Matt O'Connor

Matt O'Connor octochamp statistics
Final position	Runner-up
Seeding	2
Points total	949
Conundrums solved	6

Matt O'Connor in Series 65...

...and 11 years later in Series 85.

Matt O'Connor was a contestant in Series 65, an octochamp in and the runner-up of Series 85 and a participant in Championship of Champions XVI. He lives in Warrington but is originally from Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire.

During his time on the show, he was a serving police detective with Greater Manchester Police and latterly with Cheshire Police. He has been a member of Apterous since 2011.

He is reportedly Rachel Riley's favourite contestant.

Appearances on the programme

Heat games

Matt made his Countdown debut on 17 June 2011 (under his former name as Matt Croy) as one of two new contestants, following the octochampdom of the eventual series winner Graeme Cole. He lasted until his sixth show when he was narrowly defeated by 90 – 91 after Andrew Halliburton correctly solved the conundrum scramble, MYQUARTER, in a fraction before the clock reached its thirty seconds. Matt's five wins and 538 points were eventually not enough to reach the Series 65 finals.

Matt returned to the show virtually eleven years later where he won his first game of his second run with a tight game against Craig Fawcett with 113 to Fawcett's 77, thanks to the spot of MALONATES in the last letters round. Matt followed this with a personal best of 130 points that he bettered by nine points, five shows later. In his last heat of his second run, he spotted PREDATION for nine but Liam Moss clawed back to near distance by spotting TABOURETS for nine in the next letters round. However, a disallowed word from Moss allowed Matt to eventually wrap up and become an octochamp. An appropriately scrambled police-themed conundrum of COPPERHIT was answered incorrectly by Matt but it didn't prevent him from claiming his eighth century of his octorun, finishing with an octotal of 949 points – eighteen points fewer than the No. 1 seed, Dan Byrom.

Finals

On 10 June 2022, Matt returned to the show as the No. 2 seed to start his finals run against Dan Hall. Despite missing his declared target in the second numbers game, Matt broke away later on and won the game with another century to book his semi-final spot against Steve Hyde. Matt and Steve were level-pegging throughout the early stages of the match but once again, Matt won more rounds to win by forty points to set up the grand final match against Dan Byrom – notably entering the game with two more series points than what Byrom had accumulated when the finals matches are included.

As the statistics would indicate, the grand final was very close. Matt took an eight-point lead in Round 1 with OCTOPINE. His lead didn't last long though as Byrom broke away with a successful six-small solution in Round 3, followed by EMPAESTIC for nine to put Matt twenty points adrift. Matt managed to get back to just a five-point deficit by spotting SUZERAIN and GOPURAM, but Byrom extended his lead to thirteen points by spotting LESIONED in the last letters game. An unsolved final numbers game by both players sealed the match in Byrom's favour despite Matt bowing out with another conundrum solve. Matt was declared as the series runner-up after the game finished 78 – 81, meaning that his total points for the series of 1,250 was one point fewer than Byrom's 1,251.

Championship of Champions XVI

Matt returned to the show in January 2023 for a fourth time to participate in Championship of Champions XVI, where his opponent was Sam Cappleman-Lynes. Both players traded blows at the start of the game, but Sam eventually built an unbeatable lead before an unsolved conundrum got past both players. This meant that Matt suffered his third defeat on the show, bowing out with a final points total of 1,957 points from nineteen appearances.

This appearance meant that Matt is one of only three contestants in the history of Countdown to appear on the show under four different presenters, the others being Conor Travers and Dinos Sfyris.

Special episode

In late-2012, he was invited back to Countdown in a themed "Law and Order" special episode against Craig Lingard. He was allowed to devote the show to the memory of his friends and colleagues, Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes, who had been killed on duty weeks earlier – he used his appearance as a fundraiser in their memory for the charity, Care of Police Survivors (COPS). This show was finally broadcast in April 2015.

Radio appearances

Matt has appeared three times on the Lee Blakeman breakfast show on BBC Radio Stoke. These were succeeding his octorun, series finals and Championship of Champions appearances on Countdown. Blakeman who is a self-confessed Countdown superfan, interviewed Matt about his experiences on the show and also played letters and numbers rounds against him live on the radio.

Preceded by Florence Cappleman-Lynes

Series runner-up Series 85

Followed by Edward Byrne

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
5288	17/06/2011	P	Matt Croy	86 – 50	Barrie Crawford	Jeff Stelling	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Jon Culshaw	Susie Dent	117
5289	20/06/2011	P	Matt Croy	96 – 45	Pete Snowdon	Jeff Stelling	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Tim Vine	Susie Dent	119
5290	21/06/2011	P	Matt Croy	100 – 53	Mark Worsfold	Jeff Stelling	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Tim Vine	Susie Dent	119
5291	22/06/2011	P	Matt Croy	95 – 86	Chris Hemingway	Jeff Stelling	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Tim Vine	Susie Dent	129
5292	23/06/2011	P	Matt Croy	71 – 45	Kevan Nijjar	Jeff Stelling	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Tim Vine	Susie Dent	118
5293	24/06/2011	P	Matt Croy	90 – 91	Andrew Halliburton	Jeff Stelling	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Tim Vine	Susie Dent	114
S45	10/04/2015	S	Matt Croy	91 – 66	Craig Lingard	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley					Paul Zenon	Susie Dent	117
7741	15/04/2022	P	Craig Fawcett	77 – 113	Matt O'Connor	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Giles Coren	Susie Dent	144
7742	18/04/2022	P	Matt O'Connor	130 – 6	Charlie Edwards	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Sophie Ellis-Bextor	Susie Dent	133
7743	19/04/2022	P	Matt O'Connor	118 – 20	Tom Parkin-Coates	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Sophie Ellis-Bextor	Susie Dent	136
7744	20/04/2022	P	Matt O'Connor	120 – 6	Anna Chandra	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Sophie Ellis-Bextor	Susie Dent	125
7745	21/04/2022	P	Matt O'Connor	123 – 74	Stewart Cairns	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Sophie Ellis-Bextor	Susie Dent	137
7746	22/04/2022	P	Matt O'Connor	102 – 53	Paul Merison	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Sophie Ellis-Bextor	Susie Dent	142
7747	25/04/2022	P	Matt O'Connor	139 – 34	James Campbell	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Justin Webb	Susie Dent	144
7748	26/04/2022	P	Matt O'Connor	104 – 78	Liam Moss	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Justin Webb	Susie Dent	145
7781	10/06/2022	QF	Matt O'Connor	106 – 58	Dan Hall	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Jay Rayner		none	125
7785	16/06/2022	SF	Matt O'Connor	117 – 77	Steve Hyde	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Robert Rinder		none	122
7786	17/06/2022	GF	Dan Byrom	81 – 78	Matt O'Connor	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Robert Rinder		none	136
7929	11/01/2023	CP	Matt O'Connor	78 – 101	Sam Cappleman-Lynes	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Heather Small	Susie Dent	124