Steph McGovern, 38, was surprised when she got one up on Countdown’s Susie Dent, 55, after she failed to recognise a word during a game of “word up” on her show Steph’s Packed Lunch. Susie looked stumped when Steph delivered the unique phrase that she revealed originated from Middlesborough.
“This is a Middlesborough phrase that I say, that no one understood when it happened to me,” the host giggled before reading aloud the statement.
“I fell off a tarzie into a beck – what happened to me?”
The camera panned onto a clueless Susie, who wasn’t too sure.
“I don’t know what a tarzie is!” she complained.
READ MORE: Gemma Atkinson addresses issue with working on Steph McGovern’s show
Recalling the moment, Susie remembered: “My boss said, ‘I think it would be a really good thing to do,’ and there were loads of us who rotated and it just wasn’t something I thought I wanted to do.
“You know me, Steph, I don’t like being above the radar, so I said no.”
Susie told Steph and her viewers what it took for her to change her mind.
“I was eventually persuaded, thank goodness because I love it,” she shared.
“Thank god Rula Lenska had big hair is all I can say, because I kept trying to hide behind it.”
Steph went on to ask: “What convinced you to do it in the end?”
The lexicographer responded: “He said to me it would be very good for my job.
“Oh, it was kind of a threat!” Steph remarked, before Susie agreed: “Yep, but I’m really glad that I did.”
Steph’s Packed Lunch continues weekdays at 12:30pm on Channel 4 followed by Countdown at 2.10pm.