Four-year-old prodigy Acer Gibson solves Countdown puzzles in seconds, eyes Rachel Riley's job
Video of a preschooler beating contestants from his living room goes viral, drawing attention from Countdown host and potential future champion.
A four-year-old boy from Shepshed, near Loughborough, is generating buzz after solving Countdown puzzles in seconds as he watches the Channel 4 show from home.
Video of Acer Gibson’s rapid performances was filmed by his father, Liam Gibson, 36, and has drawn more than 30 million views online. In the footage, host Rachel Riley draws the numbers and Acer repeats the numbers aloud, reaching the target of 622 and finishing before the clock chimed. After the video circulated, Riley reached out to the family with a special challenge for Acer. 'Actually I want to do the numbers on the Countdown show. Yeah, I want Rachel Riley’s job.'
Liam Gibson said Acer’s talent appeared early. By age one he could count from one to ten and back; by age two he could recite his parents’ phone numbers. The family started teaching him times tables with toy vegetables, moving from simple additions to more complex problems. By age three Acer was writing down the square root of numbers such as 196.
Gibson, who dropped out of school at 16 to earn a living making bricks, said he wanted to give Acer a head start before he starts school. He told The Sunday Times that the early practice began with counting and basic arithmetic, and he kept encouraging his son as he grew more confident.
Riley, the Countdown host who oversees the show's puzzles, has acknowledged the emerging precocity. The Sunday Times quoted her saying she may have to watch her back in a few years.
Two weeks before the viral clip surfaced, Gibson said he first spotted Acer solving numbers on the TV and decided to film it. The viral clip shows Acer listing the numbers as they are drawn, then solving a sequence of sums and arriving at the 622 target before the clock chimes. His beaming father can be heard congratulating him and telling him to clap.
Countdown Octochamp Jase Cullen, who has eight heats and is invited back for the finals, contacted the family and said Acer could be a future champion, offering age-appropriate tips for the letters game.
The video’s rapid uptake and the attention from Riley and Cullen illustrate the lasting appeal of Countdown and other classic game shows in the digital age.