B'day Championship Spoilers For Thursday January 31st 2013

James Robinson · Post by **James Robinson** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 12:53 am

So, we've reached the end of January already, and now that Huddersfield Town are back to winning ways, my mood has got noticeably better, and today, it has the potential of getting even better

Many people have often asked who is the best recapper in terms of ability to win games of Countdown, and at COEDI back in November, that question was answered.

Me, and today's 2 contestants were on the same table, and I managed to beat them both, so that's your question answered.

Unfortunately, I'm not in this tournament, mainly due to the fact that I wasn't that good at the show 4 (or even 10) years ago.

But, luckily, the other 2 members of the table are the 2 most recent champions selected at the time of consultation, that being the champions of Series 65 & 66, Graeme Cole & Jack Worsley.

Here are the "champion" stats:

Firstly, Series 65 Champion Graeme Cole - 12 Games, 11 Wins, 1,188 Points (Average: 99, Not Including Tiebreak Conundrum)
Highest Score: 125 vs. Mike Linnell (6th Game)
Lowest Score: 71 vs. Edward McCullagh (Special Game)
9's Achieved: 5/6
Total Points/Max/%: 1188/1472 (81%)
Letters Points/Max/%: 838/1004 (84%)
Numbers Points/Max/%: 310/348 (89%)
Conundrum Points/Max/%: 40/120 (33%)

Secondly, Series 66 Champion Jack Worsley - 11 Games, 11 Wins, 1,064 Points (Average: 96.73)
Highest Score: 110 vs. Catherine Green (3rd Game)
Lowest Score: 75 vs. Mark Murphy (Quarter-Final)
9's Achieved: 2/7
Total Points/Max/%: 1064/1379 (77%)
Letters Points/Max/%: 716/942 (76%)
Numbers Points/Max/%: 308/327 (94%)
Conundrum Points/Max/%: 40/110 (36%)

I'll be along later for the recap of what could be a phenomenally brilliant game.

Jordan F · Post by **Jordan F** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 3:12 pm

This is going to be exciting to watch, I think Graeme has a max game going through 10 rounds, the only round I'm not sure of related to this is round 2.

Alternate second numbers: 100 + 50 - 9 - 8 + (75/25)

Ryan Taylor · Post by **Ryan Taylor** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 3:13 pm

Yep, insane so far! 10 maxes plays 9. Stupid standard!

Ryan Taylor · Post by **Ryan Taylor** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 3:16 pm

Round 11, the exact same selection as yesterday's Round 7. Bit annoying.

Conor · Post by **Conor** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 3:23 pm

Stunning.

26/29 possible maxes - greatest ever joint performance (surely).

Dan McColm · Post by **Dan McColm** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 3:23 pm

Graeme maxed the first 13 rounds there, very unlucky to have lost.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 3:24 pm

Game of the tournament (so far).

Jordan F · Post by **Jordan F** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 3:25 pm

...wow. Wow wow wow wow wow wow wow.

A hell of a comeback, 13 maxer to 13 maxer, a very impressive numbers game from Jack AND another instant conundrum...my heart can't take this.

Very well done Jack, that was quite a win, perhaps even more impressive than Jonathan's win a few weeks back. It honestly pains me that Graeme lost playing a standard like that, if he had won and kept that up he probably could have won the whole thing. And this standard is just getting ridiculous now. I have no clue what else could be coming.

JackHurst · Post by **JackHurst** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 3:25 pm

Gutted for Graeme, but well done to Jack.

szodiac · Post by **szodiac** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 3:26 pm

Ryan Taylor wrote:Round 11, the exact same selection as yesterday's Round 7. Bit annoying.

And the same next letter for the next selection too - K

MP

szodiac · Post by **szodiac** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 3:26 pm

Another great finish - I think my numbers solver is still working on the numbers game - 322 !!

MP

Nick Deller · Post by **Nick Deller** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 3:26 pm

Game of the tournament so far. Beautiful stuff. Penelope will have hated it.

Andy Platt · Post by **Andy Platt** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 3:27 pm

Decent game that, I guess.

Jojo Apollo · Post by **Jojo Apollo** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 3:28 pm

Brilliant game, very well played lads. Great comeback by Jack on the numbers, well done to Graeme also on maxing all the previous rounds.

Ryan Taylor · Post by **Ryan Taylor** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 3:28 pm

Bloody awesome stuff. Before the game I had a hunch that Jack might have nicked this one just based on the amount of time he was on apterous but then going into Round 14 I wasn't so sure. Anyone of you could have won and it would have been nice to see Graeme get that last numbers game for a potential 2nd ever 15 round max game on TV. But well done on a great solve Jack to come back from the dead. And I think Graeme must have been split seconds behind on the conundrum, hard luck if that was the case. But as Mark Foster says, it's fine margins that separate the best of the best, and you two really are the best of the best. Thank you for more great entertainment! I'd have liked to seen "Penelope's" face when you both declare words like POOJA, LANGUE, ENFILADE, DAIMIOS, PUKIEST, BORANES and IODATES.

Andy Wilson · Post by **Andy Wilson** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 3:29 pm

That was great. Well done lads.

Ryan Taylor · Post by **Ryan Taylor** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 3:32 pm

And yes, I echo the others in saying that, for me, this was the game of the tournament so far, just eclipsing Ed/Rawlo and Nick/Mark. Just.

szodiac · Post by **szodiac** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 3:40 pm

Ryan Taylor wrote:Bloody awesome stuff. ..... I'd have liked to seen "Penelope's" face when you both declare words like POOJA, LANGUE, ENFILADE, DAIMIOS, PUKIEST, BORANES and IODATES.

Mega awesome

As my departed friend Graeme Thomas would say: "Why? They're 'common garden' words found in any standard dictionary!"

MP

Grant Waters · Post by **Grant Waters** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 4:05 pm

Best game of Countdown i've seen ever! Very well played both of you!

And didn't Rachel look good today!

Joyce Phillips · Post by **Joyce Phillips** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 5:29 pm

Brilliant game, played in a tremendous spirit! If there's been a better one I can't remember it.

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 7:13 pm

Awesome game lads. I'm pleased to say I lost to both of you today...sitting there in the audience watching that gave me goosebumps, literally. If I wasn't already nervous before playing tomorrow I was now!

Adam Gillard · Post by **Adam Gillard** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 7:34 pm

WOW! That was incredible. Graeme, you played a perfect game and it's a real credit to Jack that he stuck with you and that numbers solve in R14 was exceptionally good. We've had some crackers already, but I agree with the others who have said that this is the best game of the tournament so far, worthy of a final. Congratulations to both of you!

Adam Gillard · Post by **Adam Gillard** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 7:38 pm

Other things I spotted - Graeme's aggressive-looking version of the Pendleton head-bob and Susie's continued failure to pronounce words when reading the phonetic transcription from the dictionary (DAIMIOS). The phonetic symbols are explained at the bottom of each page.

Rose Boyle · Post by **Rose Boyle** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 7:39 pm

Amazing game! Well done to both of you. Brilliant numbers spot Jack. Hard luck Graeme.

Chris Marshall · Post by **Chris Marshall** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 8:03 pm

Great game guys as I said at the time. It felt more like a final than a first round game.

Don't worry Kirk, I guarantee I lost by more sat in the audience (over 50)...though I did beat the lass I was sat next to by 40 which shows the gulf in standard.

James Robinson · Post by **James Robinson** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 8:09 pm

CRIKEY BLIMEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS SERIES KEEPS ON BRINGING ONE AWESOME GAME AFTER ANOTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I seem to be getting some of the best ones to recap at the moment.

Super awesome game there, I so thought there might've been a weird 8 lurking in round 13 that might've knocked the max game, but when I saw the two 1's for the last numbers, I thought, "Uh oh, here comes trouble......................."

And it was a superb reply from Jack to come back from the dead like that.

A superb display by both of you. A true credit to Apterous and Countdown.

Conor wrote:Stunning.

26/29 possible maxes - greatest ever joint performance (surely).

I think the CoC final that you just missed out on also had 26 maxes, Conor. So, definitely joint best at least.

Conor · Post by **Conor** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 8:17 pm

James Robinson wrote: I think the CoC final that you just missed out on also had 26 maxes, Conor. So, definitely joint best at least.

I make it 25 - Paul had 14 to Mark's 11 (the last numbers wasn't possible, but his declaration could've been bettered). The two games went in a very similar manner right up to the Conundrum. I really feel for you Graeme - your heart must have sank when the two 1's came out in the last numbers.

Innis Carson · Post by **Innis Carson** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 8:21 pm

Having heard what happened in this game, I was dreading watching it because I knew I'd feel awful for Graeme. And I did. You played amazingly and so don't deserve to go out in the first round, but then again neither would Jack.

Congrats to both of you, that was a wonderful spectacle. One of the very best contests and joint performances the show's ever seen, though with players as fiercely humble as you two you could hardly tell!

Edward McCullagh · Post by **Edward McCullagh** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 8:29 pm

What a game!!!

Devastated for Graeme. Pleased for Jack. Well done to the two of you for putting on such a great game. Best of the tournament so far.

Jack Worsley · Post by **Jack Worsley** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 8:56 pm

Thanks for all of your generous comments! All of my opponents so far have been very worthy ones but this match was something else. Graeme was exceptionally unlucky not to go through as he played brilliantly and certainly had me on the ropes. I knew that with the standard of this competition, all games would be difficult and I just wanted to put on a good show. Even if I'd gone out, I would not have been disappointed at all, such was Graeme's performance. I was so fortunate to get a difficult last numbers game.

After the game, Graeme was a fantastic sport, while I'm sure he was hugely disappointed inside (I know I would have been), he was very complimentary. His attitude epitomised everything that is great about Countdowners. I still feel really bad for him since he played superbly and did not deserve what happened at the end.

The whole day was great fun and it was fantastic to meet up with some familiar faces, as well as meeting some new ones, both in the studio and in the pub afterwards.

David O'Donnell · Post by **David O'Donnell** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 9:04 pm

I knew what was going to happen and it's still an amazing game. Jack told me how to do the four large solution but I still couldn't do it when I watched today. Absolutely amazing game: pity you both drew each other so early.

Jon Corby · Post by **Jon Corby** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 9:12 pm

Yep, best game so far, incredible standard but played in a fantastic atmosphere by two of the game's good guys. A* Loved it.

Rhys Benjamin · Post by **Rhys Benjamin** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 9:31 pm

The four large numbers solution, I thought, as a preferred 4 large player myself, was quite good considering the pressure.

Basically he did 74 x 3 + 100. The 3 comes from 50 over 25 plus 1, and the 74 comes from 75 - 1. The beauty with 4 large is that, often, you can undershoot by 100 to make it easier.

Why didn't I get this? Well, I was going down the route of something like 75 x (100 - 1 - 1) / 25 - 50, which is totally wrong.

Graeme Cole · Post by **Graeme Cole** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 9:33 pm

Thanks everyone, and thanks to all the people on the spoiler grapevine who sent me messages after this was recorded - you know who you all are.

Raccoon's number-crunching showed us there was a 98% chance that my time on Countdown would end with a defeat. And if it had to end with a defeat, this is one of the better ways it could have gone. Before the show I knew Jack had the edge on apterous, so I was prepared to lose but didn't want it to be because I'd missed something easy. And as it happened, I got more maxes than I'd ever got before on the show, and the only two rounds I didn't max were a numbers round that I and plenty of other players would probably have needed another few minutes to spot, and a conundrum that you'd need to be pretty much superhuman to get faster than Jack. (Ryan: I think I got it about a second or so later.) So, disappointing though it was not to be there for the next and final recording block, I didn't have any regrets about the game at all, and I was genuinely pleased for Jack that he'd pulled that off and made it one of the show's best games to earn his place in the next round.

My brother was watching this today and he texted me asking what I was giggling about in R4, and whether I'd spotted the same word he had. Yep, for the first 20 seconds all I could see was CLUNGE. Which, it turns out, is for some scandalous reason not even in the dictionary.

Before the game: one of the production crew came over to Mark Foster and put a Countdown mug down. "Here's your Costa Coffee, Mark," she said. Dudley Doolittle picked up on this: "he gets coffee, everyone else gets water?!" This seemed to set some kind of precedent. Susie then asked for some tea, but in that polite way you'd expect from Susie, kind of like "only if there's time, if not, don't worry about it, no really, don't worry about it", and Nick was all "well, if they're having some..." And so someone went off to brew a pot. The opening titles started a minute or so later, and they were occasionally punctuated by a production assistant flitting across the set with a drink, then running away like they'd just deployed a hand grenade. That mug you see next to Nick at the start was put there no more than five seconds earlier by Short Sarah (not to be confused with Tall Sarah, who's just as awesome as Short Sarah but sadly doesn't work on the programme any more). For some reason I thought this was hilarious and spent most of the introduction trying not to laugh.

Everything about this day was enjoyable - the world speed ninja barista attempt before the show, Jay having to come on to thump the clock a few times during Dave and Mike's game so one of the lights would start working again, and the bit just after this game when Kirk came up to me and Jack and told us, without anyone asking him, that we'd both have beaten him in that game - a very magnanimous gesture that I wasn't expecting. Once again, to Damian and the rest of the team, thanks for inviting me along to be part of the best Countdown series ever.

Andy Platt · Post by **Andy Platt** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 9:38 pm

Rhys Benjamin wrote: as a preferred 4 large player myself.

really?

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 9:41 pm

FUCKING AMAZING.

So good, I knew exactly what happened and I still enjoyed it SO much (and still didn't get round 14 despite having been presented it on about four different occasions). Possibly my favourite game ever. I just love you both so much. Brilliant.

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 9:59 pm

well sex

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Fri Feb 01, 2013 7:15 pm

Great game. Great story about the coffee. I think that story bumps Graeme up to 14 maxes.

Nick Deller · Post by **Nick Deller** » Sat Feb 02, 2013 11:29 am

This result means that the entire class of 2011 - Ed, Adam, Graeme, Mark D and Paul - have somehow been knocked out by their first opponents. That's just a ridiculous statistic. These guys are superstars!

Paul Keane · Post by **Paul Keane** » Sun Feb 03, 2013 12:28 am

Jack/Graeme, thanks again for a magnificent game that was spell-binding to watch. I was sitting next to Kirk watching you both and I think he was stunned by the standard as well. I've rarely seen anyone looking as proud as your Dad, Jack, as you made your incredible comeback. That said, I had half a mind to report you to the police for mugging Graeme, who must go down as one of the unluckiest losers in Countdown history.

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Thu May 28, 2020 3:12 pm

Before they started repeating this tournament, I thought to myself that I'd pay attention to decide which was the best game of the tournament. Up to this point, it's easily this one.

I managed to get 322 and although I vaguely remembered it from before, it still must be really impressive given:

David O'Donnell wrote: ↑Thu Jan 31, 2013 9:04 pm I knew what was going to happen and it's still an amazing game. Jack told me how to do the four large solution but I still couldn't do it when I watched today. Absolutely amazing game: pity you both drew each other so early.

and

Jon O'Neill wrote: ↑Thu Jan 31, 2013 9:41 pm FUCKING AMAZING.

So good, I knew exactly what happened and I still enjoyed it SO much (and still didn't get round 14 despite having been presented it on about four different occasions). Possibly my favourite game ever. I just love you both so much. Brilliant.

I also got the conundrum before it was revealed. It's not my fault if I remember it. It counts as 10 points playing along at home. And Jack loses 10 points. So Graeme won the three-player game. Unlucky, Jack, but that's the way it is.

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Thu May 28, 2020 3:13 pm

Andy Platt wrote: ↑Thu Jan 31, 2013 9:38 pm
Rhys Benjamin wrote: as a preferred 4 large player myself.
really?

Devastating.

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Fri May 29, 2020 3:01 pm

The other thing I forgot to mention is that Jack beat Graeme on his second go at a 4-large. Had he been in Graeme's seat, he would only have had one numbers selection. (Another reason why this was a terrible format.)

James Robinson · Post by **James Robinson** » Fri May 29, 2020 3:04 pm

First Round Game 10 2020 Word Update

The max would have increased by two (from 118 to 120), if played today, as there was a 6 available in Round 8 and an 8 was available in round 9, that weren't available in 2013.

That also would've meant that Graeme's potential MAX GAME would've ended much earlier than Round 14...

New Words Now Allowed:

R2: TOIDEYS, VISTAED
R3: REZONE
R4: CANNULE, UNCLUNG
R6: VARIOLES, VOLARIES
R8: POMATO (increases MAX from 5 to 6)
R9: IDIOSOMA (increases MAX from 7 to 8)
R11: UNPRAISE
R13: BOONERS