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Paul O'Brien
| Paul O'Brien Octochamp Statistics | |
| Final position | Semi-finalist |
|---|---|
| Seeding | 4 |
| Points total | 781 |
| Conundrums solved | 4 |
Paul O'Brien was an octochamp and semi-finalist in Series 88. He was a High School Teacher, originally from Leeds at the time of his appearances.
Contents
Appearances
Heat games
On his debut appearance, O'Brien unseated one-time winner Sunil Parmar, whose error in the last numbers game allowed the challenger to prevail by 19 points. After solving a crucial conundrum in his second game, O'Brien followed this with his first century score. Two more crucial conundrums followed; the second of which was the culmination of a nail-biting affair where both he and Apterite challenger Niall Cusack scored in all letters and numbers games (that being the first occurrence of this in a 15-round preliminary).
In his final preliminary match, after a very nip-and-tuck affair against third-time returning challenger John Blaker, he solved the final numbers game, and then quickly turned PETEINDEX into EXPEDIENT to become the third octochamp of the series, with a total of 781 points and 5 centuries in 6 matches.
Finals
Having qualified for the finals in 4th place, O'Brien was up against No. 5 seed and fellow octochamp George Baker. In a very close and nail-biting match, both players traded blows mid-way through the game, with O'Brien behind by just one point by Round 9. However, thanks to the spots of AMUSEDLY and MOLARS, he carved out a 13-point margin by the final numbers game. He then survived the final 6-small attempt from Baker, who did solve the conundrum as consolation, to advance to a semi-final matchup against Harry Savage.
Against Savage, Paul actually took an early lead thanks to the spot of GRIMACED, but after a couple of unfortunate numbers round mishaps and Harry's own letter spots, it meant that eventually, Harry was far in the clear by the time they got to the conundrum. Neither player solved it, although Paul got agonisingly close, which meant he bowed out of the tournament with 70 points from that game and a final tally of 951 from 10 appearances.
Episodes
| # | Date | Type | Contestant 1 | Score | Contestant 2 | Presenters | Guest | Lex | Max | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8104 | 13/09/2023 | P | Sunil Parmar | 70 – 89 | Paul O'Brien | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Justin Moorhouse | Susie Dent | 121 | ||
| 8105 | 14/09/2023 | P | Paul O'Brien | 90 – 74 | Adam Kinsley | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Justin Moorhouse | Susie Dent | 134 | ||
| 8106 | 15/09/2023 | P | Paul O'Brien | 105 – 59 | Steven Allen | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Justin Moorhouse | Susie Dent | 132 | ||
| 8107 | 18/09/2023 | P | Paul O'Brien | 80 – 64 | Jack Shephard | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Chris McCausland | Susie Dent | 135 | ||
| 8108 | 19/09/2023 | P | Paul O'Brien | 110 – 100 | Niall Cusack | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Chris McCausland | Susie Dent | 121 | ||
| 8109 | 20/09/2023 | P | Paul O'Brien | 104 – 62 | Rory Nelson | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Chris McCausland | Susie Dent | 125 | ||
| 8110 | 21/09/2023 | P | Paul O'Brien | 103 – 16 | Ravi Jay | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Chris McCausland | Susie Dent | 136 | ||
| 8111 | 22/09/2023 | P | Paul O'Brien | 100 – 74 | John Blaker | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Chris McCausland | Susie Dent | 127 | ||
| 8173 | 19/12/2023 | QF | Paul O'Brien | 100 – 97 | George Baker | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Christopher Biggins | Susie Dent | 139 | ||
| 8174 | 20/12/2023 | SF | Harry Savage | 104 – 70 | Paul O'Brien | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Christopher Biggins | Susie Dent | 125 | ||
