Spoilers for Thursday 9th July (Andrew Hulme)

[Ben Hunter]

The big man's in town.

[Charlie Reams]

I'm Hulme-mungously excited.

[Andrew Hulme]

lol, how longhave u had that one stored up for?

[JimBentley]

Haha, no way, first round up!

[Charlie Reams]

lol, how longhave u had that one stored up for?

Umm, approximately 0 seconds. I thought your name was pronounced like it's spelt until recently.

[Ben Hunter]

Classic start.

[Jeffrey Burgin]

I reckon this bloke might push him, he looked pretty good yesterday.

[Ben Hunter]

If only BEARCAGES was in.

[Simon Myers]

Two nines out of the first four rounds, yikes.

[Ian Dent]

Andrew?

You're English.

[Ben Hunter]

Andrew?

You're English.

You're kidding, Ian!

[Ian Dent]

No! I thought he was Scottish.

[Phil Makepeace]

Round 8: OSTINATO

[Matt Morrison]

I really like this Michael guy. (not enough to spell his silly name properly though)

It's a shame he's had to come up against Hulme so early. I think we should let him have another go.

[Simon Myers]

Could be on for a rare losing score of over 100 at this rate.

[Matt Morrison]

Could be on for a rare losing score of over 100 at this rate.

Joint 9th highest losing score.

Did Hulme lose two rounds or one? Must be pissed at missing STATION - as it was, he missed out on Hamish's debut score record by just one point.

[Matthew Green]

I really like this Michael guy. (not enough to spell his silly name properly though)

It's a shame he's had to come up against Hulme so early. I think we should let him have another go.

I dont see why not. Ask Damian.

[Simon Myers]

Could be on for a rare losing score of over 100 at this rate.

Joint 9th highest losing score.

Perhaps more interestingly, it makes today's game the second highest joint score and the highest outside of the CofC.

[Jojo Apollo]

Great ton debut, Andrew, is that the joint highest debut score?

Commiserations to Michael with a good ton runner-up score.

[Simon Myers]

Great ton debut, Andrew, is that the joint highest debut score?

No. As already mentioned, Hamish scored 134 in his opening game as challenger last series.

[Jojo Apollo]

Great ton debut, Andrew, is that the joint highest debut score?

No. As already mentioned, Hamish scored 134 in his opening game as challenger last series.

Oh yeah, wasn't sure if it was 133 or 134. A pity Andrew missed out on the STATION round, but the win is the main thing.

[Kirk Bevins]

Wow - what a game. To lose with 101 must hurt. The champion looked pretty good (apart from annoyingly going for a final 5th vowel in the last round).

DIATREMES for a 9-equaller and NEGRONI for an equaller in round 11.

Andrew seems a pleasure to watch and I look forward to tomorrow now!

[Dinos Sfyris]

Well done Andrew. 11 max debut with a super-impressive score to boot. Looking forward to tomorrow's game

[Brian Moore]

I really like this Michael guy. (not enough to spell his silly name properly though)

I reckon Micheal (I'm going to spell his name properly) should win the prize for being the smilingest, bouncingest contestant.

Was anyone else put off their stroke by Rachel's MATERIAL girl twirl?

Impressive opening game from Andrew, and thoroughly enjoyable contest to watch.

[Tracey Lilly]

first numbers alternative

(100-25) - (4+1) = 70 * (8-1) = 490

Two cracking contestants today. Excellent viewing.

[Andrew Hulme]

Cheers guys!

11 maxes isn't too bad, though TOOTS was a lowlight. Was looking so hard for the 8 I knew was there (and was almost spelled out) but went blank apart from that. If I had spotted DIAMETRAL (which I would now, maybe I should be allowed another go?) or TITANOUS (or even anything less embarrassing than TOOTS), or even if Michael had picked a consonant for the very last letter, wouldn't have been a million miles from 146, which would have been awesome.

Was definitely just happy to win, from watching the previous game in the audience, I knew that Micheal would be more than capable of beating me. So was relieved just to get over the winning.

Interestingly in the first round, I only spotted POLICEMEN as a result of Micheal stopping writing and sitting up. Had he not done that, I probably would have lost.

[Derek Hazell]

Interestingly in the first round, I only spotted POLICEMEN as a result of Micheal stopping writing and sitting up. Had he not done that, I probably would have lost.

Superb tip for future contestants. It's something we've seen so often over the years on the programme.

[Ben Hunter]

Interestingly in the first round, I only spotted POLICEMEN as a result of Micheal stopping writing and sitting up, which opened a window of opportunity to sneak a peek at his paper. Had he not done that, I probably would have lost.

looks like we have another Hansford in our midst

Anyway, well played Andrew cannae wait for the rest of your run.

[Paul Howe]

Excellent debut Andrew, well done

[Kirk Bevins]

Excellent debut Andrew, well done

"debut" uh hum.

[Andrew Hulme]

Excellent debut Andrew, well done

"debut" uh hum.

lol, pots and kettles

[Charlie Reams]

Nice one. An almost super-Hulme-an effort.

(You better win the next 7 now, I've got hundreds of these lined up.)

[Gavin Chipper]

Nice one. An almost super-Hulme-an effort.

That's a brilliant sense of Hulme-r you've got.

But having won one game, can we use reasoning to say he's likely to win any more?

[Marc Meakin]

Well done Andrew

Hope you become another Apterite Octochamp

Also one of the last (if not the last) second chancers on Countdown

[Philip Jarvis]

Just watched the recording. Fantastic debut Andrew.

You looked really cool and relaxed in the chair. On that form, I think you'll be going on a long run.

[Andy Wilson]

Well done Andrew. I just want to give a special mention for Micheal's 'I used the other 1' solution. Brilliant to see someone not used to being on telly being able to crack a joke when involved in a pressure game in front of cameras and studio audience etc. Very interesting comment on the policemen round Andrew. Did you mention this to him afterwards? Did you have a game of poker and if so who won that? I'm guessing you judging by Michael's poker face!

[Neil Zussman]

Andrew looked way too relaxed for a challenger. The fact that he had been on before gave him an unfair advantage. Also, the 3 highest challenger scores are now all by non-first-timers. They shouldn't let anybody on ever again if they lose first time. We clearly need a discussion about this.

Anyway...
That was the best heat game I can remember for a long long time, well played to both contestants. Doesn't look like I'm going to remain as the best ever Warwick Uni contestant for long. Admittedly, there may have been other contestants I'm not aware of from Warwick, so I may already not be the best.
I'm fully expecting you to become an octochamp Andrew.