It’s no conundrum – Mabel, 92, is a Countdown champ
A92-YEAR-OLD great-gran managed to outfox the current Countdown frontrunner in a dramatic last-minute audience intervention.
Mabel Byrne was in the audience for the filming of the long-running Channel 4 afternoon puzzle show as a member of the Ormskirk and Southport branch of the Oddfellows friendship group, which was shown last Wednesday.
During the final round, Countdown conundrum, the two contestants – which included current “Octochamp” and No 1 seed Tony Manwani – were stumped when they were given 30 seconds to rearrange the letters “updateerr” into a nine-letter word.
The conundrum was then thrown open to the audience at Salford’s MediaCityUK by Countdown host Nick Hewer, with the correct answer being given by Mabel: “Departure.”
She said afterwards: “Within seconds of the conundrum popping up, I felt confident that the answer was ‘departure’, so when Nick turned to the audience, I shot my hand straight up to give him my answer.
“I’m thrilled that I beat the Octochamp. I’m living proof that age is nothing but a number and that you can do anything you put your mind to.
“I love challenging myself with quizzes and being on Countdown was the cherry on top for me.”
Countdown co-presenter Rachel Riley also congratulated Mabel on her success in a post to her 578,000 Twitter followers.
Mabel, who lives in Formby said: “My great-granddaughter was so excited to speak with me once she saw the episode. She was confused about how I got so small to fit in her television screen. My daughter was over the moon as well.
“I’ve become something of a local celebrity on my street, with my neighbours asking if they could have my autograph. It’s all in good humour!”
As is traditional, Mabel was rewarded with a Countdown mug for correctly working out the conundrum.