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Jack Hurst

From Countdown
Jack Hurst
octochamp statistics
Final position Champion
Seeding 1
Points total 946
Conundrums solved 6
Jack Hurst in Series 63...
...and three years later in the 30th Birthday Championship.

Jack Hurst was an octochamp and the champion of Series 63, and was the runner-up of the 30th Birthday Championship. As of his Series 63 and 30th Birthday Championship appearances, he was a maths student at Pembroke College, Cambridge, from Desford, Leicestershire.

Appearances on the show

Heat games

Hurst made his debut on 13 October 2010 and established himself as a Countdown legend from the get-go, getting a nine-letter word in the first round of his career and solving his first conundrum in 0.1 seconds, not the only time he would achieve this. He convincingly won all eight of his preliminary matches, achieving a high score of 133 (one of the highest ever) as well as a low of 110. In addition, he found nines in all but two of his heats.

When the dust settled, Hurst had accrued 946 points, more than twice the total of all his opponents combined and the then highest total for any octochamp in the history of the show, beating the previous record set by Andrew Hulme in Series 61. Hurst was also one of very few players in history to score centuries in all eight of his heat games, and the first player to score above 110 in all eight heat games. Following a change to the show's format in March 2013, his octochamp total was also confirmed as the highest ever achieved in what became known as the "old" 15-round format.

Finals

Hurst had appeared only a few weeks after the previous player to achieve eight centuries, Eoin Monaghan, and it was no coincidence that these two contestants would play each other in the grand final. Nonetheless, he was still number one seed by nearly 50 points, and easily saw off Peter Godwin when he returned for the quarter-finals. However, feeling confident after his quarter-final, he was brought up against Marcus Hares in the semi-finals, and Hares was no pushover. It took the impressive word NARIYALS, a mistake from Hares when he declared UNTITLED as a seven, and a truly amazing numbers game from Hurst, reminiscent of that of James Martin, before the game was settled.

The grand final against Eoin Monaghan was a close game, with Hurst only beating Monaghan in one letters and one numbers round, but it was enough to duck out of a crucial conundrum, and he finished off with a flourish by solving SMARTIACE in 0.25 seconds, the fastest ever conundrum spot in a grand final (beating even Jeffrey Hansford). Hurst racked up a total of 1,276 points, and scored at least 108 in every game he played (averaging 116).

30th Birthday Championship

He returned to Countdown in 2013, as one of 41 contestants taking part in the 30th Birthday Championship. He won his first match against Series 65 semi-finalist, Mark Deeks, by a score of 108 – 103. He then beat the Series 28 runner-up, Wayne Kelly, scoring 143 points in the process – at the time, the second highest score in the history of the show. He then defeated the Series 47 champion, Chris Wills, by 115 – 70, setting up a quarter-final with Series 58 champion, David O'Donnell, winning the match by 115 – 97, needing a crucial conundrum for the first time on the show. The next day, he was up against Series 66 runner-up, Jonathan Rawlinson, in a titanic semi-final. After drawing the first 10 rounds, Rawlinson took a six point lead after Hurst's gamble with hammies ☓ backfired, but Hurst then took a one point lead after spotting AUTOPSY, then he sealed the win by solving the conundrum TURNMOIST in three seconds.

The grand final of the championship took place on 1 March, when Hurst played the Series 54 champion, Conor Travers. Travers, who had scored max games in his previous three matches, took an early lead in Round 3 when he spotted the nine PONYTAILS, and the only points he dropped from there were the three for not reaching the target in the first numbers game. Hurst's challenge ended when he missed POMADES in Round 13, leaving Travers to max the final two rounds to equal the highest ever score in the show's history with 146. Hurst did still score 111 points, meaning that his lowest score from 17 shows was still 108.

Special episode

Seven years later, Hurst returned to Countdown on 22 December 2020 to play the second of three Christmas specials against Callum Todd. Hurst showed no sign of slowing down spotting MARLSTONE in the second letters round and PATHOGENS in the 10th letters round, ultimately prevailing with 125 points to Todd's 100 points.

Co-events

Before appearing on the show, Hurst made his Co-event debut at CoLei2 in 2009, and was due to appear at CoLei3, which was happening during the time his shows were broadcast but pulled out with a few days to go. His first Co-event win was at CoLei4 in 2011, and has won numerous since, still partaking in events to this day. He has made a number of Co-event appearances with his brother, Josh Hurst.

ZoomDown

In 2020, Hurst appeared in ZoomDown Series 1, losing his first game in a rematch of the 30th Birthday Championship grand final against Conor Travers.

He then participated in Series 2, winning his first match against Luke Johnson-Davies, but losing to a max game by James Roper.

His next appearance was in the special GoatZDown series, this time reaching the grand final against Callum Todd, but losing on a crucial conundrum.

Preceded by
Oliver Garner		 Series winner
Series 63		 Followed by
Edward McCullagh
Preceded by
Heather Styles		 Series runner-up
30th Birthday Championship		 Followed by
Andy Platt

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
5131 13/10/2010 P Andrew Greenway 66 – 114 Jack Hurst Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley David Lloyd Susie Dent 124
5132 14/10/2010 P Jack Hurst 120 – 57 Ailsa Jensen Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley David Lloyd Susie Dent 136
5133 15/10/2010 P Jack Hurst 112 – 46 David Smith Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley David Lloyd Susie Dent 115
5134 18/10/2010 P Jack Hurst 122 – 44 Charlie Clarke Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Alistair McGowan Susie Dent 141
5135 19/10/2010 P Jack Hurst 120 – 56 Phil Bishop Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Alistair McGowan Susie Dent 131
5136 20/10/2010 P Jack Hurst 115 – 29 Joseph Bartram Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Alistair McGowan Susie Dent 119
5137 21/10/2010 P Jack Hurst 133 – 65 Alex Curran Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Alistair McGowan Susie Dent 134
5138 22/10/2010 P Jack Hurst 110 – 49 Jonathan Welti Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Alistair McGowan Susie Dent 131
5172 09/12/2010 QF Jack Hurst 108 – 40 Peter Godwin Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Amanda Lamb Susie Dent 114
5176 15/12/2010 SF Marcus Hares 80 – 109 Jack Hurst Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Paul Zenon Susie Dent 118
5178 17/12/2010 GF Jack Hurst 113 – 85 Eoin Monaghan Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Paul Zenon Susie Dent 114
5617 09/01/2013 30BP Mark Deeks 103 – 108 Jack Hurst Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Dave Myers Susie Dent 120
5636 05/02/2013 30B1 Wayne Kelly 89 – 143 Jack Hurst Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Kate Adie Susie Dent 152
5643 14/02/2013 30B2 Chris Wills 70 – 115 Jack Hurst Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Ken Bruce Susie Dent 119
5651 26/02/2013 30BQF Jack Hurst 115 – 97 David O'Donnell Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Jenny Eclair Susie Dent 122
5652 27/02/2013 30BSF Jonathan Rawlinson 105 – 116 Jack Hurst Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Jenny Eclair Susie Dent 126
5654 01/03/2013 30BGF Jack Hurst 111 – 146 Conor Travers Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Jenny Eclair Susie Dent 149
S48 22/12/2020 S Callum Todd 100 – 125 Jack Hurst Colin Murray Rachel Riley Rory Bremner Susie Dent 153

External Links

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