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Cillian McMulkin
Cillian McMulkin octochamp statistics | |
---|---|
Final position | TBC |
Seeding | 2 |
Points total | 944 |
Conundrums solved | 7 |
Cillian McMulkin was a contestant in Series 65 and an octochamp in Series 87. He is a Risk Analyst, originally from Belfast but now of Omagh, County Tyrone. He has been an Apterite since 2009, achieving a top 20 position in the Apterous pro rank leaderboard.
Appearances on the programme
Series 65
Debuting midway through Jeff Stelling's last series, McMulkin fell 14 points short of victory to eventual octochamp Dave Taylor, but did have the last word by solving the conundrum.
Series 87
However, just under 11 and a half years later and with years of practice on Apterous now under his belt, he was allowed to return; this time starting his run against seven-time winner Peter Burke in an all-Ireland affair. McMulkin would not be beaten this time, winning 66 – 107 to deny Burke's octochampdom and kick off with a century. He followed this with seven more sensational performances, which were also all centuries.
Of particular note, in his fifth victory, McMulkin equalled the current record for the highest-ever score of 154, sharing it with Tom Stevenson; spots of CARBONITE, MOLESTING and MALIGNERS helped to rack up that score, with only the word GUNMETAL eluding him to deny a max game. His seventh game also tied for the highest possible score ever recorded in a game of Countdown, matching the 175 of Episode 6745 and Episode 7341, with Cillian spotting SENHORITA and SUBALPINE as two of the five available 9-letter word selections in that heat.
After his last game, which saw him spot a seventh nine SIGNATURE and drop only one point for the second time in his heats, Cillian secured octochampdom with a total of 944 points to become the first one of the series and of 2023; this also made him the 30th member of the 900 Club. McMulkin qualified to return for the series finals in June and notably remained the only octochamp of the series until late May, when Ronan Higginson became the 2nd, which itself was a 13-year record low.
Finals
Qualifying for the finals as the second seed, McMulkin returned for a Quarter-Final against fellow [[Apterous|Apterite}} Dave Cappleman, where he got off to an instant flier by spotting RANTOONES for 9 in R1 to take an 18-point lead. Despite Cappleman clawing his way back after a misfire of scampie ☓ from Cillian, and an excellent spot of GOODLIER, McMulkin eventually put his foot back on the gas, with EUCRITES in R13 confirming his victory and advancement to the semi-finals, despite neither player being able to solve the conundrum.
Episodes
# | Date | Type | Contestant 1 | Score | Contestant 2 | Presenters | Guest | Lex | Max | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
5321 | 31/08/2011 | P | Dave Taylor | 99 – 85 | Cillian McMulkin | Jeff Stelling | Rachel Riley | John Inverdale | Susie Dent | 143 | ||
7939 | 25/01/2023 | P | Peter Burke | 66 – 107 | Cillian McMulkin | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Stephen K. Amos | Susie Dent | 134 | ||
7940 | 26/01/2023 | P | Cillian McMulkin | 109 – 51 | Cheryl Perkins | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Stephen K. Amos | Susie Dent | 130 | ||
7941 | 27/01/2023 | P | Cillian McMulkin | 124 – 43 | Amy Perryman | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Stephen K. Amos | Susie Dent | 135 | ||
7942 | 30/01/2023 | P | Cillian McMulkin | 101 – 61 | Toby Rogers | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Justin Moorhouse | Susie Dent | 121 | ||
7943 | 31/01/2023 | P | Cillian McMulkin | 154 – 69 | Chris Davies | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Justin Moorhouse | Susie Dent | 155 | ||
7944 | 01/02/2023 | P | Cillian McMulkin | 112 – 45 | Jon Sluckis | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Justin Moorhouse | Susie Dent | 124 | ||
7945 | 02/02/2023 | P | Cillian McMulkin | 116 – 33 | Ron Squire | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Justin Moorhouse | Susie Dent | 175 | ||
7946 | 03/02/2023 | P | Cillian McMulkin | 121 – 35 | Alison Adams | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Justin Moorhouse | Susie Dent | 122 | ||
8045 | 22/06/2023 | P | Cillian McMulkin | 109 – 81 | Dave Cappleman | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Marcus Brigstocke | Susie Dent | 137 |