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Susie Dent turned down 'terrifying' Countdown role three times before boss got involved


Susie Dent, 55, has been a favourite on Countdown for a staggering 28 years, however before finding fame thanks to the programme she turned down the opportunity a whopping three times. The Channel 4 sensation addressed her time on the show with presenter Steph McGovern on her self-titled daily, Packed Lunch, last week.

Steph began by asking Susie: “What was it like that first time doing it?”

“It was terrifying because I had said no three times,” she replied.

“It was an arrangement with OUP [Oxford University Press] where I worked and we published the dictionaries used on the show.”

Recalling the moment, Susie remembered: “My boss said, ‘I think it would be a really good thing to do,’ and there were loads of us who rotated and it just wasn’t something I thought I wanted to do.

READ MORE: Countdown’s Susie Dent clashes with Richard Osman ‘How dare you’

“You know me, Steph, I don’t like being above the radar, so I said no.”

Susie told Steph and her viewers what it took for her to change her mind.

“I was eventually persuaded, thank goodness because I love it,” she shared.

“Thank god Rula Lenska had big hair is all I can say, because I kept trying to hide behind it.”

After the adjudicator was asked whether being the UK’s word expert has always been her “life goal”, she laughed: “It was definitely an accident!

“I was a reluctant addition to the Countdown team. I worked at Oxford University Press and was asked to go as part of their partnership with the show.”

Susie recalled her first episode, adding: “I still remember my very first show because I look absolutely terrified.

“I think I even looked a little arrogant, which I really didn’t mean to be, sitting beside Rula Lenska.”





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