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Chris Cummins

From Countdown
Chris Cummins
Octochamp Statistics
Final positionChampion
Seeding1
Points total858
Conundrums solved7
Chris Cummins

Chris Cummins was an octochamp in and the champion of Series 50, and a participant in Championship of Champions XII. He was a Cambridge mathematics undergraduate from Sussex.

Appearances on the programme

Heat games

Cummins made his debut on 21 July 2003, scoring a solid 95 to get into the champion's chair. He cruised through the next seven games with little opposition, scoring six centuries and an impressive 123 against Richard Redman. This game was particular memorable for Cummins' double nine of DEPILATES and GASOMETER/MEGASTORE.

Series finals

His quarter-final was another one-sided affair, as Cummins posted 107 to Brian McKeon's 58, before despatching Adam Laws with similar ease in his semi-final. The grand final, against Eamonn Timmins, was his first serious challenge, but winning spots of HOMAGES, CENSORED and TADPOLES opened a substantial lead by the end of the second half, which also included 18-pointer REGIMENTS for both players. Dropping only one point in the third half, Cummins ran out comfortable winner by 122 – 86.

Championship of Champions XII

Like all series winners, he was invited back for Championship of Champions XII, and was drawn against Matthew Shore. Both players made good finds in BALLETIC and ODDMENTS, despite missing NOURISHES, and Cummins was two points ahead going into the conundrum. However, Shore solved RUMPIZETA in 2.5 seconds to snatch the game, with the final score at 109 – 101. This was the ninth century of Cummins' career, in which he had never scored below 91, but his run was over.

Away from Countdown

After winning Series 50, Cummins played a charity game over two legs with Series 48 champion Julian Fell, and lost two legs to nil.

In 2004, Cummins captained the Trinity College, Cambridge team on University Challenge. He then appeared on four episodes of Only Connect in 2010 as a member of the "Strategists" team – a team of three strategy game enthusiasts who ultimately finished as runners-up of that series. His game show career continued with an appearance on Mastermind on 24 February 2012. Cummins' next quiz appearance was on Fifteen to One in July 2016, coming third. He reappeared on Mastermind in July 2017, winning his heat and qualifying for the semi-finals, where he finished second.

He is also a competitive Scrabble player.

Preceded by
John Davies
Series winner
Series 50
Followed by
Stewart Holden

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
3527 21/07/2003 P Jim Cantle 81 – 95 Chris Cummins Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Richard Wilson Susie Dent 128
3528 22/07/2003 P Chris Cummins 105 – 47 May Fullegar Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Richard Wilson Susie Dent 140
3529 23/07/2003 P Chris Cummins 103 – 69 Graham Tonkin Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Richard Wilson Susie Dent 118
3530 29/07/2003 P Chris Cummins 108 – 38 Andrea Needham Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Richard Digance Susie Dent 131
3531 30/07/2003 P Chris Cummins 117 – 32 Ron Squire Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Richard Digance Susie Dent 132
3532 05/08/2003 P Chris Cummins 91 – 63 June Knott Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Richard Digance Susie Dent 126
3533 06/08/2003 P Chris Cummins 123 – 32 Richard Redman Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Richard Digance Susie Dent 137
3534 08/08/2003 P Chris Cummins 116 – 65 Peter Twydell Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Richard Digance Susie Dent 131
3608 11/12/2003 QF Brian McKeon 58 – 107 Chris Cummins Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Tim Rice Susie Dent 121
3612 17/12/2003 SF Adam Laws 59 – 97 Chris Cummins Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Richard Digance Susie Dent 111
3614 19/12/2003 GF Chris Cummins 122 – 86 Eamonn Timmins Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Richard Digance Susie Dent 133
4120 07/06/2006 CP Matthew Shore 109 – 101 Chris Cummins Des Lynam Carol Vorderman Ann Widdecombe Susie Dent 131