Episode Cats136

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The tribute to the late Sean Lock in the credits.

Episode Cats136, billed as Christmas Special 2021, was a special episode broadcast on 24 December 2021, as part of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Series 22. This was the first new episode to be broadcast after the death of regular Sean Lock. However, as the episode was recorded back in July, a month prior to his passing, the credits were edited to feature a still picture of him with the caption: In Loving Memory of Comedy Legend Sean Lock (1963-2021).

The Team Captains were Lee Mack and Jon Richardson, their teammates were Jason Manford and Sarah Millican respectively, while Jimmy Carr reprised his role as the host.

The match saw Lee Mack, with the assistance of Jason Manford, winning by 59 – 22 in part due to the conundrum being worth 20 points in a 7-rounder and they won a pair of Countdown Christmas stockings.

Rachel Riley was, as ever, the arithmetician. The Dictionary Corner guest was Nick Mohammed (portraying his alter ego Mr. Swallow), and the lexicographer was Susie Dent. Joe Wilkinson also made a special appearance just before Round 5 where he claimed he was caught and dragged behind Santa's sleigh driven by Fabio, one of the show's model.

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. Despite the final score at 2 – 2 (with Susie getting one correct), possibly due to Lee's team being funnier which was a criteria that Jimmy had in mind, five points were awarded to his team.

Interesting and notable moments from the episode are listed below:

1) During the Introduction, Jon showed off a risque board game with the name "Deep Clean" and featured puns such as "Fork Me", "Dripping Wet", "Flip Me Over", "Anal Bleaching" etc. Also, Nick proceeded to mash many Christmas carols together by extracting a verse from one carol and stringing with another, which continued until he was about to feel sick.

2) In view of the Christmas Theme, the clock music was replaced in Round 1 by the same Christmas variant of the clock music heard during Joe's segment in the 2020 Christmas Special, in Round 5 with Ding Dong Merrily on High played on the electric guitar by Jimmy and in Round 6 with Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! sung by Dean Martin. Just as the time ran out in Round 3, a rendition of Santa Baby sung by Ariana Grande was played with a pole dancer dressed as Santa performing near Jimmy as he requested for a "sexy dance" in his letter to Santa. Finally, as Joe was making his entrance, Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms was heard.

3) In Round 4, Jon did not show to Jason that he had an identical solution to the latter.

4) Just after Round 5, an uncredited musician made an appearance where he played Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata on a grand piano so that Nick could perform his own song which featured plastic bags along that tune.

5) During the 30 seconds in Round 6, similar to the 2019 and 2020 Christmas Specials, "snowflakes" were seen falling down from the ceiling of the studio which ended with "snowballs" dropping down, albeit this time, they were "controlled" by Jimmy using a white Christmas weather machine with the labels 'Light Dusting', 'Flurry' and 'Blizzard'.

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

NOTE 2: During the Bonus Round, several shots had Lee's team having an incorrect score of 23, suggesting that snippets from Round 4 were used instead of Round 5.

Rounds

Rnd	Selection	Jason & Lee	Score	Jon & Sarah	Others	Max.
1	OKEDBTORH	THROB REBOOT	6 – 6	HOOTER boothed ☓	BROOKED, THEORBO*	7
2	50 1 9 8 4 4 → 735	750 —	6 – 6	— —	RR: 735 = (4 × 4 − (9 − 8)) × (50 − 1)	17
TTT	HESHARTS	Worst Christmas dinner ever.			HARSHEST
Rnd	Selection	Lee Mack	Score	Sarah Millican	Others	Max.
3	WERTISADX	WAITERS	13 – 6	staired ☓	ASTRIDE, DISRATE*, STAIDER*, STEWARD, TIRADES*, TRADIES*, WAISTED*, WARIEST*, WAXIEST*	24
Rnd	Selection	Jason Manford	Score	Jon Richardson	Others	Max.
4	10 7 3 10 1 6 → 350	350 (6 − 1 + 3 × 10) × 10	23 – 16	350 (6 − 1 + 3 × 10) × 10*		34
TTT	GIFTHORN	It looks like it's bubbling.			FROTHING
Rnd	Selection	Jason & Lee	Score	Jon & Sarah	Others	Max.
5	ROHSADINS	HOARDS radions ☓	29 – 22	RADISH dashin ☓/ danish ☓	ADHORNS*, ARSHINS*, DONAIRS*, DRONISH*, HADRONS*, HAIRDOS, INROADS, ORDAINS, RISHONS*, SHONDAS*	41
TTT	GASSYLEE	What a lovely present.			EYEGLASS
6	MTFOUGSET	MUTTS i ☓	39 – 22	gusset ☓ GUST	FOETUS, FOUEST*, FUMETS*, MOGUES*, MOTETS, MOTTES*, MUTEST*, OUTEST*, OUTSEG*, OUTSET, TOGUES*, TOTEMS*, UTMOST	52
7	GIFTORNIP	PROFITING (8.25 seconds)	59 – 22			72