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From Countdown
(Updated to this month's FA.)
(Updated for January - I'll cut this down in due course!)
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[[Image:Chris Philpot cue-card.jpg|130px|right]]
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[[Image:Chris Davies trophy.jpg|130px|right]]
'''[[Chris Philpot]]''' (born September 1989) was a contestant in [[Series 51]]. Aged fourteen at the time of his appearance, Philpot competed against [[Ariane Sherine]], now notable for her work as a Guardian columnist and creator of the Atheist Bus Campaign. [[Episode 3636|The game]] was initially close with Sherine holding a slight lead. Spotting {{word|COLLATE}} in round seven gave Philpot a three point advantage going into the [[Countdown#Evolution|third half]], but the words {{word|PUMICE}} and {{word|RELISTED}} allowed Sherine to regain her lead and she saw out the game in style, with Philpot only scoring six further points in the contest.
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'''Chris Davies''' was the champion of [[Series 61]]. He was a musician and charity shop volunteer from Greasby in Merseyside, who on his first show impressed not only with his defeat of [[Scrabble]] player [[Ed Rossiter]] but also with his exceptionally fast Rubik's cube solutions. In his second game against [[Matt Shephard]] he failed to secure a century after missing the target on all three numbers games. Nevertheless, words including {{word|PUEBLOS}} and {{word|TANDOORI}} gave him a convincing victory by 95 points to 46. This points difference was eclipsed the following day against opponent [[Julie Lane]], who was able to equal Davies in five rounds but otherwise failed to score. Davies ran out the winner by a margin of 75 points. [[Michael Jocelyn]] suffered an even worse fate as words such as {{word|SEPTUPLE}} and {{word|ISOMERS}} and the conundrum {{word|IMISSBOYS}} created a scoreline of 113 – 37 in Davies' favour - an even greater margin than the day before.
  
Philpot made a mildly notable use of his short Countdown career by becoming the first - and thus far only - contestant to read out his own cue card. A typographical error on the card lead to [[Richard Whiteley]] mispronouncing the name of Philpot's secondary school. When Philpot pointed out the error, Whiteley replied, "you read it out!" Philpot also accumulated minor acknowledgement for an uncomfortable moment after declaring {{word|PUBIC}} in round 11. Furthermore, at the end of the programme following his defeat Philpot told Whiteley that he had particularly wanted a Countdown [[teapot]]. Sherine, who doesn't drink tea, altruistically gave him her teapot after her final game.
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Having so far failed to find a [[nine-letter word]] in his heat games, Davies found two in the first four rounds against [[Ross Mackenzie]]. However, Mackenzie found them both as well and was on Davies' tail throughout the game. The pressure almost seemed to help Davies who secured victory through the words {{word|MALAPERT}} and the [[Darren|ic]] {{word|PUPATED}}. After solving the conundrum {{word|CIRCUSHEN}}, Davies had amassed a score of 139, the second highest of all time. Further Darrens including {{word|RIBCAGE}} and {{word|RIVULETS}}, along with the nine-letter word {{word|SCLEROTIA}}, led Davies to victory in his sixth game against Jonathan Seal. Of note, in round two of this game Seal beat Davie's six-letter word {{word|LINERS}} with the seven-letter {{word|FLORINS}}, the first time Davies had failed to score in 51 consecutive rounds. A pair of centuries helped Davies convincingly win his last two heat games against [[Marcus Bearpark]] and [[John Smoker]] respectively.
  
In 2009, the now nineteen-year-old Philpot challenged Sherine to a rematch on his student radio programme. The game was played over just one [[letters round]], one [[numbers round]] and a [[conundrum]]. Special radio-themed conundrums were provided by members of [[c4countdown]]. In the game itself, both contestants spotted {{word|SPAYING}} in the letters round and, after a relatively easy numbers round, it was once again Sherine who prevailed, unravelling [[Damian Eadie]]'s conundrum {{word|HEARRADIO}} after 13 seconds to win by 27 points to 17.
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Three months later Davies returned for the finals as number two seed behind [[Andrew Hulme]], who had amassed a record breaking aggregate score of 930 points across his octochamp run. Against fellow [[octochamp]] [[Steve Wood]], the words {{word|RELLINOS}} and {{word|RANDOMISE}} helped Davies to a 43-point lead after just five rounds. He ran out the winner, setting up a semi-final appearance against [[Innis Carson]]. After twelve rounds of this match only seven points separated the two players. In round 13 Carson beat Davies with {{word|SOLENOID}}, opening up a fifteen point lead with just two rounds to go. Carson missed the numbers target in round 14 whereas Davies found a perfect solution, but he still needed to solve the crucial conundrum {{word|EPITUSSLE}} to win. After 25.5 seconds he doubtfully offered {{word|SLEEPSUIT}} — and exclaimed "Oh my God!" as this was revealed to be correct. In the grand final Davies faced #1 seed Hulme, who often equalled but never bettered him. {{word|TETRODE}}, {{word|DIARISES}} and the conundrum {{word|ARTLEPOOL}} gave Davies the series by 117 points to 86.
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Davies remains an active member of the [[:Category:Online community|online Countdown community]] and is often seen on [[Apterous]].

Revision as of 11:04, 1 January 2010

Chris Davies trophy.jpg

Chris Davies was the champion of Series 61. He was a musician and charity shop volunteer from Greasby in Merseyside, who on his first show impressed not only with his defeat of Scrabble player Ed Rossiter but also with his exceptionally fast Rubik's cube solutions. In his second game against Matt Shephard he failed to secure a century after missing the target on all three numbers games. Nevertheless, words including PUEBLOS and TANDOORI gave him a convincing victory by 95 points to 46. This points difference was eclipsed the following day against opponent Julie Lane, who was able to equal Davies in five rounds but otherwise failed to score. Davies ran out the winner by a margin of 75 points. Michael Jocelyn suffered an even worse fate as words such as SEPTUPLE and ISOMERS and the conundrum IMISSBOYS created a scoreline of 113 – 37 in Davies' favour - an even greater margin than the day before.

Having so far failed to find a nine-letter word in his heat games, Davies found two in the first four rounds against Ross Mackenzie. However, Mackenzie found them both as well and was on Davies' tail throughout the game. The pressure almost seemed to help Davies who secured victory through the words MALAPERT and the ic PUPATED. After solving the conundrum CIRCUSHEN, Davies had amassed a score of 139, the second highest of all time. Further Darrens including RIBCAGE and RIVULETS, along with the nine-letter word SCLEROTIA, led Davies to victory in his sixth game against Jonathan Seal. Of note, in round two of this game Seal beat Davie's six-letter word LINERS with the seven-letter FLORINS, the first time Davies had failed to score in 51 consecutive rounds. A pair of centuries helped Davies convincingly win his last two heat games against Marcus Bearpark and John Smoker respectively.

Three months later Davies returned for the finals as number two seed behind Andrew Hulme, who had amassed a record breaking aggregate score of 930 points across his octochamp run. Against fellow octochamp Steve Wood, the words RELLINOS and RANDOMISE helped Davies to a 43-point lead after just five rounds. He ran out the winner, setting up a semi-final appearance against Innis Carson. After twelve rounds of this match only seven points separated the two players. In round 13 Carson beat Davies with SOLENOID, opening up a fifteen point lead with just two rounds to go. Carson missed the numbers target in round 14 whereas Davies found a perfect solution, but he still needed to solve the crucial conundrum EPITUSSLE to win. After 25.5 seconds he doubtfully offered SLEEPSUIT — and exclaimed "Oh my God!" as this was revealed to be correct. In the grand final Davies faced #1 seed Hulme, who often equalled but never bettered him. TETRODE, DIARISES and the conundrum ARTLEPOOL gave Davies the series by 117 points to 86.

Davies remains an active member of the online Countdown community and is often seen on Apterous.