Due to persistent vandalism, account creation has been suspended. If you would like an account, please contact Charlie Reams on Apterous.

Dinos Sfyris

From Countdown
Dinos Sfyris
octochamp statistics
Final position Champion
Seeding 2
Points total 918
Conundrums solved 7
Sfyris finds the CoNot 2008 event a bit of a balancing act.
Dinos Sfyris in Series 80, 12 years after his first appearance.
Dinos Sfyris holding the Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy after winning Series 80.

Konstadinos "Dinos" Sfyris was a contestant in Series 57, an octochamp in and the champion of 80, and a participant in Championship of Champions XVI. As of his second run on the show, he was a maths tutor from Rotherham. He has also been an Apterite since 2008.

Appearances on the programme

Series 57

Sfyris first appeared on Countdown as a teenager on 11 October 2007, winning three heat games in Series 57 before losing his fourth by just two points.

In the audience and special episode

He appeared twice on the show as the audience member who solved the conundrum when neither contestant could unravel it. Firstly on 16 December 2009 during the first semi-final of Series 61, and secondly on 15 March 2010 during a special episode. He then played in a special episode on 2 August 2010, where he beat Series 59 octochamp Kai Laddiman 90 – 84, this time appearing as Dinos as opposed to Konstadinos.

Series 80

Sfyris reappeared on Countdown yet again in 2019 in Series 80, hitting the ground running with a score of 117 points and defeating his rival David Ellis by close to a hundred points. He then followed this with seven more sensational victories with six centuries and two scores in the 90s, garnering an aggregate score of 918 points. He spotted impressive nine-letter words such as AMORTISES, DIAPERING, ERECTIONS, and PINAFORES during his run.

Finals

As a result of his impressive run, he became the second octochamp of Series 80, and returned in June 2019 for the series finals as the number two seed. In his quarter-final, he dispatched fellow Series 57 returnee Sandra Pilson, with further nine-letter finds of PROACTIVE and FARMHOUSE, helping him to a 118-point total. He then advanced to the semi-finals, facing fellow Apterite, Brendan Whitehurst. Despite going wrong in the second numbers game, he won 103 – 78 and solved the very difficult conundrum RIPUPROOT. This set up a grand final match between him and another Apterite – multiple record-breaking octochamp Elliott Mellor, who had already become the first contestant to accumulate over 1,000 points across eight preliminary wins.

Epic finale

After Mellor discounted FILATURES in Round 1, Sfyris took the lead with a solution to a very difficult six-small pick from Mellor in Round 3. He then lost the subsequent letters game to Mellor's COALISED, but quickly cancelled the damage out by spotting TREASURE in a five-vowel selection. He extended his gap to 17 with GOATISH, but his lead shrunk to 10 points once again when his gamble of forestudy ☓ backfired. In an extraordinary outcome, his lead held on until a crucial conundrum solve, to end Mellor's run of 10 solved conundrums in a row, and to win Sfyris the title of Series 80 champion and twenty volumes of the OED, and was presented the Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy. Sfyris achieved 11 maximums and 103 points in the game, and reduced Mellor to his lowest score thus far, and first non-century with 83 points, despite Mellor accumulating more than 1,300 points across the series. Clips of the grand final were shown on Celebrity Gogglebox on 5 July 2019, which infamously displeased comedian Emily Atack.

Championship of Champions XVI

Sfyris returned to the programme in January 2023 for Championship of Champions XVI, where he played a rematch against Mellor. Sfyris put up a good fight, but unfortunate misfires on resexing ☓ and faisante ☓ contributed to Mellor establishing a 22-point lead, which Sfyris was never able to make a dent into. A difficult conundrum NADNATION was left unsolved by both players, which led to Sfyris bowing out, with a still very respectable score of 88 points.

Co-events

He has also played in lots of Co-events since 2008, making his debut at COLIN 2008, and was the winner of CoNot 2009.

Appearances on quiz shows

Sfyris has also taken part in various quiz shows: he appeared on The Weakest Link in 2009, followed by an appearance on The Krypton Factor on 2 February 2010, in which he impressed host Ben Shephard by shining in the mental agility round. One year later, Sfyris appeared on The Chase on 2 February 2011, losing to Mark "The Beast" Labbett, and Pointless. On 13 January 2015, he appeared on Tipping Point, where he reunited with Shephard, followed by an appearance on Two Tribes later that same year. His next TV appearance was Fifteen to One on 5, 6 and 11 July 2016 (on the 6 and 11 July episodes, he appeared alongside fellow Countdowner Ikenna Oguguo), and then The Boss on BBC One in 2017.

Preceded by
Mike Daysley		 Series winner
Series 80		 Followed by
James Haughton

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
4457 11/10/2007 P John Scott 57 – 99 Konstadinos Sfyris Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Rick Wakeman Susie Dent 121
4458 12/10/2007 P Konstadinos Sfyris 86 – 42 Georgina Parkinson Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Rick Wakeman Susie Dent 115
4459 15/10/2007 P Konstadinos Sfyris 87 – 48 Marianne Rowntree Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Johnny Ball Susie Dent 122
4460 16/10/2007 P Konstadinos Sfyris 76 – 78 Dorian Lidell Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Johnny Ball Susie Dent 120
S28 02/08/2010 S Kai Laddiman 84 – 90 Dinos Sfyris Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Gary Osborne Susie Dent 141
7017 22/02/2019 P David Ellis 23 – 117 Dinos Sfyris Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Tanni Grey-Thompson Susie Dent 135
7018 25/02/2019 P Dinos Sfyris 92 – 25 Martin Rose Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Tanni Grey-Thompson Susie Dent 132
7019 26/02/2019 P Dinos Sfyris 130 – 44 Dennis Miller Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Tanni Grey-Thompson Susie Dent 133
7020 27/02/2019 P Dinos Sfyris 137 – 75 Jamie Barron Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Michael Whitehall Susie Dent 142
7021 28/02/2019 P Dinos Sfyris 98 – 56 Jake Pacifico Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Michael Whitehall Susie Dent 143
7022 01/03/2019 P Dinos Sfyris 120 – 39 Darren Smith Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Michael Whitehall Susie Dent 124
7023 04/03/2019 P Dinos Sfyris 119 – 18 Pauline Collard Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Michael Whitehall Susie Dent 147
7024 05/03/2019 P Dinos Sfyris 105 – 32 Joe Harrington Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Michael Whitehall Susie Dent 135
7102 21/06/2019 QF Dinos Sfyris 118 – 71 Sandra Pilson Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Rufus Hound Susie Dent 147
7106 27/06/2019 SF Dinos Sfyris 103 – 78 Brendan Whitehurst Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Richard Arnold Susie Dent 123
7107 28/06/2019 GF Elliott Mellor 83 – 103 Dinos Sfyris Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Richard Arnold Susie Dent 131
7923 03/01/2023 CP Dinos Sfyris 88 – 110 Elliott Mellor Colin Murray Rachel Riley Richard Osman Susie Dent 122

External Links

Retrieved from "https://wiki.apterous.org/index.php?title=Dinos_Sfyris&oldid=165786"