List of Countdown octochamps

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This is a list of octochamps on the game show Countdown. Countdown features two contestants every day, and the winner of each day's game returns for the next programme. To avoid a situation where an exceptional contestant wins for many weeks in a row, if a player wins eight games they are declared an "octochamp" and retire until the series finals. The term "octochamp" is derived from octo-, meaning 'eight', and a shortened form of the word 'champion'.

Games in the first 45 series of Countdown, from November 1982 to September 2001, were nine rounds in length and thereafter this was increased to 15 rounds. All but two of the series lasted approximately six months; Series 45 lasted only three months but retained the octochamp system. Series 46 was only three months in length, but in this series contestants could only win six consecutive heat games before retiring. Players who achieved this were called "viscount"s, a pun on the European title of nobility 'viscount', which was derived from the Roman numerals for six 'VI' and an abbreviation of the programme title.

There were 55 octochamps across the 45 series of Countdown with games fought over nine rounds. Series 46 featured 5 Viscounts, and there have been 50 octochamps since the start of Series 47 and the fifteen round era, making an overall total of 110 contestants who won the maximum number of heat games allowed.

Statistics in the following table are applicable only to players' games in the heat stage of the series.

Nine round era octochamps
Name Number of wins Points total Series Year
William Bradford 8 399 3 1983
Mark Nyman 8 427 3 1983
John Wallace 8 404 4 1984
Darryl Francis 8 436 5 1985
Clive Freedman 9[1] 473 6/7 1985
David Trace 8 423 9 1986
Harvey Freeman 8 523 10 1986
John Marsh 8 479[2] 12 1987
Nic Brown 8 459 14 1987
John Hadfield 8 429 14 1987
Stephen Deakin 8 433 14 1987
Allan Saldanha 8 490 15 1988
Dick Green 8 463 15 1988
Steve Williams 8 412 16 1988
Tom Morrissey 8 533[2] 17 1989
Lawrence Pearce 8 438 17 1989
Jonathan Anstey 8 540[2] 18 1989
Richard Evans 8 433 18 1989
Linsay Denyer 8 386 19 1990
Derek Coombs 8 462 20 1990
Lew Schwarz 8 547[3] 21 1991
Chris Waddington 8 463 22 1991
Phil Jordan 8 425 23 1992
Gareth Williams 8 436 23 1992
Norman Christian 8 454 24 1992
James Sinclair 8 395 25 1993
Don Reid 8 487 25 1993
Richard Campbell 8 500 27 1994
Sharon Bridge 8 455 27/8 1994
Suzanne Miles 8 465 28 1994
Anthony Jenkin 8 459 31 1996
David Acton 8 486 31 1996
Satbir Gupta 8 462 32 1996
James Martin 8 462 34 1997
Natasha Kearsey 8 413 35 1997
Dag Griffiths 8 453 35 1997
Maria Boyes 8 439 36 1997
Bhavin Manek 8 448 36 1997
Ray McPhie 8 416 37 1997
Kate Ogilvie 8 413 39 1998
Terry Knowles 8 502 39 1998
Glynn Leaney 8 405 39/40 1998
Peter Hutchings 8 422 40 1999
Scott Mearns 8 510 41 1999
Simon Cooper 8 482 41 1999
Sanjay Mazumder 8 479 41 1999
Lucy Roberts 8 504 41 1999
Margaret Foster 8 448 41 1999
Melvin Hetherington 8 478 41 1999
Michael Calder 8 442 42 2000
David Ballheimer 8 474 42 2000
Terrence O'Farrell 8 435 42 2000
Graham Nash 8 465 43 2000
David Williams 8 535 43 2000
Kevin McMahon 8 498 44 2000
Viscounts
Ian McMenzie 6 511 46 2001
Phil Wass 6 570 46 2001
Ben Wilson 6 570 46 2001
Loz Sands 6 569 46 2001
Paul Ryan 6 549 46 2001
Fifteen round era octochamps
Tom Hargreaves 8 850 47 2001
Chris Wills 8 875 47 2001
Kevin Thurlow 8 769 47 2002
Lee Hartley 8 811 47 2002
Brenda Jolley 8 718 47 2002
Rupert Stokoe 8 776 47 2002
Wendy Roe 8 781 47 2002
Mike Pullin 8 756 47 2002
Julia Wilkinson 8 744 47/8 2002
Grace Page 8 829 48 2002
Danny Hamilton 8 761 48 2002
Julian Fell 8 924 48 2002
George Greenhough 8 817 48 2002
Joe Zubaidi 8 665 48 2002
John Davies 8 766 49 2003
Martin Gardner 8 746 49 2003
Chris Cummins 8 858 50 2003
Jim Bentley 8 756 50 2003
Stuart Solomons 8 796 50 2003
Stuart Earl 8 807 50 2003
Richard Pay 8 732 51 2004
Stewart Holden 8 870 51 2004
Gary Male 8 750 51 2004
Nick Von Uexkull 8 749 51 2004
Sweyn Kirkness 8 765 51 2004
David Thirlwall 8 704 51 2004
Jack Welsby 8 831 52 2004
Paul Gallen 8 846 52 2004
John Gray 8 757 52 2004
John Hunt 8 778 52 2004
Steven Moir 8 763 52 2004
Mark Tournoff 8 809 52 2004
Judith Young 8 707 53 2005
John Mayhew 8 811 53 2005
Jon O'Neill 8 804 53 2005
Ross Allatt 8 741 53 2005
Judith Young 8 707 53 2005
John Brackstone 8 822 53 2005
Judith Young 8 707 53 2005
Richard Heald 8 795 53 2005
Conor Travers 8 890 54 2006
Keith Maynard 8 785 54 2006
Michael Bowden 8 739 54 2006
Paul Howe 8 815 54 2006
Matthew Shore 8 850 54 2006
Jon Corby 8 856 54 2006
Tony Warren 8 712 55 2006
Richard Brittain 8 820 55 2006
Stu Horsey 8 732 55 2006
Steven Briers 8 843 55 2006
Amey Deshpande 8 718 56 2007

The top ten total point scores for the eight heat games are:

Nine round era
Position Name Points total Series Year
1 David Williams 535 43 2000
2 Harvey Freeman 523 10 1986
3 Scott Mearns 510 41 1999
4 Lucy Roberts 504 41 1999
5 Terry Knowles 502 39 1998
6 Richard Campbell 500 27 1994
7 Kevin McMahon 498 44 2000
8 Allan Saldanha 490 15 1988
9 Don Reid 487 25 1993
10 David Acton 486 31 1996
Fifteen round era
1 Julian Fell 924 48 2002
2 Conor Travers 890 54 2006
3 Chris Wills 875 47 2002
4 Stewart Holden 870 51 2004
5 Chris Cummins 858 50 2003
6 Jon Corby 856 54 2006
7 Tom Hargreaves 850 47 2001
8 Matthew Shore 850 54 2006
9 Paul Gallen 846 52 2004
10 Steven Briers 843 55 2006

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Freedman played one game at the very end of the heats in Series 6 and then won the first eight games of Series 7, giving him nine wins. After Series 7, wins from one series to another were aggregated.
  2. ^ a b c This total includes points from a drawn game. In earlier series, games which ended in a tie would be replayed with the same contestants the next day, whereas now extra conundrums (the final round of the game) are used to decide a winner.
  3. ^ This total includes points from two drawn games.

[edit] References

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