Carol Vorderman has revealed that Countdown’s experts had to find an alternative word to give contestants if they picked what was dubbed a ‘rude word’ so the scoring remained fair
Carol Vorderman has shared that she and her co-stars often indulged in a game of ‘rude word Countdown’ at the bar post-filming.
The 62-year-old TV personality disclosed that any “rude words” contestants came up with during the show were promptly replaced and re-recorded with high-scoring alternatives to maintain fairness. Vorderman debunked a popular meme featuring a rude word starting with “CU” and ending with “PS”, stating it never actually occurred on the show, as such instances would have been swiftly dealt with.
During her appearance on the Off Menu podcast, Vorderman reminisced about the challenges of maintaining composure when unexpected words surfaced. She said: “Some [rude words] did come up, and we would have to keep a straight face. It’s all about keeping a straight face.”
She further explained the show’s protocol for dealing with such situations: “You know, in the early days they would go, ‘No, cut, cut, cut’, and we would have to do it again.” If a contestant’s longest word was inappropriate, the segment would be re-recorded “so that the scoring was [fair]'” Vorderman, who co-presented Countdown from 1982 to 2008, initially alongside Richard Whiteley until his death in 2005, clarified that one infamous rude word that has since gone viral online never actually made it to the airwaves.