John Mayhew

John Mayhew octochamp statistics
Final position	Champion
Seeding	2
Points total	811
Conundrums solved	7

John Mayhew

John Mayhew was an octochamp in and the champion of Series 53, as well as a participant in Championship of Champions XII.

The Plymouth Pulverizer (as he became known as on the show) started his Countdown career by deposing Gary Buxton from the champion's chair with a century, following it up with another. He spotted two nines during his octorun: SUNDERING and INTERVALS.

He returned for the finals and beat Chris Hunt in the quarter-final in a tight game before defeating C4C forumite, Jon O'Neill, by just one point in a needle match. The final (Richard Whiteley’s last show due to his sad death) was a nerve-affected affair with neither playing great. The score was dead level going into the conundrum and neither player managed to spot that ARTGENIUS became SIGNATURE, before Mayhew unscrambled FALSIFIED in three seconds to become series champion.

He returned for Championship of Champions XII but was eliminated in the first round by Paul Howe, who impressively spotted GEOMATICS to win by thirty points. But as a consolation, he correctly answered the conundrum by unscrambling ALONGCOAT to get OCTAGONAL.

His own record of his experience on the show can be read on The Countdown Page here. There, he infamously claims that the Series 53 final had a third conundrum that was recorded but never broadcast. However, no one else who was present in the studio at the time that recalls this event.

Preceded by Mark Tournoff

Series winner Series 53

Followed by Conor Travers

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
3873	17/02/2005	P	Gary Buxton	58 – 106	John Mayhew	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Lesley Garrett	Susie Dent	124
3874	18/02/2005	P	John Mayhew	102 – 76	Pete Dance	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Lesley Garrett	Susie Dent	116
3875	21/02/2005	P	John Mayhew	91 – 48	Jean MacLachlan	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Geoffrey Durham	Susie Dent	135
3876	22/02/2005	P	John Mayhew	118 – 42	Cliff Pettifor	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Geoffrey Durham	Susie Dent	141
3877	23/02/2005	P	John Mayhew	99 – 63	Gus Aaron	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Geoffrey Durham	Susie Dent	121
3878	24/02/2005	P	John Mayhew	92 – 57	Stuart Wright	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Geoffrey Durham	Susie Dent	132
3879	25/02/2005	P	John Mayhew	93 – 54	Hedy Beecham	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Geoffrey Durham	Susie Dent	130
3880	28/02/2005	P	John Mayhew	110 – 59	Joe O'Brien	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Philip Franks	Susie Dent	118
3954	24/06/2005	QF	Chris Hunt	73 – 97	John Mayhew	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Philip Franks	Susie Dent	120
3958	30/06/2005	SF	John Mayhew	89 – 88	Jon O'Neill	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Philip Franks	Susie Dent	117
3959	1/07/2005	GF	John Mayhew	86* – 76	John Brackstone	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Philip Franks	Susie Dent	143
4117	2/06/2006	CP	John Mayhew	87 – 117	Paul Howe	Des Lynam	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Ron Atkinson	Susie Dent	132

* includes 10 points from a tie-break conundrum