Martin Hurst

Martin Hurst octochamp statistics
Final position	Champion
Seeding	1
Points total	830
Conundrums solved	6

Martin Hurst in Series 35...

...and in Series 75.

And again in Championship of Champions XV.

Martin Hurst holding the Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy, after winning Series 75.

Martin Hurst was a contestant in Series 35, an octochamp in and the champion of Series 75, and a participant in Championship of Champions XV. He is also an Apterite. To date, he is no relation to other Hursts who have appeared on the show.

Appearances on the show

Heat games

Hurst first appeared as a seventeen-year-old in June 1997, losing to eventual quarter-finalist Robert Jones. He never regularly watched the show again for over eighteen years and after a few months of casual viewing, he reapplied as a contestant in March 2016.

Hurst returned in August 2016. On his second debut – he recovered from a disastrous start after scoring zero points in his first three letters rounds to beat Natalie Matale by 102 – 54, including his word spot of OLEANDERS.

In his third heat game of his octorun, he reduced Arnold Solomon to one of the lowest scores in the 15-round era of seven points – as well as joining a select club of Countdowners to have won a televised game by more than 100 points – before scoring the series' high score in his fourth game.

In his fifth game – he was level with Simon Cookson before the conundrum but it was Hurst who unravelled VILASINGH first, to win by 83 – 73 in a game with only 110 points available.

He won three more games to become an octochamp with 830 points and five centuries, and retained the No. 1 seed position for the finals.

Finals

In his quarter- and semi-final, Hurst achieved a century to comfortably defeat Tom Stephens and Andrew Fenton.

In the grand final, he and Andrew Macleod matched each other in the first eight rounds until Hurst won the third numbers game where he chose six small. Macleod then risked two back-to-back invalid words and after Round 13, Hurst built an unassailable lead and became the 75th series champion.

Championship of Champions XV

Hurst returned in January 2019 for Championship of Champions XV.

He faced fellow Apterite, Tom Chafer-Cook, in the sixth preliminary game of the tournament. Both players put in a strong effort with ROYALISED and ELASIPODS, but a Round 9 mistake from Hurst and a few winning declarations by Chafer-Cook meant that the latter won by 129 – 89.

Co-events

Prior to his second TV debut, Hurst made his Co-event debut at Countdown in St Albans 2016. He also attended COLON 2017, finishing in eighth place.

Preceded by Paul Erdunast

Series winner Series 75

Followed by Stephen Read

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
2022	6/06/1997	P	Robert Jones	57 – 46	Martin Hurst	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Tom O'Connor	Rob Scriven	83
6419	25/08/2016	P	Natalie Matale	54 – 102	Martin Hurst	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Tanni Grey-Thompson	Susie Dent	137
6420	26/08/2016	P	Martin Hurst	95 – 80	Alan Gillies	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Tanni Grey-Thompson	Susie Dent	144
6421	29/08/2016	P	Martin Hurst	111 – 7	Arnold Solomon	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Gloria Hunniford	Susie Dent	127
6422	30/08/2016	P	Martin Hurst	130 – 36	Tom Law	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Gloria Hunniford	Susie Dent	156
6423	31/08/2016	P	Martin Hurst	83 – 73	Simon Cookson	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Gloria Hunniford	Susie Dent	110
6424	1/09/2016	P	Martin Hurst	107 – 59	Yvonne Endacott	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Gloria Hunniford	Susie Dent	125
6425	2/09/2016	P	Martin Hurst	98 – 48	Damon Wingfield	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Gloria Hunniford	Susie Dent	123
6426	5/09/2016	P	Martin Hurst	104 – 48	Owen Polley	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Michael Whitehall	Susie Dent	147
6487	15/12/2016	QF	Martin Hurst	102 – 52	Tom Stephens	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Tim Rice	Susie Dent	131
6491	21/12/2016	SF	Martin Hurst	100 – 64	Andrew Fenton	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Carol Kirkwood	Susie Dent	122
6493	23/12/2016	GF	Martin Hurst	96 – 85	Andrew Macleod	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Carol Kirkwood	Susie Dent	134
6985	9/01/2019	CP	Tom Chafer-Cook	129 – 89	Martin Hurst	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dr Linda Papadopoulos	Susie Dent	142

External Links

• Article on Martin and his Series 75 victory.