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Mark Tournoff

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Mark Tournoff.

Mark Tournoff was a contestant in series 52 who first appeared on 15th November 2004, beating Margaret Boyle 92-46. He rattled off another seven wins, including scores of 117 and 111, breaking the 800 point barrier. 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 spotted two nine-letter words LOFTINESS and EMIGRATED and scored 138 out of a possible 141 points, one of the best percentage scores ever recorded. In the semi-finals both players looked nervous, although Tournoff spotted the niner VERONICAS which was the only thing that assured him a crucial conundrum, as Welsby beat him with PALMATE and DEBITED when Tournoff only had METAL and DEBIT. It came to a crucial conundrum in a low scoring game and Tournoff solved the conundrum AMENUTREE and took the place in the final for himself.

In the final he faced impressive #1 seed Paul Gallen and went into the first ad break 30-25 down. Mark had INTERNETS X disallowed which meant that Gallen only needed to score in the remaining three rounds to ensure a non-crucial conundrum. But Gallen risked MIRIAD which is not allowed and this allowed Tournoff back into the game, 89-82 going into the conundrum. The conundrum was GREATDRIP and Gallen buzzed in one three seconds, but gave no answer. With time running out, Tournoff gave the answer PARTRIDGE was which correct, and took the final 92-89.

Tournoff returned in summer 2006 for Championship of Champions XII, he recorded a comfortable win against Steve Graston thanks to the nine COASTLINE and faced Matthew Shore in the quarter-final. There, Tournoff was leading 104-94 after 11 rounds, but came unstuck with two disallowed words. But it was Tournoff not Shore that got the crucial conundrum SOLILOQUY to relegate Shore to a losing score of 117 - the highest ever. The semi-final was equally dramatic, the key word being Paul Howe's disallowed FORMATISE X which ensured a crucial conundrum STARFRUIT which Tournoff solved to qualify for the final against his old rival Paul Gallen.

In the final, both players played an impressive game with all maximums for both players all of the first 11 rounds, including the impressive STARFISH in round 1. It was Gallen that took the lead in rounds 12 and 13 with TELECOM and DYSPNOEA. Again all Gallen had to do was score points on the final numbers game and he would avoid a crucial conundrum, but he duly got the number game wrong and let Tournoff in for a crucial conundrum. This time Gallen made no mistake, and took the conundrum PEPPERONI for himself and took the Championship of Champions title with him too. Both players have 14 wins from 15 games, their only defeats being against each other.

Tournoff has since written a book about his experiences on Countdown, titled Crucial - A Champion’s Tale, which is available from Forestdale Publications.

Preceded by
Stewart Holden
Series winner
Series 52
Followed by
John Mayhew

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
3816 15/11/2004 P Margaret Boyle 46 – 92 Mark Tournoff Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Jeremy Beadle Susie Dent
3817 16/11/2004 P Mark Tournoff 105 – 71 Brian Pulman Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Jeremy Beadle Susie Dent
3818 17/11/2004 P Mark Tournoff 111 – 60 Ronnie Boyd Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Jeremy Beadle Susie Dent
3819 18/11/2004 P Mark Tournoff 101 – 68 Samantha Latham Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Jeremy Beadle Susie Dent
3820 19/11/2004 P Mark Tournoff 117 – 75 John Crockett Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Jeremy Beadle Susie Dent
3821 22/11/2004 P Mark Tournoff 95 – 44 Alan Gordon Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Daniel O'Donnell Susie Dent
3822 23/11/2004 P Mark Tournoff 79 – 46 Keith Jones Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Daniel O'Donnell Susie Dent
3823 24/11/2004 P Mark Tournoff 109 – 42 Diane Crews Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Daniel O'Donnell Susie Dent
3836 13/12/2004 QF John Gray 73 – 138 Mark Tournoff Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Richard Digance Susie Dent
3839 16/12/2004 SF Jack Welsby 73 – 88 Mark Tournoff Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Richard Digance Susie Dent
3840 17/12/2004 GF Mark Tournoff 92 – 89 Paul Gallen Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Richard Digance Susie Dent
4113 29/05/2006 CP Mark Tournoff 119 – 83 Steve Graston Des Lynam Carol Vorderman Ron Atkinson Susie Dent
4121 8/06/2006 CQF Matthew Shore 117 – 124 Mark Tournoff Des Lynam Carol Vorderman Ann Widdecombe Susie Dent
4125 14/06/2006 CSF Paul Howe 88 – 99 Mark Tournoff Des Lynam Carol Vorderman Kim Woodburn Susie Dent
4127 16/06/2006 CGF Paul Gallen 111 – 93 Mark Tournoff Des Lynam Carol Vorderman Kim Woodburn Susie Dent