“When I won an episode of Countdown and I got the teapot, that was like my Champions League – seriously, it’s a cherished memory” Clarke Carlisle explains how he bypassed the audition process to make it as a contestant on the legendary game show
During his 19-season career as a professional footballer, Clarke Carlise established himself as an imposing centre-back and set-piece threat for the likes of QPR, Leeds United and Burnley.
But the Preston-born defender wasn’t just defined by what he did on the football pitch, as he soon became known for his academic interests off it.
This included a 2002 quiz show victory where he was declared ‘Britain’s Brainiest Footballer’, which was followed eight years later by a three-episode run on Channel 4’s Countdown.
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Calrke Carlisle on his Countdown appearance
Carlisle’s first appearance as a TV quiz star came about during an otherwise frustrating spell on the sidelines, which saw him appear pip Alan Brazil to the title of ‘Britain’s Brainiest Footballer’.
“So I did when I was in that two year lay-off with my knee injury,” Carlisle recalls to FourFourTwo. “I went back to college, did some A-levels, and then this flyer came round to the training ground.
“I thought, ‘Yeah, I’ll have a bit of that – could be a bit of fun’. And I ended up winning it.”
Carlisle’s quizzing toook something of a back seat after his recovery from injury, as he established himself in QPR’s team, before moves to Leeds United, Watford, Luton Town and Burnley, before the bright lights of the TV studio came calling again as he looked to scratch an itch that had remained with him since that original lay-off.
“It was also in that period that I was off for two years that I applied to go on Countdown,” he continues. “I did the audition at King’s Cross, and I failed miserably. It was so different from what I’d expected.
“It’s like a boring classroom in an office and someone at the front just reads out the letters. I’m like, ‘This isn’t Countdown, guys! Where’s the big clock?’
“I relayed that story on TalkSport when we got promoted with Burnley and Damien Eadie was there. He was a producer on TalkSport and he also did Countdown. After the show he said, ‘Clarke, are you serious? Do you really want to go on Countdown?’
“I was like, ‘Yeah, please, dead serious!’ So – talk about privilege – I bypassed the audition, and he just put me straight in as a contestant.
“This was me fulfilling a lifelong dream. I remember being a kid coming home from school, sitting on my dad’s knee and watching Richard Whiteley and Carol Vorderman and trying to impress my dad by making the biggest words and getting these sums right.
“So when I won an episode and I got the teapot, that was like my Champions League. Seriously, it’s a cherished memory.”
