Steven Briers

Steven Briers octochamp statistics
Final position	Quarter-finalist
Seeding	1
Points total	843
Conundrums solved	6

Steve Briers in his second game...

...and in the Championship of Champions XIII grand final.

And again in the 30th Birthday Championship.

Steven "Steve" Briers was an octochamp in Series 55, the winner of Championship of Champions XIII, and a participant in the 30th Birthday Championship. During his Series 55 appearances, he was a student at Taunton's College from Southampton in Hampshire and is most renowned for his bizarre style of solving numbers games.

Appearances on the show

Series 55

Briers debuted on 3 November 2006, beating Richard Woodward by 76 – 62.

He then vastly improved and hammered Dean Rowley by 136 – 41 in his second game – setting the then fifth-highest ever score, the then second-highest ever winning margin in Countdown history and the highest score of the series.

He won six more games to become an octochamp and the No. 1 seed.

He was defeated in his quarter-final by Phil Watson; to date, the only time that the No. 1 seed lost a quarter-final match in the 15-round era.

Championship of Champions XIII

Despite not making past the quarter-finals of his series, Briers was selected to return for Championship of Champions XIII.

He beat Debbi Flack in the last preliminary match, partly thanks to his nine-letter word spot of ANTIPODES.

In his quarter-final, he faced David O'Donnell who was unbeaten with twelve wins from twelve games. The scores were close all the way, until Briers spotted PESTICIDE when O'Donnell only had a seven. The players continued to score in every round until the conundrum where Briers led by eighteen points. O'Donnell solved the conundrum in 0.5 seconds but it wasn't enough as he lost by 118 – 110 to Briers, one of the highest ever losing scores.

In his semi-final, he faced Nick Wainwright in another close game that included a brilliant numbers solution of six small from Wainwright. But Briers was five points ahead when going into the conundrum, as neither player were able to unscramble FCRAVIOLA.

In the grand final, he faced Charlie Reams. Reams started with LEPTON while Briers had OPULENT. Briers maintained the lead until he had reenact ☓ backfired. Briers first took the lead with SNOOZED, then another seven points when Reams went wrong on the second numbers round. A seven, a six and a five from both players meant that Reams needed to beat Briers on the final numbers game to force a crucial conundrum. But when Reams declared nothing and after Briers gave his solution for five away on the last numbers game, Briers won the tournament with just the conundrum to go. During the conundrum – Briers buzzed in with libouette ☓ and then comically, Reams buzzed in with GANDISEEG (referring to Richard Brittain's guess).

30th Birthday Championship

Briers returned in 2013, as one of 41 contestants that took part in the 30th Birthday Championship.

He lost his only match against Andrew Hulme by 113 – 74.

Preceded by Paul Gallen

Champion of Champions Championship of Champions XIII

Followed by Dylan Taylor

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
4227	03/11/2006	P	Richard Woodward	62 – 76	Steven Briers	Des Lynam	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Jo Brand	Susie Dent	127
4228	06/11/2006	P	Steven Briers	136 – 41	Dean Rowley	Des Lynam	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Tony Christie	Susie Dent	142
4229	07/11/2006	P	Steven Briers	106 – 56	Vicky Hubble	Des Lynam	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Tony Christie	Susie Dent	124
4230	08/11/2006	P	Steven Briers	116 – 68	Carl Gregory	Des Lynam	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Tony Christie	Susie Dent	134
4231	09/11/2006	P	Steven Briers	108 – 59	Glenda Fullard	Des Lynam	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Tony Christie	Susie Dent	119
4232	10/11/2006	P	Steven Briers	110 – 93	Dan Ward	Des Lynam	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Tony Christie	Susie Dent	141
4233	13/11/2006	P	Steven Briers	92 – 53	Jennifer Brown	Des Lynam	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Keith Barron	Susie Dent	129
4234	14/11/2006	P	Steven Briers	99 – 55	Sue Pascoe	Des Lynam	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Keith Barron	Susie Dent	127
4256	14/12/2006	QF	Steven Briers	72 – 82	Phil Watson	Des Lynam	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Ken Bruce	Susie Dent	138
4740	21/01/2009	CP	Steve Briers	121 – 74	Debbi Flack	Jeff Stelling	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Alastair Stewart	Susie Dent	126
4741	22/01/2009	CQF	Steve Briers	118 – 110	David O'Donnell	Jeff Stelling	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Alastair Stewart	Susie Dent	130
4745	28/01/2009	CSF	Steve Briers	87 – 82	Nick Wainwright	Jeff Stelling	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Paul Zenon	Susie Dent	119
4747	30/01/2009	CGF	Charlie Reams	67 – 88	Steve Briers	Jeff Stelling	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Paul Zenon	Susie Dent	114
5622	16/01/2013	30BP	Andrew Hulme	113 – 74	Steven Briers	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Martin Lewis	Susie Dent	127

External Links

• His own record of his experience on the show on The Countdown Page.