Middle class icon Myleene Klass turned the air blue in an episode of ‘Countdown’ when she spelled a rude word. The 37 year old former ‘One Show’ presenter is a guest this week on the show’s ‘Dictionary Corner’, and managed to form a crude – but rather impressive – word.

She told presenter Nick Hewer: “I’ve got a rude one”, before spelling out the eight letter word ‘gobs***e’ on Tuesday afternoon’s show, after the two contestants had only made the same seven letter word ‘ghosted’.

Myleene KlassMyleene Klass

To the surprise of many on the show, the word was in fact in the dictionary. ‘Countdown’s resident English language expert Susie Dent said the word was “chiefly Irish” and “vulgar slang”. Quite a surprise for many, who associate former Hear’Say singer Myleene with polite manners and demeanour.

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These things happen from time to time, as it’s bound to on a show where letters are selected randomly. Last year, Hairy Biker Dave Myers came up with the word ‘todgers’, much to the amusement of Hewer and assistant Rachel Riley.

Alarmingly, in 2010, the words U, D, F, C, K and E all came up in succession, to guffaws among the audience. Both contestants, however, avoided the temptation and came up with non-sweary words.

Riley was also left a bit embarrassed recently when the eight-letter word ‘erection’ was spelled out on the board behind her. She joked on Twitter at the time: “Sometimes these words just pop up unexpectedly...gotta love the day job!”

The Channel 4 show is something of a British institution, having launched at the same time as its parent network back in 1982. It is shown on weekdays at 2:10pm, and was presented for over 20 years by Richard Whiteley until his death in 2005. Since then, it has been presented by Des Lynam, Des O’Connor, Jeff Stelling and currently Nick Hewer.

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