Episode Cats173

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Episode Cats173, billed as Christmas Special 2025 in the UK and Series 17, Episode 7 in international markets, was a special episode broadcast on 24 December 2025, as part of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Series 29. This episode marked the first time that no announcer introduced the celebrities (the host Jimmy Carr instead was the one that did so before the titles rolled, with them walking up on stage) as well as Rob Beckett assuming his role as the permanent Team Captain opposite of Jon Richardson, taking over Sean Lock more than four years after his death.

The Team Captains were Rob Beckett and Jon Richardson, their teammates were Judi Love and Daisy May Cooper respectively, while Jimmy Carr reprised his role as the host.

The match saw Rob Beckett, with the assistance of Judi Love, winning by 44 – 43 in a 7-rounder thanks to the conundrum being worth 32 points, and they won a Countdown Elf-upon-a-Mantlepiece (a play on Elf-on-a-Shelf for legal reasons), with Fabio, the show's permanent male host acting as its head.

Rachel Riley was, as ever, the arithmetician. The Dictionary Corner guest was Katie Norris, and the lexicographer was Susie Dent. Joe Wilkinson also made a special appearance just before Round 5 where he challenged Jon to a drinking game called "Can You Drink More Eggnog Than Me?", with the former's forehead swelling up and exploding with "pus" halfway through the challenge.

Just before Round 6, a game of "Pull My Cracker" was played where contestants had to buzz in by guessing a Christmas punchline after Jimmy read out the question. Jon's team won with the score at 0 – 2, thus five points were awarded to his team.

Interesting and notable moments from the episode are listed below:

1) During the Introduction, Daisy's husband and son (Anthony Huggins and Benji respectively) made a special cameo, with the latter dressed as a Christmas pudding and acting as her prop. Later on, Rob introduced his prop which were Christmas presents that his wife did not want, some of which included Wood Varnish (which Jon mentioned he would gladly take) and a wine bottle from the 2023 or 2024 BAFTAs with an appreciation note on it thanking him for hosting it.

2) In view of the Christmas Theme, the clock music was replaced in Round 1 with It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas sung by Perry Como, in Round 3 with Sleigh Ride sung by The Ronettes, the Christmas variant of it just before Round 5 and Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! sung by Dean Martin in Round 6. Finally, a classical version of Jingle Bells was played when Joe Wilkinson appeared.

3) During the 30 seconds in Round 1, Jimmy took out a magic ice wand and froze the Countdown teapot, OED, and Rob's glasses, before it was revealed the latter had an ice wand as well and proceeded to freeze Jimmy into an ice statue.

4) During the 30 seconds in Round 3, Jimmy attempted to make a sleigh using a "Build Your Own Sleigh" kit, before coming out on stage in an actual large scale one filled with presents (to which he passed a portrait of himself to Judi and Rob, and a topless calendar to Daisy). To end off, he invited Daisy to ride on the sleigh, but not before taking out the Christmas baubles at the centre of the studio and knocking repeatedly into the table, causing Jon to name the ride "The Bipolar Express".

5) In Round 4, Judi was invited to present her solution on the board with Rachel passing the whiteboard marker to her, only for her fumble and go wrong.

6) In Round 6, in an identical manner to the previous three Christmas Specials, "snowflakes" were seen falling down from the ceiling of the studio which ended with "snowballs" dropping down and were "controlled" by Jimmy using a white Christmas weather machine with the labels 'Light Dusting', 'Flurry' and 'Blizzard'. The round then ended with the contestants aiming the "snowballs" at Jimmy, with one of them eventually hitting him.

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

NOTE 2: In Round 5, Joe placed the letters randomly on the board, with an I and a C rotated (described as "umlauts"), as well as discarding a P in the process. Thus, the proper selection should have been IEPMWOUIH in that order, although the maximum score would not have been impacted. Additionally, in Round 6, he placed an additional T on the letters board before the round started, causing Dictionary Corner to offer BUTTLOAD despite the fact that this extra letter was not counted towards the final selection.

NOTE 3: The conundrum had two valid solutions, CAROUSELS and SUCRALOSE.

Rounds

Rnd	Selection	Judi & Rob	Score	Jon & Daisy	Others	Max.
1	ROENCUAOT	COUNTER CART	7 – 7	CARTOON TOUCAN	COURANTE	8
2	75 50 4 5 3 3 → 667	— 669	7 – 14	666 9 (5 + 4) × 75 − 3 × 3	RR: 667 = 4 × 3 × 50 + 75 − 3 − 5	18
TTT	IRUBSNOW	The thicker the better.			UNIBROWS
Rnd	Selection	Rob Beckett	Score	Daisy May Cooper	Others	Max.
3	EUEOSGNSG	GUESS	12 – 19	SNOGS	NEGUSES	25
Rnd	Selection	Judi Love	Score	Jon Richardson	Others	Max.
4	50 100 75 3 5 10 → 957	957 ☓	12 – 26	953 (100 − 5) × 10 + 3	RR: 957 = (75 + 5) × (100 ÷ 50 + 10) − 3	35
TTT	ELFSTITS	Which way are they leaning?			LEFTISTS
Rnd	Selection	Judi & Rob	Score	Jon & Daisy	Others	Max.
5	UEIHMWOIC	HOME COME	12 – 31	CHIME whole ☓	CHEMO*, HEMIC*, HOMIE, HUMIC*, MOCHI*, MUCHO*, OHMIC*	40
TTT	ELFSEXAD	It's very good for you.			FLAXSEED
6	AOEUDTBLD	ADULT TUBED	12 – 43	DOUBLED LUBE	DEADBOLT	53
7	SORECLAUS	☓ CAROUSELS** (8.75, 28.5 seconds)	44 – 43			85