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George Ford
| George Ford Octochamp Statistics | |
| Final position | Semi-finalist |
|---|---|
| Seeding | 5 |
| Points total | 832 |
| Conundrums solved | 5 |
George Ford was an octochamp and semi-finalist in Series 71, as well as a participant in Championship of Champions XIV. He is also an Apterite.
Contents
Appearance on the programme
Heat games
Ford began his octochamp run with a controversial victory against two-time winner Jonny Rye. In the game, Rye's offering of HEADWAYS was disallowed by Susie Dent. This has since been recognised as a mistake by the Countdown team. Ignoring the controversy, Ford emerged with a strong debut score of 102, the first of seven centuries. His next game proved to be the strongest of his run, spotting the nine CAPONIERS and by solving a numbers game with a method involving going up to 97,500 and coming back down again. Ford continued his unorthodox numbers solves throughout his run, even managing to stump Rachel Riley on a few occasions. The remainder of Ford's games were relatively consistent with Ford spotting words such as AGISTED, CONDUITS and AVIATOR. Ford also only dropped below 100 in one game, against Stewart Fraser. Fraser was also the only challenger to beat Ford in a numbers game; however Fraser wasn't as strong in the letters rounds and only managed to score five over all ten of the letters rounds. Despite the lack of nines present (only CAPONIERS from his second game), Ford finished his run with a very strong cumulative total of 832 – averaging 104 per game. Despite the strong score, Ford only qualified as No. 5 seed for the finals, making him both the highest-scoring octochamp with only one nine available, as well as the highest-scoring No. 5 seed in the history of the show. Ford's popularity with viewers during his run sparked the creation of the Facebook group 'The George Ford Fanclub', which provided fans with summaries of Ford's games, and highlights of his performances.
Finals
Ford returned to our screens as No. 5 seed for his quarter-final against No. 4 seed Mark Davies. Davies took an early lead when Ford blanked out in the first numbers round, however Ford retaliated in the next round by spotting the eight PASSIVES. The lead then changed back once more when Davies spotted LACINESS, followed by another lead change in the next round when Ford uncovered NEMATODE. From here on Ford scored in every round up until the conundrum THESKILOG, which Davies unscrambled in just eight seconds to be GHOSTLIKE. Despite Davies' solve, it was Ford that took the game with an impressive score of 90 against 78. The win saw Ford progress to the semi-finals, where he faced the seemingly invincible No. 1 seed Dan McColm. Though Ford fought hard against McColm, the invalid offerings pattie ☓ and ambroise ☓ along with brilliant spots by McColm such as RIBOSOME and ROUILLE meant that Ford's run had finally come to an end. However, some consolation for Ford is that in this game McColm didn't drop a single point, giving him the tenth max game in the history of the show, and the first in the new 15 round format. Ford left the studios with nine wins and 999 points to his name.
Championship of Champions XIV
Ford returned to Countdown for Championship of Champions XIV in 2016, facing off against fellow University of Exeter alumnus Jen Steadman in the first round. Steadman emerged victorious in the encounter 126 – 99.
Appearances on quiz shows
Ford appeared on Eggheads on 19 September 2019.
Episodes
| # | Date | Type | Contestant 1 | Score | Contestant 2 | Presenters | Guest | Lex | Max | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6017 | 23/10/2014 | P | Jonny Rye | 92 – 102 | George Ford | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Dave Myers | Susie Dent | 125 | ||
| 6018 | 24/10/2014 | P | George Ford | 114 – 68 | John Payne | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Dave Myers | Susie Dent | 132 | ||
| 6019 | 27/10/2014 | P | George Ford | 101 – 61 | Ita Moynihan | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Dave Myers | Susie Dent | 122 | ||
| 6020 | 28/10/2014 | P | George Ford | 100 – 36 | Kathy Richland | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | John Inverdale | Susie Dent | 121 | ||
| 6021 | 29/10/2014 | P | George Ford | 95 – 25 | Stewart Fraser | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | John Inverdale | Susie Dent | 124 | ||
| 6022 | 30/10/2014 | P | George Ford | 107 – 56 | Jonathan Lee | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | John Inverdale | Susie Dent | 122 | ||
| 6023 | 31/10/2014 | P | George Ford | 112 – 32 | Sue Edgar | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | John Inverdale | Susie Dent | 124 | ||
| 6024 | 03/11/2014 | P | George Ford | 101 – 77 | Tom Pettinger | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | John Inverdale | Susie Dent | 118 | ||
| 6053 | 16/12/2014 | QF | Mark Davies | 78 – 90 | George Ford | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | David Baddiel | Susie Dent | 122 | ||
| 6054 | 17/12/2014 | SF | Dan McColm | 123 – 77 | George Ford | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | David Baddiel | Susie Dent | 123 | ||
| 6282 | 08/01/2016 | CP | George Ford | 99 – 126 | Jen Steadman | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Gloria Hunniford | Susie Dent | 137 | ||
External Links
- The George Ford Fan Club, the Facebook group set up by viewers in response to Ford's octorun.
- Watch one of Ford's impressive four-large numbers solutions here.
