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00:30Hello, everybody. Welcome to another December Countdown as we edge ever closer to the finale of Season 90, our Christmas clash between the top eight. Already six Octo Champs guaranteed their place starting next Thursday. But in fact, our current champion, Chris Kirby, just five wins. He's already guaranteed a place in that big eight. How high up those seedings can he climb? How are you doing, Rachel?
00:56Well, how are you? Yeah, good. World Cheetah Day today. It's when we honour those who copy other people's homework, have a cheeky snog at the Christmas party. No, the other cheetahs, of course, the wonderful, unique, big cat.
01:12And I think the first thing we think of is fastest land animal, right? Straight away. Do you want the stats?
01:18Go on then.
01:19At their top speed, each stride is seven metres long. And that's because of the anatomy of the body. So their collarbone and their shoulder blade is not connected. Its tail is like a rudder.
01:37Like, exactly how a boat would turn. So it can stop on a dime when chasing its prey. And it's, I love it. It just comes to life.
01:47Skinny, aren't they? They're much skinnier than, you know, your jaguars or your tigers or...
01:51And therein lies the problem. And that's why they're so critically endangered. Well, loads of reasons. But one is just the pups.
01:57And they don't have very big litters. There's the odd exception. You know, it's usually one, two or three. And it's them getting to adulthood is really, really difficult in the wild. That's one of the big reasons.
02:09And then they're very solitary as well. So off goes the dad. So there's loads of stuff like that. But back in the day, the rich and the powerful emperors and kings and queens, they used to have cheetahs as pets.
02:22And they were more common, like our cats, as pets than they were in the wild.
02:27Yeah, I think I'll stick to, you know, your random tabby. A little bit safer.
02:31Absolutely. Less food. Cheaper as well.
02:33Yeah. Although I don't know what a cheetah costs. I would never buy one. Just want to make that clear. A bit controversial.
02:39Let's head over to Dictionary Corner. Always on the lookout for cheetahs when it comes to the letters rounds.
02:44It's our Susie Dent. And alongside her, enjoying the Christmas calm before his 2025 huge stand-up tour kicks off in January, it's Justin Muir out.
02:56And as a massive Countdown fan, he's loving watching Chris Kirby.
03:01And Chris, you might be going, what do you mean I've already qualified for the top eight?
03:04Well, let me give you the stats, because we have our octo-champs, our six octo-champs, but seventh and eighth in the seedings, they've won five, just like you have already, but your score's higher.
03:16There's not enough shows left for to have two people better you. So, one way or the other, you're there. But I feel there's a different type of pressure on you now.
03:25Yeah, potentially, because I'm probably going to have to go and buy some new shirts, aren't I? So, not ideal.
03:30We haven't started recycling yet, but I don't think so, but I'll keep an eye. I'll keep an eye.
03:35You're up against Grace Ellis, who joins us from Bath. How are you today?
03:40Yeah, fine.
03:41I think I need to sort this out. We take you to a place under false pretenses, and you open the door, and there's Les Dennis, and Sandy Togsvig, and Bradley Walsh, and myself, and we have a quiz stroke game show intervention.
03:55Because, talk us through just the last, like, ten years.
04:00So, I actually applied to be on Countdown about 10, 12 years ago. It was the first game show I ever applied for.
04:08Didn't get on at the time, unfortunately, but I'm here now, so that's something that matters.
04:12But, yeah, since then I've done Perfection, Tipping Point, Tenable, and the 1% Club.
04:19So, made the rounds.
04:21Well, listen, best of luck to you. It's Grace against Chris.
04:23APPLAUSE
04:25Hi, Rachel.
04:27Hi, Chris.
04:28Can I start with a consonant, please?
04:29You can, indeed. Start today with B.
04:32And a vowel.
04:33I.
04:34And a consonant.
04:35S.
04:36A vowel.
04:38E.
04:39A consonant.
04:40R.
04:42Vowel.
04:43I.
04:44Another consonant.
04:45T.
04:48And another vowel.
04:51U.
04:55And a final consonant, please.
04:57Final N.
04:58At home and in the studio, let's play Countdown.
05:01C.
05:01位置 Vs.
05:02I.
05:03I.
05:04P.
05:06I.
05:07I.
05:08I.
05:08I.
05:09I.
05:09I.
05:14I.
05:14I.
05:15I.
05:18I.
05:20I.
05:20THEY CONFER
05:31Interesting first round. Chris?
05:33Eight. And Grace?
05:35Just a six. The six is?
05:37Insert. And for Chris?
05:39Turbines. Turbines are all there. Yes, very good.
05:42And Justin?
05:43Well, I was struggling with bustier.
05:46Yeah. That's a great word.
05:48And then tribunes is there as well.
05:51Another eight.
05:53So, turbines and tribunes as we get on to Grace's first letters.
05:56Hi, Rachel. Hi, Grace. Can I add a consonant, please?
05:59You can indeed. G.
06:01And another one, please.
06:03N.
06:05And a vowel.
06:07O.
06:09And another.
06:10U.
06:11And a consonant, please.
06:13R.
06:14And another one, please.
06:16T.
06:17And a vowel, please.
06:20O.
06:21And a consonant.
06:23W.
06:25And another vowel, please.
06:28Final E.
06:29An E. 30 seconds.
06:31T.
06:32T.
06:33T.
06:34T.
06:35T.
06:36T.
06:37T.
06:38T.
06:39T.
06:40T.
06:41T.
06:42T.
06:43T.
06:44T.
06:45T.
06:46T.
06:47T.
06:48T.
06:49T.
06:50T.
06:51T.
06:52T.
06:53T.
06:54T.
06:55T.
06:56T.
06:57T.
06:58T.
06:59T.
07:00T.
07:01T.
07:02That's it, Grace. An eight. An eight from you, come on, Chris.
07:06Eight as well. Eight as well. Not quite a party pooper.
07:09Let's get you in the board. Outgrown.
07:11Yeah, same word. Yeah, there you go.
07:14I believe you. I don't have to look at that bit of paper.
07:16I trust you that much. Outgrown's all we have.
07:19That was all we had for eight. Then we've outgrown this round.
07:21Let's move to the numbers first time today. Our champion.
07:24Can I get an inverted T, please? Sorry. You can.
07:27You should apologise, Chris. One large, five little.
07:29Let's try and find an interesting one.
07:31First numbers of the day. Four, one, nine, five, eight.
07:37And the large on 100. And the target? 375.
07:42375. Numbers up.
08:01375 was the target. How did you get on, Chris?
08:18375. Got there and Grace? No, I lost it.
08:21Yeah, lost it. 375 then for Chris.
08:24100 minus five minus one.
08:2794. Times four.
08:29376. And nine minus eight is one.
08:32Well done. 375.
08:34APPLAUSE
08:36And a big ten points out as we get our first tea-time teaser of the afternoon.
08:39Ugh.
08:40Leg decay.
08:41Leg decay.
08:42Leg decay.
08:43It sounds like the committee enjoy a luxurious food.
08:47It sounds like the committee enjoy a luxurious food.
08:50It sounds like the committee enjoy a luxurious food.
08:54That would be delicacy.
08:55So, delicacy.
08:56Delegacy.
08:57With a G in the middle.
08:58Delegacy.
08:59Delegacy.
09:00Pretty straightforward.
09:01All the same.
09:02Yeah.
09:03Right.
09:0426, eight.
09:05Let's get back to it.
09:06And Grace.
09:07Can I have a consonant, please?
09:08Thank you, Grace.
09:09C.
09:10C.
09:11C.
09:12C.
09:13C.
09:14C.
09:15C.
09:16C.
09:17C.
09:18C.
09:19C.
09:20C.
09:21C.
09:22C.
09:23C.
09:24C.
09:25C.
09:26C.
09:27C.
09:28C.
09:29C.
09:30And another.
09:31G.
09:32And another.
09:33T.
09:34And a vowel, please.
09:36O.
09:37And another.
09:38A.
09:39And another.
09:40O.
09:41And a consonant, please.
09:44F.
09:45And a consonant, please.
09:48R.
09:49And a final vowel, please.
09:52Final E.
09:54Good.
09:56Let's play.
09:57All right.
09:59So.
10:00.
10:27Chris Ellis.
10:28Er, six.
10:29Chris Kirby.
10:30Er, I think a seven.
10:31Oof.
10:32The six, Grace?
10:33Er, forage.
10:34Forage, and what have you found?
10:36Rootage.
10:37Rootage.
10:38Erm, of course, yes, in the dictionary, absolutely fine.
10:42Erm, it is simply, you know, one plant might have deeper rootage than another.
10:46Simple as that.
10:47Yes.
10:48Well done.
10:49So the seven is as good as it gets so far, Justin.
10:52Well, I think you've let yourself down here, pal.
10:54Yeah.
10:55There's an eight kicking around.
10:56Come on.
10:57Footgear.
10:58Footgear.
10:59Footgear.
11:00Now, is that as simple as you would think?
11:02Your trainers, your shoes, or is it something to do with cars and pedals?
11:05No.
11:06It's another term for footwear.
11:07Come on, your footgear.
11:08How do you not know that, Chris?
11:10At 33-8, more letters from you now, Kirby.
11:13Can I have a consonant, please?
11:15Thank you, Chris.
11:16T.
11:17And a vowel.
11:18I.
11:19A consonant.
11:20M.
11:21A vowel.
11:22E.
11:23A consonant.
11:25N.
11:26A vowel.
11:27I.
11:28Another consonant.
11:29G.
11:30Another consonant.
11:31S.
11:32And a final vowel, please.
11:33Final A.
11:34And start the clock.
11:35And start the clock.
11:36S.
11:37And a final vowel, please.
11:41Final A.
11:42And start the clock.
11:44And start the clock.
12:15Chris?
12:16Eight.
12:17And you, Grace?
12:18Seven.
12:19Seven is?
12:20Timings.
12:21And for you, Chris?
12:22Steaming.
12:23Yeah, well spotted.
12:24Steaming is in there for eight.
12:26And I'm guessing there's no nine?
12:29There isn't.
12:30I think he listens to the pep talk.
12:32Steps it up there.
12:33Just an eight there.
12:34Steaming was as good as it got for us.
12:36Yeah, we have imagines.
12:37That's another eight.
12:38Let's go back to the numbers then.
12:40It's going to be an eventful round, hopefully.
12:42And, Grace, that's up to you.
12:43Can I have two from the top and four from anywhere else, please?
12:46You can indeed.
12:47Thank you, Grace.
12:48Two large, four little.
12:49Coming up, this time the four small numbers.
12:51Two, ten, nine and seven.
12:54And the bigs, 175.
12:58And the target, 322.
13:00322 numbers up.
13:02422, in the middle ten, 15, Doch.
13:03325, atunyton.
13:05Four to five million times.
13:07And the large number of numbers.
13:0850,000 gone.
13:09Things at the point the fivelies.
13:10Come back to you.
13:11See the amount of numbers.
13:12There's a lot.
13:13You.
13:14Three, two.
13:15Three, four.
13:16Two, three.
13:17Two, three.
13:19Two, three.
13:20Two, three.
13:21Three, four.
13:22Four to five.
13:23Five.
13:23Three, four.
13:24Two, three.
13:25Two, three.
13:26Four.
13:27Three, four.
13:28Four, two, three.
13:29Two, four.
13:30Five.
13:313-2-2. Grace?
13:353-10.
13:36Too far. Chris? 3-2-2.
13:38Oh, off you go. 100-75
13:40plus 7. 100-75
13:4325 plus 7
13:4432. Times 10.
13:46320. Plus 2.
13:48Well done.
13:50APPLAUSE
13:50Well, listen, time to talk to Justin again
13:54as we do every single day with our Dictionary
13:56Corner gift. And I mentioned at the start of the
13:58programme, you do have a mammoth tour
14:00that kicks off in January, so
14:02getting ready for that, getting back in the way
14:04of the gig. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
14:06So I did a big tour straight
14:08post the
14:10pan... Sorry, I just did that. I hate that.
14:12I hate that so much. I've never done that in my life.
14:14I know. I'm struggling not to say
14:16COVID or the pandemic because I think we're sick of this.
14:18But audiences have shifted
14:20I think post-lockdown.
14:23I think audiences change. I don't know if you found
14:24this, Susie. They want to
14:26join in. I think it's the Zoom culture.
14:28Everyone thinks they can join in now.
14:31My audiences are normally nice
14:32and I like
14:34audiences that are lively. I like
14:36talking to them, having some fun with them. That's
14:38where you go to. Now, if you see a lot of stand-up comedy
14:40clips on the internet, there's a lot of audience
14:42interaction now. Sometimes they think
14:44they're funnier than they are. Here's a tip
14:46for you. Have a go.
14:48You know, once it's not worked out, stop.
14:51Don't carry on, don't carry on, don't carry on.
14:53But the rudest thing I ever saw
14:55and it ruined the day for me is
14:56there's a lovely, the Donmar Theatre
14:59in central London Covent Garden.
15:01Gorge Theatre has some really
15:03brilliant stuff on. If I'm working in London
15:05I love to go and see a matinee.
15:06I love a matinee performance.
15:08And I got last minute tickets to see a fantastic
15:11version of Miss Jean Brodie.
15:13Yeah. And it was brilliant.
15:15But I had standing tickets. You don't often get
15:17this in a theatre. Standing at the back of the Donmar
15:19they were quite cheap. Stood at the back.
15:21Two minutes before the show started
15:22some of us came around and went
15:24can you just follow me please?
15:26And the front row had not turned up.
15:28So they sat us on the front row tickets.
15:30Best seats in the house.
15:32We were actually sat on like school chairs.
15:34We were part of the set sort of thing.
15:35Loved the show and it was amazing.
15:37At the end I just, I just went with it.
15:39I said if they're having an ovation
15:40it's got to be a stand of love.
15:42So I stood up and I gave them a big
15:44and an old guy behind me
15:46like some retired Colonel guy
15:48he poked me in the back
15:50with his walking stick.
15:52No.
15:52He poked me and he said
15:53sit down.
15:55And I said what have you got on that?
15:57And everybody rounds us.
15:59And then I thought well maybe
16:00he can't stand up
16:02there's a stick and everything else.
16:03But then he stood up perfectly fine
16:04and walked out.
16:05He was not a problem.
16:06And afterwards he complained about me.
16:09Wow.
16:09For giving a stand of ovation
16:10and the usher gave him short shrift.
16:13And his problem was
16:14he paid for these
16:15very expensive tickets
16:17and he knew
16:18that we'd ended up
16:18getting the free ones
16:20and the cheaper ones
16:21in front of him.
16:22And it was just
16:23eating away at him.
16:25All the way through the show.
16:26As it would me
16:26as I'm not petty.
16:27I would do that.
16:28Thank you Mr. Morehouse.
16:30OK, back to the game.
16:33Chris, your choosing letters.
16:35Can I have a consonant please?
16:36Thank you Chris.
16:37V
16:37And a vowel.
16:39I
16:40A consonant.
16:41P
16:42A vowel.
16:44A
16:44Consonant.
16:46N
16:46A vowel.
16:48I
16:49A consonant.
16:51R
16:52A vowel.
16:55E
16:56And a final vowel please.
17:03Final o.
17:04And here we go again.
17:05Carolina Gill.
17:11An vowel.
17:12And there we go again.
17:17I
17:18A vowel.
17:19A vowel.
17:20And a vowel.
17:27And a vowel.
17:29And a vowel.
17:31.
17:35Chris? Seven. Grace? A six. No, the six is? Proven. Yeah, join the club.
17:41And Chris? Ripiano. Right. Oh, yes. We all know what that is, but just for the odd person
17:47that does it, what is it, Susie? For those who don't, it's brilliant. It's the body of
17:52instruments in music that accompany the concertino in Baroque concerto music.
17:58Fantastic. Don't worry, Grace, sometimes we do miss the obvious word. Justin?
18:02Nothing. I mean, I believe you can't have somebody who plays the piano is a pianoer.
18:06Sadly not. No. Pianist or nothing. Yeah, pianist or nothing.
18:10Fifty plays it. We're going to get back to the letters now. And Grace, let's enjoy
18:15every round. Can I get a consonant, please? Thank you, Grace.
18:19P. And another. C. And another. L. And a vowel, please. E. And another. U.
18:31E. And a consonant, please. M. And another. R. And a final vowel, please.
18:42Final O. And half a minute.
18:46T. And a consonant, please.
18:57T. And a consonant, please.
19:01T. And a consonant, please.
19:08T. Bangor.
19:16That'll have to do's, Grace.
19:18P. And possibly a risky eight.
19:20P. And possibly an risky in the same sentence.
19:22And Criss? Eight as well.
19:24P. What's possibly risky?
19:25Re-couple.
19:26P. And what's not possibly our risky?
19:28Brilliant.
19:30Oh, no, stop the applause, everybody.
19:34Yes.
19:34I don't like the look on Susie's face.
19:37No, and you shouldn't, because you can decouple,
19:40as a famous couple once did, but you can't recouple.
19:43No.
19:44Not in the dictionary, I'm sorry.
19:45Well, that doesn't seem very positive,
19:47that you couldn't get back with somebody and recouple.
19:49I agree, it's a loss positive, I will have a word.
19:51Goodness me do, word in the shell like on that one.
19:54So, whatever you have, you win, just...
19:57Nice to see Chrissie's face crumple.
19:58Hey! Fantastic.
20:02Crumple it is.
20:03It promises more, doesn't it?
20:04It does, yeah, but we could wrangle a seven out of that one.
20:07Crumple's fantastic.
20:08Right, let's switch back to the numbers and Chris.
20:11It'll be really boring again, Rachel, can I get one large, please?
20:14Fine.
20:15If you have to, one large, five little ones.
20:18And this time they are nine, six, six, two, four, and 100.
20:26And the target, 228.
20:28Two, two, eight, numbers up.
20:30masks are good.
20:30Let's add a good, boys and be careful.
20:31Let's get started.
20:31Let's get started.
20:34Let's get started.
20:34Now, it's on your own time.
20:35Bye.
20:36Bye.
20:42Bye.
20:47Bye.
20:48Bye.
20:48Bye.
20:48Bye.
20:49Bye.
20:49Bye.
20:49Bye.
20:50Bye.
20:52Bye.
20:52Bye.
20:53Bye.
20:54Bye.
20:54Bye.
20:55Bye.
20:56Bye.
20:572, 2, 8. Chris? Yeah, 2, 2, 8.
21:03Yeah, and Grace? Yeah, 2, 2, 8. Lovely, off we go.
21:06Let's get those ten points on the board.
21:07100 plus 6 plus 6.
21:09100... 6.
21:11Times 2. Oh, sorry.
21:13112, 224.
21:15And then add 4. 2, 2, 8.
21:17Grace, what way did you go? The exact same.
21:19Yeah. Excellent.
21:22Seems it's some time, and this is a little sentimental tea-time teaser,
21:25and it suits the theme of the week.
21:28This would be one you're definitely a pie to your dearly beloved
21:31and recently departed Coco, the Labrador.
21:34And it's Ned's dogs. Ned's dogs.
21:36Ned's dogs were invaluable to him.
21:39Ned's dogs were invaluable to him.
21:41MUSIC PLAYS
21:55Hello again. We can all relate to this if you're a dog lover,
22:00a dog owner, watching today.
22:01I know loads of you do with your dog or cat on your lap.
22:04Watch the countdown.
22:05Ned's dogs were invaluable to him because they were godsends.
22:07They were godsends.
22:09It is.
22:09It's 68, plays 18.
22:12Grace, let's get your letters.
22:14Can I have a consonant, please, Rachel?
22:15Thank you, Grace.
22:16L.
22:17And another.
22:18And a vowel, please.
22:22E.
22:23And another.
22:25A.
22:26And another.
22:27O.
22:29And a consonant, please.
22:30S.
22:31And another.
22:33T.
22:35And another.
22:37H.
22:38And finish with another consonant, please.
22:42Finish with T.
22:43And good luck.
22:44MUSIC PLAYS
22:46Gris, how many?
23:16Er, I'll stick with a seven.
23:17And for you, Chris?
23:18Yeah, I'll stick with a seven as well.
23:19OK, there you go, Grace.
23:21Battles.
23:22And for you, Chris?
23:23Loads.
23:24Loads and battles.
23:26Yes.
23:26All right, there's a lot of sticking and hedging a bet,
23:28so maybe a little bit of a chance for Dictionary Corner.
23:30Well, no, we stayed with sevens as well.
23:32We had tablets for another one, bottles.
23:34Quite a few sevens.
23:35Yeah, loads of those about.
23:38All right, let's get more letters then from you, Chris.
23:40Can I have a consonant, please?
23:41Thank you, Chris.
23:42P.
23:43And a vowel.
23:45E.
23:46Consonant.
23:47R.
23:48A vowel.
23:49I.
23:50Consonant.
23:52P.
23:53A vowel.
23:55U.
23:57Consonant.
23:58S.
24:00A vowel.
24:03A.
24:07And a consonant, please.
24:09Lastly, G.
24:11And kind of nine.
24:12Another one.
24:42What are you declaring, Chris? Seven. And for you, Grace? Seven. Excellent. Off we go, Chris. Up-raise. Up-raise. And for you, Grace? Guppies. Guppies. The fish? The fish? Absolutely fine. And up-raise there? Up-raise, yeah. I was checking that it wasn't just up-raised as in an up-raised hand, but up-raise is there. Is the process of doing it? Yeah, or it is literally the verb to do. Yeah. There you go. Two sevens. Any up-raise in that?
25:08That's what we feel like this week with our game. Paupers. Yeah, we really do. We really do. Right, but listen, this is a good little run for Grace, who that's three rounds in a row now that you've scored, and four rounds left of the show after we get our Origins Awards.
25:24Well, David Bassett has emailed us a regular view, and he's written some lovely words about the programme, so thank you, David.
25:31And he's wondering why we use the expression run-of-the-mill to mean ordinary, and it's really interesting, actually, psychologically, the words that we choose for ordinary, and I'll come back to that.
25:43But run-of-the-mill, in particular, has been in use in its current sense since the beginning of the 20th century, with the meaning, sort of, you know, a bit kind of average, mediocre, middle-of-the-road.
25:55So we have run-of-the-mill problems, sort of ones that aren't absolutely hideous, but to be expected.
26:02But it had once very literal beginning, because it referred to manufactured goods produced by a mill that were not inspected or graded or stored for quality.
26:13So it was literally just what came out before everything was kind of selected and sorted, which kind of makes sense.
26:19And you will see, indeed, in the Daily Tribune, an ad ran in 1916 that said,
26:26in the first floor tomorrow, we shall offer run-of-the-mill pure silk hose at 99 cents the pair.
26:33So it wasn't necessarily poor quality at all.
26:36It just was sort of, you know, from a production line.
26:38And that run, I suppose, we know most in things like a print run of 5,000 copies, for example.
26:45So it's that idea of output.
26:47There was once also run-of-the-mine, so you would have run-of-the-mine coal or any kind of run-of-the-mine material,
26:54but as coal mining sort of went away, that one has died away as well.
26:59But those adjectives for ordinary, they actually were completely fine.
27:03They were quite neutral.
27:04Ordinary itself was neutral.
27:06In fact, it was a positive thing, originally, because it meant orderly.
27:09Mediocre goes back to the Greek for halfway up the mountain, which is a good thing.
27:13It's not necessarily a bad thing.
27:14But because I think we inject so much pessimism sometimes into our vocabulary, we've taken all these words like average, run-of-the-mill, ordinary, mediocre,
27:22and made them into something that's not quite good enough.
27:25And I think that's because we like to big up our language, much as we big up our lives.
27:29Thank you very much, Susie.
27:31Wonderful.
27:31And there's nothing run-of-the-mill about our Grace Ellis, it's just our Chris Kirby, a son of Puppa, isn't he?
27:39Our champion.
27:4082-32, four rounds to go.
27:42Come on, Grace, let's go again.
27:43Consonant, please.
27:45Thank you, Grace.
27:46K.
27:47And another.
27:49L.
27:50And another.
27:52N.
27:53And another.
27:53And a consonant, please.
28:05And a final consonant, please.
28:08Final S.
28:09Ah, let's do it.
28:10I'll see you next time.
28:11I'll see you next time.
28:12Bye.
28:13MUSIC CONTINUES
28:43Oh, Chris. Just a six. Yeah, what's the six?
28:46Saline. What have you spotted, though, Grace?
28:48Is it alkenes?
28:50Um, it is spelt, I think, with two E's.
28:54Yeah, it's A-L-K-E-N-E-S, not the I.
28:57I'm so sorry, Grace.
28:58So the six stands at the moment. Talk to me, Justin.
29:01Um, ankles? Yes, ankles.
29:03Oh, and saline, but nothing.
29:07We searched in vain for a seven and we were left bereft.
29:11I like the idea that in music you could have a sax line,
29:14but there's no way that's in there.
29:15So we'll just move on and get our final letters from Chris.
29:19Do I have a consonant, please? Thank you, Chris.
29:21N. And a vowel.
29:24I. Consonant.
29:27D. Vowel.
29:29A. Consonant.
29:31F.
29:32Another consonant.
29:42D.
29:47And a final vowel, please.
29:52Final U.
29:53And last letters.
29:54T.
29:56T.
30:06And.
30:07T.
30:08And.
30:08Or.
30:08And.
30:09And.
30:17And.
30:17Right, that's time. Chris?
30:26Seven. Seven from you and Grace?
30:28Six. The six is?
30:30Rained. What are you going for, Chris?
30:32Drained. Drained.
30:34Oh, that's a little annoying there, isn't it?
30:37But there you go. That's the way the cookie crumbles.
30:40Susie and Justin?
30:42A couple more sevens. Unaired, like my sitcom that I wrote for ten years.
30:46LAUGHTER
30:48And what about before you...
30:50I'm guessing this is the definition.
30:52Before you put the pot in the clay, it's unfired.
30:56Yes, not fired in a kiln, absolutely right.
30:58Not fired. Can you use it in terms of employment?
31:01She remains unfired.
31:03No. Don't look at me.
31:06Of a gun not discharged as well.
31:08Oh, yeah, the gun was unfired, yeah.
31:10Yeah, there you go. Two out of three ain't bad.
31:12As we move back to the numbers for the last time today,
31:15Grace Ellis, kind of a free hit this.
31:17What do you want to do?
31:18Can I get three from the top and three from anywhere else, please?
31:21You can indeed.
31:22More of a challenge, potentially, for the final one.
31:25The three little ones, one, nine and five.
31:28And the three large, 50, 75 and 100.
31:32And the last target, 892.
31:36892.
31:37Numbers up.
31:38Close out.
31:40At the Gate.
31:41Those days, we're a good thing.
31:42Everyone around.
31:43Now,ピ Alright!
31:44Take off.
31:45Now, we're the only line.
31:47And the cities that side are.
31:49All right, approach to the Minuten.
31:508-9-2.
32:11But tricky, Grace, how did you get on?
32:128-9-1, I think.
32:14Yeah, one away. And Chris?
32:15Yeah, 8-9-1 as well.
32:16Same. Off you go, Grace.
32:18100 minus 1 is 99, and then times it by 9.
32:21One away, 8-9-1.
32:24Chris? Yeah, same way.
32:25Same way.
32:26Yeah.
32:27Now, a lot of us would have had that,
32:28so I wonder is that as close as we can get, Rachel?
32:31Well, I haven't got it.
32:32If anyone's got it at home,
32:33then they've made a mistake because this is impossible.
32:35Good, thank you.
32:36I love when you say that, when we're one away.
32:38Brilliant, right.
32:39OK, already a century up for Chris.
32:42Another 102 to add to a phenomenal cumulative score so far.
32:47But, Grace, it wasn't that long ago you were sitting in eight points.
32:50You were probably sweating about having a single-digit countdown score.
32:54And here you are in 39.
32:55So you've really picked up and you could finish in 49.
32:58Let's get your finger in that buzzer.
33:00You'll have to be quick.
33:01He's very good at this.
33:02Let's reveal today's countdown conundrum.
33:05BELL RINGS
33:24BELL RINGS
33:25Chris.
33:26Reddening.
33:27Let's have a look.
33:28Well done.
33:29APPLAUSE
33:30Because within 0.5 seconds we all had the ING there.
33:33Yeah.
33:34And then it was just a panic.
33:35Why can't we see it?
33:36Erm, well done.
33:37Just spotted it.
33:38And that takes you to 112.
33:41It really just is a case now is, can Chris win eight?
33:45It's as black and white as this.
33:46So we cannot wait till tomorrow.
33:48We'll see you then, yeah?
33:49Yep, see you tomorrow.
33:51And Grace, we know you'll be watching every show because Grace just got married a few weeks ago.
33:55And they moved in, her and George, two doors down from my mum and dad.
33:59And that's who she wants countdown with.
34:00Yeah.
34:01Yeah.
34:02Brilliant.
34:03Well, loved your mum and dad as well.
34:04Thanks.
34:06Lovely.
34:07We'll see you tomorrow, Justin and Susie.
34:08Yeah, look forward to.
34:09And Cheetah Day, just one little pearl because we talk about animals so many times, Rachel.
34:12And it all comes together because as we've gone along, the zebra stripes, the giraffes,
34:18the dog's nose having a unique print.
34:20And it's no surprise the cheetah's spots and the rings in their tails are all unique, each
34:25one.
34:26That's why they say an old cheetah never changes its spots.
34:28Something like that.
34:29Yeah, something like that.
34:30You can spot us, same time, same place tomorrow, and you can count on it.
34:34You can contact the programme by email at countdown at channel4.com.
34:39You can also find our webpage at channel4.com forward slash countdown.
34:49Great.