Episode Cats170

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Episode Cats170, billed as 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Series 28, Episode 3 in the UK and Series 17, Episode 1 in international markets, was a special episode broadcast on 8 August 2025, as part of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Series 28.

The team captains were Joe Wilkinson and Kevin Bridges, their teammates were Alex Brooker and Judi Love respectively, while Jimmy Carr reprised his role as the presenter.

The match saw Kevin Bridges, with the assistance of Judi Love, winning by 33 – 21 in a 7-rounder and they won a Countdown AI Robot (which was actually Fabio, the show's permanent male host dressed in a robot costume).

Rachel Riley was, as ever, the arithmetician. The Dictionary Corner guest was Peter Serafinowicz (portraying Brian Butterfield, a character from The Peter Serafinowicz Show), and the lexicographer was Susie Dent. Jedward also briefly made a special appearance during the Bonus Round and were credited at the end of the episode.

Just before Round 5, both Joe and Judi had to feel objects which were all spelt with seven letters one at a time while blindfolded and guess what they were. Joe got the words DESSERT (via tasting it) and JEDWARD while Judi got the words GHERKIN, DUSTERS and TRUMPET. Hence, Judi's team won the game with the score at 3 – 2 and five points were awarded to her team.

Interesting and notable moments from the episode are listed below:

1) During the Introduction, Kevin's prop was two paintings featuring him playing and celebrating alongside three dogs as contestants, with both notably showing graffiti on the clock saying "All Cats are Bastards". Later, Joe tossed his late electrician's "ashes" into a fuse box at the side of the studio in accordance with his wishes, causing sparks to fly and the studio to temporarily lose power.

2) In Round 1, the clock music was replaced by MMMBop by Hanson where three uncredited male performers pretended to play the song with a keyboard, drums and electric guitar.

3) In Round 3, to celebrate Judi's birthday (which indicates the recording was done on 4 June 2025), the show's male models presented her with numerous gifts, while Jimmy proceeded to cut and eat a cake made out of his hand rather than the actual cake presented to him (subsequently, the celebrities were all given cake to eat). The clock music was also replaced with Happy Birthday by Stevie Wonder.

4) In Round 6, Peter added in lyrics to the clock music and sung it in the middle of the studio. Later on, he proceeded to say the word C*NT when offering what he had (which had to be censored), causing the studio to burst into laughter after Jimmy initially predicted Joe would have that word and hoped that Ofcom would be watching that moment.

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

NOTE 2: In Round 4, the solution was provided by Alex out of time.

NOTE 3: The conundrum had two valid solutions, INCHARGES and SEARCHING.

Rounds

Rnd	Selection	Alex & Joe	Score	Kevin & Judi	Others	Max.
1	JREONTINE	JOINER JOINER	6 – 6	NINE/entoner ☓ ORIENT	ENJOINER*	8
2	75 1 5 3 2 10 → 189	— 189 (75 + 2 × 10) × (5 − 3) − 1	16 – 6	188/190 185 ☓		18
TTT	OLDGROIN	It's a bit leaky.			DROOLING
Rnd	Selection	Joe Wilkinson	Score	Kevin Bridges	Others	Max.
3	SPAGTOBAR	GRAB	16 – 11	GOATS	BORGATAS*	26
Rnd	Selection	Alex Brooker	Score	Judi Love	Others	Max.
4	50 10 3 6 7 2 → 213	188	16 – 11	209 ☓	RR: 213 = (6 − 2) × 50 + 10 + 3	36
TTT	MEDOCRAP	Mine's bigger than yours.			COMPARED
Rnd	Selection	Alex & Joe	Score	Kevin & Judi	Others	Max.
5	LUESNIRAD	DRAINS LIARS	16 – 23	URINALS LEARNS	LAUNDRIES	59
TTT	RINGALEX	For a good time.			RELAXING
6	XOECTNURL	CRUEL CURL	21 – 23	toecurl ☓ ☓	CLOTURE*, COULTER*, COUNTER, NOCTULE*, RECOUNT, TROUNCE	66
7	NICERSHAG		21 – 33	SEARCHING** (19.5 seconds)		76