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Charlie Reams

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Charlie Reams strikes fear into the heart of his enemy.

Charlie Reams, known not infrequently as Soo was the runner-up of Series 59. Reams is one of the most important characters in the Countdown online community. He created The Countdown Database which replaced the Countdown Corral after being asked to make a list of all the nines in the current Series. The site quickly grew and now includes round details from over 1000 games and statistics about players, Series and Octochamps. Soo also runs this site and is the head moderator on the C4countdown online forum.

Before appearing on Countdown in 2008, he went to COLIN in 2005, 2006 and 2008, winning the prize for the highest placed player never to have appeared on the show in 2008. He also appeared at CoBris 2006 and CoNot 2008. He made his debut on the televised show on 15th October 2008 scoring 114, the highest debut score of the series. His next game against Darren Edwards was one of the great thrashings of all time, with Reams winning by 95. Only Julian Fell and David O'Donnell have won a game by a larger margin. After slipping to 92 in his next game, he scored over 100 in three of his next four games, before a dramatic 8th game. Reams trailed from the start but managed to take a slim lead in round 11 with BEASTIE and then scored 7 points on a difficult final numbers game to go into the conundrum leading 63 - 52. He got the conundrum and completed his run with 73, his final total was 820 points.

His quarter-final was a close, tense affair but Reams survived without a crucial conundrum, despite scoring nothing on the last numbers game. The semi-final was another close affair, this time against #4 seed 11-year old Kai Laddiman. Laddiman beat him in the first few rounds to take a 14 - 0 lead, but he made a comeback with IONIZES. Reams got closer on the following numbers game, and then beat Laddiman with SPRAINED, OUTRAGE, the second numbers game and SUNDIAL. This gave Reams an unassailable lead going into the conundrum AMBERNAIL which neither player could solve, found by Jo Brand in Dictionary Corner.

In the final #1 seed faced #3 seed, and the game was very close, first of all Reams missed STEMMED in the first round, but Mubeen had SLOPERS x disallowed in the next round. The players scored in the next two rounds, before Mubeen decided to pick six small numbers. Reams declared nothing while Mubeen declared 929 but had miscounted and got no points. In the second "half", Junaid took the lead with ORGANDIE and extended it when Reams had ALIENER disallowed. Mubeen held onto this lead until the final numbers, where Reams made a tactical choice of 4 large, but it didn't work because both players got the target and put their pens down after 20 seconds. Mubeen had a 14 point lead going into the conundrum, but it was Reams that solved ERACLOSES (CASSEROLE) and lost the final by just 4 points, 88 - 84.

He was invited back for the Championship of Champions XIII, beating Peter Davies in the first round. In the second round, he played Mubeen again, a rematch of their Series final. This time, Reams forced a crucial conundrum and was a couple of points ahead. Neither player could solve the conundrum SALESGIRL so Reams just scraped into the semi-final. In the semi-final, he faced one of the favourites Jon Corby. Reams was in good form, including 5 eight letter words in a row, a Countdown record. Jon couldn't compete, and lost 110-76, despite the fact that neither player got the conundrum.

In the final, he faced Steven Briers. Reams started with LEPTON while Briers has 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 5 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. His own record of his experience on the show can be read on The Countdown Page here.

Reams still attends unofficial tournaments, including COLIN 2009, CoLei2 and Co:Lon.


Preceded by
Richard Priest
Series runner-up
Series 59
Followed by
Jimmy Gough


Preceded by
Mark Tournoff
Champion of Champions runner-up
Championship of Champions XIII

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
4690 15/10/2008 P John McCarthy 69 – 114 Charlie Reams Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Ann Widdecombe Susie Dent
4691 16/10/2008 P Charlie Reams 126 – 31 Darren Edwards Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Ann Widdecombe Susie Dent
4692 17/10/2008 P Charlie Reams 92 – 54 David Wylie Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Ann Widdecombe Susie Dent
4693 20/10/2008 P Charlie Reams 106 – 60 Kathleen Carroll Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Ann Widdecombe Susie Dent
4694 21/10/2008 P Charlie Reams 115 – 88 Allan Harmer Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Brian Capron Susie Dent
4695 22/10/2008 P Charlie Reams 92 – 51 Paul Blake Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Brian Capron Susie Dent
4696 23/10/2008 P Charlie Reams 102 – 79 Anne Jenkin Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Brian Capron Susie Dent
4697 24/10/2008 P Charlie Reams 73 – 52 John Eva Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Brian Capron Susie Dent
4726 4/12/2008 QF Charlie Reams 82 – 69 Patricia Jamieson Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Phil Hammond Susie Dent
4730 10/12/2008 SF Kai Laddiman 70 – 99 Charlie Reams Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Jo Brand Susie Dent
4732 12/12/2008 F Junaid Mubeen 88 – 84 Charlie Reams Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Gyles Brandreth Susie Dent
4739 20/01/2009 CP Peter Davies 66 – 85 Charlie Reams Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Alastair Stewart Susie Dent
4742 23/01/2009 CQF Junaid Mubeen 79 – 88 Charlie Reams Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Alastair Stewart Susie Dent
4746 29/01/2009 CSF Charlie Reams 110 – 76 Jon Corby Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Paul Zenon Susie Dent
4747 30/01/2009 CGF Charlie Reams 67 – 88 Steve Briers Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Paul Zenon Susie Dent