Rachel Riley red-faced as Countdown board spells out rude word thanks to Susie Dent

Channel 4’s long-running game show Countdown has been on screens since 1982, and throughout the years, some rude words have appeared on the board.

During Tuesday’s (January 14) episode, co-presenter Rachel Riley looked sheepish as a racy word popped up during the Dictionary Corner segment.

Contestants Joe and Suzanne were tasked with revealing the longest words and/or any unusual ones from the available letters.

As the iconic timer counted down from 30 seconds, both players shared that they were only able to come up with four words.

Joe came up with “alas,” while Suzanne finished with “loos, “ as host Nicky Champman admitted it was “tough, really tough.”

Looking at her co-star Susie Dent, Nicky unveiled: “Suzie came up with arousal for seven.”

Colin Anderson, who replaced Anne Robinson as the host in 2023, was stunned by their entry while Rachel used the awkward moment to spell it out on the board.

After exclaiming: “Wow,” Colin remarked: “Sensational, well done Suzie, well done,” as she received a round of applause from the audience.

The camera then panned to Rachel, 39, who had spelled out “Arousal,” on the board, and was red-faced as she looked at her co-stars awkwardly in the process.

This comes after Countdown’s Octochamp Jen Steadman confirmed that some rude words have been banned from the show.

As one of the strongest-ever contestants, he is best known for winning all eight of their heat games.

She previously told Metro: “The Scrabble and Countdown dictionaries are totally different, which is really annoying.

“It means lots of words aren’t valid in one but are valid in another.”