PUZZLING PERFECTION

"Sad old bird, they've been in the box for years," says Carol, who was on Countdown from 1982 until 2008, with a laugh.

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"But there’s something about [only needing] a pack of cards or some chess pieces or drafts and you can while away the hours, because there's something in the brain that gets great joy from that level of concentration.

"You make it social and if you're playing cards, you can add in 10p to up those stakes. But it’s very, very different to Trivial Pursuit, where you've got to know the answer.”

Having to pluck the correct answer from memory, rather than work it out, thoroughly irritates her.

"I don’t find that interesting, but I find chess and Sudoku interesting because that's how my brain works," Carol notes.

"Celebrity Puzzling has got all of it all together in the right proportions. It is puzzling. It’s a little bit of general knowledge, not too much.”