Ann Dibben

Ann Dibben octochamp statistics
Final position	Runner-up
Seeding	3
Points total	884
Conundrums solved	6

Ann Dibben in Series 74...

...and in Championship of Champions XV.

Ann Dibben (née Rutter) was a contestant in Series 18, an octochamp in and the runner-up of Series 74, and a participant in Championship of Champions XV. At the time of her second appearance, she was a Company Secretary from Haslemere in Surrey. Notably, her performances in the Series 74 finals (in terms of knockout stages reached, tie-broken by highest scores and excluding her Championship of Champions appearance) make her one of the successful female contestants in 15-round history alongside Jen Steadman, Florence Cappleman-Lynes and Fiona Wood.

Appearances on the show

Heat games

Dibben initially appeared on Countdown in August 1989, where she won one game before being defeated by David Ware. In April 2016, she returned to the show and made a much greater mark by becoming an octochamp and notching up an octotal of 884. She was the only woman to win a game in Series 74.

Finals

In her quarter-final, she faced Apterite Tim Down. Dibben maintained a narrow lead for most of the game but Down achieved a perfect solution on the final numbers game to lead by 106 – 97, going into the crucial conundrum. Just before the clock reached its thirty seconds, Dibben unscrambled MAGICPORT to win by one point.

Dibben was again placed in a close matchup in her semi-final against Robin McKay and yet again she prevailed by one point on a crucial conundrum, this one being unsolved.

Dibben took on Paul Erdunast in the grand final and despite Erdunast spotting UROKINASE in Round 1 – she came back with PHOBIAS in Round 4 and managed to stick quite closely behind his score, remaining in contention until Erdunast sealed victory prior to the last numbers game. However, Dibben had the last word by solving the conundrum of HOLYCIGAR in two seconds to lose by 116 – 105 and become the first woman to have ever scored a century in a series grand final.

Championship of Champions XV

Dibben returned to the show in January 2019 for Championship of Champions XV, as the tournament's only female player.

There, she faced John Cowen in the second preliminary round of the tournament. While initially suffering a setback after Cowen's perfect solve on his first numbers selection of six small, she fought back by beating his other selected numbers round. But it wasn't enough to escape a crucial conundrum and with Cowen unscrambling SHYBIRDIE in a second, she was eliminated but not before being reminded by Cowen on her stellar performance against Erdunast in June 2016.

Preceded by Matthew Tassier

Series runner-up Series 74

Followed by Andrew Macleod

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
900	23/08/1989	P	Ann Rutter	63 – 59	Mark Pont	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Brian Johnston	Della Thompson	76
901	24/08/1989	P	Ann Rutter	38 – 40	David Ware	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Brian Johnston	Della Thompson	74
6342	12/04/2016	P	Tom Coward	55 – 117	Ann Dibben	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Alistair McGowan	Susie Dent	153
6343	13/04/2016	P	Ann Dibben	107 – 45	Ashton Gardner	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Alistair McGowan	Susie Dent	133
6344	14/04/2016	P	Ann Dibben	99 – 33	John Billitteri	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Alistair McGowan	Susie Dent	124
6345	15/04/2016	P	Ann Dibben	118 – 60	Paul Lonsdale	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dave Myers	Susie Dent	131
6346	18/04/2016	P	Ann Dibben	102 – 54	Ben Manuell	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dave Myers	Susie Dent	129
6347	19/04/2016	P	Ann Dibben	112 – 63	Neville Spiers	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dave Myers	Susie Dent	124
6348	20/04/2016	P	Ann Dibben	101 – 37	Sean Taylor	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dave Myers	Susie Dent	130
6349	21/04/2016	P	Ann Dibben	128 – 28	Nick Ferguson	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dave Myers	Susie Dent	145
6380	20/06/2016	QF	Ann Dibben	107 – 106	Tim Down	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	127
6383	23/06/2016	SF	Robin McKay	112 – 113	Ann Dibben	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	144
6384	24/06/2016	GF	Paul Erdunast	116 – 105	Ann Dibben	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	135
6981	3/01/2019	CP	Ann Dibben	94 – 97	John Cowen	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Kate Humble	Susie Dent	129