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
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ This total includes points from two drawn games.
[edit] References
- The Countdown Page details of every octochamp and viscount - URL retrieved 04/11/06.
- The Countdown Corral octochamp statistics for the 15 round era - URL retrieved 04/11/06.
