Mark Tournoff

Mark Tournoff was a contestant in series 52 who first appeared on 15th November 2004, beating Margaret Boyle 92-46. he went on to become an octochamp and returned for the quarter-finals as #3 seed. In the quarter-finals, he defeated John Gray 138-73, which remains to this day the joint second-highest score of all time (only Julian Fell has managed an equal or higher score). he then defeated Jack Welsby in the semi-final before going on to narrowly beat Paul Gallen in the final, spotting a crucial conundrum with mere seconds to spare to become the champion of series 52.

Mark returned in summer 2006 for Championship of Champions XII, where he put in some exceptionally strong performances (most notably beating Matthew Shore 124-117, which set a new record for the aggregate of two contesnats' scores) before meeting Paul Gallen again in the final. This time, however, their fortunes were reversed as Mark was pipped to the crucial conundrum.