Episode Cats154

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Episode Cats154, billed as 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Series 25, Episode 2, was a special episode broadcast on 19 January 2024, as part of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Series 25.

The Team Captains were Rob Beckett and Sarah Millican, their teammates were Joe Wilkinson and Jamali Maddix respectively, while Jimmy Carr reprised his role as the host.

The match saw Rob Beckett, with the assistance of Joe Wilkinson, winning by 32 – 19 in a 7-rounder and they won a Countdown ping pong set.

Rachel Riley was, as ever, the arithmetician. The Dictionary Corner guest was Glenn Moore, and the lexicographer was Susie Dent. Mr Motivator made a special appearance where he was revealed to be the guy behind Jamali's "AI Bot 3000" mascot and assisting him, while Thomas Skinner also made a surprise appearance during Round 1 where he was in the audience and appeared on the "Lookalike Cam" when it was looking for a face similar to Rob's.

Interesting and notable moments from the episode are listed below:

1) During the Introduction, Jimmy notably did not remember that Jamali had appeared once before on the show back in 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Series 23, Episode 3 where his mascot was none other than Series 77 Runner-Up Bradley Horrocks.

2) In Round 3, the clock music was replaced by a rendition of Scotland the Brave on bagpipes, with Jimmy wearing a kilt and dancing near his seat while three dancers went to the middle of the studio and danced to the tune. Just as the time was up, Jimmy "performed" a split in the air, causing his privates to be exposed and had to be therefore censored on screen.

3) In Round 4, as Joe requested for a "100" and "10" explicitly in the selection, Rachel spent time to repick the selections until those numbers were found in the pile. Additionally, although Jamali initially declared he had 943 and indeed had a solution for that, as he was influenced by the solution Mr Motivator had written to him via the "AI Bot 3000", he declared he had 940 instead, resulting in a misdeclaration.

4) In Round 5, it was dubbed a Relaxation Round. Four uncredited masseurs appeared on stage and massaged each of the contestants during the round, causing some of them (especially Joe and Rob) to be in noticeable pain at times. For this reason, Rachel chose the selection at random as they wanted the round to end as quickly as possible.

At the same time, the table lights turned pinkish-purple to match the Crucial Conundrum setting in the normal version of the show and the clock music was replaced with a soothing version with a male voice in the background telling the contestants what to do. Sarah noticeably took the opportunity to use a massage vibrator gun to massage inappropriate areas of her body, causing much discussion between Rob and her.

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

NOTE 2: Dictionary Corner's declaration of outhear ☓ in Round 1 is not valid in the current version of the ODO. Furthermore, as Susie implied in Round 5, Jamali's declaration of NANG was valid in the ODO but not in OED3. Had the show been using the ODO, the final score would have been 32 – 23 instead.

Rounds

Rnd	Selection	Joe & Rob	Score	Sarah & Jamali	Others	Max.
1	OABPEUHTR	PUBE BOTHER	0 – 7	BOATER PROBATE	OUTHEAR**, PHORATE*	7
2	75 100 25 50 9 10 → 914	913 900 9 × 100 + 10 + 75 ÷ 25	7 – 14	918 915 (100 + 10) × 9 − 75	RR: 914 = 100 × 10 − 75 − 9 − 50 ÷ 25	17
TTT	MEDOCRAP	Mine's bigger than yours.			COMPARED
Rnd	Selection	Rob Beckett	Score	Sarah Millican	Others	Max.
3	AOSKTDIER	SOAKER	13 – 14	TEARS	ASTEROID, DORKIEST	25
Rnd	Selection	Joe Wilkinson	Score	Jamali Maddix	Others	Max.
4	100 50 7 4 10 10 → 938	938 ☓	13 – 14	940 ☓	RR: 938 = (50 + 10 + 7) × (10 + 4)	35
TTT	SNOGSTIP	Show me the way.			SIGNPOST
Rnd	Selection	Joe & Rob	Score	Sarah & Jamali	Others	Max.
5	NAGICNUEF	un ☓ GAIN	17 – 14	fagic ☓ nang ☓**	ANGUINE*, FENCING, FENINGA*, FINANCE, FUNGINE*, GUANINE*, UNIFACE*	42
TTT	OWNSDICK	Mine's blowing all over the place.			WINDSOCK
6	IOIAENLWS	LOINS LOINS	22 – 19	WAILS/LEANS cat ☓	ALOINES*, ELISION*, INWALES, ISOLINE*, LIAISON, LIONISE*	49
7	POOCRATER	protractor ☓ CORPORATE (4.75, 22.25 seconds)	32 – 19			59