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Martin May

From Countdown
Martin May
Octochamp Statistics
Final positionRunner-up
Seeding1
Points total839
Conundrums solved6
Martin May, 11 years after his first appearance in Series 79.

Martin May was a contestant in Series 56 and 57, and an octochamp in and the runner-up of Series 79. He is a Deputy Restaurant Manager from Adlington, Lancashire, and is also an Apterite. He also took part in Championship of Champions XVI.

He won two games unbeaten in Series 56, but was too unwell to continue his run, so the producers allowed him to continue his run in Series 57 where by chance he faced seven-time winner Mikey Lear. The game was close throughout, but May avoided a crucial conundrum by spotting DUSTIER in the last letters round. May went on to win three more games before losing to Steve Baines who would by coincidence also go on to win 7 games and lose the final 8th one.

In January 2010, May attended his first unofficial Countdown tournament, COLIN 2010 where he managed an impressive 5th place.

May re-appeared on the show in Series 79. He started his run against Paul Hollidge with a strong 96 points win. He then went on to achieve four consecutive centuries during his heat run, totalling six in total. He spotted impressive nine letter findings such as NORMALISE and RESHAPING. May rounded off his Series 79 run with a total of 839 points to become the No. 1 seed of the series.

May returned for the series finals in December 2018. He began his finals run against No. 8 seed Bob Lunt, who qualified with 7 wins. May immediately raced away by spotting the nine-letter word VERSIONAL in the opening round. He then rounded off his quarter-final with a dominant 115 points to Lunt's 86, and qualified for the semi-finals of the series. In the first semi-final, he came up against another dominant player in the form of No. 5 seed Tony Manwani. Both players played a close game with May eventually taking a 10-point lead in the second round. When neither player was able to solve a crucial conundrum, May won the game and qualified for the final of Series 79.

In the final against No. 2 seed Mike Daysley, it was yet another close game with May taking the lead after Daysley's invalid declaration of scopier ☓. Daysley then took a 1-point lead by winning the third numbers game, but May maxed the following two letters games. However, the opposition made a comeback with OUTHAUL to the point where it was enough to force a crucial conundrum. Daysley was quick to solve MOTHPROOF from the scramble PHOTOFORM, thus relegating May to the runner-up spot.

May made his 19th appearance on the programme in Championship of Champions XVI in January 2023, where his opponent was Series 82 champion Luke Johnson-Davies. Martin put in a very creditable effort, which included the 9 NODALISES, but Luke eventually overpowered May and confirmed his victory before the last numbers round, with a final nasty conundrum LOTTOLIAM foxing both players.

His final point total is 1,863 points across 19 games, with 16 wins and 3 losses.

Preceded by
Philip Aston		 Series runner-up
Series 79		 Followed by
Elliott Mellor

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
4282 29/01/2007 P Leigh Brook 67 – 86 Martin May Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Gyles Brandreth Susie Dent 129
4283 30/01/2007 P Martin May 95 – 84 Daniel Giddings Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Gyles Brandreth Susie Dent 141
4412 9/08/2007 P Mikey Lear 70 – 97 Martin May Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Ann Widdecombe Susie Dent 115
4413 10/08/2007 P Martin May 90 – 81 Gina McDowell Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Ann Widdecombe Susie Dent 131
4414 13/08/2007 P Martin May 104 – 68 Patrick Durnall Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Ann Widdecombe Susie Dent 118
4415 14/08/2007 P Martin May 101 – 79 Amanda Vickery Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Ricky Tomlinson Susie Dent 131
4416 15/08/2007 P Martin May 73 – 77 Steve Baines Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Ricky Tomlinson Susie Dent 118
6932 17/10/2018 P Paul Hollidge 52 – 96 Martin May Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Clive Anderson Susie Dent 135
6933 18/10/2018 P Martin May 117 – 52 Chris Stableford Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Gloria Hunniford Susie Dent 124
6934 19/10/2018 P Martin May 103 – 54 Seamus Bradley Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Gloria Hunniford Susie Dent 134
6935 22/10/2018 P Martin May 108 – 59 Leanne Heath Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Gloria Hunniford Susie Dent 145
6936 23/10/2018 P Martin May 101 – 15 Vicki Griffiths Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Gloria Hunniford Susie Dent 120
6937 24/10/2018 P Martin May 89 – 42 Maria Michaels Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Gloria Hunniford Susie Dent 129
6938 25/10/2018 P Martin May 108 – 67 Alan Tubbert Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Paul Zenon Susie Dent 155
6939 26/10/2018 P Martin May 117 – 49 Dover Dubosarsky Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Paul Zenon Susie Dent 137
6973 13/12/2018 QF Martin May 115 – 86 Bob Lunt Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Dan Walker Susie Dent 141
6977 19/12/2018 SF Martin May 93 – 83 Tony Manwani Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Phill Jupitus Susie Dent 147
6979 21/12/2018 GF Martin May 80 – 82 Mike Daysley Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Phill Jupitus Susie Dent 120
7927 09/01/2023 CP Martin May 90 – 117 Luke Johnson-Davies Colin Murray Rachel Riley Heather Small Susie Dent 128
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