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Jeff Clayton

From Countdown
Jeff Clayton
Octochamp Statistics
Final positionSemi-finalist
Seeding2
Points total846
Conundrums solved5
Jeff Clayton, 13 years after his first appearance.

Jeff Clayton was a contestant in Series 51 and an octochamp in 76. He is a former chairperson of FOCAL.

Clayton won his first game against Ben Walden thanks to Walden offering two invalid words. Clayton then beat Yvonne McKeon on another crucial conundrum, thanks in part to a choice of six small numbers. However, in his third game he couldn't match Richard Hunter who spotted the nine letter word UNDERLAYS to go into the conundrum 13 points ahead.

In Series 76, Clayton was readmitted to Countdown, prevailing over Tom Marlow 109 – 74 on his "second début". He would go on to win seven further games here, securing octochamp status with a total of 846 points and qualifying for the finals as No 2 seed. He then prevailed over #7-ranked fellow octochamp Lawrie Collingwood in his quarter-final. Subsequently, in the semis, he fought valiantly against #3 prospect Moose Rosser, but ultimately came unstuck when his adversary solved the tricky crucial conundrum LOSTMYCAP.

Away from Countdown, Clayton works in the bus industry and has held senior operational and commercial posts, specialising in network design, crew scheduling, efficiency and best use of resource.

Tournaments

He was introduced to the underground world of online Countdown following a chance meeting with series 52 contestant Jon Stitcher when they met backstage at the Great British Spelling Test.

He appeared at the first Countdown tournament, COLIN 2005, and has been a regular at events across the country ever since.

He organised his first tournament in Leicester in 2008 and is now the regular co-host of events in Wolverhampton and Braintree. He has also previously delivered tournaments in Leicester, Bournemouth, Bristol, Birmingham, Chester, Huddersfield and St Albans.

France

Clayton speaks fluent French and regularly participates in Des chiffres et des lettres tournaments in France.

In July 2014, Clayton appeared on the parent programme of Countdown, Des chiffres et des lettres, appearing on 3 programmes against Bernadette, a contestant from Belgium. He won the 2nd of the 3 shows, but lost the other two.

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
3711 28/05/2004 P Ben Walden 83 – 91 Jeff Clayton Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Jeremy Beadle Susie Dent 128
3712 31/05/2004 P Jeff Clayton 85 – 65 Yvonne McKeon Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Jeremy Beadle Susie Dent 142
3713 1/06/2004 P Jeff Clayton 52 – 75 Richard Hunter Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Jeremy Beadle Susie Dent 128
6546 23/03/2017 P Tom Marlow 74 – 109 Jeff Clayton Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Dr Phil Hammond Susie Dent 124
6547 24/03/2017 P Jeff Clayton 112 – 66 James Hemingray Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Dr Phil Hammond Susie Dent 132
6548 27/03/2017 P Jeff Clayton 111 – 51 Louise McDonald Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Dr Phil Hammond Susie Dent 121
6549 28/03/2017 P Jeff Clayton 116 – 60 Peter Finan Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Nina Hossain Susie Dent 155
6550 29/03/2017 P Jeff Clayton 81 – 61 Martin McGrath Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Nina Hossain Susie Dent 120
6551 30/03/2017 P Jeff Clayton 105 – 50 Susan Rooke Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Nina Hossain Susie Dent 123
6552 31/03/2017 P Jeff Clayton 106 – 29 Amar Chotai Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Nina Hossain Susie Dent 120
6553 3/04/2017 P Jeff Clayton 106 – 43 Hasit Raja Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Nina Hossain Susie Dent 132
6609 22/06/2017 QF Jeff Clayton 86 – 68 Lawrie Collingwood Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Suzi Perry Susie Dent 121
6613 29/06/2017 SF Jeff Clayton 84 – 88 Moose Rosser Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Colin Murray Susie Dent 121