Alex Horne: funny finalist

[Ben Hunter]

Alex Horne is now guaranteed a place in the final. After trying to put a face to the name, I found out he was a comedian, and decided to look for some videos. Here's one of him in action, it's pretty good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrBF-yYVcX8

[Charlie Reams]

Sorry to disappoint you but Alex Horne declined his place in the finals and won't be appearing.

[Ben Hunter]

Gah. For some reason I had a feeling that might happen. So that makes Lee Simmonds a guarenteed finalist, and maybe that happy bloke who was on the other day, or maybe even that Christian woman from a bit ago?

[Michael Wallace]

So that makes Lee Simmonds a guarenteed finalist

I've not been paying much attention, but a) wow, a finalist with 3 wins? and ii) when was the last time two people in the finals A) had played each other in the series, and II) played each other in the finals, having played each other in the series?

Whilst we're at it, how often has that last one ever happened?

I'd say answers on a postcard, but (hopefully) none of you know where I live, so just post it here instead

[David Williams]

The pairing to beat is Natascha Kearsey and Pete Cashmore, who met in the series, the series semi-final and the Champion of Champions final. Pete won the semi, Natascha the other two. One of the quirks of Countdown, of course, is that if Pete had won the first game a future Champion of Champions would have had only one, losing, appearance. Consolation to one or two of our number?

David

[Howard Somerset]

That's a very interesting way to number your questions, Michael. Two questions, a and ii. And question ii is divided into two parts, A and II.

I'll answer question a. Maybe come to ii later.

The last time there was a finalist with three wins was series 38, which was the first series which ran to 6 months. Indeed, in series 38 both the 7 and 8 seeds had 3 wins. Prior to that, series lasted only 3 months, and there were many occasions when there were finalists with 3, 2 and even just 1 win. The most usual number of wins for a number 8 seed since series 38 has been 4 and 5. Just once, the number 8 seed had 8 wins, thus making eight octochamps in the series finals.

[Ben Wilson]

So that makes Lee Simmonds a guarenteed finalist

I've not been paying much attention, but a) wow, a finalist with 3 wins? and ii) when was the last time two people in the finals A) had played each other in the series, and II) played each other in the finals, having played each other in the series?

Ignoring the notation, there was definitely an example like that in my series, and I think the last one after that was series 50, Eammon Timmins vs. Stuart Solomons (Solomons won in the heat, Timmins in the finals). Dunno if there's been one since though.

[Jason Larsen]

I think Alex Horne is funny too, and I like him very much!

I'm sorry to hear that he chose not to be in the finals for this series, and I hope he's ok now.

[Howard Somerset]

Back to Michael's questions.

ii A Last time two people who played each other in preliminaries got to the finals was in Series 56, when Stewart Gordon and Dundas Keating met in the preliminaries.

ii II Last time two people played each other in both the preliminaries and the finals was the case Ben referred to in Series 50. The previous one, in Ben's series, Series 46, was between Brian Capper and Phil Wass, and as in the Series 50 case, each player won one game, Phil Wass in the preliminaries, and Brian Capper in the quarter-final.

[Kai Laddiman]

I'd say answers on a postcard, but (hopefully) none of you know where I live, so just post it here instead

London.

[Ben Hunter]

I'd say answers on a postcard, but (hopefully) none of you know where I live, so just post it here instead

London.

I'm not sure a postcard addressed to "Michael Wallace, London" would arrive at its intended destination.

[Michael Wallace]

Awesome, I'd forgotten I'd asked this, but just remembered and found people had answered, thanks guys, interesting stuff.