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 with Keith Olbermann program featured live updates on the then-unfolding War in Iraq. "Countdown" was broadcast at 8:00 p.m. on weekday nights, having replaced a cancelled talk show hosted by Phil Donahue. Olbermann—who left MSNBC in the late 1990s—returned to the network around this time and replaced Holt, becoming the permanent host for the renamed "Countdown with Keith Olbermann". The show did not feature political commentary in its first few years, simply recapping the news of the day in a "5-4-3-2-1" format as the title suggested. "Countdown" began to attract liberal and progressive viewers in 2005, when Olbermann began critiquing and satirizing conservative