Countdown Australia

Countdown Australia is an Australian game show involving word and number tasks. It is broadcast on Best One. 1 series have been broadcast since its debut on 30 March 2020.

A celebrity guest features in every programme (usually for five consecutive programmes) and provides an anecdote midway between the two advertisement breaks. The two contestants in each episode compete in three disciplines: ten letters rounds, in which the contestants attempt to make the longest word possible from nine randomly chosen letters; four numbers rounds, in which the contestants must use arithmetic to reach a random target number from six other numbers; and the conundrum, a buzzer round in which the contestants compete to solve a nine-letter anagram. During the series heats, the winning contestant returns the next day until they either lose or retire with eight wins as an undefeated "Octochamp". The best eight contestants are invited back for the series finals, which are decided in knockout format.

History
Countdown Australia is based on the French game show Des chiffres et des lettres (Numbers and Letters), created by Armand Jammot. The format was brought to Australia by The EAS Mapper (again, Letters and Numbers was a show on SBS between 2010 and 2012), who had watched the British show. He brought it to Australia, and SBS sued Best Television. The CEO said that this was a ‘friendly reintroduction to L&N.’ The judge was with Best Television, and Letters and Numbers wasn’t ordered to shut down.