8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown is a comedy panel show based on Countdown. It combines the letters, numbers, and conundrum rounds from Countdown with the panel-show format of 8 Out of 10 Cats.
The programme is hosted by Jimmy Carr. Rachel Riley oversees the numbers, and Susie Dent appears in Dictionary Corner. The contestants are comedians and celebrity guests, usually playing in teams rather than as individual contestants.
The games are broadly the same as normal Countdown:
| Round | What happens |
|---|---|
| Letters | Contestants make the longest valid word they can from 9 letters |
| Numbers | Contestants try to reach a target number from 6 selected numbers |
| Conundrum | Contestants try to solve a 9-letter anagram |
The difference is the tone. Normal Countdown is a serious quiz with jokes around the edges. 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown is a comedy show built around Countdown rounds, with mascots, sketches, running jokes, Dictionary Corner guests, and deliberately silly interruptions during the clock.
Because of that, the programme does not always follow the exact structure of a regular 15-round Countdown episode. It usually uses the same basic rules for letters, numbers, and conundrums, but there are fewer rounds and more time spent on comedy.
Viewing figures
8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown has usually been a bigger-rating programme than daytime Countdown, partly because it is a primetime comedy show rather than an afternoon quiz.
The first 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown mash-up was watched by 2.49 million viewers, making it Channel 4's second-most-watched programme that week. The next special had 1.76 million viewers, and the 2014 Christmas special had 1.75 million viewers. More recent series have been lower but still substantial: the 2024 and 2025 series averages listed on Wikipedia are roughly 0.75 million to 1.02 million viewers.
Regular Countdown has also had much bigger audiences in earlier eras, but published modern comparisons are lower. The Guardian reported that Countdown averaged about 1 million viewers in 2008, and later reported that a move to an earlier afternoon slot left the show at around 400,000 viewers, about half what it had previously been getting in that slot.
Sources: 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown ratings, Guardian report on Countdown's 2008 average, and Guardian report on the 2013 afternoon-slot change.
If you want to play the game yourself, use the normal Countdown rules rather than the comedy-show format: