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Is there any possibility of the Countown numbers being rigged?

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  • 09-11-2018 9:57pm
    #1
    Wanderer2010
    Registered Users Posts: 6,663 ✭✭✭


    I read several comments on videos from the hardest Countdown numbers games that the game is actually a fix and that Rachel is fed the answer through the earpiece during the 30 seconds that she is allegedly trying to work out the answer but surely this cant be possible as the number selected for the target is completely random and cant possibly know in advance what the numbers are or what sequence will be picked by the contestant?
    Plus if it was fixed then how would that explain when Rachel cant get some of the targets? I think its hard to accept for some people that a game can be hard without being false!


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    #2
    MathsManiac
    Registered Users Posts: 1,595 ✭✭✭MathsManiac


    Is there a possibility that it's rigged? Yes.
    Do I think it's rigged? No.


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    #3
    my3cents
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,764 ✭✭✭my3cents


    I can work the answer out in the time about 50% of the time. I'm not that clever and I'm quite prepared to believe there are women out there who are a lot cleverer and quicker at maths than me. So I really don't see why it would need to be rigged.


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    #4
    Yakuza
    Registered Users Posts: 5,141 ✭✭✭Yakuza


    Agree with MM, it's possible but highly unlikely. For the record, when watching it, I generally solve it within the 30s about 3/4 of the time, so it's definitely doable. I'd imagine Rachel (and Carol, back in her day) just knows her times tables from 1-100 in her head from dealing with numbers every day and is able to work it out fairly quickly (and they have had a bit more than 30 seconds to work it out, given that there's a short gap between when the number is displayed and the timer starts.


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    #5
    seamus
    Registered Users Posts: 68,317 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    ^^
    As Yakuza says, if someone is practiced, then there's no reason why they can't have a 95%+ success rate. You don't necessary need to know your 1-100 times tables in your head, there are techniques you can use to simplify it, and with practice you can rattle them off nearly as quickly as 5 x 9. If you consider the volume of these that Riley (and Vorderman) does, and perhaps does before a show to get herself warmed up, then it should be no surprise that she's so good at it.

    You also have to remember that while we often see her providing the solution when nobody else got it, we never see the times that a contestant gets it and she doesn't. ;)
    surely this cant be possible as the number selected for the target is completely random and cant possibly know in advance what the numbers are or what sequence will be picked by the contestant?
    Any computer since the 80s could probably work out all possible solutions well within the 30 seconds. But even before that if you had a panel of experts backstage, then at least one of them is going to figure it out in time, if it's solvable.

    So it's possible, but pretty unnecessary.


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    #6
    hopeso
    Registered Users Posts: 1,400 ✭✭✭hopeso


    I only watch the Cats does Countdown version....But on occasion Rachel has said 'give me a little longer', to which Jimmy usually replies 'ffs,it's your only job'..... Anyway, a short time after, she usually comes up with the solution....So, my point is that she doesn't appear to be preprogrammed with the answer....


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    #7
    Wheety
    Registered Users Posts: 5,510 ✭✭✭Wheety


    While I don't think it's fixed, just to answer if it's possible, of course it is. A computer program could easily work it our without knowing the numbers in advance.

    Here's one on a website. Also has a letters one. I do think dictionary corner may be fed some words though. Or maybe Susie is just as good and quick as this site. And as I always say about Susie, she's 53 (54 this month) :eek:

    https://incoherency.co.uk/countdown/


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    #8
    Wanderer2010
    Registered Users Posts: 6,663 ✭✭✭Wanderer2010


    I think the fact that they don't always get the answer does point to the fact that nobody is speaking in Carol or Rachels ear but what I often notice about Countdown is how they never return to the numbers if it isn't solved, for example Rachel says here (11mins 20seconds onwards) that she couldn't get 507 despite having several numbers to play with, Fair enough she might not have got it in 30 seconds but you would think they would return when she has it cracked but its not mentioned again. If it can be done, it should be clarified even at the end of the episode..



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