Episode Cats132

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Episode Cats132, billed as 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Series 21, Episode 3 was a special episode broadcast on 28 January 2021, as part of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Series 21. This episode, like the previous one, was filmed before the birth of Rachel Riley's daughter Maven, suggesting that this episode also aired out of order and should have been released in 2020.

Regulars Sean Lock and Jon Richardson were the contestants, along with Harriet Kemsley and Joe Lycett who were their teammates respectively, while Jimmy Carr reprised his role as the host.

The match saw Jon Richardson, with the assistance of Joe Lycett, winning by 39 – 28 in a 7-rounder and they won a Countdown bathtub.

Rachel Riley was, as ever, the arithmetician. The Dictionary Corner guest was Mat Ewins, and the lexicographer was Susie Dent.

Interesting and notable moments from the episode are listed below:

1) In Round 1, a Z was mistakenly placed in the vowel pile and was thrown out by Rachel. It was initially replaced by Joe's aubergine tile which he featured during the Introduction before being substituted with a G. Even if the Z was placed correctly in the consonant pile, the maximum score would not have been impacted. Also, the clock music was replaced with Left Bank Two by Noveltones until closer to the end and in a cheeky reference to the Introduction where there was plenty of discussion involving nudity, Jimmy "painted" a portrait of Sean and Jon naked.

2) In Round 2, Jon and Joe were not asked to show to Harriet they had the same solution as her despite getting the same target. Later in Round 4, Joe only mentioned he was one away and not his actual number.

3) During the 30 seconds in Round 3, seeing "mice" around the studio, Jimmy phoned the pest control which actually was a mini-truck containing five cats stopping near the centre of the studio. Instead of catching them, they were clueless of what to do and kept wandering about to the point the situation became so chaotic that the production staff ended up coming on stage to assist Jimmy in getting them off-camera.

4) Just after the time was up in Round 5, as the episode was filmed shortly after Jon's birthday, Jimmy offered him a present, only for it to "grow legs" and run off, leaving the former to reject his offer and comment how his Amazon deliveries kept disappearing.

5) In Round 6, the clock music was replaced with the opening theme of Star Wars by John Williams with Jimmy being engaged in a lightsaber duel with two Siths in the centre of the studio while an uncredited person dressed as Princess Leia looked in the distance in awe, only for her to be killed in the end when he "accidentally pierced" her with his lightsaber. Later, Jimmy allowed Joe to keep the lightsaber, to which the latter kept playing with it until the end of the show.

NOTE 1: In this version, both players' declarations were allowed, although points were only awarded for the best answer.

NOTE 2: A possible reason why this episode was broadcast this late was because of Sean's Introduction which showed badges featuring a person drooling and spitting which were most likely deemed highly inappropriate following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic at the time of the originally scheduled transmission date.

Rounds

Rnd	Selection	Harriet & Sean	Score	Jon & Joe	Others	Max.
1	EGTOUCWAL	WET TOWEL	0 – 6	OUTAGE/GELATO TOWEL	CAGOULE, GELCOAT*, OCULATE*, OUTWALE*	7
2	25 75 3 8 4 1 → 904	904 904 (8 + 1) × (75 + 25) + 4 (8 + 1) × (75 + 25) + 4 *	10 – 16	904 904 (8 + 1) × (75 + 25) + 4 * (8 + 1) × (75 + 25) + 4 *		17
TTT	TOSSPIPE	That was emotional.			SOPPIEST
Rnd	Selection	Sean Lock	Score	Jon Richardson	Others	Max.
3	EPIFENBST	BENEFITS	18 – 16	BESTIE		25
Rnd	Selection	Harriet Kemsley	Score	Joe Lycett	Others	Max.
4	50 25 8 9 3 2 → 485	485 9 × 50 + 25 + 2 + 8	28 – 16	484/486		35
TTT	EATSSHIT	Not so fast.			HASTIEST
Rnd	Selection	Harriet & Sean	Score	Jon & Joe	Others	Max.
5	ICWOASDGE	COWS decage ☓	28 – 22	DOSAGE SAWED	COWAGES*	42
TTT	SIRIBANG	Now we're cooking.			BRAISING
6	OURTRAONC	norat ☓ COUNT	28 – 29	CARTOON ORATOR	CARTRON*, CONTOUR, COURANT*, CROUTON*, CURATOR, CURRANT*, OUTROAR*, RANCOUR*, TOURACO*	49
7	UNCLETART		28 – 39	RELUCTANT (4.75 seconds)		59