List of Countdown records

The following is a list of Countdown records compiled using The Countdown Corral, The Countdown Page, Countdown Update UK and automated and human research from this wiki. Much of the list is divided up into records from the 15-round era, the 9-round era and the 14-round grand finals, since the considerable differences between these formats make it almost impossible to compare the games like for like. This is particularly difficult when comparing the classic 15-round format to the current one, where differences of just a few points per game are to be expected.

New 15-round format

High scores

• The highest ever score is 154, jointly held by Tom Stevenson in his fourth heat game, and Cillian McMulkin in his fifth heat game of Series 87. See the list of 15-round scores over 125.

• The highest score set by a challenger was 148, set by Stu Harkness. The highest score for a debutant was 140, set by Dan Byrom. Harkness had already appeared once before in Series 57, so the matter of who holds the record for highest debut score is somewhat controversial.

• The highest ever total score over an octochamp's eight preliminary games was 1,061, set by Elliott Mellor. Luke Johnson-Davies became the second person to pass the 1,000 point barrier with 1,024 points in Series 82, Luke Boynton became the third with 1,032 points in Series 83, Tom Stevenson became the fourth with exactly 1,000 points in Series 86, and Ronan Higginson became the fifth with 1,041 points in Series 87. Other players who scored over 900 are Dylan Taylor, who scored 974, Edward Byrne who scored 969, Zarte Siempre and Dan Byrom who both scored 967, Giles Hutchings who scored 965, James Haughton who scored 958, Jen Steadman who scored 952, Matt O'Connor who scored 949, Glen Webb who scored 945, Cillian McMulkin who scored 944, Dan McColm who scored 942, Sam Cappleman-Lynes and Harry Savage who both scored 939, Tom Cappleman and Ahmed Mohamed who both scored 927, Paul Erdunast who scored 925, Thomas Carey who scored 923, Jonathan Wynn who scored 922, Dinos Sfyris who scored 918, Stephen Read who scored 915, and Mark Murray who scored 902.

Mellor, Higginson, Boynton, Johnson-Davies, Stevenson, Taylor, Byrne, Siempre, Byrom, Hutchings, Haughton, Steadman, O'Connor, McMulkin, Cappleman-Lynes, Savage, Cappleman, Mohamed, Carey, Wynn, Read, Murray, Robin McKay and Toby McDonald are the only players to have scored eight centuries in their run of eight games. Andy Platt scored eight centuries in his run, but half were in the old format and half in the new format. His total was 889.

• The highest ever total over 11 games, the maximum possible in one series, was 1,435 by Series 87 champion Ronan Higginson.

• The highest possible score, also the highest in any daytime Countdown game, was 175, in episodes 6745, 7341 and 7945, with all these episodes having five nines available. These and the highest-maxing old 15-rounder are the only games to date in which five nines have been available.

• The record number of nine-letter words spotted by a contestant in one game is three. This was achieved by:

• Tom Cappleman and Glen Webb, both of whom found DIVESTING, FASCINATE and DEVIATORS in their Championship of Champions XIV last-16 match;
• Zarte Siempre, who found LARCENOUS, BLOWSIEST, and DIVAGATED in his Championship of Champions XV quarter-final;
• Elliott Mellor, who found NODALIZES, ANIMATEUR and INFRACTED in his second heat game;
• James Haughton, who found NEFARIOUS, MONRADITE and UNROASTED in his Series 81 quarter-final;
• Martyn Simpson, who found FORMALISE, RESEATING, and IDOLATERS in his sixth heat game of Series 82;
• Luke Boynton, who found PATRONISE, REDINGOTE, and CLAMOURED in his fifth heat game of Series 83;
• Stu Harkness, who found HORTENSIA, RENOVATES, and TRITANOPE in his first heat game of Series 84;
• Ahmed Mohamed, who found FETALISED, REDEPOSIT and SPECIATED in his Series 84 quarter-final;
• Quinn Bartlett, who found DRAGONETS, PLANETOID and SPEARMINT in his first heat game;
• Tom Stevenson, who found BRIMSTONE, MAINLINER and OVERSIGHT in his fourth heat game;
• Cillian McMulkin, who found CARBONITE, MOLESTING and MALIGNERS in his fifth heat game of Series 87, followed by DEMONICAL, EPISTERNA and RADICULES in his semi-final;
• Ronan Higginson, who found INTRIGUER, AMBROSIAN and ALPENROSE in his seventh heat game, along with IGNORABLE, ENSILAGED and PECORAITE in his grand final.

• The record number of nine-letter words declared by a contestant in one game is four, held jointly by Dinos Sfyris in his Series 80 quarter-final (two of which were valid), and Edward Byrne in his Championship of Champions XVI last-16 match (one of which was valid).

• The highest ever losing score was Andy Platt's 125 against Dylan Taylor in the second quarter-final of Championship of Champions XIV. The game was poised 125 – 117 in Platt's favour going into the conundrum MINUTEPUN which Taylor solved, leaving Platt as the loser with 125 points. Interestingly, prior to this match, Taylor had been the holder of this record, having achieved a losing score of 116 in the Series 69 grand final. Lots of other losing scores with centuries have been recorded – see the list of double century games.

Only four players have lost on their debut whilst scoring a century – Ciaran McCarthy with 104 in Series 70, Adam Curran with 100 in Series 73, David Wevill with 101 in Series 85, and Niall Cusack with 100 in Series 88.

• The highest-scoring game with a tiebreak conundrum was the game mentioned above between Adrian Fletcher and David Wevill in Series 85. After the regular conundrum TOPPOETRY, the scores were neck and neck at 101 – 101, so a second conundrum LETQUARRY was necessary. Fletcher solved this to score 111 after the tiebreaker.

• Elliott Mellor holds the record for the highest score with no nine-letter words of 126. The highest with one nine is Dan McColm's score of 137 and the highest with two is Elliott Mellor's 143. If you ignore the nine-point bonus for nine-letter words altogether in order to combine these records, Dan McColm's above score of 137 becomes 128, and is the record score under this system. Both Tom Stevenson and Cillian McMulkin's all-time record scores of 154 would be worth 127.

• Dan McColm was the first player to get a max game in the "new" 15-round format. He scored 123 out of 123 in his Series 71 semi-final against George Ford.

• Ronan Higginson was the first player to get two max games in a single regular series, in his fifth heat game and semi-final.

• The largest winning margin ever was in Episode 7080, where Elliott Mellor beat Kieran Matley by 133 points, 143 – 10. This was equalled by Ronan Higginson in Episode 8024 where he recorded a 143 – 10 victory over Aaron Sutton.

Low scores

• The lowest ever score was 0, by Sarah Herbert in Episode 7761 and Avi Sharma in Episode 8083. See the list of 15-round scores under 30.

• The lowest maximum score for an episode was 110 in Episode 6423.

• The lowest winning score was 41, set by Rob Jennings in Series 71.

• The lowest score in the finals of a series was 19, by Jan Pask against Zarte Siempre in Series 78. The lowest score in a semi-final occurred in Series 68, when Joe McGonigle scored 38 against eventual series winner Giles Hutchings.

Other

• The longest for which the contestants have remained on equal scores is in the first semi-final of Championship of Champions XIV, the second semi-final of Championship of Champions XVI, and the 58th heat game of Series 88, which are the only three 15-rounders in which both contestants scored in all letters and all numbers games.

• The biggest comeback is 39 points, jointly held by Ann Robinson in Episode 5896, and Sarah Bibby in Episode 8042.

Old 15-round format

High scores

• The highest ever score is 146, jointly held by Julian Fell, in his semi-final against Danny Hamilton, and Conor Travers, with his victory against Jack Hurst in the 30th Birthday Championship grand final. Fell's game is notable for being the only time a contestant has found four nine-letter words in a single game. The third highest ever score was 143, amassed by Jack Hurst in Round 1 of the 30th Birthday Championship. See the list of 15-round scores over 125.

• The highest score set by a challenger was 134 by Hamish Williamson. The highest score for a debutant was 124, set by Jonathan Coles. Williamson had already appeared once before in Series 40, so the matter of who holds the record for highest debut score is somewhat controversial.

• The highest ever total score over an octochamp's eight preliminary games was 946, set by Jack Hurst. The only other players to score over 900 are Andrew Hulme who scored 930, Kirk Bevins who scored 925 points, Julian Fell who scored 924, Craig Beevers who amassed 907, and Adam Gillard who achieved 903. The next highest total is 898 by Eoin Monaghan. Hurst, Hulme, Fell, Beevers, Gillard and Monaghan are the only players to have scored eight centuries in their run of eight games. Andy Platt scored eight centuries in his run, but half were in the old format and half in the new format. His total was 889.

• The highest ever total over 11 games, the maximum possible in one series, was 1,307 by Series 48 winner Julian Fell, including the aforementioned score of 146.

• The highest possible score was 173, when five nines were available. Only one of the nine-letter words was found by the contestants (oddly by the losing contestant), neither of whom managed to score a century. The other four nines were all found by Dictionary Corner. This and the three highest-maxing "new" 15-rounders are the only games to date in which five nines have been available.

• The most nines found by one contestant in one game is four – Julian Fell found SALMONIDS, DEPORTING, INGATHERS and DEFLATION in his record-breaking game.

• The highest ever losing score was Matthew Shore's 117 against Mark Tournoff in Championship of Champions XII. The game was poised 117 – 114 going into the conundrum SILLYQUOO which Tournoff solved, leaving Shore as the loser with 117 points. That was equalled in the 30th Birthday Championship, when Chris Davies lost after a tiebreak conundrum to David O'Donnell in Episode 5644. Lots of other losing scores with centuries have been recorded – see the list of double century games.

Only two players lost on their debut whilst scoring a century – Terry Rattle with 107 in Series 47, and Lesley Hines with 104 in Series 61.

In the 30th Birthday Championship, no fewer than eight matches ended with the defeated contestant scoring 100 or more. They were: Mark Deeks (losing to Jack Hurst 108 – 103), Nick Deller (losing to Mark Tournoff 101 – 100), Chris Davies (losing to David O'Donnell 127 – 117), Innis Carson (losing to Kirk Bevins 112 – 102), Jack Worsley (losing to Jon O'Neill 122 – 104), Jonathan Rawlinson (losing to Jack Hurst 116 – 105), Jon O'Neill (losing to Conor Travers 120 – 102) and Jack Hurst (losing to Conor Travers 146 – 111).

• The highest-scoring game with a tiebreak conundrum was between Chris Davies and David O'Donnell in the second round of the 30th Birthday Championship. After the regular conundrum PATRANGME, the scores were neck and neck at 117 – 117, so a second conundrum BAGOGLORY was necessary. O'Donnell solved it to score 127 after the tiebreaker.

• While the all-time record score is 146, Jon O'Neill holds the record for the highest score with no nine-letter words of 122, which also happened to be a max game. The highest with one nine is Jack Hurst's score of 133 and the highest with two is Chris Davies' 139. Conor Travers found three nines in his 146 point game, whilst Julian Fell achieved the same total with four nines in Episode 3387. Nobody has ever found five nines in one game, largely because this has only been possible once. If you ignore the nine-point bonus for nine-letter words altogether in order to combine these records, Jack Hurst's above score of 133 becomes 124, and is the record score under this system. Interestingly, Julian Fell's equal all-time record score of 146 would only be worth 110. Conor Travers's 146 would be worth 119.

• Kirk Bevins was the first player to get a max game in a 15-round game. He scored 126 out of a possible 126 in Series 60. Bevins equalled this feat with his score of 130 out of 130 during the 30th Birthday Championship. This same mini-series contained four further max games. Jon O'Neill scored 122 out of 122 in his quarter-final against Jack Worsley, and Conor Travers achieved three consecutive max games with 119 in his second round and quarter-final matches, and 120 against O'Neill to reach the tournament grand final.

• The largest winning margin ever was in Episode 5264, where Tom Barnes beat Christine Buffrey by 112 points, 119 – 7, which was also notable for Buffrey's record-breaking low score, as you can see below. Only on four other occasions have games been won by over 100 points – Episode 3349, where Julian Fell beat Carl McDermott by 109 points, 138 – 29 (including three nines – VALORISED, REPULSION and ANTIPODES), Episode 5188, when Adam Gillard beat Mavis Riley by 102 points, 125 – 23 (by coincidence, both these records were set when Fell and Gillard were on their eighth preliminary match), Episode 5285, when Graeme Cole beat Mike Linnell by 106 points, 125 – 19, and in Episode 5665, when Andy Platt beat Carl Anderson by 102 points, 109 – 7 (notably in the final match of the old 15-round format).

Low scores

• The lowest ever score was set by Christine Buffrey, who scored only 7 points against Tom Barnes. This was then equalled by Carl Anderson in Episode 5665 against Andy Platt (notably in the final match of the old 15-round format). See the list of 15-round scores under 30.

• The lowest recorded maximum was 105, which included a numbers game in which no points were available and a series of difficult letters games. The Championship of Champions XI grand final had a maximum of 106, only one point more.

• The lowest winning score was 47, set by Andrew Greenway in Series 63.

• The lowest score in the finals of a series was 21, by David Butcher in his quarter-final game against Mark Deeks in Series 65.

Other

• The biggest comeback is 40 points, held by Richard Pay in Episode 3645.

9-round format

High scores

• The highest ever score was 83, first achieved by Series 12 champion Stephen Balment in Episode 546. This score was made on Balment's debut, and so it is also the highest debut score of the 9-round era. The score was equalled by Allan Saldanha in the Supreme Championship against Darryl Francis. Saldanha won 83 – 24 in Episode 1886, a feat made even more amazing as he was competing against the champion of Series 6.

• The highest ever score by a champion was Harvey Freeman's 82, later equalled by Lucy Roberts in Episode 2641. Neither of the scores of 83 was made while Balment or Saldanha were the current champion.

• At least two contestants found two nine-letter words in a 9-round game. Jill Bright found two nine-letter words in Rounds 1 and 2 of Episode 2271 and scored 81 points before the conundrum, but failed to solve it and could have beaten the highest ever score by eight points. Similarly, John Snedden found two nine-letter words in Episode 2693 and scored 80 points before the conundrum, but also failed to break the high score record. See the list of 9-round scores over 75.

• The highest ever eight game total was 535, achieved by David Williams. This beat Harvey Freeman's total of 523 in Series 10. The highest ever total over the maximum eleven possible games in one series was 760, also set by Harvey Freeman. This includes ten 9-round games and a 14-round grand final.

• The highest losing score was 70. In Championship of Champions IV, Tony Vick beat Steve Williams by a score of 80 – 70 in Episode 817. Williams was leading 60 – 70 after eight rounds, but Vick got the conundrum ADJECTIVE to set up a 70 – 70 tie. A second conundrum was used to separate them, and it was Vick that spotted IMPOUNDED to win with a score of 80. In Series 4, Robert Richland beat Stuart Schofield by a score of 75 – 70 in Episode 152.

• The highest known max score for a 9-round game is 106. This included three nines, EXTENSION, CRUDITIES/DIURETICS and GUARDIANS. The Richard Whiteley Gotcha episode actually also had a max of 106, but this is not usually considered to count because the rounds were set up to include certain words.

• The highest known 9-round score with no nine-letter words is 75 points, shared by Harvey Freeman in Episode 466, and Richard Campbell in Episode 1504. If the nine-point bonus for nine-letter words were excluded, these would also have been the joint highest 9-round scores of all time.

• At least three contestants have got a max game in a 9-round game. Jenny Haldane scored 70 points out of 70 in her debut game against John Widdowson in Series 16, and Darren Shacklady scored 69 points out of 69 in his debut game against Tony David in Series 29. Allan Saldanha also scored 67 points out of 67 in his Supreme Championship quarter-final against Joyce Cansfield. However, in one of Saldanha's numbers games, he was further from the target than the closest possible, although his score of seven from this round could not be bettered.

• The highest score in the finals of a 9-round series was 79, by Mark Nyman against Ted Wiles in Series 3.

Low scores

• The record lowest scores belong to John Brooks and Sylvia Pitman, who failed to score a single point between them in episodes 637 and 2343 respectively.

• The lowest known maximum score for a 9-round game is 59 points, shared by episodes 1211 and 1999.

• The lowest score in the finals of a 9-round series was 10, by Denys Hollis against Derek Coombs in Series 20.

Other

• The longest for which the contestants have remained on equal scores is probably Episode 1734, in which the score was tied from the beginning up until a second tiebreak conundrum finally separated them.

14-round format

• The highest ever score in a 14-round game was 115 by Harvey Freeman in the Championship of Champions III grand final against Series 9 winner David Trace. Trace was leading 107 – 105 going into the final conundrum, but couldn't get it and lost with 107 points. This is also the highest losing score in a 14-round game. See the list of 14-round scores over 100.

• The lowest score in a 14-round game was 36, by Joel Salkin against Nic Brown in the grand final of Series 14. The lowest 14-round winning score was 59, by Stuart Wood against John Rainsden in the grand final of Series 44.

• Harvey Freeman also holds the record for most 14-round games won, winning the grand final of Series 10, the grand final of Championship of Champions III and the grand final of the Supreme Championship. The only player to play four 14-round games was Allan Saldanha, who played in the grand final of Series 15, two special episodes against Tim Morrissey and Gareth Williams, and the aforementioned Supreme Championship grand final against Harvey Freeman. He won the two specials and lost the two grand finals.

Other

• Conor Travers holds the record for the most wins on Countdown with 21 wins from 22 games (22 games is the most of any player). In these, Travers scored 2,466 points – this is the highest ever total. Travers also holds the record for the most rounds played, with 327. Just behind him is Zarte Siempre with 20 wins from 21 games.

• The longest winning streak of regular Countdown games (excluding special episodes and Countdown Masters games) belongs to Harvey Freeman who won 19 games in a row – 11 games in Series 10, three games in Championship of Champions III and five games in the Supreme Championship.

Including special episodes and Countdown Masters games, Freeman's streak is broken, so this record would be 16 wins, jointly held by Don Reid and Graham Nash.

• In all forms out of Countdown (except the 8 Out of 10 Cats series), Nita Marr holds the record for the most defeats. In total she's lost six times: in her eighth heat game of Series 13 against Mark Preston, her semi-final of Series 13 against Hilary Hopper, her semi-final of Championship of Champions IV against Nic Brown, her Countdown Masters game against Jenny Haldane, her Supreme Championship game against Tim Morrissey, and a special against Mike Brown.

Debbi Flack holds the record for the most consecutive defeats, with four in a row – in her seventh heat game of Series 59 against Mike Lambert, her quarter-final of Series 59 against Kai Laddiman, her first-round match of Championship of Champions XIII against Steve Briers and her special episode against Claudia Tyson.

• The longest word to come up in reverse order on the letters board was the nine DECANTERS in Episode 4523. Neither contestant spotted it, but Carol Vorderman did and additionally commented on its perfect reverse ordering.

• Unofficially, the highest ever score was achieved in 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown series 6, episode 2, when Jon Richardson and Jack Whitehall defeated Sean Lock and Roisin Conaty by a score of 890 – 28, which also makes it the highest winning margin of all time. This was primarily achieved because the conundrum in this episode was worth 843 points, instead of the normal 10. This beat the record set in series 2, episode 5, when Jon Richardson and Adam Hills defeated Lee Mack and Bob Mortimer by a score of 153 – 0. In this game, the conundrum was worth 100 points.

• The numbers game that has been furthest away from being solvable occurred in Round 8 of Episode 2722. It featured the six small numbers 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 7 and the closest reachable value was 378, 596 away from the target of 974.

• The numbers game with the lowest starting numbers appeared in Round 9 of Episode 6307. The small numbers were 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, making the highest target achievable with them 108.