Philip Aston - Revision history

DaaniyalAli at 10:49, 13 July 2025

2025-07-13T10:49:17Z

Mclarenguy22 at 22:05, 11 February 2022

2022-02-11T22:05:59Z

TheWikiMan at 11:07, 21 September 2021

2021-09-21T11:07:45Z

Mclarenguy22: /* ZoomDown */

2021-06-05T20:33:13Z

‎ZoomDown

Mclarenguy22: /* ZoomDown */

2021-04-26T21:19:16Z

‎ZoomDown

Mclarenguy22: /* Finals */

2020-12-19T11:12:29Z

‎Finals

The Doctor: as per toby's page - apologies to Philip

2020-12-16T17:47:23Z

as per toby's page - apologies to Philip

Mclarenguy22 at 21:33, 13 December 2020

2020-12-13T21:33:20Z

The Doctor: /* Apterous */

2020-11-30T02:15:28Z

‎Apterous

Mclarenguy22: /* Championship of Champions XV */

2020-11-25T23:07:51Z

‎Championship of Champions XV

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:49, 13 July 2025
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−	[[File:Philip Aston.png\|thumb\|200px\|right\|Philip Aston in [[Series 78]].]]	+	[[File:Philip Aston.png\|thumb\|200px\|right\|Philip Aston in [[Series 78]]...]]
		+	[[File:Philip Aston2.jpeg\|thumb\|200px\|right\|…and again in the [[Championship of Champions XV]].]]
	'''Philip Aston''' was the runner-up of [[Series 78]] and a semi-finalist in [[Championship of Champions XV]]. He was living in Bideford in Devon at the time of filming, and now lives in Chulmleigh. He is also an [[Apterite]] and a contestant on [[ZoomDown]].		'''Philip Aston''' was the runner-up of [[Series 78]] and a semi-finalist in [[Championship of Champions XV]]. He was living in Bideford in Devon at the time of filming, and now lives in Chulmleigh. He is also an [[Apterite]] and a contestant on [[ZoomDown]].

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 ==Apterous==
-Aston made his online tournament debut in the [[Apterous Simulation of a Series 6|sixth edition]] of [[AptoSOS]] against the event's organiser [[Matt Morrison]], where he lost his only game by four points. He later had better success in the Double Elimination Tournament in 2018, reaching the 6th round stage. In 2020, he competed in The Big One (also a Double Elimination tournament) and reached the 8th round stage. Later that year, he finally won a tournament for the first time by winning the Apterous Football League Cup, winning the final {{score|108|87|User:The Doctor/Episode AFLC114}}.
+Aston made his online tournament debut in the [[Apterous Simulation of a Series 6|sixth edition]] of [[AptoSOS]]. In 2020, he won an online tournament for the first time by winning the Apterous Football League Cup, winning the final {{score|108|87|User:The Doctor/Episode AFLC114}}.
 ==ZoomDown==
 On 4 May 2020, Aston appeared on ZoomDown on YouTube. He beat fellow Countdown finalist Paul Nixon with 13 maxes in the first game of the show, but lost the second to Hazel Drury. He reappeared in Series 2 in a "Formula 1 special", but lost his only game to James Rowan. Aston had another attempt in Series 3, beating Series 80 champion Dinos Sfyris before losing to Ronan Higginson on a crucial conundrum.
 ==Outside of Countdown==
 Aston has also been a tournament [[Scrabble]] player since 2016. On 13 April 2019, he won the inaugural Bristol Open in Division B, his first tournament win in any division. Later, he came 40th out of 46 Division A players in the 2019 Mattel World Scrabble Championships in Torquay.

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:07, 21 September 2021
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	[[Category:Teapot owners]]		[[Category:Teapot owners]]
	[[Category:Finalists]]		[[Category:Finalists]]
		+	[[Category:Contestants on ZoomDown]]

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 ==ZoomDown==
-On 4 May 2020, Aston appeared on [[ZoomDown]] on YouTube during national lockdown. He beat fellow ''Countdown'' finalist [[Paul Nixon]] with 13 maxes in the first game of the show, but lost the second to [[Hazel Drury]]. He reappeared in Series 2 in a "Formula 1 special", but lost his only game to [[James Rowan]]. Aston had another attempt in Series 3, beating [[Series 80]] champion [[Dinos Sfyris]] before losing to Ronan Higginson in a dramatic conclusion.
+On 4 May 2020, Aston appeared on [[ZoomDown]] on YouTube during national lockdown. He beat fellow ''Countdown'' finalist [[Paul Nixon]] with 13 maxes in the first game of the show, but lost the second to [[Hazel Drury]]. He reappeared in Series 2 in a "Formula 1 special", but lost his only game to [[James Rowan]]. Aston had another attempt in Series 3, beating [[Series 80]] champion [[Dinos Sfyris]] before losing to Ronan Higginson on a crucial conundrum.
 ==Outside of Countdown==

@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 ==ZoomDown==
-On 4 May 2020, Aston appeared on [[ZoomDown]] on YouTube during national lockdown. He beat fellow ''Countdown'' finalist [[Paul Nixon]] with 13 maxes in the first game of the show, but lost the second to [[Hazel Drury]]. He reappeared in Series 2 in a "Formula 1 special", but lost his only game to [[James Rowan]].
+On 4 May 2020, Aston appeared on [[ZoomDown]] on YouTube during national lockdown. He beat fellow ''Countdown'' finalist [[Paul Nixon]] with 13 maxes in the first game of the show, but lost the second to [[Hazel Drury]]. He reappeared in Series 2 in a "Formula 1 special", but lost his only game to [[James Rowan]]. Aston had another attempt in Series 3, beating [[Series 80]] champion [[Dinos Sfyris]] before losing to Ronan Higginson in a dramatic conclusion.
 ==Outside of Countdown==

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 ===Finals===
-Aston ultimately returned for these finals as #7 seed. He then went on to achieve the first upset of the finals stages by overcoming #2-ranked [[Toby McDonald]], a fellow Apterite from Somerset, by just seven points in their highly anticipated quarter-final. Aston followed this victory up with a semi-final triumph over [[Dougie Mackay]], the highest-scoring seven-time winner in ''Countdown'' history; in this game, Aston's unravelling of the nine-letter word {{word|MONRADITE}} in the second letters round helped him prevail {{score|98|76}}. This win brought Aston to the series Grand Final – a [[rematch]] of his heat game against Zarte Siempre.
+Aston ultimately returned for these finals as the No. 7 seed. He then went on to achieve the first upset of the finals stages by overcoming No. 2-ranked [[Toby McDonald]], a fellow Apterite from Somerset, by just seven points in their highly anticipated quarter-final. Aston followed this victory up with a semi-final triumph over [[Dougie Mackay]], the highest-scoring seven-time winner in ''Countdown'' history; in this game, Aston's unravelling of the nine-letter word {{word|MONRADITE}} in the second letters round helped him prevail {{score|98|76}}. This win brought Aston to the series Grand Final – a [[rematch]] of his heat game against Zarte Siempre.
 In an epic final, Aston fought an even more fierce battle than he did before and opted for a safer [[numbers]] choice with one large in the form of a cross instead of his preferred "capital T" selections. Siempre took the lead once again when he spotted {{word|REPUSHED}} (which Philip discounted) in the fourth letters round but that was taken away when his disallowed declaration of {{word|superking {{x}}}} allowed the score to even out at {{score|90|90}}. Ultimately, it came down to the crucial conundum {{word|USEDLOGIC}} and with Siempre buzzing in with the correct answer {{word|GLUSOCIDE}} in 10 seconds, Aston was relegated to runner-up spot in his second defeat. Nonetheless, he achieved a personal best of 13 maxes here, and his score of 118 proved to be the highest ever losing score in a Grand Final of ''Countdown''.

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 ==Appearances on the programme==
 ===Heat games===
-Aston made his ''Countdown'' début on 21 February 2018, scoring a [[century]] and restricting incumbent champion [[Jill Thwaites]] to the joint-lowest score for a daily champion in the [[15 round format|15-round]] era. Aston followed this up by achieving 123 points, the then-highest score of the series, against [[Sylvia O'Brien]], then achieved four more wins, all but one of which was a [[century]]. Aston's [[conundrum]] speed, in particular, was exceptional; on three occasions, he buzzed in with a correct answer in half a second or faster (his fastest time was 0.25 seconds). His run ended in his seventh game, however, when he encountered fellow [[Apterite]] and previous [[Series 69]] player [[Zarte Siempre]]. Though the game saw a high-quality letters performance, Aston dramatically lost form in the last three numbers rounds in which he failed to score, allowing Siempre to ultimately prevail {{score|121|97}}.
+Aston made his ''Countdown'' début on 21 February 2018, scoring a [[century]] and restricting incumbent champion [[Jill Thwaites]] to the then joint-lowest score for a daily champion in the [[15 round format|15-round]] era. Aston followed this up by achieving 123 points, the then-highest score of the series, against [[Sylvia O'Brien]], then achieved four more wins, all but one of which was a [[century]]. Aston's [[conundrum]] speed, in particular, was exceptional; on three occasions, he buzzed in with a correct answer in half a second or faster (his fastest time was 0.25 seconds). His run ended in his seventh game, however, when he encountered fellow [[Apterite]] and previous [[Series 69]] player [[Zarte Siempre]]. Though the game saw a high-quality letters performance, Aston dramatically lost form in the last three numbers rounds in which he failed to score, allowing Siempre to ultimately prevail {{score|121|97}}.
 With six preliminary wins and 760 points, Aston broke the record the highest-ever preliminary point total for a non-[[octochamp]], surpassing [[Series 57]] contestant [[Steve Baines]]' longstanding record of 758 (despite Aston playing only seven heats compared to Baines' eight). Aston's record stood for more than two and a half years until it was surpassed by [[Martyn Simpson]] in [[Series 82]]. After his defeat, Siempre said on-screen that Aston “absolutely deserves to be in the finals.”

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 ===Championship of Champions XV===
-Aston returned to Countdown in 2019, as one of 16 participants in [[Championship of Champions XV]]. He encountered [[Noel McIlvenny]] in the last preliminary round of the tournament. Aston raced away to 20 points up by beating McIlvenny in the first, third and fourth letters rounds. Aston's lead was then cut to 14 ahead after having the hyphenated word {{word|bluewing {{x}}}} disallowed. However, he maintained this lead all the way to an unsolved conundrum (which he almost got right) thanks to perfection in the numbers rounds – including the use of the '937.5 trick' in the last numbers round – to book a place in the first quarter-final match against [[Jonathan Wynn]]. Aston succeeded his previous performance with an 18-point victory over Wynn, largely by virtue of the nine-letter word {{word|AELUROIDS}}, which Wynn did spot but sadly misspelt it as {{word|aleuroids {{x}}}}. Aston yet again faced Siempre, who scored a record-breaking 150 on the show before, in the semi-final – only the second ever unforced "[[rematch|threematch]]" in ''Countdown'' history. Unfortunately – on his 13th and final show – a low-key Aston fell behind yet again and couldn't catch a break after his disallowed offering of {{word|maderiser {{x}}}} put him 26 points down and his journey came to a crushing end with a low of just 73 points (although he was only beaten in three rounds here). On the conundrum {{word|CONTIINNU}}, he hilariously buzzed in with 0.25 seconds left with his final answer, {{word|BYE}}! Aston set even more unwanted records on ''Countdown'' by becoming the first contestant ever to lose to the same player three times, and achieving highest number of wins (10) without becoming octochamp, series winner or champion of champions in the 15-round era.
+Aston returned to ''Countdown'' in 2019, as one of 16 participants in [[Championship of Champions XV]]. He encountered [[Noel McIlvenny]] in the last preliminary round of the tournament. Aston raced away to 20 points up by beating McIlvenny in the first, third and fourth letters rounds. Aston's lead was then cut to 14 ahead after having the hyphenated word {{word|bluewing {{x}}}} disallowed. However, he maintained this lead all the way to an unsolved conundrum (which he almost got right) thanks to perfection in the numbers rounds – including the use of the '937.5 trick' in the last numbers round – to book a place in the first quarter-final match against [[Jonathan Wynn]]. Aston succeeded his previous performance with an 18-point victory over Wynn, largely by virtue of the nine-letter word {{word|AELUROIDS}}, which Wynn did spot but sadly misspelt it as {{word|aleuroids {{x}}}}. Aston yet again faced Siempre, who scored a record-breaking 150 on the show before, in the semi-final – only the second ever unforced "[[rematch|threematch]]" in ''Countdown'' history. Unfortunately – on his 13th and final show – a low-key Aston fell behind yet again and couldn't catch a break after his disallowed offering of {{word|maderiser {{x}}}} put him 26 points down and his journey came to a crushing end with a low of just 73 points (although he was only beaten in three rounds here). On the conundrum {{word|CONTIINNU}}, he hilariously buzzed in with 0.25 seconds left with his final answer, {{word|BYE}}! Aston set even more unwanted records on ''Countdown'' by becoming the first contestant ever to lose to the same player three times, and achieving highest number of wins (10) without becoming octochamp, series winner or champion of champions in the 15-round era.
 ==Apterous==