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Paul Erdunast

From Countdown
Paul Erdunast
Octochamp Statistics
Final positionChampion
Seeding1
Points total925
Conundrums solved8
Paul Erdunast during his quarter-final.
Paul Erdunast during his first game.

Paul Erdunast was an octochamp in and the champion of Series 74, and a participant in Championship of Champions XV. He is also an Apterite and has attended Co-events.

Appearances on the programme

Heat games

During his octochamp run, Erdunast broke the record for winning the highest number of rounds across eight heat games in Countdown history with 82 of 120 rounds won. In addition, his aggregate winning margin over his eight heat opponents was 625 points, a close second to Dylan Taylor's 628. He was also the ninth contestant in the history of Countdown to solve all eight conundrums during his heat games.

Finals

With a total of 925 points over eight games, Erdunast returned in June 2016 as #1 for the series finals. During his quarter-final draw, he swept aside four-time winner Tony Lock with relatively little difficulty, but saw the end of his perfect conundrum record. The semi-finals matched him against octochamp and Apterite Conrad Teixeira. Teixeira played well in this game but could not compete with the scoring power of Erdunast, who gained points in every round and dropped only four points from perfection. This brought Erdunast to the Series 74 grand final, where he faced #3-ranked Ann Dibben. Here, Erdunast kicked off the game with a spot of the nine-letter word UROKINASE, and despite Dibben riposting in Round 4 with PHOBIAS, he held onto and later extended his lead to seal victory prior to the final numbers game. However, Dibben gained the last word by unravelling the conundrum HOLYCIGAR and achieving the highest score by a female contestant in a grand final. With his victory, he became the first person to since Callum Todd in Series 69 to have won a series without having appeared on an earlier series of Countdown.

Championship of Champions XV

Erdunast returned to Countdown in January 2019 as a contestant in the Championship of Champions XV. He had a very difficult draw, facing FOCAL founder and highest-scoring “xicount” Zarte Siempre in the first round. Unfortunately, Erdunast’s run ended here after falling to 8 points behind twice and failing to take the match on the unsolved crucial conundrum AMRESTIVE.

Preceded by
Jonathan Wynn
Series winner
Series 74
Followed by
Martin Hurst

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
6311 18/02/2016 P David Armstrong 32 – 122 Paul Erdunast Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Richard Arnold Susie Dent 137
6312 19/02/2016 P Paul Erdunast 127 – 46 Stuart Moore Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Richard Arnold Susie Dent 132
6313 22/02/2016 P Paul Erdunast 130 – 73 Ben Dali Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Julia Bradbury Susie Dent 135
6314 23/02/2016 P Paul Erdunast 113 – 15 Julie Hall Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Julia Bradbury Susie Dent 132
6315 24/02/2016 P Paul Erdunast 106 – 40 Luke Bates Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Julia Bradbury Susie Dent 124
6316 25/02/2016 P Paul Erdunast 118 – 48 Philip Allen Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Julia Bradbury Susie Dent 144
6317 26/02/2016 P Paul Erdunast 98 – 20 Colin Mills Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Julia Bradbury Susie Dent 118
6318 29/02/2016 P Paul Erdunast 111 – 26 Dave Higgins Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Julia Bradbury Susie Dent 134
6378 10/06/2016 QF Paul Erdunast 114 – 34 Tony Lock Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Richard Madeley Susie Dent 132
6382 22/06/2016 SF Paul Erdunast 118 – 91 Conrad Teixeira Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Dr Phil Hammond Susie Dent 122
6384 24/06/2016 GF Paul Erdunast 116 – 105 Ann Dibben Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Dr Phil Hammond Susie Dent 135
6984 8/01/2019 CP Paul Erdunast 105 – 113 Zarte Siempre Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Kate Humble Susie Dent 131