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Episode Cats124

From Countdown

Episode Cats124, billed as 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Series 19, Episode 5 was a special episode broadcast on 7 February 2020, as part of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Series 19.

Regulars Sean Lock and Jon Richardson were the contestants, along with Kevin Bridges and Victoria Coren Mitchell who were their teammates respectively, while Jimmy Carr reprised his role as the host.

The match saw Jon Richardson, with the assistance of Victoria Coren Mitchell, winning by 50 – 21 in a 7-rounder and they won a Countdown hosepipe.

Rachel Riley was, as ever, the arithmetician. The Dictionary Corner guest was Spencer Jones, and the lexicographer was Susie Dent.

Just before Round 5, the teams took part in "Didn't Go to University Challenge" (A rename of "The Stupidest Quiz on Television") involving general trivia. Jon's team won the game with the score at 2 – 1, thus five points were awarded to his team.

Interesting and notable moments from the episode are listed below:

1) During the Introduction, Jon pretended to be a health and safety inspector and wore a hi-vis jacket (which would stay on him throughout the entire show) and a helmet. He introduced safety measures such as asking Susie to wear gloves while handling the OED3, asking Rachel to put on safety goggles in the event the numbers fell off and giving every celebrity present a plastic cup to prevent accidental breakage of the regular, ceramicones.

2) In Round 1, due to Jon's health and safety measures, all the letters were circular in shape rather than the usual square shaped ones. Also, the clock music was replaced with an operatic version with an uncredited male and female opera singer performing it beside Jimmy.

3) During the 30 seconds in Round 3, Jimmy used utensils to carve his face out of a cheese block and later showed a stilton cheese with Sean's face and a mini-cheese with Jon's face. Later on, all the contestants were given cheese and crackers. A noticeable blooper occurred when Rachel arranged Kevin's word and the board read IM SHUNTED, causing much applause from the audience after Kevin defined what the word meant in a sexual way. Finally, Jon was not asked to show to Kevin that he had the same word as him.

4) During the 30 seconds in Round 6, both Jon and Susie came to the middle of the stage and peeked through a telescope to which the former saw a penis-shaped constellation and the latter saw a meteorite hurtling towards her, resulting in "her getting hit by it". Simultaneously, the studio setting was projected in a starry night setting. Also, similar to Round 3, Victoria was not asked to show Kevin she had the same word as him.

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

Rounds

Rnd Selection Kevin & Sean Score Jon & Victoria Others Max.
1 ESRATINDA TINDER
STAINED
0 – 8 RANDIEST
RANDIEST
STERADIAN 18
2 25 100 7 3 6 1 → 859 850
0 – 15 858
869
(100 + 25) × 7 − (6 × 3 − 1)

RR: 859 = (100 + 25 − 1) × 7 − 6 − 3

28
TTT CLEANROD Mine's full of holes. COLANDER
Rnd Selection Kevin Bridges Score Jon Richardson Others Max.
3 MSTUEHNDI SHUNTED 7 – 22 SHUNTED MISTUNED*, UNMISTED* 36
Rnd Selection Sean Lock Score Victoria Coren Mitchell Others Max.
4 50 8 1 7 7 3 → 561 560
(7 − 1 + 50) × (7 + 3)
14 – 22 560 ☓

RR: 561 = (8 + 3) × (50 + 1)

46
TTT NUDELIST How dare you! INSULTED
Rnd Selection Kevin & Sean Score Jon & Victoria Others Max.
5 GAOEBCKNO GECKO
BOOK
14 – 33 bonkage ☓
BEACON
BACKNE*, BECKON, BOCAGE*, GABOON*, NOCAKE*, NOCEBO*, OGONEK* 57
TTT SLIPANUT You always need two. NUPTIALS
6 ALUTASLFE FULLEST
tassle ☓
21 – 40 fallutes ☓
FULLEST
FLAUTAS*, FLUATES*, SULFATE 64
7 MINTYORAL royalmint ☓
(12.75 seconds)
21 – 50 NORMALITY
(26 seconds)
74