The recording schedule is weird. I understood they moved from LeeRAB to Manchester in March, yet last week's finals were filmed in LeeRAB! Were the finals really three months ago?
I think they record 3 weeks' worth of Countdowns over a 3-day period. I went to a recording last week which will not be shown until mid-September, and they're now apparently off for a couple of months although the show is on continously on TV.
Nothing much seems to have changed on the set, except Rachel has a new hairstyle.