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00:00This programme contains strong language and adult humour.
00:03CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
00:31Well, good afternoon and welcome to Countdown Studio.
00:34On Friday 18th May, I wonder how many people shall saw that extraordinary story
00:39about the German lawyer.
00:41The German lawyer lived in Dortmund, apparently,
00:44and he was the recipient of any number of unwanted gifts.
00:49It was extraordinary. For instance, in just over a fortnight,
00:53the doorbell rang any number of times
00:57and 100 unordered pizzas were thrust into his unwanting hands.
01:03Then the currywurst started to arrive, followed by the sushi.
01:07He thought, what's going on here?
01:09Surely no client or ex-client hates me this much.
01:13The thing is, apparently, it was the old computer, wasn't it,
01:16in the ordering service.
01:18They kept coming and coming and coming
01:20and eventually it came down to the fact that it was simply a computer fault.
01:24I don't know. I mean, I've had a few unwanted or unordered parcels,
01:29one of which was delivered here.
01:31I think I've told you before, and I'm sort of embarrassed to go into it again,
01:35other than to say that it was an inappropriate gift from a lady.
01:40Any deliveries that you didn't particularly fancy or haven't asked for?
01:45Not me personally, but my favourite story I've seen
01:47is when a lady ordered a table on eBay. Did you see this?
01:50And instead of a table arriving, she was delivered 40 live tropical fish.
01:56So they brought the big box up and she opened it up
01:59and she was just surrounded by all these fish and she said,
02:01I ordered a table.
02:03Amazing. But we do live in extraordinary times where you can just order,
02:06you don't have to go shopping at all, in it pops.
02:09Anyway, there we are. Let's see who's in today, shall we?
02:12Paul Harper's back. He's got a season ticket here, Paul.
02:15I have at the moment.
02:17Finance Officer of Manchester. Look, seven wins.
02:20Seven wins. Good luck to you today.
02:23It's a big day for you, but having said that,
02:25let's also hope that Gerry Walsh has a good day today.
02:29Gerry, how are you?
02:30I'm good, Nick. Thank you.
02:31From Worcester, but from the west of Ireland originally, from County Mayo.
02:35County Mayo.
02:36The Gaeltacht. How lovely.
02:37The Wild West.
02:38I bet. And what are you doing in Worcester?
02:40I work at Hertfordshire College in the libraries.
02:43OK. And you're running that library?
02:45I'm supervisor.
02:46OK, well done.
02:47And you like to keep fit, you walk around every day.
02:50Worcester's not a bad place to walk around, is it?
02:52It's a great place to walk.
02:53Beautiful.
02:54Lovely cathedral there with a great cathedral choir too, from memory.
02:57Beautiful.
02:58Good luck, Gerry, and good luck to you, Paul.
03:01Big round of applause for these two great contestants.
03:06And over the corner, Susie, of course,
03:08and next to her, author and psychologist Dr Linda Papadopoulos.
03:12Welcome back, Linda.
03:17Lovely stuff.
03:18Paul, off we go.
03:21Good afternoon, Rachel.
03:22Afternoon, Paul.
03:23I'll start with a consonant, if I could.
03:25Thank you. Start today with T.
03:28And a second.
03:31D
03:32And a third.
03:34S
03:35A vowel.
03:37E
03:38Second vowel.
03:40I
03:42Third vowel.
03:44I
03:46A consonant.
03:48Q
03:50Another consonant.
03:53W
03:55And a final consonant.
03:56And a final N.
03:59Stand by.
04:11MUSIC PLAYS
04:31Well, Paul?
04:32Eight, Nick.
04:33Gerry?
04:35A dodgy seven.
04:37And Gerry?
04:38Windies.
04:39The Windies, Paul.
04:41Windiest.
04:44Yes, Windiest is an excellent eight.
04:46Windies are in but capitalised for the Western Indian cricket team, particularly.
04:50So I'm sorry, Gerry.
04:51That's all right. Windies, yeah.
04:53And in the corner, Susie and Dr Linda.
04:56Windiest was the best we could get.
04:58And Windiest. Thank you.
05:00So, early lead there for Paul.
05:02And, Gerry?
05:03Your left.
05:04Afternoon, Rachel.
05:05Afternoon, Gerry.
05:06Can we start with the consonant, please?
05:09Start with S.
05:11And a vowel.
05:13E
05:15And another vowel.
05:16O
05:18Consonant.
05:20T
05:21And a consonant.
05:23N
05:25And a consonant.
05:27M
05:29And another vowel.
05:32A
05:34Consonant.
05:36B
05:37And a vowel, please.
05:39And lastly, U.
05:41Stand by.
06:07MUSIC PLAYS
06:13Gerry?
06:14Six.
06:15Paul?
06:16Seven, Nick.
06:18And your six, Gerry?
06:19Unmasked.
06:21No, Paul.
06:22Yeah, Batsmen.
06:23Batsmen, yes, absolutely fine.
06:25Yeah, both very good.
06:27And in the corner?
06:29We found Seamount and Boatsmen.
06:32Boatsmen.
06:33Yes, Boatsmen.
06:34So you can take it a little bit further for eight.
06:37And Seamount is a mountain under the sea.
06:39Seamount.
06:41APPLAUSE
06:42All right.
06:43Now, Paul, numbers time for you.
06:46Paul?
06:47I'll have an inverted T, if I could, please, Rachel.
06:50Thank you, Paul.
06:51One large and five little ones coming up for you.
06:53And for the first time today, they are nine, ten, two, one,
06:59another one, and 50, and the target.
07:03737.
07:04737.
07:06MUSIC PLAYS
07:30MUSIC STOPS
07:36Well, Paul?
07:37Not near enough, 750.
07:39Gerry?
07:40I lasted as long as you.
07:41No?
07:42No.
07:43Right, this means only one thing.
07:45Rachel?
07:46My go.
07:47Yes, this was possible.
07:49If you say 50 minus ten is 40, plus one is 41,
07:54times it by two for 82, times that by nine for 738,
07:59and you have another one for 737.
08:01Oh, well done. Well done.
08:03APPLAUSE
08:05Well done there, Rachel, as ever.
08:07And now it's time for a teatime teaser, which is shiftiest.
08:11And the clue.
08:12He's the shiftiest of characters with some very peculiar tastes.
08:16He's the shiftiest of characters with some very peculiar tastes.
08:21MUSIC PLAYS
08:24APPLAUSE
08:35Welcome back. I left with a clue.
08:37He's the shiftiest of characters with some very peculiar tastes.
08:41In fact, it would be reasonable to suggest that he's a fetishist.
08:47Fetishist.
08:48Now, if you'd like to become a Countdown contestant,
08:52you can email countdown at channel4.com to request an application form
08:57or write to us at contestantsapplications, countdownleads, ls31js.
09:05Geri, your letters again.
09:08A consonant, please, Rachel.
09:10Thank you, Geri. T.
09:12And a consonant.
09:15R.
09:17And a consonant.
09:19N.
09:21And a vowel.
09:23E.
09:25Another vowel.
09:26I.
09:28Another vowel.
09:30O.
09:31A consonant.
09:33R.
09:35A consonant.
09:37V.
09:38And a final vowel, please.
09:40And a final U.
09:43Stand by.
09:45MUSIC PLAYS
09:52MUSIC CONTINUES
10:15Well, Geri?
10:17I'll try a seven.
10:19A six.
10:20And your six is...?
10:22Er, Rusa.
10:24Now then, Geri.
10:25And I've misdeclared.
10:27Oh, bad luck. Bad luck.
10:29What can we have?
10:31Dr Linda and Susie.
10:33We found an A. We found overturn.
10:35Yes. Anything else?
10:37That would be absolutely the best we could do, overturn.
10:39Not bad. All right.
10:41So, Paul, off we go. Letters again.
10:44I'll start with a consonant, please, Rachel.
10:46Thank you, Paul. D.
10:48And a second.
10:50J.
10:52A vowel.
10:54A.
10:56Second vowel.
10:58E.
10:59And a third vowel.
11:01O.
11:03A consonant.
11:05G.
11:07Another consonant.
11:09L.
11:11Consonant.
11:13F.
11:16And the consonant, please.
11:18And lastly, W.
11:20Stand by.
11:46Well, Paul?
11:48Just six, Nick.
11:50And Geri?
11:51Six, Nick.
11:52And your six, Geri?
11:53Flawed.
11:54And...?
11:55Yep, the same word.
11:56Same word. Flawed.
11:58Well done. Flawed and...?
12:00Slightly different. Flawed.
12:02And flawed. Susie?
12:04Lots of sixes. Fold, another one.
12:07Have a horse. But six is our best.
12:09Thank you. All right.
12:11Now, Geri.
12:14Numbers have come up again.
12:16Off we go.
12:18Could I have one large and five small, please, Rachel?
12:20Thank you, Geri. One from the top again.
12:22Five little ones again.
12:24And these little ones are...
12:26four, six, five, nine and six.
12:31And the big one, 25.
12:33And your target, 778.
12:35778.
12:37778.
13:08Geri?
13:10774.
13:12Four away, Paul.
13:14775.
13:16So it's over to you.
13:18Yes, Paul?
13:19We'll start. Six times five is 30.
13:22Six times five, yep, 30.
13:25Four plus six minus nine is one.
13:28Yep.
13:29Add that to the 30, multiply by 25.
13:3231 by 25, 775.
13:35But it's still over to you, Rachel.
13:37778?
13:39I can get you slightly closer, but leave this one with me.
13:41Certainly will.
13:43So 34 plays six, and it's Dr Linda we turn to.
13:47I think you want to talk about food.
13:49I do.
13:51I was speaking to a friend of mine the other day who works in TV,
13:55and he was telling me that 52% of programmes on TV today are food-related,
14:00whether they're cooking shows or diet shows.
14:03There's shows about cupcakes and shows about how much you can eat.
14:07And it's interesting, because in the world of mental health,
14:10we're seeing two things.
14:12We're seeing a rise in eating disorders like anorexia,
14:15but also a rise in things like obesity.
14:17So what I thought would be interesting is to kind of just speak a little bit
14:20about the way that we emotionalise food,
14:23because we know the reasons that we overeat tend to come down to two things.
14:27Number one, it's habituation, because you're just mindlessly eating,
14:30so you're sitting in front of the TV and just putting things in your mouth.
14:33In fact, one of the tricks you can use is to eat with your non-dominant hand.
14:36If you eat popcorn, for example, with your left hand rather than your right,
14:40you eat more mindfully.
14:42You actually have to think of doing it to eat significantly less, so try that.
14:45But the other thing we do is we emotionalise food.
14:48So if you think about, I don't know, when a girlfriend breaks up with her partner,
14:52you come over with a tub of ice cream and you console her.
14:55Or when you're anxious, you might kind of eat anxiously.
14:58So what would be really useful is if you find yourself overeating,
15:01is to sit down in your larder and then try substituting.
15:05So perhaps if I need comfort, instead of reaching for the chocolate,
15:08I'll call a friend, I'll speak to someone that can support me, I'll go out for a walk.
15:13Perhaps if I'm stressed, instead of reaching for something crunchy that'll get me,
15:17I'll go out for a jog, I'll do a sudoku puzzle to take my mind off it.
15:22This epidemic we're seeing with both sides,
15:24I think we need to kind of start approaching it in a different way.
15:27That's fascinating, yeah.
15:28Chocolate, you think, that's a comforting... I love chocolate, actually.
15:32In fact, I turn to her at the end of dinner and I say,
15:35and the chocolate? And she'll say there isn't any.
15:39How much do you have after dinner then? A piece, two pieces? How much do you have?
15:42Oh, no, I can take a bar.
15:44A whole bar?
15:45Yeah.
15:46Okay.
15:47But food, I think it's extraordinary, the number of food programmes.
15:50And in fact, I got involved in one, which was for a good cause.
15:53Which was for a good cause. It was for Stand Up To Cancer.
15:56I shall never go into the kitchen again.
15:58Was it that bad?
16:00It was terrible.
16:01And I made a chocolate cake.
16:03And they said, and who's responsible for this cow pat?
16:07To which I pleaded guilty.
16:09But there we are, that's another story, yeah.
16:11So thanks, Linda. Fascinating, fascinating subject.
16:14And what's equally fascinating is what Rachel's been up to.
16:17Did you crack it?
16:18Eventually I found it.
16:19If you say 25 minus 5 is 20, times 6 is 120,
16:25add the 9 for 129, times that by the other 6 for 774,
16:30and add on the 4.
16:32778.
16:33Well done.
16:38Delicious. Thank you, Rachel.
16:40778. And now, Paul, it's your letters game.
16:43We'll start with a consonant, please, Rachel.
16:45Thank you, Paul. R.
16:47And a second.
16:49P.
16:51And a third.
16:53N.
16:54A vowel.
16:56E.
16:57A second vowel.
16:59A.
17:00And a third.
17:02I.
17:04A consonant.
17:06S.
17:08Another consonant.
17:10R.
17:13And a final consonant.
17:15And a final T.
17:17Stand by.
17:24MUSIC PLAYS
17:48Yes, Paul?
17:49A nine, Nick.
17:51A nine. Gerry?
17:53A nine.
17:54Well done. Paul?
17:56Transpire.
17:58Transpire.
17:59And...
18:00Transpire.
18:01Well done.
18:06And the nine in the corner?
18:09We got one more, didn't we? We got respirant.
18:12A respirant?
18:13Yes.
18:14It is literally a breathing person or thing.
18:17Somebody still alive?
18:19Yes.
18:20Well done.
18:22A respirant. Two good nines.
18:2452 plays 24. Gerry on 24.
18:27And it's his letters game now.
18:29Gerry?
18:31I'd like to start with a consonant, please, Rachel.
18:33Thank you, Gerry.
18:34S.
18:36And another.
18:38P.
18:40And another.
18:42S.
18:44And a vowel, please.
18:46A.
18:48And another vowel.
18:49I.
18:51And another vowel.
18:53E.
18:55A consonant.
18:57M.
18:59Consonant.
19:01T.
19:03And a final vowel, please.
19:05And a final A.
19:07Stand by.
19:21MUSIC PLAYS
19:41Hmm. Gerry?
19:43Six.
19:45And Paul?
19:46Eight, Nick.
19:48Gerry?
19:49And your eight?
19:51Past times.
19:53Excellent. Well done.
19:55Well done. Well done.
19:58I think there's a lot of nodding going on in the corner.
20:01Is that yours?
20:02That was ours.
20:03Well done. Anything else?
20:04We had impasse for seven.
20:05Yeah.
20:06But, yes, past times is a very, very good eight.
20:08Clever.
20:0960 plays 24.
20:11And, Paul, it's your numbers game.
20:13Off we go.
20:14I'll have the Whitehall 1212, please, Rachel.
20:17Thank you, Paul, for the last time for a while.
20:191212 from you.
20:21And these five little ones are three, four, one, seven and five,
20:27and the big one, 100.
20:29And your target, 544.
20:31544.
20:33MUSIC PLAYS
20:47MUSIC STOPS
21:04Well, Paul?
21:05Yeah, 544.
21:07And Gerry?
21:08544, Nick.
21:09Paul?
21:10100 plus seven plus one, 108.
21:14108.
21:15Multiplied by five.
21:16540.
21:17No, not on the four.
21:18544. Nicely done.
21:20And Gerry?
21:21Um...
21:22Exactly the same, Nick.
21:27Yeah, that's fine, yeah.
21:29APPLAUSE
21:31So, there we are. Paul up to 70.
21:33Gerry, 34, as we go into our second Tea Time teaser,
21:37which is Sister Flu.
21:40And the clue...
21:41All his attempts to steal the apples were in vain.
21:44All his attempts to steal the apples were in vain.
21:56APPLAUSE
22:03Welcome back.
22:04Left with the clue, all his attempts to steal the apples were in vain.
22:08In fact, they were fruitless.
22:11Fruitless is the answer to that.
22:13Paul up to 70, place 34, Gerry on 34.
22:16Now, Gerry, your letters game.
22:18Start with the consonant again, please, Rachel.
22:20Thank you, Gerry. N.
22:22Another consonant.
22:25D.
22:26Consonant.
22:28S.
22:30A vowel, please.
22:32O.
22:34A vowel.
22:36A.
22:38Vowel.
22:40I.
22:42G.
22:44Consonant.
22:46Y.
22:48And a final consonant, please.
22:50And a final D.
22:52Stand by.
23:13MUSIC
23:25Gerry?
23:26Seven.
23:27Paul?
23:28Seven as well.
23:30And your seven, Gerry?
23:32Sudden.
23:33Paul?
23:34Same word.
23:36There we are.
23:38And in the corner, Dr Linda.
23:41Is that gadoids, which is a kind of fish, am I right?
23:45It is, yeah. If you let your cord you hate,
23:47that's a bony fish you are eating from the gadoid family.
23:52And sodding, you would sod the lawn, would you?
23:55You would always, it would be there as a swear word as well.
24:0277, place 41. We don't want any vulgar stuff here.
24:0577 to 41, Paul in the lead.
24:07Paul, your letters game.
24:09A vowel with a consonant, please, Rachel.
24:11Thank you, Paul. T.
24:13And a second.
24:15V.
24:17Vowel.
24:18O.
24:20A second vowel.
24:22A.
24:23And a third.
24:25E.
24:27A consonant.
24:29M.
24:31A consonant.
24:33L.
24:35Vowel.
24:37I.
24:39And a final consonant.
24:41And a final D.
24:43Stand by.
25:08MUSIC STOPS
25:15Paul?
25:17Just six.
25:19A six and Gerry?
25:21Six not written down, Nick.
25:23And what would that be?
25:25Melted.
25:27There's only one E.
25:29Paul?
25:31Motive.
25:33A motive, yeah, indeed.
25:35Linda and Susie?
25:37We got violated.
25:39For free, yeah.
25:41Yes, and there is also dovetail.
25:43Dovetail.
25:45Dovetail fate.
25:49APPLAUSE
25:51So, 83, place 41, Paul on 83.
25:53Susie?
25:55What have you for us today?
25:57Well, I was with the Roman Theatre yesterday
25:59and I'm going to continue the theme of performance,
26:03but I'm going to be more on the sort of jokey side today,
26:05because, in fact, the Latin noun jocus, I-O-C-U-S,
26:09meant a jest or a game.
26:11It's where we get joke from, that I became a J.
26:15And the Romans also coined a phrase jocus partitus,
26:19which meant a drawn game,
26:21so it could have been an amusement game
26:24or it could indeed have been some sort of fight in an arena
26:27that was even or tied or incredibly closely fought.
26:31At the time, many Latin words, as we know, came to French.
26:33That's how they often travelled into English.
26:35And the French changed the spelling to je parti, the same idea.
26:39It was used to represent a divided game
26:41or a game that was very, very evenly matched between opponents.
26:45And since the outcome of a game that is that close
26:47is very, very unpredictable,
26:49je parti came to mean uncertainty of any kind
26:53and not just in a game.
26:55English, of course, then changed it from je parti to jeopardy
26:59and used it first in chess and similar games,
27:02so they stuck very much to the amusement sense.
27:05But again, as so often with English,
27:07time strengthened that connotation of unpredictability and uncertainty
27:11to the extent that in jeopardy came to mean actually at risk
27:14or somebody that was definitely in danger of some kind.
27:17Double jeopardy in legal terms, of course,
27:19is when the same person can't be tried for the same crime twice.
27:23Speaking of danger,
27:26from the early Middle Ages into the 19th century,
27:29danger meant power, it meant something very, very different.
27:32So it was jurisdiction, if you like,
27:34held by a lord or a master over his kingdom or over his slaves, indeed.
27:39And that reflects danger's origin, which is quite surprising, really.
27:42It goes back to the Latin dominus, which meant a master or a lord.
27:46That gave us predominant.
27:48It also gave us dungeon, in fact,
27:50because the master had the power to throw somebody into the dungeon as punishment.
27:54But that idea of power became power to harm,
27:57and that's where we got the idea of danger today.
28:01Very good. Well done.
28:06Excellent. Jeopardy.
28:09Mmm. 83 to 41, as I say, Paul in the lead,
28:12and it's Gerry we turn to. Gerry, letters again.
28:15Consonant, please, Rachel.
28:17Thank you, Gerry. B.
28:19Consonant.
28:21T.
28:23Consonant.
28:25R.
28:27And a vowel, please.
28:29A.
28:31Vowel.
28:33O.
28:35Vowel.
28:37E.
28:39Consonant.
28:41T.
28:43Consonant.
28:45F.
28:47And a final vowel, please.
28:49And a final O.
28:51Vowel.
28:53O.
28:55Vowel.
28:57V.
28:59Consonant.
29:01T.
29:03Consonant.
29:05V.
29:07Consonant.
29:09T.
29:11Consonant.
29:13V.
29:15Consonant.
29:17T.
29:20Yes, Gerry?
29:22Six.
29:24A six, Paul?
29:26Eight.
29:28And an eight, Gerry?
29:30Ratted.
29:32Yes, Paul?
29:34Barefoot.
29:36Well done for supporting that.
29:38APPLAUSE
29:40Tremendous play. 91 points now, too. Excellent.
29:43And in the corner, Dr Linda, Susie?
29:45There's no D for ratted, I'm afraid, Gerry, sorry.
29:49Well done, indeed. 91 plays 41. Paul on 91.
29:53And now we turn to Paul for the final letters game. Yes, Paul?
29:56I'll have a consonant, please, Rachel.
29:59Thank you, Paul. H.
30:01And a second.
30:03P.
30:05A vowel.
30:07E.
30:09Second vowel.
30:11O.
30:13And a third.
30:15A.
30:17L.
30:19Consonant.
30:21R.
30:23Consonant.
30:25Z.
30:27And a final consonant.
30:29And a final S.
30:31Stand by.
30:47MUSIC PLAYS
31:03Yes, Paul?
31:05Just six, Nick.
31:07And Gerry? Seven.
31:09And a seven. Your six, Paul?
31:11Operas.
31:13No, then, Gerry?
31:15One R, Gerry.
31:17I'm so sorry.
31:19Dr Linda?
31:21We had a seven as well. Paroles.
31:23Yeah, very good.
31:25Parole.
31:2797 to 41.
31:29And Gerry?
31:31Numbers game for you. Final one.
31:33May as well go for six small ones, please, Rachel.
31:35May as well.
31:37Add a bit of jeopardy just for Susie for the last one of the week.
31:39Thank you, Gerry.
31:41And these six smalls are...
31:43..four.
31:45One, four, and two.
31:47This is going to be tricky.
31:49The target, 875.
31:51875.
31:53MUSIC PLAYS
32:13MUSIC CONTINUES
32:25Gerry?
32:27Nowhere near, Nick.
32:29I think that's not unusual.
32:31Now, Paul, what have you concocted there?
32:33I've got nowhere near as well.
32:35Let's see whether it's possible,
32:37because I know that Rachel sort of sighed
32:41when she saw the total.
32:43Yeah. No?
32:45I got to 299 away.
32:47Not bad.
32:49Under the circumstances. Thank you.
32:51All right, so 97 to 41 into the final round.
32:53That's conundrum time.
32:55Yes.
32:57Good luck, Gerry. He's a devil at it.
32:59Let's roll today's countdown conundrum.
33:03MUSIC PLAYS
33:05MUSIC CONTINUES
33:09BELL
33:11Yes, Paul?
33:13Challenge.
33:15Go on. Let's have a look.
33:17Well done. Well done.
33:19APPLAUSE
33:23Well done.
33:25OctoChamp, number five seed.
33:27I'll come to you in a second. It's fantastic.
33:29Listen, Gerry, you came up against a phenomenal player.
33:32Well done. You played well. You played strongly.
33:34We'll put your bag back to Worcester.
33:36So thanks for coming.
33:38Thank you, Nick.
33:40Wow. That's good, isn't it?
33:42Number five seed. That's brilliant.
33:44So congratulations.
33:46We shall see you in the finals.
33:48You enjoyed it?
33:50Looking forward to it, yes.
33:52Excellent. Well, you're a good player.
33:54And a relaxed player, too.
33:56Just treat it as though you're at home and enjoy it.
33:58Well done. Thanks very much indeed.
34:00And Linda. Dr Linda, you and Susie have a very calm weekend.
34:03And we'll see you both, I hope, on Monday.
34:06Look forward to it. Lovely.
34:08All right, we'll see you then. See you then.
34:10He's pretty good, isn't he? He's pretty good.
34:12But he can't let up. Just a few weeks and it'll be finals time.
34:14Exactly. Keep practising. All right.
34:16See you on Monday. See you Monday.
34:18Join us then. Same time, same place.
34:20Two new contestants. You'll be sure of it.
34:22A very good afternoon.
34:24Contact us by email at countdown at channel4.com,
34:28by Twitter at c4countdown,
34:30or write to us at countdown, leeds, ls3, 1js.
34:34You can also find our webpage at channel4.com forward slash countdown.