The hunt to find a replacement for Countdown's Carol Vorderman has begun.

The legendary host, who said she was told to take a 90 per cent pay cut to stay on the game show, leaves at the end of this year.

The departure of hosts Vorderman and Des O'Connor, who is also leaving, will be marked with a special show.

Channel 4 head of daytime Helen Warner said: "We realise that Carol's shoes are extremely difficult ones to fill, as she has done such an amazing job on Countdown over the past 25 years.

"However, just as we found Carol through an ad in a local paper, we really hope we can do the same again and find another outstanding mathematical mastermind.

"We know many Countdown viewers have great heads for numbers, so we are looking forward to seeing how talented they really are."

Countdown was the first programme seen on Channel 4 and nearly 5,000 episodes of the show have been filmed.

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