Jeffrey Hansford

Jeffrey Hansford

Jeffrey Hansford was the runner up of Series 57. After a close-fought debut against Grant Woods, Hansford scored another seven victories by comfortable margins to become the series' third octochamp. This included a score of 127 with two niners, the second highest of the series. He also solved seven conundrums with exceptional speed, often buzzing in under a second, and showed visible disappointment on the one occasion he was beaten to the buzzer. In the finals, he saw off two tough opponents, before finally falling to Craig Beevers in the final. His impeccable conundrum record was, however, maintained, with two lightning-fast spots, and one controversially disallowed by Des O'Connor.

He has Asperger's syndrome and is known for his range of unusual mannerisms. These include saying "please" after almost every letter, declaring an exact numbers solution to be '0 away', "a risky [length] I should say" (usually for fairly common words), and spelling many of his words using mnemonics. He appeared in an article in the Daily Express which compared him to Rain Man. In the article, he claims to have studied the dictionary every lunchtime and evening since he was four point eight. He also earned an article in the Daily Mirror which revealed that he does not hold down a normal job but aspires to be a children's book author sometime before the end of 2012.

Reaction to him from fans of the show was extremely mixed, with some finding his mannerisms and obvious ability charming, while others were offended by his lack of social understanding and self-awareness. Also, Jeffrey could be seen cheating on several occasions, most notably in the quarter- and semi-final. His quarter-final opponent David Von Geyer has said, however, "he was cheating, but as he has no concept that what he's doing is wrong, he wasn't cheating" (referring to Hansford's Asperger's syndrome).

Informally, on the C4countdown message board, "Hansfording" or "doing a Hansford" refers to buzzing in instantly for the conundrum before even seeing the letters.

Preceded by Anita Freeland

Series runner-up Series 57

Followed by Richard Priest

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
4424	27/08/2007	P	Grant Woods	79 – 96	Jeffrey Hansford	Des O'Connor	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Ken Bruce	Susie Dent
4425	28/08/2007	P	Jeffrey Hansford	107 – 65	Dave Grant	Des O'Connor	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Ken Bruce	Susie Dent
4426	29/08/2007	P	Jeffrey Hansford	127 – 70	Alex Burrows	Des O'Connor	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Ken Bruce	Susie Dent
4427	30/08/2007	P	Jeffrey Hansford	96 – 53	Vikki Gardner	Des O'Connor	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Ken Bruce	Susie Dent
4428	31/08/2007	P	Jeffrey Hansford	97 – 72	Terry Rattle	Des O'Connor	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Ken Bruce	Susie Dent
4429	3/09/2007	P	Jeffrey Hansford	99 – 55	Barbara Hinton	Des O'Connor	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent
4430	4/09/2007	P	Jeffrey Hansford	100 – 41	Ian Hopper	Des O'Connor	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent
4431	5/09/2007	P	Jeffrey Hansford	96 – 37	Anne Brooke	Des O'Connor	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent
4504	17/12/2007	QF	David Von Geyer	77 – 86	Jeffrey Hansford	Des O'Connor	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Pam Ayres	Alison Heard
4507	20/12/2007	SF	Steve Baines	66 – 81	Jeffrey Hansford	Des O'Connor	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Pam Ayres	Alison Heard
4508	21/12/2007	F	Craig Beevers	105 – 82	Jeffrey Hansford	Des O'Connor	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Pam Ayres	Alison Heard