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[[Image:Martin Gardner.jpg|right|130px]]
'''[[Martin Gardner]]''' was an [[octochamp]] and semi-finalist in [[Series 49]]. Before appearing as a contestant on the show, Gardner had a prominent presence in the online Countdown community; he organised Countdown Advance (the forerunner to [[Hypercountdown]] on the [[Gevincountdown]] web forum, served as a moderator on this website, and ran the now-defunct Countdown fan site [[Countdown Update UK]]. After finding the address to send off for an application form on [[Ben Wilson]]'s website, he applied for the televised show and was invited to an audition at the end of 2002.

Although he failed his audition, Gardner was invited to the studios as a replacement contestant after [[John Davies (Series 49)|John Davies]] became an [[octochamp]], leaving one seat vacated on [[Episode 3482|14 May 2003]]. In this opening game Gardner achieved his highest televised score of 107, with offerings including the eight-letter words {{word|ATOMISER}} and {{word|ACONITES}}; Martin found no nine-letter words during his appearances on the show. Seven more victories followed, including three further [[century|centuries]].

Gardner returned to the series finals as #2 seed behind Davies, his forerunner in the heats. In his quarter-final, the eight letter word {{word|POTHEADS}} and conundrum {{word|SCOOPGREY}} helped Gardner to convincingly defeat [[Peter Jeffery]] by 101 points to 64. He faced [[David Wilson]] in the semi-final and went ahead after three rounds courtesy of the seven-letter word {{word|UPRATED}}. However, he was pegged back in the next round with {{word|MORGUES}}. Thereafter, David scored in every round apart from the conundrum and won the game 98-86. ('''[[Martin Gardner|more...]]''')

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