Cillian McMulkin

Cillian McMulkin Octochamp Statistics
Final position	Runner-up
Seeding	2
Points total	944
Conundrums solved	7

Cillian McMulkin in Series 65...

...and 12 years later in Series 87.

Cillian McMulkin was a contestant in Series 65 and an octochamp in and the runner-up of 87. He is a risk analyst, originally from Belfast but now of Omagh, County Tyrone. He has been an Apterite since 2009, achieving a top 20 position in the Apterous pro rank leaderboard.

Appearances on the programme

Series 65

Debuting midway through Jeff Stelling's last series, McMulkin fell 14 points short of victory to eventual octochamp, Dave Taylor, but did have the last word by solving the conundrum.

Series 87 heats

However, just under 11 and a half years later and with years of practice on Apterous now under his belt, he was allowed to return – this time starting his run against seven-time winner Peter Burke in an all-Ireland affair. McMulkin would not be beaten this time, winning 66 – 107 to deny Burke's octochampdom and kick off with a century. He followed this with seven more sensational performances, which were also all centuries.

Of particular note, in his fifth victory, McMulkin equalled the current record for the highest-ever score of 154, sharing it with Tom Stevenson. Spots of CARBONITE, MOLESTING and MALIGNERS helped to rack up that score, with only the word GUNMETAL eluding him to deny a max game. His seventh game also tied for the highest possible score ever recorded in a game of Countdown, matching the 175 of episodes 6745 and 7341, with McMulkin spotting SENHORITA and SUBALPINE as two of the five available nine-letter words in that heat.

After his last game, which saw him spot a seventh nine SIGNATURE and drop only one point for the second time in his heats, McMulkin secured octochampdom with a total of 944 points to become the first one of the series and of 2023 – this also made him the 30th member of the 900 club. McMulkin qualified to return for the series finals in June and notably remained the only octochamp of the series until late May, when Ronan Higginson became the second, which itself was a 13-year record low.

Finals

Qualifying for the finals as the second seed, McMulkin returned for a quarter-final against fellow Apterite, Dave Cappleman, where he got off to an instant flier by spotting RANTOONES for nine in Round 1 to take an 18-point lead. Despite Cappleman closing the gap after a misfire of scampie ☓ from McMulkin, and an excellent spot of GOODLIER from Cappleman, McMulkin eventually put his foot back on the gas, with EUCRITES in Round 13 confirming his victory and advancement to the semi-finals, despite neither player being able to solve the conundrum. In his rematch with Peter Burke, despite an early stumble, McMulkin eventually roared to victory thanks in part to the spots of DEMONICAL, EPISTERNA and RADICULES to record his tenth consecutive century and storm into the grand final where Ronan Higginson lay in waiting for him in a hotly anticipated matchup.

In the grand final, McMulkin and Higginson started immediately with a spot of IGNORABLE for nine in the first round. However, after some unfortunate misfires from McMulkin on aluroids ☓ and quandries ☓, along with quality spots like MAPWISE, ODALISK and PECORAITE from Higginson, as well as superior numbers play, Higginson eventually raced away to win the series with 150 points while McMulkin took the runner-up spot with 83 points, his lowest score on the show to date. McMulkin amassed an overall total of 1,258 points in Series 87, and with his earlier appearance, his overall total is 1,343 points from 12 games.

Preceded by Edward Byrne

Series runner-up Series 87

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
5321	31/08/2011	P	Dave Taylor	99 – 85	Cillian McMulkin	Jeff Stelling	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	John Inverdale	Susie Dent	143
7939	25/01/2023	P	Peter Burke	66 – 107	Cillian McMulkin	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Stephen K. Amos	Susie Dent	134
7940	26/01/2023	P	Cillian McMulkin	109 – 51	Cheryl Perkins	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Stephen K. Amos	Susie Dent	130
7941	27/01/2023	P	Cillian McMulkin	124 – 43	Amy Perryman	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Stephen K. Amos	Susie Dent	135
7942	30/01/2023	P	Cillian McMulkin	101 – 61	Toby Rogers	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Justin Moorhouse	Susie Dent	121
7943	31/01/2023	P	Cillian McMulkin	154 – 69	Chris Davies	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Justin Moorhouse	Susie Dent	155
7944	01/02/2023	P	Cillian McMulkin	112 – 45	Jon Sluckis	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Justin Moorhouse	Susie Dent	124
7945	02/02/2023	P	Cillian McMulkin	116 – 33	Ron Squire	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Justin Moorhouse	Susie Dent	175
7946	03/02/2023	P	Cillian McMulkin	121 – 35	Alison Adams	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Justin Moorhouse	Susie Dent	122
8045	22/06/2023	QF	Cillian McMulkin	109 – 81	Dave Cappleman	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Marcus Brigstocke	Susie Dent	137
8049	28/06/2023	SF	Cillian McMulkin	122 – 41	Peter Burke	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Maggie Aderin-Pocock	Susie Dent	153
8050	29/06/2023	GF	Ronan Higginson	150 – 83	Cillian McMulkin	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Maggie Aderin-Pocock	Susie Dent	155