Martin Hurst

Martin Hurst in Series 75.

Martin Hurst (no relation to other Hursts who have been on the show to date) was an octochamp in and the champion of Series 75 who made his début Series 35. He is also an Apterite.

Hurst first appeared as a 17-year-old in 1997, losing to quarter-finalist Robert Jones. According to a report in Get Surrey, he had not watched the show again since his defeat for 18 years. In 2015, he joined Apterous and started practising for an average of four hours a day.

Hurst returned to Countdown In August 2016. On his second début, he recovered from 21 points behind after the first four rounds to three points ahead before round 12, where he beat Natalie Matale with the niner OLEANDERS and won the remaining theee rounds to win by a score of 54 - 102. In his third heat game of his octochamp run, he reduced Arnold Solomon to the second-lowest recorded score in the 15-round era of 7 - as well as joining a select club of Countdowners to have won a televised game by more than 100 points - before scoring the series high of 130 in his fourth game. In his fifth game, he was level with Simon Cookson before the conundrum, but it was Hurst Who unravelled VILASINGH first to win by a score of 83 - 73 in a game with only 110 points available. He ran off three more victories to become an octochamp with 830 points, five centuries and the number 1 seed position for the finals.

In the finals, Hurst showed no sign of slowing down and achieved two more centuries to defeat Tom Stephens in the quarter-final and then Andrew Fenton in the semi-final. In the grand final, he and his opponent Andrew Macleod matched each other in the first eight rounds until Hurst won the third numbers game, where he chose 6 small. Macleod then played two back-to-back invalid words and, after the 13th round, Hurst had become the 75th champion of Countdown.

Since joining Apterous, Hurst has competed in online tournaments, including Everything Counts IV in 2017.

Preceded by Paul Erdunast

Series winner Series 75

Followed by Stephen Read

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
2022	6/06/1997	P	Robert Jones	57 – 46	Martin Hurst	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Tom O'Connor	Rob Scriven	83
6419	25/08/2016	P	Natalie Matale	54 – 102	Martin Hurst	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Tanni Grey-Thompson	Susie Dent	137
6420	26/08/2016	P	Martin Hurst	95 – 80	Alan Gillies	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Tanni Grey-Thompson	Susie Dent	144
6421	29/08/2016	P	Martin Hurst	111 – 7	Arnold Solomon	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Gloria Hunniford	Susie Dent	127
6422	30/08/2016	P	Martin Hurst	130 – 36	Tom Law	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Gloria Hunniford	Susie Dent	156
6423	31/08/2016	P	Martin Hurst	83 – 73	Simon Cookson	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Gloria Hunniford	Susie Dent	110
6424	1/09/2016	P	Martin Hurst	107 – 59	Yvonne Endacott	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Gloria Hunniford	Susie Dent	125
6425	2/09/2016	P	Martin Hurst	98 – 48	Damon Wingfield	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Gloria Hunniford	Susie Dent	123
6426	5/09/2016	P	Martin Hurst	104 – 48	Owen Polley	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Michael Whitehall	Susie Dent	147
6487	15/12/2016	QF	Martin Hurst	102 – 52	Tom Stephens	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Tim Rice	Susie Dent	131
6491	21/12/2016	SF	Martin Hurst	100 – 64	Andrew Fenton	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Carol Kirkwood	Susie Dent	122
6493	23/12/2016	GF	Martin Hurst	96 – 85	Andrew Macleod	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Carol Kirkwood	Susie Dent	134