I'm the other guy (David von Geyer). He did press the buzzer before the letters were revealed - I thought he was nervous and had pressed it by accident. I asked afterwards and the operation is done by a lever so by the time it was pulled the letters would inevitably be revealed - had it been electronic he would have had an empty rack and would have had to guess what the word was.
Indeed. The props guy spins the conundrum after the "Please now reveal today's Countdown Conundrum". Sometimes though, the conundrum is shown before the clock starts, while other time the clock has nearly lit before the conundrum is shown. If everything was to be digitised, however, including the letters and clock, it just wouldn't be the same.
Haha, if I tried my luck on Countdown today I'd probably be roundly thumped by a genius student. I had the word fundable disallowed, it's made it into the OED since then. Had it been allowed I would have won before the conundrum. If anyone is interested in what I'm up to these days I run a campaign called HEY UK. HEY stands for Had Enough Yet and its aim is to build cross political consensus to change the political system. Civilised revolution. This is a link to a video I did in February, I'm working on some new ones ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pDIMD924W30.html
@@vongeyer Good luck with your project. I’m no UK citizen, but I will chime in on the Countdown. While it may very well be considered cheating buzzing in early like this, and it should be disallowed or electronically completely done impossible like by making the reveal just stop electronically. - That said, he did still get it basically instantly it showed. Do you think/did you do the same? Oh and considering I’m a non-UK citizen is there still anything at all that could be done to show support for your campaign? I’m no Brit but I have great love for Britain and corona times aside have often been around England and am fairly affiliated with the great british kingdom :)
@@casperes0912 thanks mate. A couple of shows before, the conundrum was marquetry, interestingly, since series 57 Countdown hasn't had any obviously autistic contestants. The Had Enough Yet? campaign will launch soon, there's a social media website that is being adapted to work as an app on Apple and Android www.heyuk.org.uk
Well it’s not “all”. He spammed the button sure, but he also got the bloody word basically as soon as it was revealed. Cheating, sure, but impressive, yes as well
@@BarryBeatmaster Exactly the type of behaviour he would indulge in. He came to Oxford for a visit and was thrown out of Blackwell's bookshops and Waterstones. He has not been back since, for which I am truly thankful.
My god. I remember watching this with a mate on the day of broadcast. We assumed, instantly, that this guy was "at it" because it was clear that he'd buzzed before the reveal. Get that kind of behaviour in the sea.
That speculative method of conundrum solving (many would argue it's a type of cheating) has now become known as "Hansfording" in the world of Apterous and Countdown nerdery. Jeffrey's legacy lives on...
@TheSmithersy It's dubious behaviour. Not exactly cheating, but getting very near. Countdown is a fun parlour-game. Hansford turned it into a nerd-fest.
I was there at the final and he pretended he knew the answers to the numbers game and then screwed up his paper, insulted the floor manager using f-words and basically trying to cheat his way to victory. Oh well, who cares.
He hasn't come back on the programme. For which I am truly thankful. I have Asperger Syndrome myself, but there is no way I would cheat, That's dishonest.
Fastest conundrum solve on Countdown ever - he blurted the answer before the letters had even finished the split second drop! Amazing - especially when one considers how recondite the solution/word is.
I love the way he looks around afterwards. I cannot see how he would have got this though unless he either cheated or, with all respect had a condition which sort of helped him... Does anyone know how he did it? =S Fezz.
Ive got the old Asparagus Syndrome and even I would'nt know what Parquetry was if it had'nt have come up on Countdown. i think what our man Handsford could be up to is taking advantage of the situation which is buzzing in (therefore locking your oppoant out) and assuming he'll know the answer in that split second of pressing the buzzer and having to declare. it's not for the faint hearted, Im sure
...and a cheat. I heard he was up to all sorts on the days of filming. I think you can't really hold it against him as he seems to lack self-awareness.
He pressed the buzzer before the conundrum dropped, you can hear him press it before pressing it again when the conundrum became active. I seem to remember this tactic led to his downfall. He pulled it off once or twice but then came unstuck eventually when he pressed and then stuttered the wrong answer while working it out in that 1-2 second gap - he had been caught out, though I wouldn't consider it cheating.
He was nearly disqualified. He has not been allowed back on, for which I am truly thankful. The thing is, since his appalling cheating, and yes, it was cheating, I am too frightened to apply for the programme. Nothing anyone says will make me change my mind. Jeffrey Hansford ruined Countdown for me. My only consolation is that he did not win the series. And it is a small consolation.
Jeffrey was a pure cheat biy. ow vow he pressed the button before he even saw the letters and that's cheating! He's even sneakier than Repo Man! LAR SPLIT ME BIY.
