Toby McDonald

Toby McDonald octochamp statistics
Final position	Quarter-finalist
Seeding	2
Points total	882
Conundrums solved	6

Toby McDonald in Series 78.

Toby McDonald solving the conundrum in his mum's second appearance.

Toby McDonald, also known as Tobe, was an octochamp and quarter-finalist in Series 78. From Chard in Somerset, he was a sixth form college student at the time of recording. He is also an Apterite and a member of c4countdown.

On-screen

Making his debut on 26 April 2018, aged 17, McDonald prevailed over three-time winner and former professional golfer, Jason Palmer, in an extremely close encounter, snatching the game on a crucial conundrum with both players already over 100 points. McDonald sealed another seven victories, all of which were centuries – including a top score of 121 – and garnered a cumulative score of 882 points. Notably, he declared BOATIES on three occasions. His numbers rounds, particularly, were very strong – of the 320 points available from these in his run, he accumulated a raw score of 308, placing him – at the time – equal second with Stephen Read on highest cumulative score from 32 numbers rounds in an octochamp run, behind Dylan Taylor's 311. He is the first ever octochamp born in the 21st century, having been born in January 2001.

As a result of his success in the heats, McDonald was invited back for the Series 78 finals as the number two seed. In his very close quarter-final, however – despite solving all the numbers rounds – he finally suffered his first defeat against six-time winner and fellow Apterite, Philip Aston, after an unsolved and very difficult crucial conundrum eluded both players. Nonetheless, he scored an impressive 97 points to Aston's 104, ensuring a joint score over 200 for this highly anticipated episode between two teenagers from the south-west of England.

He is the son of Laura McDonald, who lost to seven-time winner and quarter-finalist, Christine Armstrong, in Series 54 and to octochamp, Dave Ashton, in Series 79. On her second appearance on 13 September 2018, Toby was the audience member who solved the conundrum LOADEDCON.

Off-screen

Although he was not invited for Championship of Champions XV, McDonald has since made his Co-event debut at CO:BO 2018.

Away from Countdown, McDonald is a keen Nintendo video gamer and has a YouTube channel dedicated to gaming and Countdown. He also has an A* in GCSE German.

After his Countdown appearances, he participated on ZoomDown in Series 1, Series 2, the special GoatZDown series (losing to a max game from the eventual winner, Callum Todd) and Series 3.

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
6814	26/04/2018	P	Jason Palmer	104 – 115	Toby McDonald	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Chris Packham	Susie Dent	135
6815	30/04/2018	P	Toby McDonald	108 – 68	Maxim Hall	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Chris Packham	Susie Dent	123
6816	01/05/2018	P	Toby McDonald	121 – 32	Colin Beckwith	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Chris Packham	Susie Dent	126
6817	02/05/2018	P	Toby McDonald	110 – 38	Terry Monaghan	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	134
6818	03/05/2018	P	Toby McDonald	111 – 10	Alyssa Critchley	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	125
6819	04/05/2018	P	Toby McDonald	109 – 53	Nilesh Pandya	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	124
6820	07/05/2018	P	Toby McDonald	104 – 71	Simon Cluskey	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	146
6821	08/05/2018	P	Toby McDonald	104 – 46	Lee Padovani	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	128
6848	15/06/2018	QF	Toby McDonald	97 – 104	Philip Aston	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Helen Fospero	Susie Dent	123

See also

• Toby McDonald's user page