The Susie Experience

I arrived in the Countdown studios in May 2003. On my first day, I was due on third. After watching John Davies (the future Series champion) win his eighth game, it was my turn. Alison Heard was sitting in Dictionary Corner that day (I must confess I write to you as a both a Susie and Alison fan). She was really nice. She laughed at my jokes, conversed with me, and made me feel very at home. I won the final three games of that day.

The next day I would be 'working' with Susie, in fact I saw her in the dressing room as they powdered my nose! I couldn't help but feel a bit star-struck - I was meeting THE Susie Dent. I must say she appears more mature in real life than on TV, and her skin looks a little paler. You could see slight wrinkles under her eyes.

My first game was against a male office-bod from Brighton. The game sailed quickly, there were no controversial decisions. In the ad-break, Susie was talking about her daughter with the celebrity guest Ken Bruce. From what I gathered the daughter was a young girl, certainly not a teenager. The rest of the show sailed past, and I was 91-64 ahead by the conundrum. After I had solved the conundrum, Richard Whiteley commented that Susie had been very quiet, to which Susie replied "I must pipe up a bit tomorrow".

In the second game of the day, I was playing Gloria Crossley. Susie had to disallow Gloria's FOAMER and was very nice about it. She said 'sorry but I can't allow it'. Notice that she took all the responsibility for the decision. Again I had 91 points before the conundrum, and again I got it.

It was after this game that I told Susie about my website, and she took some interest in it. At first she thought I was Neb (Ben Wilson). During the game, Susie had more decisions to make, she had to disallow POMMADE as it is spelt with one M. Again she was very nice about it, and made it perfectly clear why it had been disallowed.

After this game, Susie asked me a computer question. 'Can someone find your computer if you visit their website?' - and of course I didn't have a clue!

In game seven, there were very few decisions to be made. I was so focused, I never even chatted to Susie during the ad-breaks.

During game eight, I put on a bit of a show. Susie even commented that my word INHUME was 'excellent'. One of the nicest things about Susie is when she is surprised to find a word is ok. She couldn't help but smile when my STEALERS was deemed playable. After the game, she congratulated me on winning the eighth game, and departed, not to be seen again by me.

Months passed, and I received a letter telling me I was the second seed. My first game was adjudicated by Alison Heard, which I won 101-64. Susie would do the semi-final.

I was feeling quite ill before the semi, and I asked to leave the set just before the game started, so I could put my head between my legs in the green room. When I came back, Susie was the first person to talk to me. "Are you sure you are ok, Martin?" I suppose being a mother is a full-time job, even if your own children aren't around!

The game itself started off evenly, until for the first time Susie disallowed one of my words. "I'm sorry but the plural of CONEY is CONEYS, not CONIES" that put me behind. As David (my opponent) started to pick his letters, Susie interjected. "Wait we have a reverse decision. If you spell CONEY without the E, the plural is CONIES" to which I replied "Well I'm spelling without the E then!". The score was adjusted rather, and we carried on. Unfortunately, most of the next rounds went against me, and I was 98-76 down come the conundrum. I got it (SANDSTORM, 26 seconds) but I had lost.

I didn't chat to Susie again, but my mum did in the bar. I was too busy talking to John, who won the final. The whole Countdown experience was an excellent one, and anyone with the nerve and skill should do it. The one thing I will remember is Susie asking me if I was ok before the semi-final, I desperately needed a bit of support.

My Countdown experience was in 1995. I had ploughed my way up a blizzard-bound M1 towards Leeds limping in after about 6 hours at 5pm - just about in time ...and during the tea-break. The coachload of "senior" spectators from Sunderland had just gone and the studio was practically empty. Carol was sniffy and not in the best of humour. Richard was rather aloof. Susie was in Dictionary Corner with Sheridan Morley (who was as suave and sophisticated as you would expect). The audience was made up of staff.

I lost at the first go to a dodgy 6-letter word and a poor performance in a "six small ones". The guy who beat me had lost to me in audition but he was a top player and went on to reach the final.

Afterwards it became clear that transport around Leeds was somewhat limited by the snow. Everyone was hunting round for stranded cabs - without success. I was fortunate enough to be one of the few people at the YTV studios with a car so I offered lifts to anyone trying to get round the city centre. A fellow contestant and Susie took me up on it. She sat in the back. By then she had been doing Countdown for three years (on rotation with Richard Samson and others) and was certainly not the star she is now. She was very pleasant.