Karen Pearson

Karen Pearson octochamp statistics
Final position	TBC
Seeding	TBC
Points total	767
Conundrums solved	5

Karen Pearson in Series 53...

...and 21 years later in Series 93.

Karen Pearson was a contestant in Series 53 and 93, and an octochamp in Series 94 from Pebworth, Worcestershire. At the time of all her appearances, she was running her own market research agency. By the time of her return, she had joined the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust as a volunteer. She is also a longtime Apterite who joined the site in 2008, and will almost certainly be back for the Series 94 finals in December.

Appearances

Series 53

Pearson made her initial debut near the end of Series 53 against eventual octochamp Richard Heald, who also eventually became the last octochamp crowned in the Richard Whiteley era. Pearson unfortunately could not keep pace with Heald, and ended up losing by a 47-point margin.

Series 93

21 years later and with over 9,000 games on Apterous behind her, she came back for another go and kicked off with a very confident ten-max debut against Tom Iorio while also solving the conundrum to post an impressive opening score of 116 and finally earn her teapot. She followed that up with three further victories with the scores dropping each time for an aggregate total of 376 across four games, before stepping aside for the series finals.

Series 94

She promptly returned for the opening heat of Series 94 and notched up her second century despite missing TOKENISED that Richard Walker did spot. After needing to solve a crucial conundrum in her seventh game against fellow returnee Nick Cant, she eventually reached octochampdom after defeating Paul McCormack. This left Karen with a respectable octotal of 767, albeit with the whole series to still be played out.

Colin Murray (with input from Damian Eadie) declared Pearson as "The Nutcracker" as a mark of her achievements and as a nod to her time working for RoSPA in the 1990s, as a final sign-off.

Co-events

After she lost in her initial game to Richard Heald, she kept up her strong interest in Countdown by competing at CoLei 2008, CoNot 2009, CoLei2, CoLei Summer Special, CoLei3, CoLei4, CoChest, CoLei5 and CoChest2.

Appearances on other quiz shows

On 4 June 2010, Pearson appeared on The Chase and managed to beat Anne Hegerty as part of a team of four who took home £4,600 each. On 15 November 2010, she appeared on Pointless with her husband James and they both won the game but missed out on the prize money by just three points. She also appeared on Tipping Point on 24 January 2013, winning £2,900. She then appeared on Revenge of the Egghead on 31 March 2014 against CJ de Mooi, just missing out in the final round. And in 2015, she appeared on The Edge.

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
3943	9/06/2005	P	Richard Heald	104 – 57	Karen Pearson	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Barry Norman	Susie Dent	118
8788	12/06/2026	P	Tom Iorio	83 – 116	Karen Pearson	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Mark Chapman	Susie Dent	136
8789	15/06/2026	P	Karen Pearson	92 – 78	Sam Walsh	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Charlene White	Susie Dent	122
8790	16/06/2026	P	Karen Pearson	91 – 62	Jacques Le Bars	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Charlene White	Susie Dent	123
8791	17/06/2026	P	Karen Pearson	77 – 67	Chris Moore	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Charlene White	Susie Dent	122
8799	29/06/2026	P	Karen Pearson	111 – 78	Richard Walker	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Jon Culshaw	Susie Dent	132
8800	30/06/2026	P	Karen Pearson	103 – 51	Alan Chambers	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Jon Culshaw	Susie Dent	129
8801	01/07/2026	P	Karen Pearson	93 – 82	Nick Cant	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Jon Culshaw	Susie Dent	124
8802	02/07/2026	P	Karen Pearson	84 – 57	Paul McCormack	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Jon Culshaw	Susie Dent	121