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Countdowners
Countdowners is a Facebook group founded by Chloe Jones, active since 4 May 2017. As it stands, it is one of the most popular sites related to the show. Its membership consists of players past and present, as well as those who have not appeared on the show, and casual fans. Currently, Jones remains its sole administrator. Moderators have varied but the current team consists of Callum Carton, and ex-contestants George Armstrong, Paul Anderson and Paul Hindess.
Countdowners began life on Twitter in early 2017. Due to lack of popularity and reach on that site, Jones felt the idea would be more successful as a Facebook group, and so she set up the group after noticing there was no major Facebook community for Countdown at the time. She wanted the group to have broad appeal: to former and future contestants, casual fans, and people who were fans of the number, letter and conundrum-style games the show is famed for.
In the early days, she was the sole admin and mod, and posted customised games for members to play, and to stimulate interest in the group and attract new members. As time progressed, members began posting their own games on a regular basis, negating the need for Jones to do so on her own. As things developed and membership grew, she began advertising for moderators to post specific types of games (e.g. Letters mod, Numbers mod etc.).
The most popular post of the day is Jones's 'Live And Spoilerous' thread. This consists of members playing along and chatting live as the new episode of Countdown airs simultaneously. This thread is the only place in the group members are allowed to post about the day's episode, and spoilers in general are discouraged in the group, unless flagged as such. LAS is posted at 2pm Monday-Friday by Jones, who herself takes part in the live discussion several times a week. She also publishes a daily letters game; times have varied over the years but as of 4 January 2021, they are posted at 11am each weekday and branded as 'Brunchtime Letters'. In addition, she also posts a Countdown-friendly 'Word Of The Day' post every weekday at 12:00.
Callum posts a Teatime Teaser post every weekday at 17:00. Perhaps the most prolific poster of games is currently Paul Hindess, who publishes a daily breakfast letters game at 07.30 (including weekends), as well as more sporadic teasers and conundrums throughout the day. George Armstrong also publishes regular numbers games each day. Other members of the group without official roles post their own games alongside these 'official' ones, some occasionally and some regularly.
The group consists of many former contestants from right across Countdown's history, including series champions and Champion of Champions winners. Jones herself says she is proud that the group brings members of all status and ability together in one community, and hopes this always remains the case.
On 28 October 2020, the group reached 1,000 members.
On his appearance in the first 2020 Christmas special, George Armstrong mentioned the group on the show. That same day, the group acquired over 100 new members in less than 24 hours, and the overall number of new members applying to the group has also increased in general.
