). At least the latter didn’t forget who’s who here after five months or I’d like to think he’d be in trouble before the game even started! First Third: Just like QF1, another strong start with both getting the sole eight-letter maximum of PRONATED in R1, followed by a tie of DEITIES and DIGESTS in R2! Charlie goes first with the numbers but I guess knowing this is the Finals, he goes for 6 Small to perhaps try to combat Megel’s favourite of 4 Large in his preliminaries. CECIL falls unfortunately flat here especially with a no-brainer way of getting 100 from two “10”s eh?
Second Third: The game is still tied after R4 with both thinking to themselves “How did I miss ABSOLUTE” there? Oh well…thereafter Rachel nearly takes an “L” by almost dropping it in R5, and WHINE all you want if it doesn’t make you WHOLE lot of satisfied there. Here comes Megel, and 4 Large it is (as expected), too bad this was easy once more, to the point Charlie had time to drink water from his glass. A breakaway came after the anecdote with Charlie spotting FRUITAGE in R7, and with a tough 6 Small target in R9 to get in 30 seconds, at least both aren’t screaming “Get me out of here” just yet (if you know what I mean, with Charlie for missing the numbers (as pointed out in the Daily Chat), and Megel for being behind).
Last Third: Good spot of EMANATE and SEROTINE by both in R10 and R11 respectively, but then, the crucial pivot came in Charlie’s favour afterwards, with LOUCHEST and DISCOVER giving him the win before R14, which to me afterwards, it’s only easy if you spot the solution! Here comes a conundrum in which the answer probably describes the act of someone who steals GRAPEs for LIFE. Charlie gets it easily to secure his appearance next Thursday! Something in my mind told me I’ve seen this somewhere, and it turns out this was a Teatime Teaser in QF4 of Series 76 way back in 2017. Like Patrick, I would have been no match here either.
I predicted Charlie to beat Megel by around 30 to 35 points given how I've seen word going around that Megel had been practising consistently on Apterous prior to his Finals appearance, and I was right. Afterall, Megel definitely had the upper hand when it came to the amount of time to practice for the Finals, but it was not enough to see him through to next week. Yet, in spite of his loss, what he did at the end probably left everyone emotional, and I’d like to believe Tom Bashford’s words on the Daily Chat that the other Finalists shedded tears behind-the-scenes. The fact that he ended off by saying he was really honoured to play and lose against a talented player like Charlie and that the future is in people like him, how can one not be touched by this?
That round of applause was thoroughly deserved, and I really hope Megel finds his way to the Discord server one day to make the Finalist line-up complete. We’ll all be waiting for him, that’s for sure, and thank you to Charlie for that wonderful photo of you together with him and the cast, along with Callum Ridley’s compliments about Megel when he encountered him in the hotel! He really is a wonderful person full of character, and I'm sure this must be a reason why his students' love him in his school.The final week of the Series is upon us, with Oti Mabuse joining us to send this Series off. To start, will it be “The Elusive Apterite whom we all thought would be the #1 Seed until Patrick and Charlie came along” Luke Selway or “The first Octochamp since the COVID pandemic to see more than one presenter and complete his stint when Colin Murray was absent” Callum Ridley make it through to set up the match on Thursday?
Progress:
QF1 (18 June 2026): Patrick Thompson (#1) vs Tom Bashford (#8) (118 - 64)
QF2 (19 June 2026): Charlie Harrison (#2) vs Megel Barker (#7) (120 - 86)
QF3 (22 June 2026): Luke Selway (#3) vs Callum Ridley (#6)
QF4 (23 June 2026): Daniel Face (#4) vs Ian Kinsella (#5)
SF1 (24 June 2026): Patrick Thompson (QF1 Winner) vs (QF4 Winner)
SF2 (25 June 2026): Charlie Harrison (QF2 Winner) vs (QF3 Winner)
GF (26 June 2026): (SF1 Winner) vs (SF2 Winner)