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00:00This programme contains strong language and adult humour.
00:04APPLAUSE
00:31Hello and welcome to Countdown on International Yoga Day.
00:36Why yoga? We could have International Vacuuming Day
00:40or International Manicure and Pedicure Day, but we don't, sadly.
00:44I bet we do. There seems to be a day for everything.
00:47I bet we could find one. Someone, somewhere, a publicist has made one.
00:51Well, we could invent it from here. Are you a yoga bunny?
00:54No, I'm a Pilates. I'm not sure about being a bunny, but I do do Pilates.
00:58Oh, really? Whenever I think of yoga,
01:00I think of one of the few times I did it on holiday.
01:03Beautiful desert island, all peaceful,
01:06only about three or four of us doing the yoga,
01:09and one of them was an elderly Japanese man who broke wind
01:12at an off-tune moment while we were all in silent meditation.
01:15That's part of it. It is, yes.
01:17He was much more comfortable afterwards, obviously.
01:19Rachel, I hope no-one's having their tea at this point.
01:22They can handle it. Let's meet our contestants.
01:25Stephen, do you do yoga?
01:27I do yoghurt.
01:31If Stephen wins this game, he's an OctoChamp.
01:36OK. You've been a very, very colourful contestant.
01:40Thank you, Anne.
01:42Your opponent is Darren, who's from a very posh part of the world.
01:46He's from East Wittering in Sussex. What do you do, Darren?
01:49I'm a duty manager in a supermarket.
01:51Are you? A little supermarket?
01:53Biggish. I bet I can guess which one that is.
01:56Probably. Yeah.
01:58And what's your most important job?
02:00Doing all the jobs the manager doesn't want to do.
02:03Such as? Dealing with awkward customers, awkward staff.
02:07What sort of people are the most awkward customers?
02:10Er, the older people.
02:12Could you just define older?
02:18Older people.
02:21OK. And how are they about shoplifting in East Wittering?
02:25What do they like to lift?
02:27They like to steal meat, unfortunately.
02:29Do they? Could you just demonstrate how they do that?
02:32Er, they just get the meat, they put it in a bag and they run.
02:35And where's Darren at that point?
02:37Darren is probably somewhere else in the shop, unfortunately.
02:40And if you spot them, what do you do, Darren?
02:42You try and encourage them to give the meat back before they run with it.
02:47That's like asking my Spaniard to give a bone back.
02:51That's what we're meant to do.
02:53OK, well, I think we've got that clear.
02:55A round of applause for our contestants.
03:01It'll be all right for them because, Rob,
03:03you can go and defend them, can't you?
03:05Yes. I once did represent a shoplifter
03:08and miraculously got her off
03:10and she went and stole me a bouquet of flowers afterwards.
03:13LAUGHTER
03:17Let's get on with the game.
03:19Stephen, your letters.
03:21Consonant, please, Rachel.
03:23Aw, thank you, Stephen. Start today with L.
03:25Aaron, a letter, please.
03:27N.
03:29And a vowel.
03:30A.
03:32And a consonant.
03:33P.
03:35And a consonant, please.
03:37T.
03:38And a vowel.
03:40E.
03:41And a consonant.
03:43D.
03:46And a vowel.
03:48E.
03:50And a consonant, please.
03:52And lastly, S.
03:54Let's play Countdown.
04:15CLOCK TICKS
04:26Stephen?
04:28Seven.
04:29Darren?
04:30Eight.
04:31Your seven, Stephen.
04:32Staple.
04:33Darren?
04:34Pedestal.
04:36Very good.
04:41Rob?
04:43You couldn't do better than putting you on a pedestal.
04:46Yeah, good start.
04:48Darren, your letters.
04:49Hi, Rachel.
04:50Hi, Darren.
04:51Consonant, please.
04:52Thank you. Start with W.
04:54Another one.
04:56P.
04:57And another one.
04:59G.
05:00And a vowel.
05:02A.
05:03Another one.
05:04O.
05:05A consonant.
05:06S.
05:08Another consonant.
05:09D.
05:11And a vowel.
05:13E.
05:15And a consonant, please.
05:17And the last one, R.
05:19Time starts now.
05:21CLOCK TICKS
05:42CLOCK TICKS
05:50Darren?
05:51I think I've got an eight.
05:53Do you? Stephen?
05:55Seven.
05:56What's your seven?
05:57Pagodas.
05:59Darren?
06:00Dowagers.
06:01Dowagers. Yes, yes, very good.
06:03Very good.
06:04Yeah, the only thing is, pagodas is not there, it's P-A-G.
06:08Oh, is it, then?
06:09Mm.
06:10I'm afraid, yeah.
06:11But, of course, it could have had wordages,
06:14which is an Old English with Germanic origin
06:17related to a Dutch word.
06:19And it means sort of absurd and that sort of thing.
06:24Full of wordage, Anne.
06:26Thank you.
06:28Stephen, not like you to misspell something.
06:31I don't know, it's just one of them, I've always thought that.
06:34It's not a way to use very often, to be honest with you.
06:38Yeah.
06:40Your numbers?
06:41One large, one and five anywhere else, please, Rachel.
06:44Sticking with what you know, thank you, Stephen.
06:46One large, five littlings.
06:48First one of the day is four, eight, seven, ten, six,
06:54and a large on 100.
06:55And the target?
06:57822.
06:59822.
07:07MUSIC
07:30Stephen?
07:31Yeah, 822.
07:32Good. Darren?
07:33Yeah, 822.
07:34822.
07:35I don't think it was that difficult, was it, guys?
07:38Stephen?
07:39Well, here's where to show off again by using all the numbers.
07:427 minus 6 is 1.
07:447 minus 6 is 1.
07:46Times by the 100.
07:47100.
07:49Plus 4.
07:50104.
07:52Times 8.
07:53Times 8, 832.
07:55Minus 10.
07:56Yes, no extra points for Shea Boateng.
07:59Darren?
08:00I was exactly the same, but I ignored the 7 minus 6.
08:03APPLAUSE
08:07First teaser.
08:09Slog once. Slog once.
08:11And the clue?
08:13They're sent all the way from Germany.
08:16They're sent all the way from Germany.
08:19See you in a minute.
08:28APPLAUSE
08:34The clue was,
08:37they're sent all the way from Germany,
08:40and the answer is Cologne.
08:42The scores are 10-26,
08:46and Darren is going to choose his letters.
08:49Have you got anybody with you cheering you on today?
08:53I've got my running buddy, Nicky, in the audience.
08:55Nicky, is she your partner at home as well as your running buddy?
08:59Yes. She is.
09:00How long have you and Nicky been together?
09:02Just over two years.
09:03Really? Where did you meet Nicky?
09:05I work with her son.
09:07Oh. And so she came into your shop?
09:10She used to come into my shop, yeah.
09:12She doesn't come in now you're together?
09:14She does because she gets a good discount now.
09:16OK. She doesn't do any shoplifting, does she?
09:19Not that I know of.
09:20OK. And how did you first go on a date?
09:23How did you get Nicky attracted to you?
09:26I sent her a friend request on Facebook.
09:29That must have really, really excited her.
09:32Obviously it did because she's still here.
09:34What did the friend request say?
09:36Will you be my friend?
09:37Aw! Did she say yes?
09:39She did. And then what happened?
09:41Then we went out on a date and she decided,
09:45oh, perhaps we should just be friends,
09:47and then a couple of hours later she changed her mind and said,
09:49would you like to come out to dinner with me?
09:51Oh! So what happened in those couple of hours?
09:54I went home and celebrated.
09:56Aw! Aw! Your letter?
09:58Consonant, please.
10:00Thank you, Darren. N.
10:02Another one.
10:04M.
10:05And a third, please.
10:07D.
10:08A vowel.
10:09A.
10:10Another one.
10:11O.
10:13A consonant.
10:15N.
10:16Another consonant.
10:18T.
10:19A vowel.
10:21O.
10:23And another vowel, please.
10:25And the last one, E.
10:2730 seconds.
10:58Darren.
11:00Just six.
11:01Stephen.
11:02Six also.
11:03Darren.
11:04Mooned.
11:05Stephen.
11:06A.
11:07Demon.
11:08Both good, yeah.
11:10Yeah, scraping the bottom with mood, I got that too.
11:14So you could have had Odonate,
11:16which is a predatory insect of the order Odonata,
11:20a dragonfly or damsfly.
11:22Ah! OK, that's interesting.
11:25Thank you.
11:26Stephen, your letters.
11:28Consonant, please, Rachel.
11:29Thank you, Stephen.
11:30R.
11:31And another, please.
11:33W.
11:34And a third.
11:36N.
11:37And a fourth, please.
11:39R.
11:40And a vowel.
11:42E.
11:43And another vowel.
11:44I.
11:46A consonant.
11:48D.
11:50And a vowel.
11:52A.
11:54And a consonant, please.
11:57A final S.
11:59Good luck.
12:24MUSIC
12:30Stephen.
12:31Eight.
12:32Good.
12:33Darren.
12:34Seven.
12:35What's your seven?
12:36Rewinds.
12:37Stephen.
12:38Drainers.
12:39Drainers is good, and that was R8.
12:41Well done.
12:42APPLAUSE
12:47Anything else, Rob?
12:48No, I was stuck on sevens.
12:50I had sardine and randia as well, is there?
12:55Thank you.
12:56Darren, your numbers.
12:58Can I have two from the top, please, and any other four?
13:01You can indeed, thank you, Darren.
13:03Two large ones, four little ones coming up at this time.
13:06Four small ones.
13:08Four.
13:09Eight.
13:10Six.
13:11Ten.
13:12Evens.
13:13And a large one, 75.
13:1425.
13:15And the target, 284.
13:17284.
13:19MUSIC
13:50Darren.
13:51284.
13:52Stephen.
13:53286.
13:54Thank you.
13:55Darren.
13:5675 minus six is 69.
13:5869.
13:59Multiply by four is 276.
14:02Yeah, 276.
14:04And add the eight.
14:05Well done.
14:06284.
14:07APPLAUSE
14:11Well done.
14:12Did you get that, Rob?
14:13I think so, yeah.
14:15You did a programme which was hugely well-received,
14:19My Family, The Holocaust and Me.
14:21How did that come about?
14:23Well, I'd had such a gift of doing Who Do You Think You Are,
14:27which Uncovered really spoke about the story of my grandfather,
14:30who I knew growing up, who was a Holocaust survivor.
14:33And, you know, he'd been really the central character
14:36of all of our family's lives,
14:38but we were able to unearth so much more because, of course,
14:42the majority of the survivors didn't speak.
14:45And from there, you know, there was an overwhelming
14:48sort of public interest,
14:49and it was a really good news story in that regard.
14:51People had a real thirst to know more about that dark chapter
14:54of history.
14:55How old was your grandfather when he arrived?
14:58Well, it's an interesting one.
15:00He would have been a late teenager,
15:02but he was the beneficiary of a programme which was offering
15:06child survivors from the Holocaust sanctuary here
15:10up in the Lake District.
15:11And there was a film about him and the other survivors
15:14called The Windermere Boys, Girls Amongst Them Too.
15:18And he arrived here in the sanctuary of that beautiful part of England
15:22and went on to forge a real sort of love of the country,
15:24as so many of them did.
15:26It was a moment of Britain really acting in its real very best.
15:30It's quite an important story, actually.
15:32And his parents, your great-grandparents,
15:36did he ever see them again?
15:38No, he didn't.
15:39One of the real challenges, but gifts,
15:43albeit a very dark one of the story,
15:45was to go alongside my mum and stand on that curious earth,
15:50that dark earth in Poland, in Treblinka,
15:52with the last human eyewitness to what had happened there
15:55as we were able to make the memorial prayer.
15:58And I have to say it was one of the most moving moments of my life,
16:01and it touched so many people.
16:03And now people are talking about not just the Holocaust
16:06but thinking about trauma in their own family
16:09and thinking more widely about their responsibility to remember
16:12and to stand up to bullying and prejudice wherever it is.
16:16So it was a really gift of an opportunity to share with everybody.
16:20And did you grow up in a very traditional Jewish household?
16:24Yeah, I did grow up in a traditional Jewish household
16:27and I'm very, very proud of that.
16:29It had all of the stuff that you'd expect.
16:31Do you still celebrate Friday nights?
16:33I do.
16:34If you're listening, I can't get there this week.
16:37It's at your mum's always, is it?
16:39Yeah, my mum has Friday night. It's a lovely moment.
16:41That's what's so joyous about all the celebrations we share
16:44across communities, those moments where we get to have delight and joy.
16:49And one of the things I love most, actually, about the Jewish faith,
16:53and if you're culturally Jewish, there's lots of words.
16:56One of them, of course, we've got a lot of tradition of tragedy,
17:00but even where you have tragedy,
17:03it's really important that you celebrate Simcha,
17:05which is a word for joy.
17:07So there are rules around how long you're supposed to mourn
17:10and you're supposed to sort of strictly keep them
17:12unless you've pre-booked, pre-paid for and pre-organised a Simcha,
17:17because there's so much darkness in the world
17:20but you never miss an opportunity for light.
17:23Whenever I'm talking about Judaism, I always refer to that first.
17:26It's not just a faith which is, I suppose, summarised in this way,
17:30they tried to kill us, they failed, let's eat.
17:32There's so much joy in it as well as there is in so many other faiths
17:35and we forget to talk about it in that way, I think.
17:37And indeed, wonderfully, you've had public recognition of your work
17:42in educating people about the Holocaust because you've got an MBE.
17:46It was really nice. Actually, my mum got it.
17:48I just sort of catched a ride on her coattails
17:50because she has been part of this incredible charity and organisation,
17:55the 45 Aid Society, which was that family of survivors
17:58who went to Windermere and they formed a family
18:01and now, of course, the ones who are still around, sadly dwindling,
18:05go and tell their stories across the world, as do the second generation.
18:10And the more we tell those stories, the more important it is,
18:13now perhaps more than ever, Anne.
18:15Who gave you your MBE?
18:17It was Prince Charles and I have to say he was completely charming.
18:21Although you do find yourself meeting royalty,
18:23I have to say the most peculiar things.
18:25I looked at him and I just thought to myself,
18:27gosh, don't you look like your mum? I didn't say anything, though.
18:30Thank goodness. Thank goodness.
18:32APPLAUSE
18:35OK.
18:37The scores are 24-42.
18:41Stephen, your letters.
18:43A consonant, please, Rachel. Thank you, Stephen.
18:45M.
18:47Anne and Rodette.
18:49L. Anne and Val, please.
18:51E. Anne and Rodette.
18:54A. And a consonant.
18:57N. And a consonant.
19:00S. And a consonant, please.
19:04G. Anne and Val.
19:08O. And a consonant, please.
19:11A final Y.
19:13Start the clocks.
19:21CLOCK TICKS
19:44Stephen? Seven.
19:46Good. Darren? Seven.
19:48Stephen? Mangles.
19:50Same word.
19:52Oh, that was easy. Anything else, Rob?
19:54Yes, you could have had a little bunch of flowers, which is nose-gay.
19:58Thank you. Darren, your letters.
20:01A consonant, please. Thank you, Darren.
20:03B. And another one.
20:06S. And another.
20:09L. Another one, please.
20:12T. And a vowel.
20:15O. Another vowel.
20:17U. A consonant.
20:20P. A vowel, please.
20:23O. And a consonant, please.
20:28The last one, R.
20:30Time starts now.
20:47CLOCK TICKS
21:02Darren? Six.
21:04Stephen? Seven.
21:06Your six, Darren? Troops.
21:09Stephen? Opruts.
21:11Very, very good indeed. Well done. Beat us, yeah.
21:15Just had sprouts, so well done.
21:18Stephen, I know your dad was on Countdown. Yeah.
21:21How long ago was that?
21:23Well, he's been on twice, once was about 25 years ago,
21:26the last time was about 10 years ago when he won two games.
21:29So did he tell you to apply?
21:31No, actually, no.
21:33I was here pre-Covid when there was a crowd here,
21:38your predecessor, Nick Hewer,
21:41and I was with a very good friend of mine at the time,
21:44and she encouraged me, she said,
21:46you should go on, you should go on, and I had the application form.
21:49I was like, yeah, I'll do that in my own good time.
21:52Anyway, she sort of behind me back, said,
21:55you're going to kill me, and applied for me online.
21:58Oh, well, it's well worth it, you're on your eighth game.
22:01And it almost never happened, so thank you, Shell.
22:04It would have been a loss to my life.
22:07Mine too. Your numbers?
22:10The usual, please.
22:12The usual, not change in tact.
22:14This is for the OctoChampdom.
22:16Squeaky bum time now.
22:18Five little ones are 1, 10, 7, 4,
22:24another 4 and a large one, 75,
22:26and your target, 703.
22:29703.
22:42CLOCK TICKS
23:02Stephen?
23:04Yeah, panicked a bit there, but I've got 703, yeah.
23:06Good. Darren?
23:08703. OK, Stephen?
23:1071.
23:12Times ten.
23:14Less seven. Perfect, 703.
23:16Darren?
23:18Exactly the same.
23:23Second teaser, nine rags, nine rags, and the clue,
23:27elderly ladies with myths about fruit.
23:30Elderly ladies with myths about fruit.
23:33See you in a minute.
23:41APPLAUSE
23:50The clue I left you with was elderly ladies with myths about fruit,
23:56and the answer is grannies.
23:58The scores are 48-59, so you've caught up a bit, Stephen.
24:03It's Darren's turn for the letters.
24:06Does Nicky have your tea on the table when you get home?
24:09Not normally, no.
24:11Oh, what happens?
24:13We tend to take it in turns.
24:15We kind of try and share the cooking out,
24:17but she's a better cook than I am.
24:19Is she? What are you good at?
24:21Toast under beans.
24:23Your letters.
24:25Consonant, please.
24:27Thank you, Darren. H.
24:29Another one.
24:31V.
24:33Another one, please.
24:35C.
24:37And a vowel.
24:39I.
24:41Another vowel.
24:43A.
24:45Consonant.
24:47F.
24:49Another consonant.
24:51M.
24:53A vowel.
24:55I.
24:57And a consonant, please.
24:59The last one, T.
25:01Off you go.
25:05CLOCK TICKS
25:25Darren?
25:27Only five. Oh. Stephen?
25:29Likewise, five.
25:31Darren? Match.
25:33I'll go for H.
25:35Yeah, both good.
25:37Missed one. Obviously, in my arena,
25:39victim was there.
25:41Oh, of course.
25:43Stephen, you're 11 points behind.
25:46Has that ever happened before?
25:48Yeah, I've had one or two hairy moments, yeah.
25:51OK. As hairy as this?
25:53Perhaps, like I said, getting progressively more nerve-racking,
25:56but I'm happy.
25:58Good. If you're happy, Stephen, I'm happy.
26:01Your letter.
26:03Consonant, please, Rachel.
26:05Thank you, Stephen.
26:07S. And another, please.
26:09K. And another.
26:11T.
26:13And a vowel, please.
26:15E.
26:17And a consonant.
26:19S.
26:21And a vowel, please.
26:23E.
26:25And a consonant.
26:27D.
26:29And a vowel.
26:31O. And a consonant, please.
26:33And the last one.
26:35R.
26:3730 seconds.
26:59MUSIC PLAYS
27:07Stephen?
27:09To scissors and to scissors, I think I'm going to go for an eight.
27:13Darren? I'll try an eight as well.
27:15OK. Stephen?
27:17Retossed. Darren?
27:19Restoked.
27:21Well, the good news of the ban is... What was your word, sir?
27:24Restoked. There's no restoked, but retossed is there.
27:28APPLAUSE
27:33We like a risky try, Darren.
27:35Any more, Rob?
27:37No, I just had stroked. That was it.
27:40You're not as good as Susie.
27:42No, I'm not. No, no. I'm teasing.
27:44No, you're absolutely right. I mean...
27:46He's taken it personally.
27:49Darren, your letters.
27:51Consonant, please. Thank you, Darren.
27:53T. And another one.
27:55D.
27:57Another one.
27:59R. And a vowel.
28:01U. Another one.
28:03I. Consonant.
28:05G.
28:07Another consonant.
28:09N. And a vowel.
28:11O.
28:13And a consonant, please.
28:15Lastly, F.
28:17Let's play Countdown.
28:19MUSIC PLAYS
28:28MUSIC CONTINUES
28:49Darren? Seven.
28:51Stephen? Yeah, seven.
28:53Darren? Touring.
28:55Anagram of routing or rooting.
28:57Touring and routing or rooting here.
29:00Both there. And fording, I think, you could have had as well.
29:03Thank you.
29:05Well, Stephen, you've narrowed the gap.
29:07Three behind.
29:09Your letters.
29:11Consonant, please, Rachel. Thank you, Stephen.
29:13T.
29:15And another, please.
29:17C. And a third.
29:19L.
29:21And a vowel, please.
29:23I.
29:25And a consonant.
29:27H.
29:29And a vowel.
29:31E.
29:33And another vowel, please.
29:35O.
29:37And a consonant.
29:39G.
29:41And a consonant, please.
29:43Lastly, T.
29:45Time starts now.
29:47MUSIC PLAYS
29:53MUSIC CONTINUES
30:16Stephen?
30:18Just five there.
30:20Oh. Darren? Six.
30:22Five, Stephen.
30:24Darren? Glitch.
30:26Very good.
30:28Rob? Mine, yeah.
30:30Clothes and glitch. Thank you.
30:32It's a difficult one.
30:34Penultimate round.
30:36There are nine points in the game between you.
30:38Darren?
30:40Your numbers.
30:42Two from the top again, please, Rachel.
30:44Two from the top. Are you good at conundrums?
30:46Find out in a minute. I could go down to the crucial.
30:48Let's see the final numbers of the day.
30:504, 3,
30:5210, 5,
30:54and the big ones, 25 and 50.
30:56And the final target...
30:58826.
31:00826.
31:02MUSIC PLAYS
31:20MUSIC CONTINUES
31:32Darren?
31:34825.
31:36Stephen? Nope.
31:38Darren?
31:4010 plus 5 is 15.
31:4210 plus 5, 15.
31:44Multiply by 50 is 750.
31:46750.
31:48825 is 75.
31:50And you have ruined Stephen's OctoChamp dreams.
31:52825, one away.
31:54Well done.
31:56Rachel?
31:58Yeah, lots of dead ends, but there was a way.
32:0050 plus 25,
32:0275 plus 5,
32:0480 plus 3,
32:0683.
32:08Times it by 10, 830,
32:10and take away the 4, 826.
32:12APPLAUSE
32:14APPLAUSE
32:16Very, very good.
32:18We're into the final round.
32:20Stephen, you've met your match.
32:22Certainly have.
32:24The scores are 68-84.
32:26Fingers on buzzers.
32:28Please reveal today's Countdown Conundrum.
32:32MUSIC PLAYS
32:44MUSIC CONTINUES
32:58Stephen?
33:00Game Philly.
33:02Let's have a look.
33:04Well done.
33:06APPLAUSE
33:10That was a very good finale for you.
33:12It was, I enjoyed it.
33:14And indeed, Stephen, we'll have to wait and see,
33:16but you've had seven wins
33:18and you still might make the finals at Christmas.
33:20Fingers crossed.
33:22And I will miss you. I hope you are back at Christmas.
33:24Well, likewise, I'll miss everybody.
33:26I've met some fantastic people, yourself included, Robert,
33:28and everybody.
33:30I don't want to miss anybody.
33:32I believe in the back staff,
33:34and I've had a whale of a time.
33:36Surpassed my expectations
33:38and have ticked off ambitions along the way,
33:40and I can only wish Darren the best of luck.
33:42Yeah, you've been great.
33:44Darren, a great achievement
33:46to get past
33:48my red-headed friend from Liverpool.
33:50Definitely.
33:52And we'll see you again tomorrow.
33:54Look forward to it. Thank you.
33:56Rob, thank you so much for being here.
33:58Rachel?
34:00Well done to Shel for making Stephen come on.
34:02And we've seen his summer looks.
34:04We've got, you know, the skulls, we've got the rainbows.
34:06I can't wait for the Christmas attire.
34:08Snorkel.
34:10Oh, right. Oh, OK.
34:12Can't wait for that.
34:14Thank you for watching. See you again tomorrow.
34:16Bye.
34:18APPLAUSE
34:20You can contact the programme by email at Countdown at Channel4.com
34:23or write to us at Countdown Leeds LS3 1JS.
34:27You can also find our web page at Channel4.com forward slash Countdown.
34:32APPLAUSE
34:36A glorious geat is the gold on today's property search.
34:39All new A Place in the Sun is on the way at four.
34:42Next, though, a side table that is just the bomb.
34:44No, really.
34:46Find It, Fix It, Frog It is on the way.
34:48APPLAUSE