Championship of Champions XI

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Championship of Champions XI
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Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Series information
First episode 6 January 2003
Last episode 24 January 2003
Highest score 131 (Tom Hargreaves)
Number of contestants 16
Number of episodes 15
Results
Winner Graham Nash
Runner-up Chris Wills
This series introduced the pink-striped set, and was used up until the end of Series 59.

Championship of Champions XI ran from 6 to 24 January 2003, and was won by Graham Nash. This was the first Championship of Champions tournament played in the 15-round format; the previous CoC tournaments used 9-round games up to the semi-finals, and 14-round games for the grand final (excluding CoC 1984, with the grand final for that tournament being a 9-round game).

Finalists in this tournament were inclusively selected between Series 42 and 48, to give it the then-largest catchment area of all CoCs to date and it broke the tradition of once every four series. This CoC was unique for having a variation of finalists consisting of 9-rounders, viscounts and old 15-round octochamps. It was also the first to include series winners from various formats (later joined by CoC 2016, due to the Series 67 finalists not participating in 30th Birthday Championship).

With two higher-finishing contestants being unable to make the studio dates, two quarter-finalists were invited to this one instead. Specifically, it was decided to invite back quarter-finalist Kevin McMahon instead of John Rainsden who had defeated him in their Series 44 quarter-final; however, Paul Ryan – a Series 46 semi-finalist – was unable to make the studio dates as was Stuart Wood, so Rainsden was also invited back. For no apparent reason, quarter-finalist Loz Sands was also invited back in place of Steve Sandalls despite Steve eliminating her in their quarter-final and then subsequently finishing as series runner-up; this move was considered rather controversial by many fans of the series. The official reason for inviting Sands back was that she had apparently been a favourite with viewers during her 2001 appearances although some fans speculated that the real reason was because the only two female contestants who had qualified (owing to the original criteria) were Geraldine Hylands and Grace Page, and there was concern that female fans would lose interest in this tournament as a result.

The tournament started in low-scoring fashion, with Michael Calder being knocked out by Loz Sands. The following game was one of the greatest in the history of Countdown, with Chris Wills defeating David Williams after spotting the conundrum of ETERNALLY in a second to win by two points. The last three first-round matches all produced close scores but Tom Hargreaves produced a very noteworthy performance against John Rainsden, beating the former runner-up by 52 points. Julian Fell produced a similar display against Terence O'Farrell and won by 54 points. And Graham Nash completed the first-round matches with a 33-point win over David Ballheimer, including the impressive word spot of MICROBES in the final letters round.

The quarter-finals also started slowly with Chris Wills winning over Loz Sands, despite offering coagulent ☓ in the first letters game. John Rawnsley beat Rupert Stokoe without looking like losing, despite faltering on the conundrum. The following game was a classic, because it beat Wills' and Williams' joint-highest total score. Both Ben Wilson and Tom Hargreaves spotted FACETIOUS in the third round and from then on, Hargreaves scored in every round to rack up 131 points. The second series champion was dispatched from the competition, as Ben Wilson lost his unbeaten record.

The game after that was even more dramatic. Julian Fell and Graham Nash faced off, with both players having won twelve games out of twelve. The game started with a nasty letters selection and in Round 4, Nash tried formica ☓ to fall six points behind. Both players spotted a nine in Round 8 – ORGANISED for Nash and GRANDIOSE for Fell. Fell declared an eight in the next round to Nash's seven, but Fell's offering of gambiers ☓ let Nash have a one-point lead. Equal-scoring continued for the rest of the game and both players had a perfect score between them, going into Rounds 12 and 13 where they and Dictionary Corner missed ROUILLE and SPERMATID. The game was poised for a crucial conundrum at 110 – 109 in Nash's favour, and Nash buzzed in at 1.5 seconds with the answer of COMMENDED to beat Fell and break his unbeaten record. Chris Wills on his website later, described it as "the best ever game of Countdown".

In the semi-finals, Chris Wills disposed John Rawnsley by scoring 120 points. Wills scored in every round which included the impressive word spot of DECAGONAL, but it was Rawnsley that got the conundrum to deny Wills a personal best of 130. The second semi-final was most notable for its disallowed words, as Graham Nash had two and Tom Hargreaves had three. The decisive factor was the seventh round where Hargreaves risked rescaling ☓ to Nash's CLEARINGS, which gave Nash a lead that would never be challenged in the game. Nash finally dispatched it, with the conundrum of AVIANLOUT to set up a final between two players with fourteen wins from fourteen games.

The final turned out not to be a classic, thanks in large part to two impossible numbers games. Chris Wills initially took the lead with GAMBADE but was beaten in two letters rounds with PENSIVE and METALS. The players scored in every round from there on, but neither of them scored in the last numbers game as zero points was the maximum. After that, the conundrum of OVERSPADE was turned over with Nash having a six-point lead thanks to METALS. But dramatically, the time ran out with neither player buzzing in and Nash won by 79 – 73. And thanks to his success, Nash became the next grand slam winner due to his unbeaten record on the show.

Progress

Michael Calder (42) vs Loz Sands (46) Loz Sands vs Chris Wills Chris Wills
vs
John Rawnsley 		Chris Wills
vs
Graham Nash
Chris Wills (47) vs David Williams (43)
Rupert Stokoe (47) vs Grace Page (48) Rupert Stokoe vs John Rawnsley
John Rawnsley (45) vs Kevin McMahon (44)
Ben Wilson (46) vs Geraldine Hylands (45) Ben Wilson vs Tom Hargreaves Tom Hargreaves
vs
Graham Nash
John Rainsden (44) vs Tom Hargreaves (47)
Julian Fell (48) vs Terence O'Farrell (42) Julian Fell vs Graham Nash
David Ballheimer (42) vs Graham Nash (43)
The winner of each game is displayed in bold.
The numbers refer to the series in which each contestant originally played in the finals.

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
3390 06/01/2003 CP Michael Calder 60 – 77 Loz Sands Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Martin Jarvis Susie Dent 127
3391 07/01/2003 CP Chris Wills 113 – 111 David Williams Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Martin Jarvis Susie Dent 131
3392 08/01/2003 CP Rupert Stokoe 90 – 80 Grace Page Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Martin Jarvis Susie Dent 128
3393 09/01/2003 CP John Rawnsley 99 – 97 Kevin McMahon Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Martin Jarvis Susie Dent 141
3394 10/01/2003 CP Ben Wilson 94 – 91 Geraldine Hylands Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Martin Jarvis Susie Dent 122
3395 13/01/2003 CP John Rainsden 65 – 117 Tom Hargreaves Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Tim Rice Susie Dent 132
3396 14/01/2003 CP Julian Fell 118 – 64 Terence O'Farrell Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Tim Rice Susie Dent 130
3397 15/01/2003 CP David Ballheimer 70 – 103 Graham Nash Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Tim Rice Susie Dent 119
3398 16/01/2003 CQF Chris Wills 98 – 69 Loz Sands Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Tim Rice Susie Dent 132
3399 17/01/2003 CQF Rupert Stokoe 70 – 89 John Rawnsley Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Tim Rice Susie Dent 120
3400 20/01/2003 CQF Tom Hargreaves 131 – 98 Ben Wilson Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Eric Knowles Susie Dent 144
3401 21/01/2003 CQF Graham Nash 120 – 109 Julian Fell Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Eric Knowles Susie Dent 137
3402 22/01/2003 CSF Chris Wills 120 – 88 John Rawnsley Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Eric Knowles Susie Dent 132
3403 23/01/2003 CSF Tom Hargreaves 83 – 104 Graham Nash Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Eric Knowles Susie Dent 132
3404 24/01/2003 CGF Chris Wills 73 – 79 Graham Nash Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Eric Knowles Susie Dent 106

External Links

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