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Steven Briers

From Countdown
Steven Briers
Octochamp Statistics
Final positionQuarter-finalist
Seeding1
Points total843
Conundrums solved6
Steve Briers in his second game...
...then two years later in the grand final of Championship of Champions XIII against Charlie Reams...
...and him again in the 30th Birthday Championship four years later.

Steven "Steve" Briers was an octochamp in Series 55, the winner of Championship of Champions XIII, and a participant in the 30th Birthday Championship. During his Series 55 appearances, he was a student at Taunton's College from Southampton, Hampshire, and is most renowned for his bizarre style of solving numbers games.

Appearances on the programme

Series 55

Briers first appeared on 3 November 2006, beating Richard Woodward 76 – 62. He vastly improved and hammered Dean Rowley 136 – 41 in his second game, setting the then fifth-highest ever score, the then second-highest ever winning margin in Countdown history, and the highest score of the series. He won six more games to become an octochamp and the No. 1 seed, amassing a total of 843 points. However, he was defeated in the quarter-finals by Phil Watson; the only time to date in which a No. 1 seed lost a quarter-final match under the 15-round format.

Championship of Champions XIII

Despite not making past the quarter-finals of his series, Briers was selected to return for Championship of Champions XIII, beating Debbi Flack in the first round, partly thanks to the nine-letter word ANTIPODES in the first letters game.

In the quarter-finals, he faced David O'Donnell, who was unbeaten with 12 wins from 12 games. The scores were close all the way, until Briers spotted the nine-letter word PESTICIDE when O'Donnell only had a seven. The players continued to score in every round, until the conundrum, where Briers led by 18 points. O'Donnell solved the conundrum in 0.5 seconds, but it wasn't enough as he lost 118 – 110 to Briers, one of the highest ever losing scores.

In the semi-finals, he faced Nick Wainwright in another close game, including a brilliant six-small numbers solution from Wainwright. However, Briers was five points into the lead going into the conundrum FCRAVIOLA, which neither player solved, so it was Briers that went through to the grand final.

In the grand final, he faced Charlie Reams. Reams started with LEPTON while Briers had OPULENT for seven. Briers maintained this lead until he had reenact ☓ disallowed. Briers then took the lead, first with SNOOZED, then another seven points when Reams went wrong on the numbers. A seven, a six and a five for both players meant that Reams had to beat Briers on the final numbers game to force a crucial conundrum. However, Reams declared nothing, and Briers declared five away. Briers had won the tournament, and just the conundrum remained. The conundrum was ELITEBOUT. Briers first buzzed in with libouette ☓ which was wrong, and then comically, Reams buzzed in with GANDISEEG, referring to Richard Brittain's guess at the conundrum in the first round of the tournament.

30th Birthday Championship

Briers returned to Countdown in 2013, as one of 41 contestants taking part in the 30th Birthday Championship. He lost his only match against Series 61 runner-up Andrew Hulme by a score of 113 – 74.

Preceded by
Paul Gallen
Champion of Champions
Championship of Champions XIII
Followed by
Dylan Taylor

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
4227 03/11/2006 P Richard Woodward 62 – 76 Steven Briers Des Lynam Carol Vorderman Jo Brand Susie Dent 127
4228 06/11/2006 P Steven Briers 136 – 41 Dean Rowley Des Lynam Carol Vorderman Tony Christie Susie Dent 142
4229 07/11/2006 P Steven Briers 106 – 56 Vicky Hubble Des Lynam Carol Vorderman Tony Christie Susie Dent 124
4230 08/11/2006 P Steven Briers 116 – 68 Carl Gregory Des Lynam Carol Vorderman Tony Christie Susie Dent 134
4231 09/11/2006 P Steven Briers 108 – 59 Glenda Fullard Des Lynam Carol Vorderman Tony Christie Susie Dent 119
4232 10/11/2006 P Steven Briers 110 – 93 Dan Ward Des Lynam Carol Vorderman Tony Christie Susie Dent 141
4233 13/11/2006 P Steven Briers 92 – 53 Jennifer Brown Des Lynam Carol Vorderman Keith Barron Susie Dent 129
4234 14/11/2006 P Steven Briers 99 – 55 Sue Pascoe Des Lynam Carol Vorderman Keith Barron Susie Dent 127
4256 14/12/2006 QF Steven Briers 72 – 82 Phil Watson Des Lynam Carol Vorderman Ken Bruce Susie Dent 138
4740 21/01/2009 CP Steve Briers 121 – 74 Debbi Flack Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Alastair Stewart Susie Dent 126
4741 22/01/2009 CQF Steve Briers 118 – 110 David O'Donnell Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Alastair Stewart Susie Dent 130
4745 28/01/2009 CSF Steve Briers 87 – 82 Nick Wainwright Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Paul Zenon Susie Dent 119
4747 30/01/2009 CGF Charlie Reams 67 – 88 Steve Briers Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Paul Zenon Susie Dent 114
5622 16/01/2013 30BP Andrew Hulme 113 – 74 Steven Briers Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Martin Lewis Susie Dent 127

External Links


Championship of Champions Winners

I : Mark Nyman | II : Clive Freedman | III : Harvey Freeman | IV : Nic Brown | V : Tim Morrissey | VI : Wayne Summers | VII : Don Reid | VIII : Chris Rogers | IX : Natascha Kearsey | X : Scott Mearns | XI : Graham Nash | XII : Paul Gallen | XIII : Steve Briers | XIV : Dylan Taylor | XV : Zarte Siempre | XVI : Ahmed Mohamed