Giles Hutchings
| Giles Hutchings octochamp statistics | |
|---|---|
| Final position | Champion |
| Seeding | 1 |
| Points total | 965 |
| Conundrums solved | 7 |
Giles "The Typhoon" Hutchings was an octochamp in and the champion of Series 68, and a semi-finalist in Championship of Champions XIV. As of his Series 68 appearances, he was a sixth-form student at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford from Farnham, Surrey. As of his Championship of Champions appearances, he was a final-year maths student at the University of Warwick. He is also an Apterite and the most attractive member of c4countdown.
His mother is Series 51 quarter-finalist, Nicole Hutchings.
Appearances on the show
Heat games
Debuting as a seventeen-year-old, Hutchings' octotal of 965 from eight heat games was the highest in the show's history until Dylan Taylor bettered it with 974.
His debut score of 129 was the joint-highest by any contestant in the show's history (equalled by Jamie Ilett-Jones on 8 September 2014, and Robin McKay on 18 May 2016), until Elliott Mellor bettered it by two points on 16 May 2019. He was also the first octochamp to have completed all of his games in the new 15-round format (Andy Platt won four games in the original format and four in the new one).
Nick Hewer referred to Hutchings as "The Typhoon" or "The Kid" at various times during the introductions of his games in a similar way to Andy Platt, sometimes being called "Formidable".
Finals
Returning for the finals as the No. 1 seed, Hutchings achieved centuries in his quarter-final and semi-final.
In the grand final against Platt, Hutchings accelerated away by establishing a fourteen-point lead after the first two rounds. Further word spots of ARGOSIES and HEIAU helped him win the series, although Platt's solve on the conundrum denied him the century.
Championship of Champions XIV
In January 2016, Hutchings returned to the show for Championship of Champions XIV. With all other xicounts in the tournament notably being returnees, he was the only unbeaten player.
Hutchings won his first match against Heather Styles by 132 – 73, offering the new ODP words like OUTRAKES and RETINULAS as he only dropped three points from a max game in the process.
He then won his quarter-final against Tom Cappleman by 114 – 97. Despite Cappleman appearing to have gained stability early on with RHOEADIN and a perfect solution to the Round 3 numbers game with a target of 991, Hutchings caught up with TAWNIEST and his Round 9 numbers solution of his own before eking out a seven-point lead with FEMORAL. Though unable to escape a crucial conundrum, he went on to solve ULTIMOLEG in under three seconds – maintaining the ongoing pattern of all CoC XIV matches being won by their highest cumulative scorers.
In his semi-final, Hutchings came up against Dylan Taylor (at the time, the only person to have a higher octotal than Hutchings). In the game itself, Hutchings and Taylor were level in the first fourteen rounds – a Countdown first, but it was Taylor who quickly solved TEARCLOTH to see Hutchings lose his undefeated record.
Co-events
Hutchings made his Co-event debut at CO:REA 2012, and then returned for CO:REA 2013.
He got to the grand final and was beaten by Mark Deeks, by 97 – 91.
At CO:REA 2014, he got to the grand final again and was beaten by Jack Worsley by 108 – 93. He then made it to the grand final of the 2016 FOCAL finals, again losing to Worsley.
Appearances on University Challenge
After his Countdown appearances, he appeared in five episodes of University Challenge from July 2016 to March 2017 as captain of the University of Warwick where he made the quarter-finals with his Countdown exploits that were mentioned by Jeremy Paxman in his introduction.
| Preceded by Paul James |
Series winner Series 68 |
Followed by Callum Todd |
Episodes
| # | Date | Type | Contestant 1 | Score | Contestant 2 | Presenters | Guest | Lex | Max | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5673 | 03/04/2013 | P | Jean Wright | 54 – 129 | Giles Hutchings | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Julia Bradbury | Susie Dent | 134 | ||
| 5674 | 08/04/2013 | P | Giles Hutchings | 119 – 19 | Mike Lee | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Julia Bradbury | Susie Dent | 132 | ||
| 5675 | 09/04/2013 | P | Giles Hutchings | 120 – 57 | Zulfi Ebrahim | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Julia Bradbury | Susie Dent | 121 | ||
| 5676 | 10/04/2013 | P | Giles Hutchings | 115 – 50 | Nick Courtnadge | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Richard Madeley | Susie Dent | 126 | ||
| 5677 | 11/04/2013 | P | Giles Hutchings | 120 – 65 | Mark Witney | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Richard Madeley | Susie Dent | 139 | ||
| 5678 | 12/04/2013 | P | Giles Hutchings | 130 – 82 | Alan Flanagan | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Richard Madeley | Susie Dent | 144 | ||
| 5679 | 15/04/2013 | P | Giles Hutchings | 121 – 62 | Rob Tuson | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Richard Madeley | Susie Dent | 131 | ||
| 5680 | 16/04/2013 | P | Giles Hutchings | 111 – 58 | Nick Holland | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Richard Madeley | Susie Dent | 133 | ||
| 5715 | 14/06/2013 | QF | Giles Hutchings | 109 – 86 | Peter Fenton | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Dan Snow | Susie Dent | 134 | ||
| 5719 | 26/06/2013 | SF | Giles Hutchings | 106 – 38 | Joe McGonigle | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Myleene Klass | Susie Dent | 124 | ||
| 5721 | 28/06/2013 | GF | Giles Hutchings | 95 – 86 | Andy Platt | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Myleene Klass | Susie Dent | 115 | ||
| 6279 | 05/01/2016 | CP | Heather Styles | 73 – 132 | Giles Hutchings | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Gloria Hunniford | Susie Dent | 135 | ||
| 6286 | 14/01/2016 | CQF | Tom Cappleman | 97 – 114 | Giles Hutchings | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | John Inverdale | Susie Dent | 134 | ||
| 6290 | 20/01/2016 | CSF | Giles Hutchings | 108 – 118 | Dylan Taylor | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Naga Munchetty | Susie Dent | 122 | ||
