Patrick Thompson

From Countdown
Patrick Thompson
octochamp statistics
Final position TBC
Seeding 1
Points total 977
Conundrums solved 8
Patrick Thompson, 11 years after his first appearance, in Series 93.

Patrick Thompson was a contestant in Series 72 and an octochamp in Series 93 from North Marston, Buckinghamshire. He is also an Apterite who is well-established in the Top 10 in the Pro Ranks, a former film extra, competitive amateur snooker player and keen quizzer in his spare time. He has qualified for the end-of-series finals in June.

Appearances

Series 72

The then father of one originally appeared in 2015 against James Judge, who by coincidence would also eventually return in Series 93. In a relatively low-key debut, Thompson took the lead early on. But unfortunately after Judge spotted INTERVALS and UNSEATED followed by an easy final numbers round, Thompson then officially fell at the first hurdle.

Series 93

Virtually 11 years later, as now a father of three, and with considerably more time spent practicing on Apterous, he returned and kicked off with a very impressive 14-max game (he would eventually achieve this stat a further two times in his octorun) against fellow Apterite Tom Bashford. His debut score of 115 was the best in the series to date, which also gave him the teapot that he missed out on in his first appearance. He then followed that up with seven further brilliant performances which were also all centuries, and what were ultimately part of one of the greatest octoruns ever seen on Countdown; right-up there with the likes of Jen Steadman, Dylan Taylor, Elliott Mellor and Ronan Higginson.

Of particular note, he spotted five of the six nine-letter-words available during his run: RETOOLING, INSTALLED, PALATINES, REMEDIATE and DEROGATES with only the very obscure FOREWINGS eluding him. Some other notable letters spots included PENSIONE, ECHELON, MONDIAL, PINETUM, BANDITO, BOHEMIAN, ISOTHERM and AMORETTO. His numbers ability as well, specifically his four-large heroics was also extremely strong despite some occasional misfires as perhaps one minor chink in his armour. After seeing off a very creditable effort from Simon Randall (one of many strong competitors during his octorun), he certified his membership of the 900 club with a final total of 977 (the sixth-highest total ever recorded) to soar past Luke Selway and take the No. 1 seed with just over five weeks of heat games left to be broadcast.

Further noteworthy parts of Thompson's run include his matching of Dylan Taylor's stat for rounds maxed in an octorun with 101 out of 120, behind only Elliott Mellor. He also scored a phenomenal 92.7% of available points in his octorun (977 out of 1,054); one of the highest ever conversion rates recorded on Countdown. He also became only the fourteenth person ever to have solved all eight conundrums in their preliminary games, which saw him smash Tom Carey's 10-plus year record for the fastest time to solve them; he accomplished it in 12.5 seconds which was over 5 seconds faster than Maus's former record. Colin Murray then christened him "The Gazelle" as a final mark of his fantastic achievements to date.

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
6147 29/05/2015 P Patrick Thompson 81 – 99 James Judge Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Gloria Hunniford Susie Dent 134
8756 29/04/2026 P Tom Bashford 80 – 115 Patrick Thompson Colin Murray Rachel Riley Kate Bottley Susie Dent 122
8757 30/04/2026 P Patrick Thompson 105 – 68 Gavin Kitchingham Colin Murray Rachel Riley Kate Bottley Susie Dent 123
8758 01/05/2026 P Patrick Thompson 124 – 41 Jack Bradley Colin Murray Rachel Riley Kate Bottley Susie Dent 135
8759 04/05/2026 P Patrick Thompson 129 – 40 Helen Humby Colin Murray Rachel Riley Nina Wadia Susie Dent 146
8760 05/05/2026 P Patrick Thompson 124 – 67 Scott Babb Colin Murray Rachel Riley Nina Wadia Susie Dent 135
8761 06/05/2026 P Patrick Thompson 118 – 66 Simon Pitfield Colin Murray Rachel Riley Nina Wadia Susie Dent 126
8762 07/05/2026 P Patrick Thompson 142 – 58 Danny Heery Colin Murray Rachel Riley Nina Wadia Susie Dent 143
8763 08/05/2026 P Patrick Thompson 120 – 82 Simon Randall Colin Murray Rachel Riley Nina Wadia Susie Dent 124

External Links

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