Yes, Sean and John were team captains. Sean is sorely missed. He was one of the funniest men of the last 30 years. RIP Sean 🥲

Whelks are sea snails, so you can understand why he might be sick later. The rules of the game are to come up with the longest word possible in the first few rounds with randomly drawn letters, and to solve a mixed-up nine letter word in the final round.

There are two types of word game. The main one is nine letters randomly picked by the contestants, in which you try to get the longest word you can, getting points equal to the length of the word. A nine letter word is rare, but it is not required to win a round. The other word game is called the conundrum, in which a nine letter word is jumbled up and the first person to buzz in with the correct word wins 10 points. This is usually the last round of the game.

The real Countdown only has one contestant on each team. Each round, one of the contestants chooses the 9 letters, but all they can say is Vowel or Consonant, Rachel then draws the top card from either the Vowel or Consonant stack (which have been shuffled before the show), and places it on the board, the contestant can then choose whether they want another vowel or consonant based on what letters have gone before. The next round, the other contestant chooses them. They have 30 seconds to find the longest word. Then they are asked what length their word is (so if they say 6 letters and suddenly spot a 7 letter word, tough, they’ve declared 6 letters) and have to spell it out, the longest actual word (Susie’s job in dictionary corner is to check the words are real) wins the points, 6 letters equals 6 points etc, but a 9 letter word is worth double, hence you get 18 points added to your point score. Susie is then asked if they could have done any better, for example if the longest word found was 7 letters, Susie might say there’s a couple of 8 letter words and say what they are etc. They also have a numbers round. The contestant says what combination of large and small numbers they want. There’s a layout of cards (face down), four in the top row, one each of 25, 50, 75, 100 and a few rows containing the numbers between 1 and 10. They choose these by saying something like “Two from the top” or “Two large and four small” which would mean two of the cards that are 25, 50, 75 or 100, and four other cards that are between 1 and 10 (if the contestant wanted, they could choose all small numbers hence none from the top row). Rachel then places the numbers on the board, presses a button and a random number is generated between 101 to 999. The contestants have 30 seconds to use any of the numbers to reach that randomly generated number. They can only use each number once (unless two of the cards have the same number on them, think of it being you can use each card once). They don’t have to use all of them and they can only use add, subtract, multiply and division. At the end of the round they are asked how close they got. They then have to show how they got that result, often both did it the same way hence the second contestant shows the paper he worked it out on to prove this. Getting the number exactly gives 10 points, Getting within 5 of the number gives 7 points, getting within 10 of the number gives 5 points. Any further away you get nothing. If both teams get the same, they both get the points, but if one team got 1 away and the other 2 away, only the person 1 away would score. So if the random number was 500 and both managed to get 497, both teams would get 7 points. But if one team got 497 and the other 496, only the team with 497 would get the points. Very last round is called the conundrum, a random anagram of 9 letters is shown on their screens, they have 30 seconds to try and solve it, first one to find it presses their buzzer, and if they’re correct, they get 10 points and the game ends. If neither get it, the presenter asks the audience if any of them got it, just for a bit of fun. Susie has a guest with her each week, and at some point during the show, the guest talks about something for a couple of mins or so. A few years ago, Channel 4 decided to mash two shows together as a one off series. One of these was a mash of Countdown and 8 Out of 10 Cats. There was only originally going to be one episode, but the 8 out of 10 cats does Countdown was so popular that about a year later they did a full series. We are now on series 24.

There used to be an advert in the late 70's early 80's for Whiskas, a brand of cat food, their tag line was: 8 out of 10 owners said their cats prefer it ( which was hosted by a TV personality called Lesley Judd). The show "8 out of 10 Cats" is based on the results of asking the public questions and then pooling the answers.

Bovril is a beef flavoured drink, most commonly drunk seasoned with white pepper, in the winter during half-time at football matches. Well by me anyway! 😁

Love seeing Laurens reactions. She gets it

Sean and Bill do in fact go way back, they were best friends and used to vacation with each other and rheir families. He was particularly heartbroken when Sean passed.

Until his loss from cancer at 57. Sean and John were the team leaders. Gave open scope for fun. Wilkinson to boot.

It's a pity you haven't seen the clip of Sean reacting to Rachel's ski outfit.

Yeah Sean and John were weekly team leaders with a guest go join each of them. Sadly we no longer have Sean with us, the big C took him, Lee Mack stood in for his role

Bovril is a beef stock, often used as a hot drink in the UK. Very warming in winter.

Loved this

whelk is a sea snail

Back in the day of the original countdown, the show was known as a " parlour game " how English huh 😂 Love your videos, Chris/England

Hi mate you need to turned up the volume up a bit . Cheers from deaf lads here ha

It's not a BBC production.

All ingredients were letters of the alphabet: Apple Bovril Coriander ... Vimto Whelk Xtra Whelk Yoghurt Zest of Lemon

When Jimmy asked, do know the difference between a vowel and a consonant, the person he was asking was Joey Essex, I think he puts on a persona, or is an actor, he was on I'm a celebrity, he said can't tell the time or do his lace, it like he never went to school.

Well, Taskmaster has 5 contestants a season, and the 15th season is starting soon. So that's 75 people. And there's many well known comedians who haven't done it yet

Whelks are sea snails lol

A Whelk is a Sea Snail, Bovril is a gooie beef flavoured stuff you buy in a jar you can either make gravy or a hot beef drink

The comedy version isn’t on every week, but they’ll do about 8 episodes every 6 months to a year - I’m not even sure anymore it just appears. The real version of the show is on every day

It's an anagram. You come up with a word using the most letters. The word with the most letters wins, draws result in a point split.

If I'm not mistaken, a whelk is a form of a sea snail.

Okay, here goes... 8 out of 10 cats is a quiz panel show that features famous British comedians (With Sean and Jon as team captains) hosted by Jimmy Carr, in which the contestants get given a poll opinion and have to guess how many people in the poll agreed/or stated the opinion (how many cats preferred this cat food brand? 8 out of 10). Though sometimes they'll just get a headline and the number and have to guess the statement (60 per cent of Brits said what about Donald Trump? He looks like a Blobfish that got rolled on a shag carpet). Sometimes they'll give real answers, sometimes jokes. It's basically similar to Family Feud, where 100 people got surveyed and a quiz was created from the results. Countdown is a British competition show where members of the public compete in the word games and maths challenges you see. It usually keeps the elderly entertained who can play along at home. Suzie and Rachel come from that show. Regular Countdown doesn't have all the extra bits and challenges in it, but does have a chat with whoever is in dictionary corner, and has the lucky item segment. Oh, and Countdown has been around for a very long time, and when it first started, you would win a teapot. 8oo10c does Countdown is an amalgamation of the two shows. When Sean is talking about the cider on the train, he's talking about the daily commute train, not a intercontinental tourist train. Like drinking alcohol on the NY subway, which is far less glamorous and more...hobo like. Bovril is a brand of stew stock/gravy When he says "an extra whelk" he's referring to the alphabet meal. XTRA whelk, the joke is he couldn't think of anything to do with the letter X

I'm reliably informed that whelks - which are various species of sea snails - are quite nice when properly cooked, but unfortunately these isles have an unspeakable tradition of pickling them and selling them in jars, which is what Sean is eating here. Eating a whole jar would be pretty rough on your digestion - not least because the vinegar is highly acidic - which is what the joke is here, and why everyone is laughing at Sean for taking on the challenge. While Britain's reputation for terrrible food is largely undeserved, pickled whelks aren't a great example. 😂

It is not a BBC show it is from Channel Four

R.I.P Sean Lock he was the goat on that panel show

this isnt on bbc and neither is taskmaster but apart from that spot on

Any word. Longest.

Welks are like snails without the tasty sauce.

The stew is made of something starting with every letter of the alphabet. Whelk is for W, and eXtra whelk is for X.

Shellfish. Like a mussel.

they play for a teapot. and this is the celeb edition-- the daytime show with regular contestants makes them win eight days in a row in order for them to get it.

A whelk is a very chewy but nice sea food.

Have you listened back to your own video? You TURN UP the volume when the show is on, and TURN DOWN the volume when you are on, then TURN UP the volume when the show is on, and TURN DOWN the volume when you are on... With your hand permanently on the volume control it's a delightful experience. Not.

You need to get your volume levels to match the video youre watching as its hard to watch when youre so loud (cats does countdown is so quiet)

The video footage was really really quiet!

whelks are the largest sea snails

Sean and John were the team captains..

RIP SEAN. SEAN and JON are the team captains. A WHELK is a type of sea snail. People actually eat them at the sea side !! YUK. The aim is to get as large a word as you can using the letters picked. Just the same as SCRABBLE.

Hey... With the word game a bunch of random letters are chosen by the players. Rachel puts them on the board. You have to find the longest word. The player who can find the longest word within I believe 15 seconds gets maximum points. 9 letter words are hard to find. My average is 5 letter word

I understand you have to make the longest word you can from the letters.

A welk is actually shellfish

it's a muscle

Whelk: sea snail served in brine or vinegar.

You try make the longest word out of the 9 letters given the team who gets the longest word gets the points so if 8 letter word you get 8 points

A whelk is a sea snail that some weird people here like to eat

longest word 9 double points

Whelks are odd sea snails, not a food of choice for most of us.

needs more volume on the actual vid

Rip Sean lock

So I've been to Chicago back in 94 when I was 16 to go on jerry springer . We were there for five days paid for by the show . I absolutely loved the city . We stayed at the Omni hotel on the golden coast area. I got to see the natural history museum the space observatory and becuase I lost my wallet and someone handed it to the British Embassy I aslo got to see the veiw from Sears tower .. was an awesome five days . The weather was hot and sunny . Absolutely loved it .and not going to lie I am not a misogynist but this is going to make me sound like I am .... Cuase damb girl you are absolutely gorgeous.. definitely the most beautiful American goddess I've seen ..I get the image that your natural hair colour is the same as your beautiful copper eyes .. and not going to lie when a women's hair is the same as Thier eyes . They could wrap me round their finger like a lead to a puppy dog . Cuase iam like damb ...... Anything you want I'll do it . Lol

Mollusc - oyster-related, salty and ratehr snotlike!

You really need to be blindfolded and fed a dozen or so whelks .....then you get to take off the blindfold and drink the remaining liqour to get the full majesty of a whelk 🤢

Highest letter word wins, points are how many letters, if you use all letters you get double points on a win. But it’s a comedy panel show, nobody gives a crap who wins, we’re just in for the banter, same with all UK comedy panel shows, winning is not the point, being funny is

A whelk is a predatory sea snail. Yuck!

Ill give you 3 whole shillings if you eat a whelk on camera.....for the channel !!

Pulled this from Wikipedia - "Whelks can only be found in the 5th dimension and are famously known for their magical properties. They appear benign though studies have shown the common whelk can reduce the life span of humans by around 6-7 months if ingested (per whelk). The name 'Whelk' derives from the Latin for 'abandoned hope'." I stopped reading after this as the content becomes quite graphic.

Sean wasnt on BBC, Channel 4 had Sean. Unless he was doing stand up you might see him on BBC occasionally but for comedy panel shows he was on 4.

I'm very disappointed in the quality and quantity of nudity

What?

Watch a bloody episode and use a dictionary

Parts 1 and 2 you're loud and you can barely hear Sean - unwatchable