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Paul Nixon

From Countdown
Paul Nixon
Octochamp Statistics
Final positionSemi-finalist
Seeding3
Points total893
Conundrums solved7
Paul Nixon, 22 years after his first appearance, in Series 81.

Paul Nixon was a contestant in Series 34 and an octochamp in Series 81. As of his 2nd appearance, he was an Actuary from Surbiton in Surrey. His father, David Nixon, also appeared in both those series.

Nixon first appeared in February 1997 and won his first game against eventual series semi-finalist Paul Peters by 60 – 32 points. He then won his second game but lost his third against Roger Hayward in a low-scoring 31 – 29 game. He then returned to the programme 22 years later and started his run against Pauline Creer with a strong 107 points to Creer's 45 points. He then followed with several sensational performances, scoring a total of 7 centuries from his 8 games. He ultimately wrapped up his run with 893 points to become an octochamp, and qualified for the finals ranked 3rd.

In his quarter-final match against number 6-ranked John Osmond, it was very close; Nixon took an early lead with his finding of ADUSTION. However, his 6 small gambles went against him, and found himself 2 points behind going into the third half. Nixon beat Osmond in one more letters round to lead by 5 points going into a crucial conundrum, with both players over 100 points. With half a second left, Nixon buzzed in with the correct answer to book a place in the semi-final. Nixon took on number 2 prospect Jamie Wing in the semi-final, keeping the game neck-and-neck until very near the end, when Wing broke away with two quality solves in the final letters and final numbers to relegate Nixon to a semi-final defeat. Nixon amassed a total of 1,087 points in his Series 81 run, although with his 1997 run he garnered an overall total of 1,233 points.

Since appearing on the show, he became a member of Apterous and has participated in ZoomDown by appearing in Series 1, Series 2 and becoming a tetrachamp in Series 4, winning against James Burley in his quarter-final, but losing against Rachael Montgomery after an unsolved crucial Conundrum in his semi-final.

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
1937 7/02/1997 P Paul Nixon 60 – 32 Paul Peters Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Geoffrey Durham Rob Scriven 71
1938 10/02/1997 P Paul Nixon 57 – 28 John Blackburn Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Jan Harvey Susie Dent 74
1939 11/02/1997 P Paul Nixon 29 – 31 Roger Hayward Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Jan Harvey Susie Dent 71
7172 30/09/2019 P Pauline Creer 45 – 107 Paul Nixon Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Pam Ayres Susie Dent 154
7173 1/10/2019 P Paul Nixon 93 – 48 Harry Robinson Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Pam Ayres Susie Dent 122
7174 2/10/2019 P Paul Nixon 107 – 44 Dave Richardson Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Pam Ayres Susie Dent 129
7175 3/10/2019 P Paul Nixon 126 – 45 Martyn Willmore Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Dr Phil Hammond Susie Dent 147
7176 4/10/2019 P Paul Nixon 136 – 45 Helen Millington Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Dr Phil Hammond Susie Dent 167
7177 7/10/2019 P Paul Nixon 109 – 32 Peter Williams Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Dr Phil Hammond Susie Dent 154
7178 8/10/2019 P Paul Nixon 112 – 58 Elliot Black Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Dr Phil Hammond Susie Dent 135
7179 9/10/2019 P Paul Nixon 103 – 30 Lorraine Davis Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Dr Phil Hammond Susie Dent 124
7227 16/12/2019 QF Paul Nixon 117 – 102 John Osmond Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Jon Culshaw Susie Dent 158
7230 19/12/2019 SF Jamie Wing 91 – 77 Paul Nixon Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Tim Vine Susie Dent 125