Rhys Benjamin

Rhys Benjamin in his third game.

Rhys Benjamin solving the conundrum in his first game.

Rhys Benjamin (born 26 August 1998) was a contestant in Series 73. He was from Harrow in London, and was aged just 16 at the time of his appearances.

Benjamin first came to prominence as a member of the online community, and attended CoLei3, CoLei4, COLIN X and COLIN XI prior to his television debut.

In 2015, five years after joining c4countdown, Benjamin finally appeared on the show on the very first programme of Series 73. Playing returnee James Judge, Benjamin never took the lead during the game, with him being 16 points behind Judge at one point. However, seven crucial points on the final numbers game took the game level, and Benjamin unravelled GADWINNER in five seconds to return to Harrow with a teapot. He went on to win another 4 games hereafter, amassing a total of 484 points (not including the GADWINNER solve, which was actually a tie-break) across six shows to equal the number of wins needed to qualify for the finals. However, his total was exceeded by Matty Artell's 541, preventing him from entering.

Benjamin has an annoying habit of getting conundrums almost right but getting stems, prefixes and suffixes in the wrong order, including JAILBAKER, SPONDERED, and in the first series of ZoomDown, SNOGCRAFT. In his two Dictionary Corner appearances on ZoomDown, he made a point of reading out every alternative maximum-scoring word rather than selectively choosing the best ones.

In 2020, he appeared on ZoomDown Series 1 and in 2021 appeared in Series 3 and Series 4.

Outside of Countdown, Benjamin attempted to beat the World Record for travelling to all the stations on the London Underground in 2013, a record previously held by former contestants Jack Welsby and Steve Wilson. He also enjoys motor racing and football (in both cases, supporting the rivals of Philip Aston: namely Nico Rosberg and Fulham respectively), as well as cricket. He is also a Conservative Party activist, and appeared on BBC News in 2020 discussing lecturers' strikes.

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
6157	15/06/2015	P	James Judge	68 – 78	Rhys Benjamin	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Colin Murray	Susie Dent	124
6158	22/06/2015	P	Rhys Benjamin	92 – 63	Michael Stokes	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Colin Murray	Susie Dent	131
6159	23/06/2015	P	Rhys Benjamin	81 – 53	Maxine Jones	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Colin Murray	Susie Dent	123
6160	24/06/2015	P	Rhys Benjamin	78 – 59	Abby Foulkes	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Colin Murray	Susie Dent	118
6161	25/06/2015	P	Rhys Benjamin	89 – 65	Olly Hall	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Colin Murray	Susie Dent	120
6162	26/06/2015	P	Rhys Benjamin	76 – 98	Pat Lonergan	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Joe McElderry	Susie Dent	144

External Links

• Harrow Times article on Benjamin's appearances on Countdown.
• GetWestLondon article on Benjamin's appearances on Countdown.
• Benjamin's Countdown Experience on his blog.