Jon Stitcher
Jon Stitcher was a contestant in Series 52 and 90. He was a Poker Player and Semi-Professional Quizzer from Hoylake, Merseyside. He is also an Apterite.
His sister, Jenny Bradley, appeared on the show in Series 70.
Appearances
Series 52
Stitcher managed to garner three victories, demonstrating consistency by always winning by slim margins, never scoring outside 80 and having all of his victories come down to crucial conundrums.
In his fourth game, Stitcher found himself up against Jack Welsby (who at the time, held a world record). Welsby proved too strong for him, winning by a margin of 37 points despite Stitcher leading at the halfway stage after finding DISLOCATE. Notably, an amusing coincidence during the show saw a Teatime Teaser with the answer being MUTINEER that was immediately followed by a letters round with the selection of NTEUMRIEK – the longest possible word being MUTINEER. Stitcher established something of a reputation for misspelt or simply non-existent declarations – some of his more creative offerings include busline ☓, girates ☓, facinated ☓ and carots ☓.
Series 90
Almost precisely twenty years later, Stitcher returned in 2024 against James Swinnerton. The game was close to start with, but Stitcher eventually pulled away and finished by quickly solving the conundrum to kick off with a century on his second debut. He racked up three more victories before becoming unstuck against fellow returnee and eventual series champion Fiona Wood, finishing with 503 points at the end of his second run.
Outside of Countdown
Following his first set of appearances on the show, Stitcher played in JOLT (one of the first online tournaments) where he reached the grand final and faced a crucial conundrum against Julian Fell.
He also attended CoBris 2005 where he came third out of twenty, and COLIN 2006 where he came sixth out of 33.
Stitcher is now a professional poker player and champion, and is also the founder of the Online Quiz League.
Appearances on other game shows
He expanded his repertoire by appearing on BrainTeaser, and The Krypton Factor in February 2009. On 24 October 2014, he appeared on and won his heat of Fifteen to One where he defeated Dag Griffiths in the process and became only the second person after David Stainer to win both a Countdown teapot and a Fifteen to One winner's trophy (Eileen Taylor and Tom Rowell have since matched this feat). He later appeared on three episodes of Series 11 of Only Connect in 2015 as part of the Athenians team, and played against Ned Pendleton in his first game and then Innis Carson and Ian Volante in his second game. On 20 September 2016, he appeared on The Chase where he was part of a team which beat Mark Labbett to take home an equal share of £36,000. During the show, Labbett commented that Stitcher "had been on more quiz shows than he had". His next game show appearance was Mastermind on 12 January 2018, but he lost his heat. He then appeared on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? on 2 January 2019, walking away with £1,000 after selecting a wrong answer to a £16,000 question. Also in 2019, Stitcher appeared on Very Hard Questions on More 4. In 2020, he appeared on Brain of Britain on BBC Radio 4 where he won his heat without an studio audience. And on 25 March 2022, he appeared on Eggheads on Channel 5 as part of the O.Q. Elite team.
Episodes
| # | Date | Type | Contestant 1 | Score | Contestant 2 | Presenters | Guest | Lex | Max | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3743 | 16/07/2004 | P | Ian McLennan | 73 – 85 | Jon Stitcher | Richard Whiteley | Carol Vorderman | Geoffrey Durham | Susie Dent | 150 | ||
| 3744 | 19/07/2004 | P | Jon Stitcher | 80 – 79 | Dora Stavrinos | Richard Whiteley | Carol Vorderman | Peter Baldwin | Susie Dent | 133 | ||
| 3745 | 20/07/2004 | P | Jon Stitcher | 88 – 79 | Norman Haikney | Richard Whiteley | Carol Vorderman | Peter Baldwin | Susie Dent | 120 | ||
| 3746 | 21/07/2004 | P | Jon Stitcher | 73 – 110 | Jack Welsby | Richard Whiteley | Carol Vorderman | Peter Baldwin | Susie Dent | 132 | ||
| 8313 | 10/07/2024 | P | James Swinnerton | 74 – 108 | Jon Stitcher | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Myleene Klass | Susie Dent | 133 | ||
| 8314 | 11/07/2024 | P | Jon Stitcher | 118 – 59 | Hollie Kirkup | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Myleene Klass | Susie Dent | 124 | ||
| 8315 | 12/07/2024 | P | Jon Stitcher | 92 – 50 | Robin Lyster | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Myleene Klass | Susie Dent | 133 | ||
| 8316 | 15/07/2024 | P | Jon Stitcher | 98 – 49 | Mario Panayiotou | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Chris McCausland | Susie Dent | 125 | ||
| 8317 | 16/07/2024 | P | Jon Stitcher | 87 – 89 | Fiona Wood | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Chris McCausland | Susie Dent | 124 | ||
