Owner’s Threat to Take Show Off the Air

By Carol Vorderman

THE future of Channel 4 show Countdown has been thrown into doubt as the businessman who owns the rights to the quiz has threatened to pull the plug.

Over the weekend presenter Carol Vorderman claimed she quit because she was told to take or leave a 90% pay cut.

Now Belgian businessman Marcel Stellman, who owns the show’s rights, threatened to pull the plug in response to the show’s treatment of the veteran presenter.

He said: “I control the format and without the format there is no show. I am upset for Carol, more than that, this is a person I have known for 26 years who started Countdown.

“If I am Mr Countdown, she is Mrs Countdown. She is delightful and loyal and cannot be treated in any other way than respect.

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