Stephen Read
| Stephen Read octochamp statistics | |
|---|---|
| Final position | Champion |
| Seeding | 1 |
| Points total | 915 |
| Conundrums solved | 7 |
Stephen Read was an octochamp in and the champion of Series 76, and a participant in Championship of Champions XV. In all his appearances, he was a Maths tutor from Warrington. He is also an Apterite, and is the 75th member of the 800 club in the 15-round era.
On Apterous and Discord, Read is known for making Jo Brand-style puns of the letters selections online during the day's Countdown broadcast.
Contents
Appearances on the programme
In the audience
Three years before his first Countdown game, Read made his TV debut on 29 April 2014 as the audience member who solved the conundrum after a failed attempt from both contestants before the audience cheered loudly for him.
Heat games
Read made his televised debut on 5 May 2017 and went on to score a century in all his heat games (only the fifteenth contestant to do so) to top the series seed table with an octotal of 915. He proved to be very strong in the letters games with impressive findings such as DRAGONET, NOTEPADS, MALONATE and PRESOAKED. He also scored 308 points in 32 numbers games, the then second-highest score from numbers rounds alone in an octorun after Dylan Taylor's 311.
Finals
Read returned for the series finals in June 2017 as the No. 1 seed. In his quarter-final, he prevailed over No. 8 seed James Slater but only managed 92 points. His run of centuries would have been maintained had he not voided MORALISER, and he was also beaten by Slater's findings of CATHOUSE and CUISINE. Read also picked six small instead of his usual two large.
In his semi-final against Annie Humphries, Read accelerated again by scoring 115 to Humphries' 67 and achieving a maximum score in all but two rounds to secure a berth in the grand final. This time, he switched to two large.
In the grand final, he showed no sign of slowing down as he beat Moose Rosser by a margin of 50 points to take a well-deserved set of dictionaries and earn the Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy. Hence, Read became a xicount with an 11-game total of 1,230 points.
Championship of Champions XV
Read returned to the show in 2019 for Championship of Champions XV, where he faced Tom Carey in the tournament's fourth preliminary game. Read was the only finalist from Series 76 to participate in the tournament. The game was close throughout with Read notably making a late leap, thanks to his spot of PIPEMAN to force a crucial conundrum. But the Series 73 semi-finalist unravelled HAIRYDENT to take the game by 106 – 87, relegating Read to his only defeat to date.
Co-events
In April 2016, he attended his first Co-event – Countdown in Leeds 2016 – followed up in May 2016 by his attendance at Countdown in King's Lynn 2016, where he won. He beat Series 69 champion Callum Todd in the grand final on a tiebreak conundrum, having been twenty points adrift earlier in the game and spotting the low-probability six of DOODAD in the process. He also won Countdown in Birmingham 2016 and reached the grand final of Countdown in Huddersfield 2016, meaning he either won or was runner-up in three of his first four Co-events. He was awarded FOCAL's "Rookie of the Year" prize for 2016. He then won CoManche in 2017.
Appearances on Only Connect
Along with Sam Prouse and Andy Platt, he appeared in the 2019/20 series of Only Connect as captain of the "Lexplorers" team. On their first appearance on 9 September 2019, they ended up winning their game comfortably by a scoreline of 10 – 34 against the "Gladiators". They appeared in the second round on 2 December 2019 and after a tough game, won 13 – 9 against the "Suits". They appeared in the quarter-finals on 10 February 2020 and their run came to an end, after losing 16 – 21 in a rematch to the "Suits".
ZoomDown
After all his Countdown appearances, Read was a ZoomDown team member and also participated in the special Hyper series, Series 1, Series 2 (just missing out on the finals as No. 9 seed) and the second Numberists series.
| Preceded by Martin Hurst |
Series winner Series 76 |
Followed by Tom Chafer-Cook |
Episodes
| # | Date | Type | Contestant 1 | Score | Contestant 2 | Presenters | Guest | Lex | Max | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6576 | 05/05/2017 | P | John Robertson | 37 – 119 | Stephen Read | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | John Inverdale | Susie Dent | 124 | ||
| 6577 | 08/05/2017 | P | Stephen Read | 110 – 27 | Jake Denney | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | John Inverdale | Susie Dent | 121 | ||
| 6578 | 09/05/2017 | P | Stephen Read | 111 – 27 | Tim Clarke | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | John Inverdale | Susie Dent | 133 | ||
| 6579 | 10/05/2017 | P | Stephen Read | 104 – 60 | Dan Haggerty | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Mark Austin | Susie Dent | 122 | ||
| 6580 | 11/05/2017 | P | Stephen Read | 131 – 21 | Alan Jefferson | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Mark Austin | Susie Dent | 133 | ||
| 6581 | 12/05/2017 | P | Stephen Read | 114 – 61 | Mark Rainey | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Mark Austin | Susie Dent | 135 | ||
| 6582 | 15/05/2017 | P | Stephen Read | 115 – 51 | Jane Donnelly | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Mark Austin | Susie Dent | 121 | ||
| 6583 | 16/05/2017 | P | Stephen Read | 111 – 42 | Craig Tampin | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Mark Austin | Susie Dent | 132 | ||
| 6608 | 21/06/2017 | QF | Stephen Read | 92 – 60 | James Slater | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Suzi Perry | Susie Dent | 135 | ||
| 6612 | 28/06/2017 | SF | Stephen Read | 115 – 67 | Annie Humphries | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Colin Murray | Susie Dent | 124 | ||
| 6614 | 30/06/2017 | GF | Stephen Read | 108 – 58 | Moose Rosser | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Colin Murray | Susie Dent | 121 | ||
| 6983 | 07/01/2019 | CP | Tom Carey | 106 – 87 | Stephen Read | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Kate Humble | Susie Dent | 131 | ||
