Welsh presenter Owain Wyn Evans has responded to rumours that he is set to be the new host of Channel 4's Countdown. Anne Robinson announced she'd be leaving the popular gameshow in May and Owain's name has been floated around as a potential replacement.
Talking to WalesOnline about his recent television appearances, Owain said when asked about hosting Countdown: "As far as Countdown is concerned, I don't know if my maths skills are up there. I'll have to speak to Vorders about that because she's the Queen of Countdown," he said, referring to Carol Vorderman, who was the maths expert on Countdown for 26 years alongside then-presenter Richard Whiteley.
Carol, who herself has recently been at a spa retreat in Portugal, is good friends with Owain and the pair regularly present together on BBC Radio Wales. Owain, who came to national prominence following his popular drumming videos and subsequent 'drumathon', continued: "Listen, I reckon any opportunity that is presented to you, you just need to take it so who knows?" before saying, "If I get on Countdown though, I'll be very surprised."
During the interview, Owain also discussed his new BBC Wales series, Wales' Home of the Year. He revealed: "When I was asked to present [the] show, I immediately fell in love with the idea."
During the six-part series, Owain and two other judges visit five regions of the country; Mid Wales, the North East, North West, South East, and South West. They explore a range of properties from terraced houses to bungalows, castles, country cottages, and everything in between. Each property is then marked out of 10, based on design, interior, and the sense of home each property displays. Each regional winner goes through to the final to compete to be named Wales' Home of the Year.
Owain continued: "It's an opportunity to look at some of the most incredible homes that are in Wales but also, the unexpected is what I love about this show. A lot of the time over the years, you think of a property programme and always expect it to contain these huge million pound houses that are going to be out of your reach financially, but what I love about [Wales' Home of the Year] is we have all sorts of homes in there."
Earlier in the year, Owain took part in BBC One series Freeze the Fear, which saw him use 'Iceman' Wim Hof's cold water techniques. For the presenter, 38, the things that he learnt on the show have still proved useful today. He said: "Everyday on that show, I woke up and thought 'Is today the day that I die?' The stunts were scary, I'm terrified of cold water and I'm not a massive fan of heights to be honest and we were either being plunged into ice or thrown off tall things.
"In being there with Wim and getting to know him, I learnt that the cold is something that can be used to help manage my anxiety because my anxiety has come in peaks and troughs over the years and it's always there." He described how he still uses the techniques from the show and would encourage other people to give it a try.
But what's next for Owain? He said: "Wales' Home of the Year is going out now, which is just lovely. I'm doing a new series for CBBC at the moment, which will be announced soon. I guess just watch this space, there's more drumming coming up. I'm just having a great time."
Wales' Home of the Year continues on Friday, August 19 at 7:30pm on BBC One Wales
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