All gameshows have the potential to provide hilarious blooper material from time to time, but the Countdown format just asks for it. The rude words are funny enough in themselves, but Vorderman and Whitley’s reactions really makes these clips extra-funny.
Two things about Countdown have always puzzled me:
1.I’ve always been really bothered by the fact that they have a full clock but they only ever used half of it. If they wanted a thirty second timer why not use a sand-based hourglass design. I’ve always wanted to see whether or not the lights beetween 6 and 12 light up in the same way, but in over a decade of Countdown it never occured to anyone to say ‘OK, just this once we’re going to let the clock go for a full minute.’
2. I’ve never understood why they repeated countdown at 4:30 in the morning. Did people who missed the afternoon show stay up to watch the repeat? Was it some kind of ploy to help insomniacs? It seems that Channel 4 only scheduled this program when you should be doing something else e.g. sleeping, working or homework.
