I saw an episode the other day and I can't see me bothering again.
My impression of the new bloke was that he was one of those charicatures of a 24 hour news presenter as appear on American films. You know the type - knows that nobody is watching or interested in anything they say, so can't be bothered to make any effort.
I then look back up this thread, and find a link to an article that tells me that that is, near as damn it, what he is. You might as well have had a boiled potato or a wet dish rag presenting.
As for the girl. She didn't make much impression. Smiled a lot and occasionally had the look of a bewildered rabbit. The contestants both got all the sums right, so she didn't need to demonstrate ant maths ability, so I cannot comment there.
All in all, there was absolutely no interplay between the presenters. No sense of that cosy atmosphere created by Richard Whitely where it wasn't elitist to have a love for words and numbers, it was challenging but fun. You could respect the talent of the contestants but still be flippant and share jokes with the audience. There was nothing of that about the new programme.
I am sure that somewhere, Richard Whitely is composing (or decomposing) some puns based on graves and rotation...
R.I.P Countdown.
Quack!
GtD.