Jon Stitcher

Jon Stitcher in 2007...

...and 17 years later in Series 90!

Jon Stitcher was a contestant in Series 52 and 90. He was a Poker Player and Semi-Professional Quizzer from Hoylake, Merseyside, and is also an Apterite.

Appearances

Series 52

He managed to string together three victories in total, demonstrating consistency by always winning by slim margins, never scoring outside the 80s, 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 the nine-letter word DISLOCATE. Notably, an amusing coincidence at the start of this part of the programme saw a Teatime Teaser with the answer MUTINEER immediately followed by a letters round with the selection 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 ☓.

His sister, Jenny Bradley, appeared on the show in Series 70 in 2014.

Series 90

Almost exactly 20 years later, Stitcher returned in Series 90 against 5-time winner 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 programme, 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 20, 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 ITV game show The Krypton Factor in February 2009. On 24 October 2014, he appeared on and won his heat of Fifteen to One, defeating the legendary Dag Griffiths in the process and becoming 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 both 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 quiz 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 More4. In 2020, he appeared on Brain of Britain on BBC Radio 4, winning his heat with no studio audience present. 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				Lucy Summers	Geoffrey Durham	Susie Dent	150
3744	19/07/2004	P	Jon Stitcher	80 – 79	Dora Stavrinos	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Peter Baldwin	Susie Dent	133
3745	20/07/2004	P	Jon Stitcher	88 – 79	Norman Haikney	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Peter Baldwin	Susie Dent	120
3746	21/07/2004	P	Jon Stitcher	73 – 110	Jack Welsby	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Peter Baldwin	Susie Dent	132
8313	10/07/2024	P	James Swinnerton	74 – 108	Jon Stitcher	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Myleene Klass	Susie Dent	133
8314	11/07/2024	P	Jon Stitcher	118 – 59	Hollie Kirkup	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Myleene Klass	Susie Dent	124
8315	12/07/2024	P	Jon Stitcher	92 – 50	Robin Lyster	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Myleene Klass	Susie Dent	133
8316	15/07/2024	P	Jon Stitcher	98 – 49	Mario Panayiotou	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Chris McCausland	Susie Dent	125
8317	16/07/2024	P	Jon Stitcher	87 – 89	Fiona Wood	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Chris McCausland	Susie Dent	124