Carol Vorderman has shed a light on what would happen when ‘rude words’ were thrown into the mix on Countdown.
From 1982 until 2008, Carol was one of the hosts on the long-running game show, with the job eventually seeing her become one of the highest-paid women in the country, earning an estimated £1 million per year.
Now Carol, 62, has shared some behind-the-scenes secrets, explaining how the experts had to work at times to find an alternative word to give contestants if they picked what was dubbed a ‘rude’ one to ensure the scoring remained fair.
‘Some [rude words] did come up, and we would have to keep a straight face,’ she explained.
‘It was all about keeping a straight face.’
‘You know, in the early days they would go, “No, cut, cut, cut”, and we would have to do it again.’
She then said that if one contestant had the longest word, but it was rude, they would have to re-record ‘so that the scoring was [fair]’.
‘If it was allowed, we would have to re-record it and give [them] a different seven,’ she added when speaking on the Off Menu podcast.
However, she did add that while one rude word went viral online, it never actually happened on the show.
‘When something rude came up, that awful one that begins with “CU” and ends in “PS” – that never happened,’ she said.
‘You see that on a meme quite a lot – that never happened. No, we’d never have that [filmed for a show].’
While she did say that having rude words on the show wasn’t permitted, the team would play ‘rude word Countdown’ in the bar after recording wrapped up.
In the interview Carol also spoke about a time where she feared her career could be over after impersonating Cher during an episode of Stars In Their Eyes.
Back in 1998 Carol appeared on the celebrity version of the show and got dressed up as the singer, donning a black curly wig, a leather jacket and fishnet tights.
However, Carol recalled having to start from the top after missing the beginning of Cher’s iconic Shoop Shoop Song.
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‘Literally, the tears were involuntarily falling down my cheeks,’ she said.
‘I thought, oh my God, I can’t hear the music… It went out months later, I couldn’t watch it, I literally felt sick. I thought my career, that’s it, it’s over.’
After nearly 18 million tuned into her performance, Carol said she felt like she ‘died for months’ afterwards.
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Countdown is streaming on Channel 4.
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