View source for David O'Donnell (Series 58)

[[Image:David_O_Donnell.jpg|thumb|right|David in the process of missing {{word|LATTICES}}.]]
'''David O'Donnell''' was an [[octochamp]] in and the champion of [[Series 58]], and was a quarter-finalist in the [[Championship of Champions XIII]] and the [[30th Birthday Championship]].

He first appeared on the 24th of January 2008 and scored 110 against [[Marjorie Hillman]], winning by 56 points. In his next two games he fell below 100 but came back with 117 against [[Bill Barrack]]. His next game turned out to have the second largest winning margin of all-time, David beat [[Hazel Wheeler]] by 98 points, winning {{score|111|13}}. He scored 114 against [[Rick Ruegg]] before scoring 122 against [[Ian Browning]], the second highest score of the series. On the 4 February, David finished his [[octochamp]] run with a score of 117, and an impressive octototal of 880.

O'Donnell returned for the finals as #1 seed and saw off the challenge of [[Ben Hanks]] and then very narrowly beat [[Jonathan Coles]] on a crucial conundrum, despite having {{word|ULTIMATI}} disallowed. In the final, Richard Priest gave a good performance but was {{score|13|0}} after two rounds and never recovered. After David beat him in the later rounds with {{word|EPIDOTE}} the game was effectively over and O'Donnell became the Series 58 champion, winning the final game of the series {{score|91|61}}, although he failed to solve the conundrum {{word|SCORELINE}}.

O'Donnell returned for the [[Championship of Champions XIII]], beating [[James Hurrell]] on a crucial conundrum solved in less than a second. In the quarter-finals, he faced [[Steven Briers]]. The scores were close all the way, until Briers spotted the nine-letter word {{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 {{score|118|110}}, one of the highest ever losing scores.

He returned to Countdown in 2013, as one of 41 contestants taking part in the [[30th Birthday Championship]]. After receiving a bye to the first round, he won his first match against [[Series 47]] runner-up [[Tom Hargreaves]] by a score of {{score|111|86}}. He then played the [[Series 61]] champion [[Chris Davies (Series 61)|Chris Davies]] in one of the greatest games of ''Countdown'' ever. After getting [[niner]]s in the last 2 letters games, and getting 2 away in the last numbers game, both Davies and O'Donnell scored 117 points, but after Davies incorrectly guessed {{word|PARGETMAN}} as an answer to {{word|PENTAGRAM}}, it left O'Donnell to correctly guess {{word|GARBOLOGY}} in the second conundrum to win by a score of {{score|127|117}}, the highest aggregate score in the history of the show. He then fell at the quarter-final stage to the still unbeaten [[Series 63]] champion [[Jack Hurst]], although he did become the first person to take Hurst to a crucial conundrum.

In January 2010, O'Donnell attended his first unofficial Countdown tournament, [[COLIN 2010]].

{{series winner|preceded_by=Craig Beevers|series=58|followed_by=Junaid Mubeen}}

==Episodes==
{{episode table}}
{{ep | 4525 | 24/01/2008 | P |[[Marjorie Hillman]]| 54 - 110 |David O'Donnell|[[Trudie Goodwin]]|[[Alison Heard]]|120}}
{{ep | 4526 | 25/01/2008 | P |David O'Donnell| 97 - 49 |[[Brian Kay]]|Trudie Goodwin|Alison Heard|130}}
{{ep | 4527 | 28/01/2008 | P |David O'Donnell| 92 - 62 |[[Martin Smith]]|Trudie Goodwin|Alison Heard|119}}
{{ep | 4528 | 29/01/2008 | P |David O'Donnell| 117 - 45 |[[Bill Barrack]]|Trudie Goodwin|Alison Heard|121}}
{{ep | 4529 | 30/01/2008 | P |David O'Donnell| 111 - 13 |[[Hazel Wheeler]]|[[Richard Digance]]|Alison Heard|126}}
{{ep | 4530 | 31/01/2008 | P |David O'Donnell| 114 - 44 |[[Rick Ruegg]]|Richard Digance|Alison Heard|131}}
{{ep | 4531 | 1/02/2008 | P |David O'Donnell| 122 - 62 |[[Ian Browning]]|Richard Digance|Alison Heard|128}}
{{ep | 4532 | 4/02/2008 | P |David O'Donnell| 117 - 48 |[[Steve Jepp]]|Richard Digance|Alison Heard|120}}
{{ep | 4621 | 12/06/2008 | QF |David O'Donnell| 92 - 46 |[[Ben Hanks]]|[[Alastair Stewart]]|[[Susie Dent]]|118}}
{{ep | 4625 | 18/06/2008 | SF |David O'Donnell| 95 - 82 |[[Jonathan Coles]]|[[Dr Phil Hammond]]|Susie Dent|119}}
{{ep | 4627 | 20/06/2008 | GF |David O'Donnell| 91 - 61 |[[Richard Priest]]|Dr Phil Hammond|Susie Dent|118}}
{{ep | 4733 | 12/01/2009 | CP |David O'Donnell| 101 - 82 |[[James Hurrell]]|[[Andrew Sachs]]|Susie Dent|119}}
{{ep | 4741 | 22/01/2009 | CQF |[[Steven Briers|Steve Briers]]| 118 - 110 |David O'Donnell|Alastair Stewart|Susie Dent|130}}
{{ep | 5635 | 4/02/2013 | 30B1 |David O'Donnell| 111 - 86 |[[Tom Hargreaves]]|[[Kate Adie]]|Susie Dent|128}}
{{ep | 5644 | 15/02/2013 | 30B2 |[[Chris Davies (Series 61)|Chris Davies]]| 117 - 127* |David O'Donnell|[[Ken Bruce]]|Susie Dent|140}}
{{ep | 5651 | 26/02/2013 | 30BQF |[[Jack Hurst]]| 115 - 97 |David O'Donnell|[[Jenny Eclair]]|Susie Dent|122}}
{{episode table end}}
<center>* includes 10 points from a tie-break conundrum</center>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odonnell, David}}
[[Category:Octochamps of the 15 round era]]
[[Category:Teapot owners]]
[[Category:Contestants in Series 58]]
[[Category:Contestants in 30th Birthday Championship]]
[[Category:Series winners]]
[[Category:Finalists]]
[[Category:Contestants in Championship of Champions XIII]]