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Darryl Francis
Darryl Francis octochamp statistics | |
---|---|
Final position | Winner |
Seeding | 2 |
Points total | 436 |
Conundrums solved | 8 |
Darryl Francis was the Series 6 champion who débuted in Series 1. He was also a semi-finalist in Championship of Champions III and a participant in the Supreme Championship and the 30th Birthday Championship. His Countdown appearances span an incredible 31 years.
He first appeared in Series 1, losing his début game to Joe Guy. A computer manager from Isleworth, Middlesex, he was later invited back for Series 6, where he became an octochamp. In his semifinal against Adam Gilinsky he scored 72 points, the highest of the series. He then went on to beat Olivia Lloyd in the grand final, and became the first ever Xicount, or series champion who was also an octochamp. He is also the first series winner to have previously appeared in an earlier series.
Interestingly, both Francis and the #1 seed, Helen Grayson, had previously appeared in the same series, Series 1.
Unable to play in Championship of Champions II due to a broken leg, he was invited back in 1987 for Championship of Champions III, where he defeated Steve Balment in the quarter-finals before narrowly succumbing to David Trace 58 – 55 in the semis. He also appeared on the special episode to celebrate Countdown's 500th show on 2 February 1987, and competed in the Countdown Masters in 1989.
Francis returned to Countdown in 1996 for the Supreme Championships where, after a first round win over Mike Percik, he was defeated by Allan Saldanha, who equalled the record for the highest score ever achieved in a 9 round game of Countdown.
He returned to the show again in 2013, as one of 41 contestants taking part in the 30th Birthday Championship; of these, he was the one who originally appeared on Countdown the earliest. After some practice on Apterous, he won his first match against Series 22 semi-finalist David Webb by a score of 86 – 68, then beat Series 21 champion Barry Grossman in the first round, before losing to Series 53 semi-finalist Jon O'Neill, despite scoring a personal best of 91.
Francis is also a Scrabble expert who has contributed to some books about the game, and has appeared on Turnabout and BrainTeaser. In 2017, he appeared on Eggheads with Series 67 champion and fellow quizzer Paul James.
Preceded by Peter Evans |
Series winner Series 6 |
Followed by Ian Bebbington |
Episodes
External Links
- Darryl Francis on Wikipedia
- Contestants with eight consecutive prelim conundrum solves
- Series winners
- Finalists
- Octochamps of the 9 round era
- Contestants in Series 1
- Contestants in Series 6
- Contestants in Series 33
- Contestants in 30th Birthday Championship
- Contestants in Championship of Champions III
- Contestants in Countdown Masters Series 1
- Contestants on other game shows
- Teapot owners