Episode Cats178

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Episode Cats178, billed as Series 30, Episode 2 in the UK, was a special episode broadcast on 07 August 2026, as part of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Series 30.

The Team Captains were regulars Rob Beckett and Jon Richardson, their teammates were Katherine Ryan and Fatiha El-Ghorri respectively, while Jimmy Carr reprised his role as the host. Jake Lambert subsequently joined Jon's team as an additional teammate just before Round 5 as they were behind, with the team's nameplate being changed to accommodate him.

The match saw Jon Richardson, with the assistance of Fatiha El-Ghorri and Jake Lambert, winning by 36 – 24 in a 7-rounder, and they won a Countdown litter picker consisting of the picker itself and a trash bag.

Rachel Riley was, as ever, the arithmetician. The Dictionary Corner guests were The Brett Domino Trio, and the lexicographer was Susie Dent.

Interesting and notable moments from the episode are listed below:

1) Throughout the show, in reference to Katherine's job as a podcaster, she would record segments for her "Countdown Spin-off Podcast", interviewing Rob in the Introduction and after Round 1, Jake before Round 5 as well as doing a plug advert to wrap up.

2) During the Introduction, Jon presented a large bottle of his non-alcoholic beer "Rico's Beer" as his prop before pouring it all down into a gigantic cup. He then drank a portion of it without spilling the liquid before the cup was taken away by Fabio, the show's permanent male model.

3) During the 30 seconds in Round 1, Fabio was tasked to "move" Jimmy's car but ended up "crashing" into a pool (which was a clip of an actual car doing so in China [1]), resulting in him being soaked.

4) In Round 3, the clock music was replaced with an ice-cream truck rendition of it while Jimmy tried to "make" baked bean flavoured ice-cream from "Ben and Jimmy's" (a play on Ben & Jerry's). Subsequently, various ice-cream flavoured cups were distributed to the celebrities. The flavours were: Gravy (Katherine), Mustard (Jon), Vinegar (Fatiha) and Brussel Sprouts (Rachel) — Rob's and Susie's ones were not revealed).

5) In Round 5, as Jake could not see the letters board properly, he asked Rachel to move aside, but instead, she proceeded to remove her high heels and knelt until the last letter was placed.

6) In Round 6, the clock music was replaced with "Eat My Goal" by Collapsed Lung. At the same time, "Rob" was seen dribbling and kicking the ball in the centre of the studio to the beat. Once the time was up, "he" passed the ball to Jimmy, only for him to then kick it and "hit" Susie. As a result, Rob was considered to have stayed out of this round despite Jimmy giving him a chance to declare one.

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

NOTE 2: In Round 2, the original target was 200. However, as this was too easy, Rachel pressed CECIL again and it generated the eventual target of 906.

NOTE 3: In Round 5, Katherine was not asked to spell her word. Therefore, she may have intended GREATS rather than GRATES.

Rounds

Rnd	Selection	Katherine & Rob	Score	Jon & Fatiha	Others	Max.
1	OAIMDWSFE	WAIFS FADES	5 – 5	mosied ☓ FAMED	MEADOWS, MIAOWED	7
2	50 75 5 1 2 5 → 906	— 901	5 – 15	906 625 (50 ÷ 5 + 2) × 75 + 5 + 1		17
TTT	GOOSURGE	Absolutely beautiful.			GORGEOUS
Rnd	Selection	Katherine Ryan	Score	Jon Richardson	Others	Max.
3	UAERPWFTO	TROUPE	11 – 15	upfart ☓	FOREPAW, OUTWEAR*	24
Rnd	Selection	Rob Beckett	Score	Fatiha El-Ghorri	Others	Max.
4	25 75 2 5 3 1 → 730	726 5 × 2 × 75 − 25 + 1	18 – 15	730 ☓	RR: 730 = (75 − 2) × (25 + 5) ÷ 3	34
TTT	DONESHIT	That felt amazing.			HEDONIST
Rnd	Selection	Katherine & Rob	Score	Jon & Jake & Fatiha	Others	Max.
5	GEYNROTSA	GRATES ROAST	24 – 21	angryest ☓ SARONG trogan ☓	NEGATORS, NEGATORY*, RAGSTONE*	42
TTT	ROBSNUDE	He's back again.			REBOUNDS
Rnd	Selection	Katherine Ryan	Score	Jon & Jake & Fatiha	Others	Max.
6	OEACNLHLE	lanche ☓	24 – 26	cleanhole ☓ chanel ☓ OCEAN	CHALONE*, COLLEEN, ECHELON*, NACELLE*	49
Rnd	Selection	Katherine & Rob	Score	Jon & Jake & Fatiha	Others	Max.
7	NUTBUTLER		24 – 36	butternut ☓ TURBULENT (14, 21.5 seconds)		59