Nervous Des counts down to debut

DES LYNAM confessed to being “a little bit nervous” when he hosted his first episode of Countdown yesterday.

The housewives' favourite paid respect to his predecessor Richard Whiteley on the Channel 4 show. Lynam, 63, told the audience: "I hope I'm not too much of a shock to you."

He said: "I've got a very difficult act to follow with dear Richard of course, much loved by you all, but I shall be doing my best.

"I'm a little bit nervous... I hope to get to know the rules in due course after about 300 programmes I'll crack it I'm sure."

Lynam, who will reportedly be paid around €885,000-a-year to front the teatime show, says it has been a "difficult time for Countdowners."

But the former Match of the Day presenter added: "We'll pay respect to Richard from time to time, I'm sure, as we go along, many times.

Carol, 44, introduced the episode with a "welcome back to Countdown".

She told viewers: "It's been a very long summer and we've missed you Countdowners and we know that you've missed us because you've told us in your tens of thousands letters. This is the first and only time I'll be saying 'hello and welcome' to you at the beginning of Countdown because we have a boy in the house... you might have seen him before, his name is Mr Des Lynam."

Whiteley, the show's anchorman since its inception in 1982, died in June after emergency surgery for a faulty heart valve at the age of 61.

Lynam is believed to have beaten competition from the comedian Paul Merton and TV presenter Noel Edmonds.