Spoilers for Thursday 27th June 2024 (Series 89, 2nd Semi-final)

[Philip A]

Will it be a second triumph for the No. 6?

[Gavin Chipper]

Could have stuck the E on MARQUIS.

[Gavin Chipper]

Slightly scrappy game there, particularly from Mark, but hopefully we'll still get a good final tomorrow!

[Philip A]

I think pressure took over Mark in the end. What a shame. Calder kept his cool and pulled it off at the end.

So for the first time in 6 years, we have a finalist from the lower half of the seed table in the Grand Final!

Have to say though, this objectively could have had our first female series winner in 3-part Countdown.

[Gavin Chipper]

Michael Calder becomes the second Michael Calder to make the grand final by the way.

[Philip A]

Michael Calder becomes the second Michael Calder to make the grand final by the way.

Very good catch.

[Gavin Chipper]

Normally Michael Calders win the grand final, so we'll see what happens.

[Toby McDonald]

ALMAGRES in R2

Commiserations to Mark, very unlucky, but congrats to Michael.

[Ryan Lam]

My ISP has decided to be kind to me and allowed me to watch this episode live, although my review is coming much later as I’ve got work to settle still in reality! It’s Battle of the Nations today like I mentioned before, and after that painful exit by Scotland in the Euros due to Hungary’s late goal, let’s see if Michael can make his country proud today. Chilly nickname by Rachel as she calls him the “Iceman” . It’s also nice to see Mark give more on his side of the story last Friday, that he was all ready to pack up after Jack’s conundrum response and felt relaxed, although that was obviously premature. It’s not over for him as he battles it out to see who meets the Englander Arthur in the Grand Final! As what Colin mentioned, it’s “M&M” in the house today!

Letters: What a grand SLAMMER Michael is as he gets into the lead after R2, but drops behind after Mark added the “G” to ELATION in R4. The latter gets even further ahead with MARQUIS in R7, but the crucial conundrum threat is never too far away as Michael’s ACUTELY in R8 just takes that scenario to within reaching distance. After the second Teatime Teaser, this is where Mark’s downfall was and everything went horribly wrong. Double whammy as waspier in R10 and booteed in R11 were disallowed, and to make things worse, being CHAINED to the ground isn’t good enough when Michael has ANCHORED in R12! From an 11 point lead to a 17 point deficit for Mark, this is so dramatic that you probably couldn’t afford to take your eyes off the screen going into the last three rounds thereafter!

Numbers: 4 Large it is then for starters today, and great work to Mark as he finds a simple way out to beat Michael’s 929. After which, in R6, Michael gambles with 6 Small but with the target being a multiple of 100, if either contestant didn’t get it here then something would be seriously wrong. 3 Large then comes in R9 and with Michael being closer than Mark to the target, the latter’s strategy backfired as the scores creep ever closer to each other! Finally, in R14, this was it, Mark has to hope that he gets no further than five away and that Michael screws up to have a chance of winning. A hard 1 Large (CECIL, where were you all this time?) comes round and with him blanking out, “OH MY WORD!!!” , I literally yelled out at that moment as all of us realised that for the first time since Series 58 in 2008 and the first time since Series 78 in 2018, the #6 Seed is in the Grand Final and someone from the lower half of the seed table is in it respectively!

Conundrum: Time to catch our breaths as we let what just happened sink in. The winner may have been crowned but it’s not over until this round is as both contestants try not to make their NERVEs DROP their pens! Mark tries prevendor and Colin takes a swipe by saying he’s not selling that answer to him, funny but brutal . Time’s up and I can see why this is so difficult because there’s so many possible invalid combinations. I had so many six-letter words that I formulated in the 30 seconds such as Vendor, Proven, Proved etc., you get it. Alas, one of them was “Proven” and I did not stick on the -der at the end to make the answer.

To say I was blown away by this game was definitely an understatement. My original prediction was a toss-up between Mark and Toby assuming the latter had won the Quarter-Final and it would be decided on a crucial conundrum. I can throw that out of the window now because Michael’s won with a margin of 22 points without forcing a crucial conundrum. Mark’s nerves really got the best of him and he finally crumbled under pressure at such a critical point of the game; his risks towards the end didn’t work out for him and for the first time since Series 84 in 2021 as well, we will not have the #2 Seed in the Grand Final. The last third was definitely painful to watch and it’s to infinity and beyond to Mark for real this time. However, he had always dreamed of making it to the Semi-Finals at the bare minimum and his wish was fulfilled, and perhaps it was because of this, he became too relaxed to the point that he had let his guard down. Nonetheless, I hope he doesn’t fade into obscurity just yet for I’m sure before he took his flight back home, he would be supporting the two Finalists remaining and his parting words for the Countdown team that treated him so nicely would not be forgotten. Hopefully, your son would be inspired to come on the show when he's of age as well!

Michael Calder becomes the second Michael Calder to make the grand final by the way.

In just a few hours from now, we will know who lifts the coveted Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy and our next Xicount. Will Arthur stroll his way to victory like in a park, or will Michael Calder live up to his name, be like the Series 42 Champion of the same name back in 2000 and cause not one, not two, but three unbelievable upsets? This Series Finals has been so unpredictable that you definitely should not miss watching the final episode live, and we'll pray that Michael hopefully doesn’t melt!

Progress:
QF1 (20 June 2024): Arthur Page (#1) vs Isabelle Heward (#8) (123 - 51)
QF2 (21 June 2024): Mark Finnerty (#2) vs Jack Harvey (#7) (104 - 100)
QF3 (24 June 2024): Toby Byfield (#3) vs Michael Calder (#6) (82 - 84)
QF4 (25 June 2024): Jessica Pratesi (#4) vs Mark Goodliffe (#5) (102 - 99)
SF1 (26 June 2024): Arthur Page (QF1 Winner) vs Jessica Pratesi (QF4 Winner) (102 - 90)
SF2 (27 June 2024): Mark Finnerty (QF2 Winner) vs Michael Calder (QF3 Winner) (56 - 78)
GF (28 June 2024): Arthur Page (SF1 Winner) vs Michael Calder (SF2 Winner)