John Payne (Series 71)

For other people called John Payne, see John Payne.

John Payne (Series 71) octochamp statistics
Final position	TBC
Seeding	TBC
Points total	834
Conundrums solved	5

John Payne in Series 71...

...and 11 years later in Series 92.

John Payne was a contestant in Series 71, and an octochamp in Series 92. By the time of his second set of games, he was living in Manchester and he will almost certainly be back for the end-of-series finals in December.

Background

Born in Aldershot, Hampshire in 1992, his favourite subject whilst at school was mathematics with this interest seeing him undertake and pass his KS2 maths exam whilst in Year 3. He attended All Hallows Catholic School where after taking his GCSEs, he was presented with the Millennium Award for outstanding achievement.

In more recent times, Payne has been abroad with Progressio, spending three months volunteering in Nicaragua.

Appearances

Series 71

Throughout his childhood, he watched Countdown regularly and often spoke of a dream of appearing on the program although when he did make his debut, it was unfortunately against eventual octochamp George Ford, who ultimately outmuscled Payne in no small part due to the spotting of CAPONIERS for nine which Payne did not see, ultimately leaving John as the loser in his first appearance.

Series 92

However, almost 11 years later, he made his return to Countdown. He kicked off this comeback with a victory and the teapot, against incumbent champion Chas McLaughlin. He then followed that up with seven further very impressive victories, which included five centuries and a high score of 119 achieved in his seventh game, while avoiding a crucial conundrum in all of his heats. He also marked himself out by taking a leaf from George Ford's playbook, through his choice of a four-large selection in every one of his numbers rounds.

He also managed to spot MEDIATORS and STREAKING for two nine-letter-words; the latter of those coming in his eighth game, where challenger Wayne Swan actually gave him an almighty scare, with him being only five points behind as at the end of Round 11. However, after an unfortunate gamble from Swan with ☓ paperings and the last six-small numbers selection being relatively easy, it meant that "The Quiet Man" (as anointed by Colin/Rachel (after the game)) secured octochampdom with 834 points and sat at the top of the seeding table, albeit with most of the series to still play out.

Appearances on other quiz shows

In 2016, he was captain of the "Prime" team in Hive Minds, which went on to win the series including defeating the "Ortographobes" team led by James Robinson in the semi-finals. In April 2017, Payne appeared on Fifteen to One, followed by Only Connect in September of the same year.

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
6018	24/10/2014	P	George Ford	114 – 68	John Payne	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dave Myers	Susie Dent	132
8558	11/07/2025	P	Chas McLaughlin	64 – 89	John Payne	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Owain Wyn Evans	Susie Dent	131
8559	14/07/2025	P	John Payne	100 – 90	David Holmes	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Charlene White	Susie Dent	125
8560	15/07/2025	P	John Payne	109 – 65	Val Pilkington-Smith	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Charlene White	Susie Dent	122
8561	16/07/2025	P	John Payne	99 – 52	Edward Ffitch	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Charlene White	Susie Dent	120
8562	17/07/2025	P	John Payne	112 – 69	Richard Cook	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Charlene White	Susie Dent	143
8563	18/07/2025	P	John Payne	92 – 61	Andrew Dickens	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Charlene White	Susie Dent	120
8564	21/07/2025	P	John Payne	119 – 69	Frances McKissock	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Claire Sweeney	Susie Dent	131
8565	22/07/2025	P	John Payne	114 – 94	Wayne Swan	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Claire Sweeney	Susie Dent	143