Ahmed Mohamed

Ahmed Mohamed octochamp statistics
Final position	Champion
Seeding	1
Points total	927
Conundrums solved	7

Ahmed Mohamed in Series 84.

Ahmed Mohamed was an octochamp in and the champion of Series 84, and the winner of Championship of Champions XVI. He was a sports steward (in-between jobs) from North London. He is also a long-time Apterite who was previously on Apterous under the pseudonym, James Nguyen – he has spent time at the number one spot in the Apterous Pro Ranks leaderboard. He is one of the most talented contestants to appear on the show due to his brilliant word knowledge, lightning-speed conundrum spots and unshakeable demeanour under pressure.

On-screen

Heat games

Mohamed made his debut on 29 September 2021, winning with a score of 111 against Daaniyal Ali. Mohamed went on to rattle off seven more wins, all with scores above 100 plus a top score of 138 and surviving a crucial conundrum against Co:Man2020 attendee Richard Williams in his sixth match. In three of his matches, he solved the conundrum in under a second. Along the way, he attained 927 points (the same total as Tom Cappleman in Series 72) – the highest octotal which involved one crucial conundrum – to place first in the seed table. He is also the 25th member of the 900 club.

Clips of his eighth game featured on Celebrity Gogglebox on 15 October 2021.

Finals

Mohamed returned for the first quarter-final on 15 December 2021 against Janet Noe, where three nines helped him finish with a personal best of 143 points although an unsolved and difficult conundrum denied him the chance to break Elliott Mellor's record of 152 points by just one point. Mohamed then played against Jeremy Slaney in the first semi-final, picking out both available nine-letter words to eke out a commanding lead early on – although Slaney went on to beat him in two rounds during the third "half", Mohamed maintained his lead and finished by unravelling the conundrum of COLICPITA to OCCIPITAL with half a second to spare and booking a place in the grand final against Florence Cappleman-Lynes.

In the grand final, he took an early lead but Florence made a comeback by beating him in the third numbers game. Mohamed though, confirmed his win in the last letters round with PAGUROID and solved the conundrum by unscrambling IPAARTIED to TEPIDARIA in under two seconds to deny Florence a 100% record on them. He thus won the grand final with 114 points and amassed an overall xicount total across his eleven games of 1,302 points. Following Luke Johnson-Davies, he was not filmed lifting the Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy.

Championship of Champions XVI

Mohamed returned to the programme on 4 January 2023 for Championship of Champions XVI where he faced Edward Byrne as his first opponent. A scintillating performance with spots like VANITASES, GEEGAWS and MABATI meant that Mohamed raced through to the quarter-finals, secured his twelfth century and his joint-third highest score as Byrne solved the conundrum as a consolation.

Luke Johnson-Davies laid in waiting for a hotly anticipated quarter-final matchup, and both players got off to a flier with consecutive nine-letter words. But then, Mohamed put his foot on the accelerator by beating Luke in two numbers rounds and by maxing every letters game with the beaters being AMBREINE and JUDOIST. The only time he didn't score was in a dead-rubber last numbers game which Luke solved, and Mohamed capped off his victory by spotting NICOTIANA from OATNIACIN to secure progression to the semi-final against Dan Byrom.

In the semi-final, Byrom and Mohamed scored in all of the first fourteen rounds which was only the second time it had ever happened in the 15-round format after 20 January 2016. In addition, every round except Round 10 was maxed with the darrenic of ANTERNES eluding both players. But Mohamed ultimately came out on top by turning ALLPOTPIE into POPLITEAL in under two seconds, securing progression to the grand final against James Haughton after one of the greatest 15-round games.

In the grand final, Mohamed was presented with his toughest challenge: despite taking an early lead through WANDERER, Haughton created his own big advantage thanks to BRAVURA, ABATISED and an excellent as-close-as solution to an impossible four large numbers game. Mohamed though, dug deep by spotting the MAGILUS to put himself back into shooting range and ultimately the match went into a championship-clinching crucial conundrum. Mohamed buzzed in first with PULSATILE which was right as meaning that despite scoring his lowest total to date: he claimed the Championship of Champions title, became the second 15-round grand slam winner following Zarte Siempre, remains unbeaten and certified himself as one of the most successful Countdowners to appear on-screen. His final points total was 1,775 which equated to roughly 118.3 per game.

Off-screen

Mohamed appeared on ZoomDown Series 4 shortly after his octorun was broadcast, but withdrew for personal reasons after winning one game with 117 points. He then came back for the relaunched ZoomDown Series 5, and won his first two games against Tom Stevenson and Ben Wilson before losing his third to Dylan Taylor.

He also partook in the Tiny Tots Tournament and the Apterous Masters 2011 tourneys.

Co-events

Mohamed made his Co-event debut at CobliviLon II in 2013 and won his first event at Co:Brighton 2023, beating Jack Hurst in the grand final 113 – 105. He also won Co:London 2023 and Co:MK Open 2023, notably not losing a single game in the latter two tournaments.

Preceded by Adam Latchford

Series winner Series 84

Followed by Dan Byrom

Preceded by Zarte Siempre

Champion of Champions Championship of Champions XVI

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
7605	29/09/2021	P	Daaniyal Ali	51 – 111	Ahmed Mohamed	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Stanley Johnson	Susie Dent	126
7606	30/09/2021	P	Ahmed Mohamed	121 – 27	Tom Lennon	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Stanley Johnson	Susie Dent	123
7607	01/10/2021	P	Ahmed Mohamed	107 – 27	Mags Kelly	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Stanley Johnson	Susie Dent	123
7608	04/10/2021	P	Ahmed Mohamed	138 – 52	Colin Wright	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	144
7609	05/10/2021	P	Ahmed Mohamed	116 – 33	Francis Maher	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	125
7610	06/10/2021	P	Ahmed Mohamed	106 – 87	Richard Williams	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	121
7611	07/10/2021	P	Ahmed Mohamed	116 – 47	Hugh Smithson-Wright	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	132
7612	08/10/2021	P	Ahmed Mohamed	112 – 66	Kerry Holden	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	123
7660	15/12/2021	QF	Ahmed Mohamed	143 – 59	Janet Noe	Anne Robinson	Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon				Lucy Summers	Adrian Chiles		none	154
7664	21/12/2021	SF	Ahmed Mohamed	118 – 65	Jeremy Slaney	Anne Robinson	Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon				Lucy Summers	Richard Coles	Susie Dent	145
7666	23/12/2021	GF	Ahmed Mohamed	114 – 77	Florence Cappleman-Lynes	Anne Robinson	Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon				Lucy Summers	Richard Coles	Susie Dent	125
7924	04/01/2023	CP	Ahmed Mohamed	121 – 76	Edward Byrne	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Richard Osman	Susie Dent	142
7932	16/01/2023	CQF	Ahmed Mohamed	132 – 100	Luke Johnson-Davies	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Rick Edwards	Susie Dent	145
7935	19/01/2023	CSF	Dan Byrom	111 – 121	Ahmed Mohamed	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Rick Edwards	Susie Dent	122
7936	20/01/2023	CGF	James Haughton	96 – 99	Ahmed Mohamed	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Rick Edwards	Susie Dent	124