:05And a vowel.
06:07A.
06:09And a consonant.
06:12R.
06:13And a final vowel, please.
06:15And a final I.
06:1830 seconds.
06:42Ben?
06:43Just a six.
06:44And Mark?
06:45A six.
06:46A six.
06:47What have you got?
06:48Resist.
06:49Resist.
06:50Raised.
06:51To Dictionary Corner.
06:52Yep.
06:53Both fine.
06:54There is an ace.
06:55Disaster.
06:56Disaster.
06:57Yeah.
06:58What programme were you watching to get that?
07:01I was watching your first audition tape for this.
07:04LAUGHTER
07:05I was watching your first audition tape for this.
07:08That was nice having you on the programme.
07:10Good luck with the rest of your career.
07:12Great.
07:13Well done.
07:14Very good.
07:15Disaster.
07:16Let's get our first numbers round and it's Mark.
07:18Can I have one large and five small, please?
07:20Your favourite pick.
07:21Thank you, Mark.
07:22One from the top.
07:23Five little.
07:24First one of the week is as follows.
07:2610.
07:279.
07:286.
07:292.
07:309.
07:31And 50.
07:32And the target.
07:34262.
07:37262.
07:38Numbers up.
08:07The target is 262, Mark.
08:10262.
08:11And Ben?
08:12Only 263.
08:13Don't worry about it.
08:14Ten points, Mark, if you're right.
08:1650 times 6 is 300.
08:18300.
08:2010 plus 9 is 19.
08:21It is.
08:22Times by the 2 is 38.
08:24And then take it away.
08:26262.
08:27Right, guys.
08:28APPLAUSE
08:29Well done, Mark.
08:3023 plays 6.
08:31Your first tea time teaser is Cool Corma.
08:35Cool Corma.
08:36You don't want a curry, you'll just have your jacket instead.
08:39You don't want a curry, you'll just have your jacket instead.
08:58Welcome back.
08:59You don't want a curry, you'll just have a jacket instead.
09:03Cool Corma becomes cloakroom.
09:05No need to get your coat just yet, Ben.
09:08Let's just get some more letters.
09:10Can I have a consonant, please?
09:12Thank you, Ben.
09:13F.
09:14And another?
09:16V.
09:17And another?
09:18M.
09:19And a vowel?
09:21O.
09:22And another?
09:23A.
09:24And another, please?
09:25E.
09:26Consonant?
09:30B.
09:31A consonant?
09:32M.
09:34And a consonant?
09:37Lastly, T.
09:39Thank you, Riley.
10:02BELL RINGS
10:13Ben was fairly disgruntled at those letters.
10:15How did you get on?
10:16A four.
10:17And Mark?
10:18A five.
10:19Tiny margins, Ben.
10:20What have you got?
10:21Boat.
10:22Yeah, and Mark?
10:23Above.
10:24Above.
10:25There you go.
10:26Yes.
10:27Very tough, this one.
10:28Very good.
10:29To Dictionary Corner.
10:30It's number five, and it's Mambo number five.
10:33Yeah.
10:35A little bit of Delamere.
10:37In your life.
10:39Let's get more letters now, and Mark.
10:41Can I have a consonant, please, Rachel?
10:43Thank you, Mark.
10:44P.
10:45And another?
10:47F.
10:48And another?
10:49D.
10:51And another?
10:53T.
10:54And a vowel, please?
10:55I.
10:56Another vowel?
10:57E.
10:58Another vowel?
11:00I.
11:02Another vowel?
11:04O.
11:05And a final consonant?
11:06And a final L.
11:08Half a minute.
11:29I'll do this, Mark.
11:30Try a seven.
11:31Try the seven.
11:32Ben?
11:33I'll try a seven as well.
11:34OK, what have we got?
11:35Piloted.
11:36Piloted.
11:37Ben?
11:38Same word.
11:39Same word.
11:40Let's check it out, then.
11:41Absolutely.
11:42Piloted a plane.
11:43Yeah, very good indeed.
11:44Very good.
11:45Seven points for each of you.
11:46Flying.
11:47Anything else, Neil?
11:48Yeah, no, we can't do any better than that.
11:50We're going to try a seven.
11:51We're going to try a seven.
11:52We're going to try a seven.
11:53We're going to try a seven.
11:54We're going to try a seven.
11:55We're going to try a seven.
11:56We're going to try a seven.
11:57Yeah, no, we can't do any better than seven.
11:59Good.
12:00I don't want to talk to you anymore.
12:01Let's just get more numbers, Ben.
12:02Can I have four large, please?
12:03You can indeed.
12:04Does this mean you like the numbers?
12:05We'll see.
12:06We'll see.
12:07Confidently said.
12:08Four large, two little.
12:09Two little ones are three and four.
12:11And the four large ones, 25, 50, 75 and 100.
12:15Let's find a challenge.
12:17The target, 170.
12:20Let's not.
12:2130 seconds.
12:27MUSIC
12:53That's time. Ben?
12:54170.
12:55Yeah, and Mark?
12:56170.
12:57Off you go, Ben.
12:58100 plus 75.
12:59175.
13:0050 over 25 is two.
13:02Yep.
13:03Add that on to the three and take that off to 175.
13:06170.
13:07Mark?
13:08Same way.
13:09Yeah, well done.
13:10APPLAUSE
13:12Ten points each.
13:13Lovely stuff.
13:14Look at that, Ben.
13:15In a flash, you're up to 23.
13:16Mark's on 45.
13:18Still close enough.
13:20As we have a chat with Neil Delamere.
13:22Not everyone in Dictionary Corner, we know, before they come on,
13:25I know Neil away from television and radio.
13:28He's a bit of a Larry David character, you know?
13:31I often will do Dictionary Corners with you off air.
13:34Neil, what's on your mind today?
13:36You just never know what's going on in there.
13:38It just spots things.
13:39What's been on your mind recently?
13:43This week, I'd like to call this segment
13:45The Wisdom of Taxi Drivers.
13:46Told you.
13:47Because I take a lot of taxis
13:49and I know some people are in their own world.
13:52I like to listen to the taxi drivers all the time.
13:54My top three.
13:55I have a top three.
13:56I have ranked them of Wisdom of Taxi Drivers.
13:58Number one happened last week.
14:00I was in Belfast, your hometown,
14:02and they said, what are you doing this week?
14:04I said, I'm going to Manchester to do Countdown.
14:06And the taxi driver in Belfast said to me,
14:08oh, Manchester, oh, you've got all the Man City fans on one side
14:11and all the Man United fans on the other.
14:13I couldn't live in a place that divided.
14:15LAUGHTER
14:17Like, drop me at the Peace Wall here, Sean,
14:19and I'll have a think about what you've just said there.
14:21That's my third favourite.
14:22My second favourite, I got in a taxi in Dublin
14:24and he had a photograph on his dashboard and I said, what's that?
14:27And he goes, that's the surface of the moon.
14:29And I would joke and he said,
14:30did you have a good time when you were up there?
14:32And he went, oh, no, no, I wasn't up there.
14:34I'd never get the time off.
14:36LAUGHTER
14:38Like, fully serious.
14:39But my favourite, and this is, I thought, genuinely really clever.
14:43Do you remember a few years ago when Donald Trump was in
14:46all the papers for being too close to Russia
14:48and possibly too close to the Russian security services?
14:50All this sort of stuff about that.
14:52I got into a taxi again in Belfast and the taxi driver said to me,
14:54do you read all this stuff about Trump and Russia?
14:56And I said, yeah.
14:57And he goes, Trump is always going on, he's not Russian.
14:59And I said, yeah.
15:00And he goes, Donald Trump has a son called Donald Trump Jr.
15:02And I said, yeah.
15:03He goes, he has a son called Donald Trump III.
15:06I said, yeah.
15:07He goes, so inside the biggest Donald Trump was a smaller Donald Trump
15:11and inside him was an even smaller Donald Trump.
15:14I said, OK, that is pretty genius.
15:16That is fantastic.
15:19That is fantastic.
15:20I feel like Belfast came in for a bit of a shoo-in there.
15:23Yeah, I love Belfast.
15:25You'll always get a good conversation.
15:27So there you go.
15:28If you ever pick up Neil Delamere in a taxi,
15:30he wants you to talk the whole journey.
15:32Yes, the whole journey.
15:33That's what I'm learning.
15:34Random facts, please.
15:35Thank you, Neil.
15:38Mark and Ben, taxis are waiting outside for both of you.
15:42Let's get more letters.
15:43Mark.
15:44Could I have a consonant, please, Rachel?
15:46Thank you, Mark.
15:47And another.
15:49N.
15:50And another.
15:52T.
15:53And a vowel.
15:55E.
15:56Another vowel.
15:57I.
15:58A consonant.
16:00W.
16:01Another consonant.
16:04J.
16:05A vowel.
16:07E.
16:08And a final vowel.
16:09And a final U.
16:12Start the clock.
16:18CLOCK TICKS
16:43Mark.
16:44Six.
16:45Ben.
16:46Six as well.
16:47Six, what have we got?
16:48Newest.
16:49And Ben.
16:50Newest as well.
16:51Yeah, there you go.
16:52Top.
16:53Six points each.
16:54Dictionary corner.
16:55Oh, we got a six.
16:56Egypt.
16:57Egypt!
16:58Yes!
17:00Yeah, there's a few there.
17:01Unites, Egypt, twines.
17:03But no better than six.
17:04No better than that.
17:05No better than that, which means you two are on top of your game
17:08as we get more letters from Ben.
17:10Can I have a consonant, please?
17:11Thank you, Ben.
17:12G.
17:13And another.
17:15N.
17:16And another.
17:18R.
17:19And a vowel, please.
17:22A.
17:23And another.
17:24U.
17:25And another.
17:26E.
17:27And another.
17:31I.
17:32And a consonant.
17:34D.
17:35And a final consonant, please.
17:38A final N.
17:40And welcome to the jungle.
17:44♪
17:50MUSIC CONTINUES
18:13Ben.
18:14Try a nine.
18:16Mark.
18:17I'm going to go seven.
18:18The seven is?
18:19Grained.
18:20And I wonder, I wonder.
18:22Ungrained.
18:23Ungrained.
18:25For nine, it's a bit of a reach.
18:27Oh, no.
18:28Ingrained, not ungrained.
18:30I'm so sorry, Ben.
18:31Unlucky, Ben.
18:33I had undaring as well.
18:34Undaring.
18:35Oh, well, listen.
18:37That's salt into the wounds.
18:39Let's put salt on top of the salt into the wounds
18:41cos I can see from the look on Susie and Neil's face.
18:45Yeah, I mean, you asked me...
18:47We got Gleam out because I've been watching House.
18:50Enduring is there for eight.
18:52And if you'd slightly switched the letters...
18:55Unreading.
18:56Reading.
18:57Is there for nine.
18:58I never would have thought unreading.
18:59No, it's a really odd one, but it simply means not inclined to read,
19:02so not particularly literate in that sense.
19:04So it's an adjective?
19:05Like the unreading public, for example.
19:07Yeah.
19:08I have to say, you can be deflated at that, Ben,
19:10but it shows that you're playing the game in the right way.
19:13That's what you want to do.
19:14So, unlucky.
19:15We'll move back to the numbers, and, Mark, you're choosing.
19:18One big and five small again, please.
19:20Thank you, Mark.
19:21One from the top row, five from the other rabble.
19:24And the five little numbers are one, three, nine, nine,
19:30eight, and the large one, 50.
19:33And the target, 333.
19:35All the threes, numbers up.
19:44MUSIC PLAYS
20:07333. Mark?
20:09Only 324.
20:11What about yourself, Ben?
20:13332.
20:14324, 332.
20:17So you'll get the point seven of them.
20:19Eight minus one is seven.
20:21Yep.
20:2250 times that seven is 350.
20:24350.
20:25And then take away the two nines.
20:27One away, yep.
20:28Right, Rachel, show them how it's done.
20:30Yeah, well, when all the digits are the same for the three-digit number,
20:33it's divisible by 37.
20:34Correct.
20:35So 50 minus nine minus three minus one is 37,
20:40and 37 times nine is 333.
20:42APPLAUSE
20:46Nice rinse, Rachel.
20:48Nice rinse is the tea time teaser.
20:50He said he liked her hair rinse, but he didn't really mean it.
20:53He said he liked her hair rinse, but he didn't really mean it.
21:05APPLAUSE
21:12Welcome back.
21:13He said he liked her hair rinse, but he didn't really mean it.
21:16He was insincere.
21:18Insincere.
21:19Just like when Susie says she likes my jumpers.
21:22Ben, let's get more letters.
21:24Can I have a consonant, please?
21:26Thank you, Ben.
21:27L.
21:28And another?
21:29D.
21:30And a vowel?
21:32E.
21:33And another?
21:34I.
21:35And another?
21:37O.
21:38Consonant, please?
21:40G.
21:41And another?
21:43Q.
21:45And another?
21:47D.
21:49And a final vowel, please?
21:52And a final...
21:54A.
21:55Let's play.
22:11MUSIC PLAYS
22:28Need a number, Ben?
22:29Six, please.
22:30And Mark?
22:31Six.
22:32Six. He said please, so I hope his is a better word.
22:34Ben?
22:35Loaded.
22:36Loaded.
22:37And lodged.
22:38And lodged.
22:39Loaded.
22:40Forward.
22:41Round.
22:42Can you wow me here, Neil?
22:43I can give you two sixes, but not...
22:45Well, it depends on how wowed you are by interesting words,
22:48but that are not longer than the last.
22:50Six.
22:51Loaded.
22:52But there is a fish, I believe, called a gadoid.
22:55A gadoid.
22:56Yes.
22:57Bony fish.
22:58It's of an order that comprises cods, hakes,
23:01and other fish like that.
23:03Gadoid.
23:04Gadoid.
23:05Right.
23:06Nobody getting battered here.
23:0764-42.
23:08Very much still game on.
23:09And, Mark, you're picking these letters.
23:11Can I have a consonant, please, Rachel?
23:13Thank you, Mark.
23:14L.
23:15And another?
23:16D.
23:17And another?
23:19M.
23:20And a vowel, please?
23:22E.
23:24And another?
23:25A.
23:26And another?
23:27O.
23:29And a consonant?
23:30R.
23:32Another consonant?
23:34C.
23:35And a final consonant, please?
23:38A final...
23:40T.
23:41Good luck.
24:08Mark?
24:09Eight.
24:10Ben?
24:11Seven.
24:12The seven is?
24:13Located.
24:14Great effort.
24:15What's the eight?
24:16Democrat.
24:17Democrat.
24:18Amazing.
24:19Well done.
24:20APPLAUSE
24:21Neil?
24:22Yeah, we can't beat eight.
24:23We had a couple of sevens which were the opposite of each other.
24:26Yeah, comrade and earldom, which are very much, I think,
24:29the opposite ends of the political spectrum.
24:31But, no, democrat is the longest there.
24:34Yeah, there you go.
24:35All right, then, so where does it end?
24:37Susie, where are we going today?
24:39Oh, well, I just wanted to chip into the taxi driver talk
24:42because ages ago I was researching for a book on tribal languages,
24:47so Britain's tribal languages,
24:49and taxi drivers have the best secret shorthand for things.
24:52So if they're talking to each other and they are,
24:55or have just taken a customer to the Houses of Parliament,
24:58they'll just say, oh, they've been down the gasworks,
25:01cos there's a lot of gassing that goes on there.
25:03The BBC's known as the tripe shop.
25:05Yes.
25:06That's Broadcasting House.
25:07And the scent box, this is quite clever,
25:09this is the rank at King's Cross.
25:11Oh, yeah.
25:12Which I think is great.
25:13Anyway, that's not really what I was talking about.
25:16I was going to try and answer an email from Vic Turner
25:19who wonders why in British English we talk about the letter Z
25:23and in American English it's the letter Z.
25:26And she says, you know, how did that come about?
25:28So, you know, we have so many distinctions
25:30between British and American English,
25:32and as you know on this programme, much to people's annoyance,
25:35I often stick up for American English,
25:37because so much of it was actually ours to begin with,
25:40and also I think it can be quite beautiful and exuberant.
25:43But anyway, historically, both Z and Z were used interchangeably
25:48in both British and American English,
25:50but there were also lots of other fantastic names for the letter.
25:55Izzard, Uzzard, Zad and Ezod, which I think is brilliant.
26:00But Z is by far the oldest,
26:02and ultimately, if you take it all the way back via French,
26:05via Latin, to Greek, it's from the letter Zeta.
26:09So, it's as simple as that.
26:11And that appeared in English in print, at least in the early 1400s.
26:16William Shakespeare hated this letter.
26:18I can't repeat quite what he said about it,
26:20but you can find any book on it.
26:23You can find any quote. It's in one of his plays.
26:27But he called it an unnecessary letter.
26:29He didn't like it at all, which is slightly strange,
26:32because his compositors, and maybe he himself,
26:35spelt realise with a Z, which is just as I would use it today.
26:39And again, people associate that with American English.
26:42So, that said, Z first appeared, again, in a British textbook.
26:46So, we're talking 1677, so it's been around for quite some time.
26:50Quite where it came from?
26:52Maybe because we have B, C, D, so Z kind of followed that pattern.
26:57And the reason they settled on both sides of the Atlantic,
27:00or either side of the Atlantic,
27:02is, we think, simply because the British and the Americans
27:05were desperate to be different.
27:07So, you had the War of Independence,
27:09you had lots of kind of nationalism when it came to language.
27:12Samuel Johnson wanted nothing to do with the Americans,
27:15or American English, and likewise, those on the other side
27:18wanted an independent language that became a badge of identity.
27:21So, they decided to go for Z, and in...
27:24Well, you could say in retaliation, but as a consequence,
27:27we decided to stick with the letter Z.
27:29But when you go back to the origin of it, it's Zeta, not Zedta.
27:32So, it's another example of where we say,
27:34oh, the Americans have done this, and actually, they really haven't.
27:37But don't you use Z, like, in realise,
27:39because it's closer to the Greek? Isn't that the reason you...?
27:42It's closer to the Greek, and it's the Oxford way as well.
27:45The Oxford way, yeah. Yeah. Very good.
27:47Right, thank you, Susie.
27:49Ben, let's get some letters.
27:51Can I have a consonant, please? Thank you, Ben.
27:54S
27:55And another.
27:56H
27:57And another.
27:59L
28:00And a vowel.
28:02E
28:03And another.
28:04A
28:05And another.
28:06I
28:07And a consonant.
28:09B
28:10And another.
28:12R
28:14And a final consonant, please.
28:17And a final K.
28:19Start the clock.
28:48BUZZER
28:51Time's up, Ben.
28:52Seven.
28:53A seven. And, Mark?
28:54A six.
28:55A six. What's a six?
28:56A braise.
28:57A few points back here, Ben.
28:58Bailers.
28:59Bailers.
29:00Um, absolutely fine. Yeah, no problem with that at all.
29:03Lovely. You see? There you go.
29:05It's getting a little bit close for comfort again for Mark.
29:07What have you got over there, Neil?
29:09Yeah, we can't beat seven.
29:11We had hailers as we were chatting about taxis.
29:13Taxi. Yeah. Nothing better.
29:15Very good. Right.
29:1672 plus 49.
29:18Ben, you need to keep this roll going
29:20and Mark, you're picking these last letters.
29:22Can I have a consonant, please, Rachel?
29:24Thank you, Mark.
29:25P
29:26And another.
29:27N
29:28And another.
29:30P
29:31And another.
29:33S
29:34A vowel, please.
29:36O
29:37And another.
29:38U
29:40And another.
29:42A
29:43And another.
29:46E
29:47And a final consonant.
29:48And a final N.
29:50Last letters.
30:16MUSIC STOPS
30:22Mark?
30:23Only a five.
30:24And Ben?
30:25Seven.
30:26The five?
30:27Opens.
30:28And the seven?
30:29That's right, unopens. Aw!
30:31Not again.
30:32Not having much luck with your N words here.
30:34Um, unopen is there, as in something's unopened,
30:37but you can't actively unopen something.
30:39It's one of those... You'll be closing it right now, I guess.
30:42I'm sorry, Ben.
30:43One of those cruel countdown moments.
30:45Yes, it is.
30:46You can't ring a bell and you can't unopen a book or unopen anything.
30:49Yeah.
30:51Well, at that moment, the door closes.
30:53What a great effort to get back into the game.
30:55It's a bridge too far now.
30:57Anything else, Niamh?
30:58No, unopen was as much as we got, wasn't it?
31:01Yes, it was.
31:02I was allergic to that round, as you know, cos pea soup was there.
31:06I'd go to the end of the programme if I had that.
31:08Right, last numbers round, Ben.
31:10Finish with a bang. Six more, please.
31:12Why not? We've had four large from you, six little ones.
31:15I always hate to say goodbye to contestants
31:17that pick interesting number selections.
31:19But, anyway, final one of the day.
31:21One, seven, three, nine, six and five.
31:26And the target to reach...
31:28253.
31:29253. Numbers up.
31:42MUSIC PLAYS
32:01253, Ben.
32:02I think I've got 253.
32:04Go on, that is. Go on out with a bang. Mark?
32:06256.
32:07Well, well, well, well, Ben.
32:09Nine times seven is 63.
32:11Nine, seven, 63.
32:13Three plus one for four. Multiply them together.
32:16For 252.
32:18And then six minus five.
32:20And six minus five you haven't used.
32:22Yes, brilliant. Well done, 253.
32:26Lovely. And with that, it's 77-59.
32:29But, Ben, when you tell your friends you're in Countdown,
32:32you can retell the story whatever way you want.
32:34There's no one to check.
32:35So if you get this conundrum, you can say,
32:37Oh, I lost a really good champion by only eight points.
32:40Which would be really, really nice.
32:42So fingers on the buzzers. Mark Brooks, Ben Cooper.
32:45Let's reveal our first Countdown conundrum of the week.
32:51Ben!
32:52Snazziest.
32:53Come on, my friend.
32:54APPLAUSE
32:59So, unopened, if you'd have taken the S off,
33:02you'd be champion of Countdown.
33:04Thanks.
33:06I kind of thought that was going to be conciliatory,
33:08but it felt like I was trolling you live on air.
33:11My point I'm making is you were fantastic today, Mr Cooper.
33:14Thank you for being here, mate. Thank you so much.
33:16Thank you very much.
33:17And, Mark, very eventful.
33:18The last two wins to get you halfway to being Octo Champ.
33:21My goodness, me.
33:22But you're a survivor, just like I, the Tiger.
33:25So thank you, mate. We'll see you tomorrow.
33:28Taxi for you, Neil and Susie?
33:29Yeah, absolutely.
33:30And, Rach, we had those tracks at the top,
33:33the underdog motivational tracks.
33:35What about, you finish the show, you go home and you want to relax.
33:39What's your relaxation tune?
33:41What's the song that chills you out?
33:43Oh, probably...
33:44I'm a fire starter, twisted fire starter.
33:47Just to calm everything down.
33:49I'm a bit prodigy, yeah.
33:51You know what?
33:52Mine's Arvo Part's Spiegel am Spiegel.
33:54It's a piece of classical music which I heard in a taxi
33:57and it started a whole journey into classical music.
34:00That would be more my cup of tea if I was being serious.
34:03It's beautiful.
34:04Listen, if you haven't heard that, I'll play it to you.
34:07There's something for you to look forward to this afternoon.
34:09We're all done.
34:10We'll see you back here tomorrow.
34:11Susie, Rachel and I will be here.
34:13You can count on us.
34:14APPLAUSE
34:16You can contact the programme by email at countdown at channel4.com.
34:20You can also find our web page at channel4.com forward slash countdown.
34:25APPLAUSE