John Cowen

John Cowen in Series 77.

John Cowen was an octochamp in Series 77.

The maths graduate debuted on 19 July 2017 in impressive fashion, scoring the third highest total of the whole series on his debut as well as spotting the 9-letter word SPREADING. He missed out on joining the 800 club by 1 point, but nonetheless achieved four centuries and performed well in the numbers rounds in which he chose 6 small in every pick.

As a result of his preliminary success, Cowen returned for the Series 77 finals in December as #3 seed. In his quarter-final match, he thrashed fellow unbeaten player Michael Pfeffer, picking out the nine ANTINODES to prevail 105 – 49. In the semi-finals, he faced Bradley Horrocks, another player who picked 6 small most of the time (although he instead opted for 3 large there). However, his run came to an end after he had an incorrect solution to his final 6 small selection, meaning a crucial conundrum was avoided and gave the former the win by then.

Cowen joined Apterous in March 2018, and made his Co-event debut in Leeds a month later where he reunited with Horrocks. He also knows some Russian.

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
6626	19/07/2017	P	Shabir Alidina	53 – 128	John Cowen	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Chris Packham	Susie Dent	136
6627	20/07/2017	P	John Cowen	106 – 24	Tom Blessington	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Chris Packham	Susie Dent	129
6628	21/07/2017	P	John Cowen	79 – 38	Raf Seneviratne	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Chris Packham	Susie Dent	136
6629	24/07/2017	P	John Cowen	97 – 74	Andrew Alden	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Chris Packham	Susie Dent	125
6630	25/07/2017	P	John Cowen	103 – 77	David Marsh	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Jenny Eclair	Susie Dent	141
6631	26/07/2017	P	John Cowen	104 – 35	Pete Hall	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Jenny Eclair	Susie Dent	121
6632	27/07/2017	P	John Cowen	88 – 64	Sue Wishart	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Jenny Eclair	Susie Dent	133
6633	28/07/2017	P	John Cowen	94 – 46	Vivek Mathews	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Jenny Eclair	Susie Dent	121
6732	18/12/2017	QF	John Cowen	105 – 49	Michael Pfeffer	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Rufus Hound	Susie Dent	123
6735	21/12/2017	SF	Bradley Horrocks	95 – 83	John Cowen	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Rufus Hound	Susie Dent	134