Will he be donating his teapot to charity?

Has there ever been a celebrity contestant on regular countdown before?

They had the comedian Alex Horne on a few years ago, I think he got to the quarter finals. He's since been in DC on Catsdown.

I think fair play, if they want to enter it presumably there's nothing to stop them.

EDIT: He did indeed qualify for the quarter-finals, but he couldn't make them due to professional commitments

PS I've just remembered they had another footballer, Clarke Carlisle...

I am a big Countdown fan and in my leaving speech when I retired 2 years ago to be a contestant on it is one of 5 things on my bucket list (the rest are 3 to do with travel and seeing LFC win the PL - which is outside of my control!!). In the last 6 months I have had 2 telephone auditions for the show and have just failed both times - major frustration!! - they have said they will give me one more chance as I am so close to being good enough but I am almost expecting more angst again.

Last time in the 5 words rounds I got to do my scores were three 6s, a 7 and an 8 which is not too shabby (many on the prog do not do that well) and I know if I went on I would not humiliate myself. (for instance I know I would do better than all 3 who have played Le Tiss this week). I always play along and it is almost unheard of for me to get under 50 and most times it is 70-80 or even more. Against a weaker champ I think I would win but I make no promises about winning as some of the champs are pretty good, but I know I would do OK - I would hate to go on and just be octochamp fodder like those against the young lad were - altho the guy who lost on the conundrum was so unlucky. To win a teapot would be a dream come true I am an ex Maths teacher so my numbers is my best bit but at the last audition they did not even give me a go on the numbers as I had 'failed' on the letters - the target was 35 (average 7) and I got 33. Grrrrrrrrr!!!

I expect I will get another email soon inviting me for another go and I will keep on trying but I am almost resigned to another heroic failure. If I fail again they say I can have another go but have to wait a year!! Just thought some may be interested in my experiences - in fairness the researcher I have spoken to is very nice and is 'on my side' and seems to want me to get on - I emailed him after my last failure and queried what I could have got and he sent a friendly email with a detailed breakdown of the possible scores - which he did not have to do - and I think if I was really a lost cause I would not be invited for further goes.

I'm probably good enough to go on there some days; and lose, but I would go to pieces under all that pressure with all the people who I know would be watching, and probably only get 2-3 letter words.

Yes it must be so much harder to actually be on there which is why some contestants seem so poor.

While sitting at home I can comfortably beat most contestants (the obvious exceptions being the extreme "super champs" they have once or so a series) but I'm sure it would be different on air especially for the numbers game which requires composure above all else.

alancracker - I had a similar experience when I applied to get on Countdown a couple of years ago and I feel for you and think there must be something amiss with their selection process !

I would consider myself a competent player - I would place myself at the upper end of the 'regular' players - a view which I think is borne out in my performance when I did actually appear on the show but there are of course the 4 or 5 players a series who beat me out of sight with their words for rare South American plants, obscure medical terms and scientific references !

I applied 2 or 3 years ago and did the phone audition, I scored similarly to you - a few 7s and an 8 or so and was astonished to be told I had failed the audition as I beat 90% of the players who get on the show when watching at home. Fortunately 10 minutes later I got a call back from the researcher who told me they'd had another look and I would, after all, be invited on the show.

When I did appear I was up against an eventual series semi-finalist (so he was red hot) in his 6th game towards becoming an Octochamp and despite my only just getting on the show having been told I'd failed the audition I was in the lead most of the game and he only just beat me in a 'crucial Countdown conundrum' - I do wonder if it had been my 6th game and his 1st whether the result may have been different.

I suppose my point is my appearance on Countdown proved I am a good player and a good deal better than most who appear on Countdown as it would appear you are yet we were both told we had failed the phone audition - something seems not quite right !

but didn't they just make a mistake with you? Maybe they recorded the wrong score, or something. If you got 7s and 8s then your average would have been above 7, which alancracker said is what they want.

I'm not sure I could get an average of 7.....maybe some days.

How do they know that people don't cheat when doing a telephone audition?

That could be one explanation of people doing quite well but still not passing. (Because others are sureptiously flicking through a copy of the OED next to the phone.)

there would be better ways to cheat than that. There are websites that will find the longest word, and do the sums.

Do they play the Countdown music down the phone?

Smart Casual - it sounds like you are better than me!! Your appearance is the nightmare scenario - up against a player with 6 wins already who went on to be an octochamp and got to the semi final - and you were ahead of him for most of the game. Commiserations.

My issue is that I am better than many who get on and I just want to have my 'moment of fame'!! and get a go on it - and I know I am at a level when to me there would be no risk in letting me have a go. I said that to the researcher and he more or less agreed with me but said he had to show evidence to the producer that the people he was inviting on were at the right level and if I did not get 35 in 5 letters rounds then I wasn't so hard luck!!

Of the 5 selections I did in the last telephone audition 4 had possible 9 letter words but they were not obviously - one was a rare breed of dinosaur, in one selection were the letters I N and G and so you tend to look for ing words but the 9 letter word was not an ing word so it was hard to get and in one of them I copied the letters down wrongly so the 9 was not possible and 6 was the max possible which I got (which changed the overall max to 41 not the 44 he said and as I said I scored 33).

On the numbers I'd rarely lose out to a competitor and most times would be able to claw points back in those 4 rounds if the targets were sufficiently challenging

Maybe one day I will get on - I hope so but I am not optimistic as I think for me to get an average of 7 in 5 word rounds would be a struggle. On the previous audition I got the 7 letter word PARABLE in one of the rounds and on TV a few days later that word was possible and neither contestant got it - which annoyed me!! Again in that audition I got about 32 or 33 in total which would be about 2 or 3 short of what I had to get.

No - he just says the letters and then says stop when time is up and asks you for your word.

Yes I know that - I found the word web site soon after the last audition and in a way it is tempting to use it if and when I ever get another one but my conscience would not let me and I'd be scared stiff of them finding out some how.

Did you see that bloke today when he got the conundrum in about Half a second I dont think i have seen anyone do this before I think the only he would have got that straight away is if he pressed the buzzer as quickly as possible before the other contestant thinking he would get it before him and he would know that he would get a few seconds to think about it and get it right because there is no way he would have got it that quickly It was a bit of risk but he pulled it off

I think your absolutely spot on there. He knew the situation, trailing as he was in the points and so I think he took a bit of chance and just pressed straight away knowing he would get a few additional seconds to conclusively work it out. I think he got lucky as it wasn't a difficult one and most people would have probably got that one within about 5 seconds anyway. I felt a bit sorry for his challenger, who'd played really well and rightly looked somewhat gutted at the end. It must be infuriating to score nearly 100, (I think he got 97?) and lose. It made me think they should invite people like him back for another chance and pit them against each other in a 'unlucky loser's - second chance' type scenario.

Loads of people have got them in less than a second before. Sometimes you can just see the answer like that, especially when they're straightforward. I'm satisfied John knew the answer; I saw no obvious signs of fishing for the solution in the time between pressing the buzzer and Nick's prompt - indeed as soon as he pressed he stopped even looking at his screen.

Nevertheless a shame about James, he was very good and clearly taking it seriously. I wouldn't be surprised if he does get invited back. It was a great game!

Last day of John today, thank goodness, another annoying probable borderline spectrum who has swallowed a dictionary and spoils the show by making it too predictable.

i know you shouldn't judge people on such things but his voice is so annoying.

I'm glad to see the back of Charlie Stayt personally. He told dull stories and considering his journalistic background I was surprised how rubbish he generally was at the game. He seemed to struggle to get more than 4 letter words most days.

To be honest I'd much rather that than him 'pretending' to have got longer words which clearly came from Susie(/Damian).

Torch81 - I thought the same. I very nearly posted a message the same as yours yesterday. I was very surprised and found it a little embarrassing.

"Could I get a consonant, please."

Peasant.

Deserved to lose.

Annoyed me too, she worked in the Stock Market but couldn't do simple arithmetic.