c4countdown

So. Here we are then. The longest series. Bloody hell, it has gone on a bit, hasn't it? We started back in January, which all seems about 30 years ago now. England were beating South Africa in the cricket, Ireland were being trounced by the West Indies, Fulham were stuttering in the fight for promotion, whilst Leeds were running away with it just as Liverpool were running away with the Premier League, the UK had just had a general election. And over in China, there was some sort of plague going on.

And on 2 January, Luke Johnson-Davies returned to our screens after the S81 finals to immediately bash out the joint-6th highest score ever, 143, against Gagan Singh Gill, before bashing out two scores over 130 to join Elliott Mellor as only the second player to score 1,000 in his prelims.

Then we had the last dregs of Celebrity Countdown, but we don't need to mention that ever again. Yes, that went out this year. I know. Feels like 30 years ago.

Ian Volante and Ryan Styles gave us octochamp runs as well in the "good" part of the year, but whilst the next octochamp, Phil Hulme, had their run being transmitted, the world decided it was going to implode.

Countdown lost a studio audience for only the second time in its history (remember when the advice was "only" to avoid mass gatherings?). Michael Whitehall pulled out of his five episodes. Then a couple of Teasers and an episode were pulled thanks to the pandemic (which we still haven't seen, incidentally), before David Kempshall ended the first "half" of the series with his octorun, refusing to shake hands at one point. That will look a bit weird out of context in any future repeats, won't it?

So we got 8 weeks of Champion of Champion of Champions, followed by 6 weeks of Champion of Champions. Good to see them again, in a very real sense.

When things returned, everyone was sitting slightly too far away from each other, Brendan Russell-Cooper and his opponents had to use huge whiteboard pens (presumably borrowed from Rachel's stockpile), and Dr Phil Hammond kept mentioning that-which-must-not-be-named.

But a couple of weeks after the restart, another double-barrelled contestant appeared on our screens and started thrashing contestants left, right, and centre. Sam Cappleman-Lynes not only scored 939, but reduced Bernie Kingston to the lowest ever score for good measure, as well as restricting three more contestants to scores under 20. In the modern era of 950+, we sometimes forget that 939 is still a humungous score, and it's still the 11th-best octotal of all time.

With six octochamps already at that point, there was some worry that we'd end up with another Corinna Attwood situation. And given the length of the series, it might have been a prudent idea to extend the finals to 16. It's a shame that some superb contestants, who probably would have made the finals in most other series, did not make the cut. There's far too mention to many here, but after Sam came Des Cooper, Jeremy Ankers, David O'Donnell (not THAT one), and Scott Vickers, all of whom were five-time winners before the next octochamp, Damien Doughty, graced our screens.

Then the scientists got their way with a second lockdown, which dampened everyone's spirits, but they were lifted on screen by Andy Bruno's return, some 38 years in the making. Another one who could have made it in another series, he was roundly beaten by Martyn Simpson. Scoring a century on his second debut, having lost to Ryan Taylor in 2009, he went on a run that was comparable to Sam's, with 6 centuries and beating Philip Aston's record score for a non-octochamp, he came up against Leo Smith. A pest controller from London, he didn't have some of the obscure words that Luke and Sam had, but was able to play the game to a ridiculously high standard without (seemingly) swallowing a dictionary. He went one better than Martyn, scoring 7 centuries and just missing out on an eighth in his final game, which he squeaked through to get to the finals as number three seed, in the process knocking out Martyn.

Daniel Jonathan's four wins will have to be picked up in the following series, but then it was finals time. And Luke Johnson-Davies, over a year since his debut, showed he hadn't got rusty from being on the Countdown store cupboard for a while, scoring the first max game in 6 years since Dan McColm in the finals of Series 71. 2014 is quite some time ago, isn't it? In the second quarter final, despite an early scare, Sam Cappleman-Lynes triumphed over Damien Doughty comfortably. Tighter wins for Leo Smith and Ian Volante followed, before Luke was finally beaten on a round for the first time despite having a valid declaration, when Ian beat him on a numbers round. Shock horror! Luke still emerged as the clear winner, but "only" scoring 112. Then, yesterday, Sam edged out Leo in a high-scoring contest, to set up these two in the final.

Number 1 and Number 2 seed. It doesn't always happen, but when it does happen it seems as though it was meant to be. Their numbers are below, and it's down to "Coolhand" Luke "Lukewarm" Johnson-Davies against Sam "I don't have a funny nickname for him" Cappleman-Lynes.

Someone will win. And someone will lose.

LUKE JOHNSON-DAVIES
Highest score: 143 vs Gagan Singh Gill, game 6
Lowest score: 112 vs Ian Volante, Semi Final
Score: 1,272
Average: 127.20
Max faced: 1,400
% score: 90.9%
Raw score: 1,279
Raw average: 127.90
Raw % score: 91.4%
Conundrums: 7/10

SAM CAPPLEMAN-LYNES
Highest score: 124 vs Phil Savage, game 3 & vs Leo Smith, Semi Final
Lowest score: 110 vs Mike Spencer, game 6
Score: 1,184
Average: 118.40
Max faced: 1,335
% score: 88.7%
Raw score: 1,217
Raw average: 121.70
Raw % score: 91.2%
Conundrums: 8/10

Nice recap Rhys. Look forward to it all....

91.4 vs. 91.2 raw % score. Surely statistically the closest final of all time, at 50.05% vs. 49.95% implied probability.

I expect a raw max of 125 today so predict the final score of 114.25-114 (but no crucial).

Pretty exciting.

Jon O'Neill wrote: ↑Fri Dec 18, 2020 9:08 am 91.4 vs. 91.2 raw % score. Surely statistically the closest final of all time, at 50.05% vs. 49.95% implied probability.

I expect a raw max of 125 today so predict the final score of 114.25-114 (but no crucial).

Pretty exciting.

Could also be one of, if not, the strongest ever final based on combined ability (think both players had a 2000ish rating at time of filming).

Jon O'Neill wrote: ↑Fri Dec 18, 2020 9:08 am 91.4 vs. 91.2 raw % score. Surely statistically the closest final of all time, at 50.05% vs. 49.95% implied probability.

I expect a raw max of 125 today so predict the final score of 114.25-114 (but no crucial).

Pretty exciting.

I don't think the probability can be inferred from the raw score in such a crude manner. Did Rhys hack your account?

I must thank Rhys for putting that post up, because I was going to do something like this after the show ends later on haha! Thanks for all your work especially after Countdown resumed back in August!

7×(3+9)×8-4=668 in the third numbers. Surprised no-one got it. It's basically just the ultra-factorisable 672 minus 4 and it goes from there.

Edit - Even after the break Rachel got it by torturing the numbers. ((2+7)×9+3)×8-4=668.

Congratulations to Luke! That was a very enjoyable final, both of you seemed to really enjoy the occasion and both came across really well on screen across the finals.

Great game and series etc. I think Luke's 11-game total is a new record, beating Elliott's non-winning total. Overall, I'd probably say it was the best ever individual series performance. And Sam played pretty well too!

Congratulations again to Luke! He was perfect on the letters throughout all three of his finals games, which has surely never been done before. Absolutely amazing standard of play, and the deserving winner.

With 1,384 points, Luke has overtaken Zarte for the highest-scoring Xicount, and also overtaken Elliott for the highest points scored in an 11-game run.

Congratulations Luke on a brilliant series victory. Amazing standard especially on the letters. Well done to Sam for getting to the final, and in most series he would have had no problems taking the trophy home.

(Well apart from the fact you don't get to keep the trophy)

It was a shame (but the right decision) that there could be no trophy presentation. Wouldn't it be nice if Luke could be invited as a guest to present the trophy in the next series finals or something?

I'm surprised Luke wasn't allowed to go up and celebrate in the middle of the studio on his own with it, but that's a great idea, Jack.

Many congratulations to Luke on an outstanding display all the way through, especially given that letters feat! Sam, you're a worthy runner-up and I applaud your sportsmanship! Thanks to Team Countdown for their efforts this year!

Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑Fri Dec 18, 2020 3:04 pm I'm surprised Luke wasn't allowed to go up and celebrate in the middle of the studio on his own with it, but that's a great idea, Jack.

He did do this - he picked the trophy up himself and waved it around a bit while they filmed him. No idea what happened to the footage.

Congratulations Luke, that was quite a performance, not just today but throughout your run. To achieve 30/30 letters maxes in the finals is just phenomenal. MAGESHIP and MAEGBOTE were brilliant today and worthy of winning any series. A well deserving champion.

Commiserations Sam, you would have won many other series but Luke was always going to be difficult to beat. You've both been brilliant throughout your runs and can be very proud of what you've achieved. Two top blokes too, it was a shame you couldn't both be series champions, maybe you would have been in a normal year. I'm sure you'll both shine at the next CoC too!

Here we are, at the very end of the longest running Series of Countdown, six months late, and exactly a week before Christmas. So many things have happened in 2020 and I really appreciate Rhys writing down most of what I had wanted to say here so thank you once again!

Letters: Both players were excellent right from the beginning as expected, but with Luke getting crucial words such as MAGESHIP in Round 4, LEAPFROG in Round 10 and MAEGBOTE in Round 13, he opened up a commendable lead against Sam, although both of them got the very last nine in the Series with EUTOPIANS in Round 11 so excellent all-round! (Luke getting all those nines certainly made me dizzy, that's for sure!)

Numbers: Given this is the Grand Final, Luke probably was left with no choice but to go with six small in Round 3...and CECIL fails to give a hard target to the point Rachel had to apologise. As expected, Sam goes for his by now normal four large in Round 6 and with Luke having an easy method, wait a minute, Sam, "WHAT THE HECK??!!" My jaw just dropped at the sight of his solution and you could hear an audible "Woah" as soon as Rachel started clapping. His solution literally blew my mind, I've not seen something like this since last year during the Championship of Champions (which must have been ages ago). With the game being over by Round 14, Sam denied Luke points only for the second time ever; nerves probably got the better of them as Rachel showed a simple way to get on the dot.

Conundrum: No, we certainly don't have to do TESTS for DOPEs on the contestants here, but sadly we don't have a Crucial Conundrum just like the last Series that would definitely spice up any Grand Final. However, Sam buzzes in with steedpost which is incorrect, unlucky there Even Luke got stumped on this one which was POSSETTED, but it doesn't matter because he's already won before this round.

I had predicted Luke would defeat Sam by around 20 points, with or without a Crucial Conundrum, and again, I was way off with the difference at 37 points. Once I saw what Luke had in Round 13, I knew it was certainly "game over" for Sam. Many commiserations Sam, but as you mentioned on the daily chat, there's no shame in being the runner-up, and indeed, you might not have won the prizes, but you certainly won our hearts with your smile. Thanks for all the exclusive content while you were present and I wish you well for your newborn baby and your wife once again; all the best in raising up your family in the years to come!

Sam Cappleman-Lynes wrote: ↑Fri Dec 18, 2020 2:56 pm Congratulations again to Luke! He was perfect on the letters throughout all three of his finals games, which has surely never been done before. Absolutely amazing standard of play, and the deserving winner.

As some people have also kindly pointed out here, Luke is now the highest Xicount with 1384 points, and he did what Elliott Mellor sadly couldn't do in Series 80, win the Series and claim that very title! (I bet the latter will probably be proud of what happened earlier today) As only the second ever person to have gotten over 1000 points in the Preliminaries, this will surely be a record for a long, long time to come. We first knew you as an audience member who solved a difficult conundrum in the Series 80 Finals 1.5 years ago, then came as a contestant around this time last year, and you've fulfilled your dream to have your name on the Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy a year later! It's a shame due to COVID Rachel could not hand that on-camera to you as it has been the tradition for many years, but your name will forever be etched in there and when people look back on this Series, you will certainly be known as a high-achiever and champion.

Series 82 might be done but as Nick already mentioned, we're not done in terms of episodes on Countdown for 2020 just yet! There's still three more specials that have yet to air as of the time of writing, the first in five years and it's nice the production team are giving us an extra treat after a long while. If you don't have time to watch episodes in the day anymore this year, there's still the Christmas Special for Catsdown airing on Monday night (oh I can't wait to see what they've done to the studio and how different it's going to look). To anyone who has participated in this Series this year, especially to those after the suspension due to the first lockdown, thank you for putting up with all the restrictions in place, and thank you for choosing to take part in this iconic gameshow in spite of the difficulties some of you might have had to travel to the studios just for the filming. More importantly, thank you to the production team, the camera crew, etc. for maintaining a continuity as much as possible and for that, I really have to salute you. Countdown would not be where it is now thanks to your help to make it appear on our television screens!

Series 83 will start on Monday, 04 January 2021, with Daniel Jonathan in the chair seeking for his 5th win. Here's to a better year ahead for all of us in a fortnight's time and let's hope that this upcoming series won't be as long as this one! Until then, in advance, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, stay safe and be healthy; I'll most likely be back here when we get rid of the worst year of my life...

Progress:
QF1 (10 December): Luke Johnson-Davies (#1) vs David Kempshall (#8) (136 - 89)
QF2 (11 December): Sam Cappleman-Lynes (#2) vs Damien Doughty (#7) (121 - 71)
QF3 (14 December): Leo Smith (#3) vs Phil Hulme (#6) (91 - 80)
QF4 (15 December): Ian Volante (#4) vs Ryan Styles (#5) (82 - 76)
SF1 (16 December): Luke Johnson-Davies (QF1 Winner) vs Ian Volante (QF4 Winner) (112 - 65)
SF2 (17 December): Sam Cappleman-Lynes (QF2 Winner) vs Leo Smith (QF3 Winner) (124 - 83)
GF (18 December): Luke Johnson-Davies (SF1 Winner) vs Sam Cappleman-Lynes (SF2 Winner) (122 - 95)

Ryan Lam wrote: ↑Fri Dec 18, 2020 3:53 pm I had predicted Luke would defeat Sam by around 20 points, with or without a Crucial Conundrum, and again, I was way off with the difference at 37 points.

I make it 17 points...

Ryan Lam wrote: ↑Fri Dec 18, 2020 3:53 pm However, Sam buzzes in with speedpost which the selection doesn't have double "P"s, unlucky there

I took a punt at steedpost, which has the right letters

Commiserations Sam, a strong showing throughout and you've really come on since getting back into apto. Not a bad year for you with that and the new family addition!

Luke - absolutely incredible. To be so cool-headed in a game of that magnitude is amazing, I bet you'd be calm trying to defuse a bomb with seconds to go I'd probably make Luke the favourite so far in a hypothetical future CoC playing like that.

Quite an extraordinary final in a year of exceptional happenings! Congratulations to both players for such a prestigious and friendly contest and to Luke who edged it brilliantly in the final stages.
Just to pick a nit - is there any justification for the double T in POSSETTED (cf. cosseted, gusseted etc.) or is it simply, like the last 9 months, unprecedented?

Sam Cappleman-Lynes wrote: ↑Fri Dec 18, 2020 3:54 pm
I took a punt at steedpost, which has the right letters

Alright, I've made the correction, thanks for clarifying!

Excellent game.

Loved Levi singing as well - what a breath of fresh air he has been this week.

Well done to both players, and congrats to Luke for winning our longest series ever.
Worthy winner and excellent standard. Hope you all enjoy the 3 Xmas Specials next week.
Cheers from all of us at the show and Merry Xmas to you all.

Countdown Team wrote: ↑Fri Dec 18, 2020 7:12 pm Well done to both players, and congrats to Luke for winning our longest series ever.
Worthy winner and excellent standard. Hope you all enjoy the 3 Xmas Specials next week.
Cheers from all of us at the show and Merry Xmas to you all.

You guys are the best gameshow ever! Thank you for it!

Congratulations to Luke Johnson Davies on becoming series 82 champion a worthy winner, well done to the runner up Sam Cappleman Lynes for putting up a really good fight, both of you had some really excellent words you should be proud of yourselves for making it this far, unlucky to the other finalists who made it made a really good series, looking forward to the specials that are on hopefully they will entertaining too.

Superb game between two class acts. Very well done chaps. Many congrats, Luke on becoming series champ and Sam on becoming series runner-up

Well done Team Countdown on another great series particularly in these difficult times.

Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑Fri Dec 18, 2020 3:01 pm With 1,384 points, Luke has overtaken Zarte for the highest-scoring Xicount, and also overtaken Elliott for the highest points scored in an 11-game run.

I was hoping for 1400 points. It requires an average of just over 127, which was less than in his octorun (128).

Brilliant final! Very well played both of you. Huge congratulations Luke on becoming series winner, and commiserations Sam.

Well that was a great way to end an epic series. Very impressive performance both, but Luke was in a slightly different class.

Look forward to seeing you both back (and maybe Leo and/or Ian from the semi finals) in a Champion of Champions before too long I hope!

Congratulations Luke and commiserations to Sam. MAEGBOTE was a great spot. Thanks also to all the finalists and the production team for giving us series 82 in such difficult circumstances.

With MAGESHIP and MAEGBOTE, I wonder if Luke just learnt all the words that started with the same four letters and happened to get really, really lucky.

Great final, congratulations to Luke and well done to Sam as a very worthy runner up. Many thanks to the production team for being able to still host a brilliant show under the current circumstances. Looking forward to the special shows next week which should be brilliant!!

Mega-congratulations to Luke and commiserations Sam. That was a great final. Despite not crunching the stats Luke was around a 75% favorite in my mind heading into this because of his solidity on the letters and the occasional surprising miss from Sam. But Sam didn’t miss anything easy: MAGESHIP, MAEGBOTE and LEAPFROG were spots worthy of winning any contest. Looking forward to seeing you both at the next CoC!

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Sat Dec 19, 2020 7:36 am With MAGESHIP and MAEGBOTE, I wonder if Luke just learnt all the words that started with the same four letters and happened to get really, really lucky.

Luke’s very first word (on the show, not as a child) was POSTGAME, so I think he learnt the endings too.

Wow! Thank you so much everyone for the kind messages.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes wrote: ↑Fri Dec 18, 2020 2:56 pm Congratulations again to Luke! He was perfect on the letters throughout all three of his finals games, which has surely never been done before. Absolutely amazing standard of play, and the deserving winner.

Special thanks to you Sam for the kind words, it was lovely meeting you and playing against you, and I'm constantly blown away by how quickly you got so tremendously good! I really wasn't so confident that I could beat you after the standard you'd been playing at, but I gave it my all on the day and it all worked in my favour. I think it was a great final which showed us both playing at our best, and that's all you can really ask for.

I'm really glad everyone enjoyed watching, I certainly enjoyed my time playing a great deal. The supportive comments and praise are the icing on the cake, so thanks again! And in case anyone is wondering, for the time being I fully intend to stick around on Apterous and make the occasional appearance at various Co-events. Above all, I just enjoy anagramming and completing the series doesn't change that. I'll be looking forward to CoC as well!

By the way, bonus detail: I picked that last vowel in round 13 specifically hoping for the E for MAEGBOTE, so it wasn't a complete coincidence I knew the longest word in that round!

Luke Johnson-Davies wrote: ↑Sat Dec 19, 2020 9:12 pm By the way, bonus detail: I picked that last vowel in round 13 specifically hoping for the E for MAEGBOTE, so it wasn't a complete coincidence I knew the longest word in that round!

Nice fishing. Must be a weird feeling to sit there for 30s just knowing you opponent has to spot a tough 8 for you not to win the series.

I'm just glad I didn't go for the other 7 I had written down in that round - MAEGBOT. Would have looked a bit silly. I'd never seen it with an E on the end before.

Aye, well played all. Can't add much to the above, but a stunningly high standard from these lads, and a great effort behind the scenes to get things going again. Olé!

An excellent game. Well played by 2 brilliant players.
I was chuffed that I at least got the 3rd numbers game - in time: (8*7)*(9+3)-4 = 668

I watch this on demand in Canada. How come Susie didn't do anecdote in this episode?

No time available probably

Ian Fitzpatrick wrote: ↑Wed Jan 13, 2021 10:33 am No time available probably

No time for the 'queen of countdown' how dare they