Episode Cats165

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Episode Cats165, billed as 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Series 27, Episode 3 in the UK and Series 15, Episode 6 in international markets, was a special episode broadcast on 17 January 2025, as part of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Series 27. This episode was recorded in 2022 as evident by the outro's tune being the same as the intro's one and premiered on Australian/New Zealand BBC UKTV on 31 January 2024, almost a year before being transmitted in the UK.

The team captains were Katherine Ryan and Jon Richardson, their teammates were Joe Wilkinson and Guz Khan respectively, while Jimmy Carr reprised his role as the presenter.

The match saw Jon Richardson, with the assistance of Guz Khan, winning by 51 – 46 in a 7-rounder and they won a Countdown rabbit hutch.

Rachel Riley was, as ever, the arithmetician. The Dictionary Corner guest was Alasdair Beckett-King, and the lexicographer was Susie Dent.

Just before Round 5, Joe and Jon took part in a spelling bee. If they got so much as even a single letter wrong, they would be jolted with an electric shock via pads attached to them. Joe was asked to spell RHYTHM and DIARRHOEA while Jon was asked to spell MANOEUVRE and ONOMATOPOEIA. Jon had both words spelt correctly while Joe had none, thus five points were awarded to his team with the game ending in a score of 0 – 2.

Interesting and notable moments from the episode are listed below:

1) Every time Jon was caught on camera appearing smug, he would have to wear his props which were hats and he would do this for some parts of the show. Additionally, during the Introduction, Joe's mascot was an uncredited man dressed as an assassin with a balaclava and performed a slutdrop in front of the audience.

2) In Round 1, Jimmy "made" a papier mache head with the balloon as a base. Subsequently, he passed papier mache heads of Katherine, Jon and Rachel to the corresponding people and asked them to wear it. This also meant the latter had difficulty arranging the letters on the board to spell out the declared words and fumbled with them. Additionally, although Katherine initially declared he had a seven-letter word, at Jimmy's discretion, he allowed the eventual eight-letter spot since she agreed to declare ahead of Jon.

3) In Round 3, the initial plan was for Jon to wear his papier mache head for the entire duration of the round. Seeing this, Rachel decided to play along and lied about the letters selection by saying letters contrary to what was placed on the board until it was caught by Jon himself. Thus, there was a change of plans where he only wore it during the 30 seconds itself.

4) In Round 4, the selection was chosen by Rachel. Afterwards, Guz's solution was actually provided by Lumboo while Katherine came to Joe's rescue and provided a solution to score points. Thus, due to both teams cheating, Jimmy had to concede and give both teams ten points.

5) In Round 5, the clock music was replaced by a rendition of it strummed by Jimmy on a bass guitar.

6) In Round 6, as Joe wanted to spell out a word, Rachel swapped the position of the T and M on the letters board, but he eventually gave up after seeing the remaining letters. Later, during the 30 seconds, a dog played with Jimmy in the centre of the studio which had grass carpeting laid out.

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

NOTE 2: Guz's best mate, Lumboo, was his mascot and scribe and played along with him, although for simplification purposes, his workings will be treated as identical to Guz's here.

Rounds

Rnd	Selection	Joe & Katherine	Score	Jon & Guz	Others	Max.
1	INEASREGD	☓4 READINGS	8 – 8	READINGS GRADES	GESNERIAD	18
2	75 100 25 8 4 2 → 432	432 431 (100 + 8) × 4	18 – 18	432 433 (100 + 8) × 4		28
TTT	SWINGPEE	In one smooth motion.			SWEEPING
Rnd	Selection	Katherine Ryan	Score	Jon Richardson	Others	Max.
3	TWUISATNL	TWIST	23 – 18	untails ☓	LUTANIST	36
Rnd	Selection	Joe & Katherine	Score	Guz Khan	Others	Max.
4	75 50 4 3 7 5 → 406	20 406 (50 + 75) × 3 + 7 × 5 − 4	33 – 28	406 (50 × 4 + 3) × (7 − 5)		46
TTT	SADSHITE	Looks a bit suspect.			SHADIEST
Rnd	Selection	Joe & Katherine	Score	Jon & Guz	Others	Max.
5	OEHFSOAGN	FOGS GNASH	38 – 33	ganoosh ☓ SHOE	FOEHNS*, GANEFS*, GENOAS, HOGANS*	57
TTT	OOPSCLAP	I've got it down the pub.			ALCOPOPS
6	RITMLUSEP	STUMPIER SIMPLER	46 – 41	LUMPIEST PRISM	PLUMIEST*	65
7	THICKWANG		46 – 51	THWACKING (8 seconds)		75