Chris Wills
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Chris Wills (born on 17 February 1978) is a Champion of the British game show Countdown and a veteran of numerous other shows.
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[edit] Countdown
Chris first appeared on 14 January 2002, and quickly won eight consecutive games, scoring 875 points to make him the runaway number one seed for the series finals. In his fourth game, he scored 129 points beating the 15-round record by eight points. He continued to score seven centuries in his first seven games, but narrowly failed to achieve a clean sweep of centuries as he scored 92 in his eighth game.
He beat two lower seeded players in the quarter and semi-finals before facing sixteen year old wonder-kid Tom Hargreaves in the final.
Tom however seemed the more nervous of the two and Chris found himself with a 33 point lead going into the conundrum ENDVICTOR. He used only 1.75 seconds to find CONTRIVED and was declared the Series winner with a mighty score of 110 points.
[edit] Champion of Champions
Six months later he returned for the 9th Champion of Champions Tournament as one of the hot favourites, behind only Julian Fell who had broken his record score of 129.
In his first round match he faced David Williams. The game was tight until Chris spotted GUNSMITH in the ninth round. This lead didn't last long as David spotted UNTOLD a few rounds later. Chris was behind for the first time in his twelve game career when David got the numbers game right and Chris didn't. We were all set for a crucial conundrum with both players already having a hundred points with one round remaining. It was Chris who spotted the right answer ETERNALLY in just over a second and moved on to the second round.
In his next game he faced Loz Sands. Although it was a high quality game, it never reached the heights of his previous match and he was an easy winner, 98-69.
In the semi-final, he faced another Series Champion John Rawnsley. Again, the game was of a very high standard but John slowly fell away until it was Chris with a 42 point lead going into the last round. John salvaged some pride by getting the conundrum, but Chris was a strong winner 120-88.
In the final he would face Graham Nash, winner of the Series 43 of Countdown. Both players had won 14 games out of 14, but only one of them would retire unbeaten and win the Champion Of Champions event.
The game was close but not of a great standard. There were many difficult letters and numbers selections that made it difficult for the players to score points. After 7 rounds, it was 36 points each until Chris had MISTLE disallowed. Graham took the lead with METALS. This six point lead remained until the final round - but Chris could win the game by solving the crucial conundrum.
The now infamous OVERSPADE conundrum was revealed, and the clock ticked away and neither contestant could solve it. The second board turned over to reveal EAVESDROP but it didn't matter. Graham had beaten Chris and he was crown Champion of Champions.
However since Chris was one of the first champions of the 15 round era, he currently holds the record for the most points scored in a career - 1709
[edit] Other TV appearances
Chris has made appearances on many other game shows, including 15-to-1, Brainteaser and Mastermind. In 2006 he appeared on the Weakest Link, and came away with £2,540.
A Kentish lad by birth and upbringing, he moved to Leeds, West Yorkshire in 2003, where he still lives. He has made multiple visits to the Edinburgh Countdown Club and has thrice won the Countdown in Lincoln (COLIN) tournament organised by fellow former series champion Ben Wilson. In July 2006, Chris added to his COLIN success with victory at the Countdown in Bristol (CO-BRIS) tournament organised by another pair of former contestants, Jerry Humphreys and Daniel Peake. In July 2007, he retained his CO-BRIS title with 5 wins from 5, defeating Conor Travers on a Crucial Conundrum 62-52.
