Countdown (game show) Stelling was confirmed as the new host, with Oxford graduate Rachel Riley in the Vorderman role. It was announced on 24 May 2011 that Stelling would be leaving the programme, and he presented his final show on 16 December 2011. On 16 November 2011, it was announced that Nick Hewer would be taking over as host, with his first show broadcast on 9 January 2012. "Countdown" quickly established cult status within British television – an image which it maintains today, despite numerous changes of rules and personnel. The programme's audience comprises mainly students, homemakers and pensioners, owing to the "teatime"
Countdown (game show) posted in the same game when TV's Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall beat wine critic Jilly Goolden 47–9. Richard Whiteley and Carol Vorderman competed in another special episode on Christmas Day 1997. For this game, the presenter's chair was taken by William G. Stewart, the host of fellow Channel 4 game show "Fifteen to One". Susie Dent took over Vorderman's duties, and Mark Nyman occupied Dictionary Corner, accompanied by Magnus Magnusson. The game was close-fought, and decided only by the crucial Countdown conundrum "mistletoe" which Vorderman solved in two seconds, after Whiteley had inadvertently buzzed after one second, because when he regularly hosted