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Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 1:51 pm
by Thomas Carey
It was only fitting that the two most chantable-at players made the final. (Also, I totally called this one).

If you follow Zarte on Twitter, you might have seen that none of the last three CoC winners won their series. Can ZARTE SIEMPRE put an end to this nonsense? Having run over a bunch of random kids on his way to the final (I'm pretty sure his four opponents are the four youngest in the competition), he now has to take on someone who'll be looking to beat another strong series winner after yesterday's 1 point defeat of Tom CC. BRADLEY HORROCKS is still here and still going for the, uh, whatever you get for winning the CoC. He'll be the underdog here, but that didn't stop him yesterday. Will he get yet another second place just like COLIN, or will he finally manage to win something? Who knows. Zarte probably. I'm not really sure how to hype this thing up to be honest, what a CoC it's been. Look at how Zarte walloped me, how Bradley beat that other Tom.

I'm sure someone else will write something. Let's goooooooh Damian's got big bgkfufihkdudufkfhxhd

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 1:59 pm
by Tom S
Thomas Carey wrote: ↑Tue Jan 22, 2019 1:51 pm It was only fitting that the two most chantable-at players made the final. (Also, I totally called this one).

If you follow Zarte on Twitter, you might have seen that none of the last three CoC winners won their series. Can ZARTE SIEMPRE put an end to this nonsense? Having run over a bunch of random kids on his way to the final (I'm pretty sure his four opponents are the four youngest in the competition), he now has to take on someone who'll be looking to beat another strong series winner after yesterday's 1 point defeat of Tom CC. BRADLEY HORROCKS is still here and still going for the, uh, whatever you get for winning the CoC. He'll be the underdog here, but that didn't stop him yesterday. Will he get yet another second place just like COLIN, or will he finally manage to win something? Who knows. Zarte probably. I'm not really sure how to hype this thing up to be honest, what a CoC it's been. Look at how Zarte walloped me, how Bradley beat that other Tom.

I'm sure someone else will write something. Let's goooooooh Damian's got big bgkfufihkdudufkfhxhd
I'd guess that John Cowen is younger than Paul, but may be wrong..... :)

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 2:01 pm
by Bradley Horrocks
John Cowen must be younger than Paul? But yeah, probably the lowest average age of opponents in a CoC or something. Anyway, bring on the final!

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 2:06 pm
by Rhys Benjamin
Surprisingly, only Tom Carey predicted a Zarte/Bradley final.

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 2:48 pm
by Peter Mabey
ALGORIST to beat TAILORS

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 3:03 pm
by Rhys Benjamin
Well my performance at home fell apart in the second half of that, having actually maxed the first half...

Would not have got that conundrum in a week, so well done to Zarte. It's also matching Conor's record of 20 wins on-screen now, although Zarte did have two bites at the cherry in getting to the finals. Zarte is also the first grand slam winner (Xicount + COC) in 15 years since Graham Nash unexpectedly won COC11 in 2003, as well.

I had doubts before the CoC about whether Zarte, if he won as I expected him to, should be considered on the level of Conor with 20 wins and up there with the names such as Graham Nash, Scott Mearns, and Harvey Freeman. I think he's answered all those questions about whether he is an all-time great or not with some good rounds, good games, the 150, and some conundrum spots like today's. There's a new name in the Countdown hall of fame.

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 4:10 pm
by Jojo Apollo
Superb performance by Zarte once again, an all time great no doubt about it, extremely strong in all disciplines. :) Great performance also by Bradley to be series runner-up. 8-)

Well done Team Countdown on bringing all these top guns together for a magnificent shoot-out series. Hopefully it's not too long before we see more of these. :D

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 4:16 pm
by Ryan Lam
Finally, at last after 20 days, we are here, the 15th Championship of Champions Final! I incorrectly predicted Tom would be here but I did correctly predict Zarte would win his second rematch with Philip to be here today. So, we have Bradley instead, the Series 78 Grand Champion vs the Series 77 Runner-up!

Top of the Final with HEDARIM, wow! :D and then both were tied all the way for the next six rounds. I have to say Jon Culshaw has been really attentive this whole week with him noting down all the brilliant words the contestants have spotted over this whole CoC, coming up with that song is not easy! Excellent spotting of FUBSIER came shortly after! Then came R9 and the 3 Large combination; what's this, oh no Bradley!! :( (Btw, I do apologise here once again for what I said in the daily chat, if I had expected this to come out I would've shut my mouth...) That's a huge blow...and with the invalid declaration in R13 it was over, Zarte is the 15th Champion of Champions! But, let's see if he can finish off spectacularly with the (most likely difficult) conundrum, and YES, he's got it with BONHOMOUS!! What a brilliant way to end!!! :)

Oh Bradley, what can I say, you fought very hard here but knowing that Zarte is the highest Xicount of the new 15-round format, you tried to keep up pace with him but in the end, he broke away. Nevertheless, to come all the way to the Championship Final is a dream come true for you, even beating your former opponent in the process. Well done and there's absolutely no shame in being the Runner-Up of CoCXV! Hope to see you around on Apterous when I'm on too!
Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑Tue Jan 22, 2019 3:03 pm I had doubts before the CoC about whether Zarte, if he won as I expected him to, should be considered on the level of Conor with 20 wins and up there with the names such as Graham Nash, Scott Mearns, and Harvey Freeman. I think he's answered all those questions about whether he is an all-time great or not with some good rounds, good games, the 150, and some conundrum spots like today's. There's a new name in the Countdown hall of fame.
Zarte, YOU DID IT!! Congratulations on being the 15th Championship of Champions and being the first Series Winner to take home that coveted prize in a long, long while. Grand Slam Winner, you absolutely deserve my utmost respect! :) Indeed as Rhys put it nicely, you're definitely going into the Countdown hall of fame. Setting the highest score ever recorded in history and getting over a century in each and every of your games! I've definitely enjoyed all your games, both in here and that of last year's one but more importantly, you taught me humility, showing grace to your defeated opponents and I'd never have thought records would be broken here in this very CoC, in that very studio. you can proudly add that to your list of Achievements made in the Countdown world and all the best for your stand-up comedy, hopefully one day you'll make a breakthrough and the rest will be History. (Well, other than here of course) Kudos to Jon for introducing you as the NEW Champion of Champions!!

That's an official wrap to the 15th Championship of Champions! We're back with Series 80 from tomorrow and with Brendan Whitehurst, it's been fun! I guess the last thing for me to say to all the 16 contestants is that you're all Champions in my eyes and continue to have that passion that is Countdown, and thank you for giving all the viewers at home wonderful battles that will be remembered for many years to come. :)

Progress:
Preliminary #1 (02 January): Jonathan Wynn (Series 73 Grand Champion) vs Phil Davies (Series 78 Semi-Finalist) (103 - 68)
Preliminary #2 (03 January): Ann Dibben (Series 74 Runner-Up) vs John Cowen (Series 77 Semi-Finalist) (94 - 97)
Preliminary #3 (04 January): Matthew Tassier (Series 73 Runner-Up) vs Dougie Mackay (Series 78 Semi-Finalist) (96 - 78)
Preliminary #4 (07 January): Thomas Carey (Series 73 Semi-Finalist) vs Stephen Read (Series 76 Grand Champion) (106 - 87)
Preliminary #5 (08 January): Paul Erdunast (Series 74 Grand Champion) vs Zarte Siempre (Series 78 Grand Champion) (105 - 113)
Preliminary #6 (09 January): Tom Chafer-Cook (Series 77 Grand Champion) vs Martin Hurst (Series 75 Grand Champion) (129 - 89)
Preliminary #7 (10 January): Bradley Horrocks (Series 77 Runner-Up) vs Andrew Macleod (Series 75 Runner-Up) (128 - 104)
Preliminary #8 (11 January): Philip Aston (Series 78 Runner-Up) vs Noel McIlvenny (Series 77 Semi-Finalist) (103 - 89)
Quarter-Finals #1 (14 January): Jonathan Wynn (Preliminary #1 Winner) vs Philip Aston (Preliminary #8 Winner) (92 - 110)
Quarter-Finals #2 (15 January): John Cowen (Preliminary #2 Winner) vs Bradley Horrocks (Preliminary #7 Winner) (96 - 99)
Quarter-Finals #3 (16 January): Matthew Tassier (Preliminary #3 Winner) vs Tom Chafer-Cook (Preliminary #6 Winner) (62 - 111)
Quarter-Finals #4 (17 January): Thomas Carey (Preliminary #4 Winner) vs Zarte Siempre (Preliminary #5 Winner) (122 - 150) (RECORD!!!)
Semi-Finals #1 (18 January): Philip Aston (Quarter-Finals #1 Winner) vs Zarte Siempre (Quarter-Finals #4 Winner) (73 - 106)
Semi-Finals #2 (21 January): Bradley Horrocks (Quarter-Finals #2 Winner) vs Tom Chafer-Cook (Quarter-Finals #3 Winner) (111 - 110)
Championship Final (22 January): Zarte Siempre (Semi-Finals #1 Winner) vs Bradley Horrocks (Semi-Finals #2 Winner) (116 - 83)

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 4:33 pm
by Marc Meakin
Has Zarte always scored over a hundred in his Countdown 'career' ?

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 4:45 pm
by Jojo Apollo
Maybe eyes playing tricks but was the wrong spelling of DIADEM put up,or are there two ways of spelling it?

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 4:50 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Tue Jan 22, 2019 4:33 pm Has Zarte always scored over a hundred in his Countdown 'career' ?
He got 81 against Dylan Taylor in the first part of his "career".

But anyway, great game, great series. Well done to Zarte, Bradley and the rest.

Maybe a grudge match special between Dylan and Zarte would be a good idea, especially as they're now the two most recent CoC winners.

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 6:58 pm
by Owen Carroll
I can't think of anything that hasn't already been said except: Thanks to all 16 of you for making my first COC an incredible one!!!!!! But congratulations to Zarte Sizemore for being the best countdown player that I have ever seen!!!!! Bradley well done for getting second place once againπŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘

Hoping to see you both around if there's a 45th birthday championship or something.

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 8:18 pm
by Elliott Mellor
Words fail me - amazing. Was nowhere on the conundrum (had got as far as -OUS, but no idea as to the rest!). Zarte you have been absolutely brilliant throughout the tournament, losing just 1 round I believe! Congratulations on being one of a very very elite group of grand slam winners!!!! :D :D :D One of the best ever contestants for sure.

Bra - congratulations for making the final, you have played amazingly but there wasn't really much you could do there, Zarte played practically perfectly and even with the 569 numbers you'd still have been short. Still, to make the final of both your series and a champion of champions is amazing, you have done yourself very proud mate :)

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 9:36 pm
by Graeme Cole
Congratulations Bradley on making the final, and congratulations Zarte on becoming the first CoC and series winner since Graham Nash in 2003.

As well as breaking the highest score record in the quarter-final, Zarte has also equalled the record for the most games played. Only he and three other players have played 21 televised games. Can anyone name the other three?

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 9:49 pm
by Fred Mumford
Conor would be one of course. Allan Saldanha and Darryl Francis?

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 9:53 pm
by Graeme Cole
Fred Mumford wrote: ↑Tue Jan 22, 2019 9:49 pm Conor would be one of course. Allan Saldanha and Darryl Francis?
Very close. Conor Travers and Allan Saldanha are two of the three, but Darryl Francis only played 20 games.

The remaining one is someone obscure enough that when I saw the name I didn't immediately recognise it and had to look it up on the wiki.

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 10:02 pm
by Toby McDonald
Wow, just wow. What a series. Huge congratulations Zarte! An incredible player and a very well deserved winner! :D

Commiserations Bradley! We all know you tried your absolute hardest, but not everyone can say they are a CoC runner-up. You should be very proud of your achievements! :D

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 10:05 pm
by Fred Mumford
Graeme Cole wrote: ↑Tue Jan 22, 2019 9:53 pm The remaining one is someone obscure enough that when I saw the name I didn't immediately recognise it and had to look it up on the wiki.
Jon Corby?

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 10:11 pm
by Owen Carroll
Toby McDonald wrote: ↑Tue Jan 22, 2019 10:02 pm Wow, just wow. What a series. Huge congratulations Zarte! An incredible player and a very well deserved winner! :D

Commiserations Bradley! We all know you tried your absolute hardest, but not everyone can say they are a CoC runner-up. You should be very proud of your achievements! :D
Too bad you weren't there Toby. I know you wanted to be and you were definitely better than some of the people who were here.

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 10:53 pm
by Bradley Horrocks
Thank you all. Zarte played incredibly throughout, and the final was no exception! I could've done better in the second half, but I wasn't going to gain 33 points even playing at my best.

Thanks to the Countdown team for running such a great tournament - it was the highlight of my 2018. :)

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 10:56 pm
by Toby McDonald
Owen Carroll wrote: ↑Tue Jan 22, 2019 10:11 pm
Toby McDonald wrote: ↑Tue Jan 22, 2019 10:02 pm Wow, just wow. What a series. Huge congratulations Zarte! An incredible player and a very well deserved winner! :D

Commiserations Bradley! We all know you tried your absolute hardest, but not everyone can say they are a CoC runner-up. You should be very proud of your achievements! :D
Too bad you weren't there Toby. I know you wanted to be and you were definitely better than some of the people who were here.
Thank you Owen. I definitely would've loved to be in it, or even just sat in the audience.

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 11:05 pm
by Ian Birdman
Fantastic mini series - loved it.

Congrats Bra on a superb campaign - atheroma was a thing of beauty of course. And you got to converse with Rachel for a bit so you're a winner there. Zarte's supreme all round game just proved too strong on this occasion, but what an achievement to get to the final, especially with that veritable line up of assassins.

And Zarte, many congratulations of course - absolutely up there as one of the best players of all time now. And a massively popular winner both for the studio audience and audience at home I think (whilst I usually support the underdog but I thought you came across great and could hardly root against you really - big respect).

Finally, congrats to everyone for making it such a memorable series and played in such a good spirit - I think we'll be getting a few more rock, paper, scissors games from now on!

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:59 am
by Ryan Lam
Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Tue Jan 22, 2019 4:33 pm Has Zarte always scored over a hundred in his Countdown 'career' ?
I should have specified that I was only referring to the games here in the CoC, not any Preliminary or Ordinary Finals. My bad.

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:20 am
by Owen Carroll
Hopefully we'll get the next COC in 2022

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:22 am
by Rhys Benjamin
Graeme Cole wrote: ↑Tue Jan 22, 2019 9:53 pm
Fred Mumford wrote: ↑Tue Jan 22, 2019 9:49 pm Conor would be one of course. Allan Saldanha and Darryl Francis?
Very close. Conor Travers and Allan Saldanha are two of the three, but Darryl Francis only played 20 games.

The remaining one is someone obscure enough that when I saw the name I didn't immediately recognise it and had to look it up on the wiki.
Mark Nyman or Damian Eadie, possibly?

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:28 am
by Graeme Cole
Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:22 am
Graeme Cole wrote: ↑Tue Jan 22, 2019 9:53 pm
Fred Mumford wrote: ↑Tue Jan 22, 2019 9:49 pm Conor would be one of course. Allan Saldanha and Darryl Francis?
Very close. Conor Travers and Allan Saldanha are two of the three, but Darryl Francis only played 20 games.

The remaining one is someone obscure enough that when I saw the name I didn't immediately recognise it and had to look it up on the wiki.
Mark Nyman or Damian Eadie, possibly?
Nope. They played 17 each (including this team game).

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:32 am
by Rhys Benjamin
Yeah, that game was very much my basis for thought as Xicount + CoC is between 13 and 15 games (depending on which CoC it was), so you're also looking for someone who did either the SC, 30BC, or both, and probably a Masters game / special...

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:35 am
by Graeme Cole
Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:32 am Yeah, that game was very much my basis for thought as Xicount + CoC is between 13 and 15 games (depending on which CoC it was), so you're also looking for someone who did either the SC, 30BC, or both, and probably a Masters game / special...
This person appeared 21 times between 1989 and 1996. They played nine heat games (including one draw), a series quarter-final and semi-final, a Masters game, a special, three CoC games, and five Supreme Championship games.

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:41 am
by Rhys Benjamin
Ah, yes, I see who you mean now. I'll leave it for others to guess.

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 10:13 am
by Gavin Chipper
Is it Tim Morrissey? I had his name in mind anyway and that description sounds right.

If so, "obscure enough"? And I thought you were a scholar of the game.

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 10:50 am
by Graeme Cole
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Wed Jan 23, 2019 10:13 am Is it Tim Morrissey? I had his name in mind anyway and that description sounds right.

If so, "obscure enough"? And I thought you were a scholar of the game.
Yes, it's Tim Morrissey. And yes, I had to look him up because I'm not Robbo.

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:25 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Graeme Cole wrote: ↑Wed Jan 23, 2019 10:50 am
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Wed Jan 23, 2019 10:13 am Is it Tim Morrissey? I had his name in mind anyway and that description sounds right.

If so, "obscure enough"? And I thought you were a scholar of the game.
Yes, it's Tim Morrissey. And yes, I had to look him up because I'm not Robbo.
Are you saying I am? I didn't do any research for your question!

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 4:46 pm
by Graeme Cole
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:25 pm
Graeme Cole wrote: ↑Wed Jan 23, 2019 10:50 am
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Wed Jan 23, 2019 10:13 am Is it Tim Morrissey? I had his name in mind anyway and that description sounds right.

If so, "obscure enough"? And I thought you were a scholar of the game.
Yes, it's Tim Morrissey. And yes, I had to look him up because I'm not Robbo.
Are you saying I am? I didn't do any research for your question!
I don't remember seeing both of you at the same time over the weekend.

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2019 6:07 pm
by Owen Carroll
Owen Carroll wrote: ↑Tue Jan 22, 2019 6:58 pm I can't think of anything that hasn't already been said except: Thanks to all 16 of you for making my first COC an incredible one!!!!!! But congratulations to Zarte Siempre for being the best countdown player that I have ever seen!!!!! Bradley well done for getting second place once againπŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘

Hoping to see you both around if there's a 45th birthday championship or something.

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2020 9:13 pm
by Gavin Chipper
It's weird that they don't have any sort of presentation for the CoCs like they do with normal series.

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2020 9:01 am
by Ian Fitzpatrick
They only have it because of the RIchard Whitely Trophy I assume?

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd January 2019 (CoC XV, Grand Final)

Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2020 5:11 pm
by James Robinson
Ian Fitzpatrick wrote: ↑Tue Aug 11, 2020 9:01 am They only have it because of the RIchard Whitely Trophy I assume?
They’ve had presentations in the past sometimes.