who is the 2009 Champion of Countdown

Marc Meakin · Post by **Marc Meakin** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 2:17 pm

After Chris Davies being announced as the 2009 champion on the CBB Countdown task it got me wondering what people think who should be called the 2009 champion
I vote for Chris, purely because the standard was that much higher in series 61.

Chris Davies · Post by **Chris Davies** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 2:19 pm

Both Kirk and I are 2009 champions of Countdown. The media only refers to me as THE 2009 champion because they don't know any better.

Marc Meakin · Post by **Marc Meakin** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 2:21 pm

Chris Davies wrote:Both Kirk and I are 2009 champions of Countdown. The media only refers to me as THE 2009 champion because they don't know any better.

Yeah I thought so too.
Did you enjoy the experience?(the CBB one I mean)

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 2:36 pm

What a bizarre poll...

Marc Meakin · Post by **Marc Meakin** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 2:41 pm

Charlie Reams wrote:What a bizarre poll...

Well I couldn't be bothered to start a triangular foods poll.
Plus it was a ruse to get Chris to post about his CBB experience and to piss Kirk off

Plus with RB going AWOL someone had to do it.

Howard Somerset · Post by **Howard Somerset** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 2:45 pm

As Chris said. Both are 2009 champions.

But it would be good if it were possible to stage a play-off between them. But even if one were to be played, that would not make the loser any less of a 2009 champion.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 2:46 pm

Marc Meakin wrote:
Charlie Reams wrote:What a bizarre poll...
Well I couldn't be bothered to start a triangular foods poll.

Are you implying there's something wrong with a triangular foods poll?

Jon Corby · Post by **Jon Corby** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 2:56 pm

Wait - Steve Briers is CoC king for 2009, surely that trumps both Chris and Kirk's relatively modest "achievements", if you can even call them that.

Marc Meakin · Post by **Marc Meakin** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 2:57 pm

Michael Wallace wrote:
Marc Meakin wrote:
Charlie Reams wrote:What a bizarre poll...
Well I couldn't be bothered to start a triangular foods poll.
Are you implying there's something wrong with a triangular foods poll?

Well you could start one to find out.

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 3:21 pm

Chris Davies wrote:Both Kirk and I are 2009 champions of Countdown. The media only refers to me as THE 2009 champion because they don't know any better.

Agreed, which is why I voted for "don't know". You can't have a playoff and declare the winner the 2009 champion because...well, we're both 2009 champions. I agree with Charlie - odd poll.

Martin Bishop · Post by **Martin Bishop** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 5:11 pm

This thing does pose the wider question of "why do we have two series a year?"

The general public expect to have a 2009 champion and it seems a bit odd to end one series in June and start the next the following Monday. Would it not be better to expand a series over a calendar year and have the top 16 seeds battling it out in the finals in December?

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 5:15 pm

Martin Bishop wrote:This thing does pose the wider question of "why do we have two series a year?"

The general public expect to have a 2009 champion and it seems a bit odd to end one series in June and start the next the following Monday. Would it not be better to expand a series over a calendar year and have the top 16 seeds battling it out in the finals in December?

Extending it for a whole year could cause problems. With such a long time scale, people could move on, (literally by moving countries or just forgetting about Countdown altogether and being shit in the finals) and indeed the audience won't remember certain names from 11 months ago as most struggle to remember people at the start of the series. Good thought though but I'm just trying to foresee problems.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 5:15 pm

Martin Bishop wrote:The general public expect to have a 2009 champion

Really?

Marc Meakin · Post by **Marc Meakin** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 5:20 pm

Maybe it could be added to the 2010 calender after the series 63 finals the winner plays the series 62 winner to give us an overall champion.
Why didn't someone think of this sooner

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 5:21 pm

Michael Wallace wrote:
Martin Bishop wrote:The general public expect to have a 2009 champion
Really?

Yeah, I agree with MW this is probably overestimating the importance of Countdown to the general public.
Still, I also agree with Martin that one champion is enough per year, so we should bloody well force one upon them whether they like it or not.
That said, I agree too with Kirk that it could cause issues.

In summary; keep debating. I'm sure it's something Damian has considered before, I reckon he'd have some pretty interesting answers as to why one-a-year isn't possible or ideal or clever at all.

Martin Bishop · Post by **Martin Bishop** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 5:27 pm

Michael Wallace wrote:
Martin Bishop wrote:The general public expect to have a 2009 champion
Really?

Ok, the general public who write scripts for Big Brother, expect a 2009 champion. The only comparable shows I can think of, Mastermind, The Krypton Factor and University Challenge, only have one series a year. Also, when I tell people about being on Countdown I say I was a 2008 semi-finalist, because I can't be bothered to say series 59 and then explain that this covers the second half of 2008.

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 5:28 pm

Matt Morrison wrote: In summary; keep debating. I'm sure it's something Damian has considered before, I reckon he'd have some pretty interesting answers as to why one-a-year isn't possible or ideal or clever at all.

The series schedule is set for them by Channel 4.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 5:31 pm

Oh oh. This is series-ous business!!!!!

David Williams · Post by **David Williams** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 6:06 pm

May be a little contrived, but you could have a series every three months, with the top four each series in a knock-out to determine the series champion. The four series champions would then meet to decide the champion for the year. And while a knock-out for four people is three matches, a mini-league would only be six.

Alec Rivers · Post by **Alec Rivers** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 6:15 pm

Why not call them Summer '09 champ and Winter '09 champ, or something. Not all competitions are annual: I used to play in an indoor 6-a-side league that had four seasons per calendar year – we were champs one year, but so were three other teams.

JimBentley · Post by **JimBentley** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 7:18 pm

Why not have a series every week, then have the two highest scoring contestants from that week play on the Friday to see who goes through to the end of the month finals, which would have the best four contestants from that month fighting it out to see who gets to play in the end of the quarter-year finals, then the best four players from the end of quarter-year finals could return at Christmas to play each other simultaneously or something to see who is really the champion of that particular year?

Or maybe leave things as they are.

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 7:25 pm

JimBentley wrote:Why not have a series every week, then have the two highest scoring contestants from that week play on the Friday to see who goes through to the end of the month finals, which would have the best four contestants from that month fighting it out to see who gets to play in the end of the quarter-year finals, then the best four players from the end of quarter-year finals could return at Christmas to play each other simultaneously or something to see who is really the champion of that particular year?

Or maybe leave things as they are.

Haha. This is such a Damian-esque reply. Love it.

Jojo Apollo · Post by **Jojo Apollo** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 8:19 pm

Who is the 2009 Champion?

There's only one way to find out... FIGHT!

Wouldn't it be great to see Kirk and Chris do a Harry Hill comedy sketch like this and put it up on youtube. Chris would be throwing Rubik's cubes at Kirk, who in turn would be throwing Maths equipment etc back at him. Ahem! Sorry got carried away there.

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 11:36 pm

Jojo Apollo wrote:Who is the 2009 Champion?

There's only one way to find out... FIGHT!

Wouldn't it be great to see Kirk and Chris do a Harry Hill comedy sketch like this and put it up on youtube. Chris would be throwing Rubik's cubes at Kirk, who in turn would be throwing Maths equipment etc back at him. Ahem! Sorry got carried away there.

More like darts. Maths equipment is for maths teachers....

Kevin Davis · Post by **Kevin Davis** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 12:17 am

JimBentley wrote:Why not have a series every week, then have the two highest scoring contestants from that week play on the Friday to see who goes through to the end of the month finals, which would have the best four contestants from that month fighting it out to see who gets to play in the end of the quarter-year finals, then the best four players from the end of quarter-year finals could return at Christmas to play each other simultaneously or something to see who is really the champion of that particular year?

I'm getting Going for Gold flashbacks.

Alec Rivers · Post by **Alec Rivers** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 3:05 am

Kirk Bevins wrote:
Jojo Apollo wrote:Who is the 2009 Champion?

There's only one way to find out... FIGHT!

Wouldn't it be great to see Kirk and Chris do a Harry Hill comedy sketch like this and put it up on youtube. Chris would be throwing Rubik's cubes at Kirk, who in turn would be throwing Maths equipment etc back at him. Ahem! Sorry got carried away there.
More like darts. Maths equipment is for maths teachers....

If you have darts, then Chris should wedge some razor blades in the cubes.

p.s. I think a Benny Hill sketch would be funnier. Harry Hill is a total tit; and about as funny as a paper-cut.

D Eadie · Post by **D Eadie** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 10:55 am

The Chris v Kirk play-off is a brilliant idea - i think i might ask them.

Marc Meakin · Post by **Marc Meakin** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 11:21 am

D Eadie wrote:The Chris v Kirk play-off is a brilliant idea - i think i might ask them.

Great, I hope it comes to fruition on one of your special shows.
If it proves popular, you could shoe horn a 2010 version at the end of the year.

Marc Meakin · Post by **Marc Meakin** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 11:23 am

Charlie Reams wrote:What a bizarre poll...

Maybe, but it sparked some interesting debate IMHO.

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 7:36 pm

This "play-off" between them - there will be another CofC presumably? Who cares if it isn't for champion of 2009? And the CofC might lose some of its edge if the players go in these silly other games.

D Eadie · Post by **D Eadie** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 12:17 am

Gavin Chipper wrote:This "play-off" between them - there will be another CofC presumably? Who cares if it isn't for champion of 2009? And the CofC might lose some of its edge if the players go in these silly other games.

Genius.

Lesley Hines · Post by **Lesley Hines** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 3:41 pm

Gavin Chipper wrote:This "play-off" between them - there will be another CofC presumably? Who cares if it isn't for champion of 2009? And the CofC might lose some of its edge if the players go in these silly other games.

You're right - in the same way that it doesn't really matter who wins the World Snooker Championship, because everyone knows that was really decided in an exhibition match, too.

Possibly not, then.

Jeff Clayton · Post by **Jeff Clayton** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 10:14 pm

JimBentley wrote:Why not have a series every week, then have the two highest scoring contestants from that week play on the Friday to see who goes through to the end of the month finals, which would have the best four contestants from that month fighting it out to see who gets to play in the end of the quarter-year finals, then the best four players from the end of quarter-year finals could return at Christmas to play each other simultaneously or something to see who is really the champion of that particular year?

Or maybe leave things as they are.

Sounds like Going For Gold! "First round", "first round proper" and all that...!

Jeff

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