Patrick Thompson

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Patrick Thompson
octochamp statistics
Final position Champion
Seeding 1
Points total 977
Conundrums solved 8
Patrick Thompson, 11 years after his first appearance...
..And now holding the Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy after winning Series 93.

Patrick Thompson was a contestant in Series 72, and an octochamp in and the champion of Series 93 from North Marston, Buckinghamshire. He is also an Apterite who is well-established in the Top 10 in the Pro Ranks, a former film extra, competitive amateur snooker player and keen quizzer in his spare time.

Appearances

Series 72

The then father of one originally appeared in 2015 against James Judge, who by coincidence would also eventually return in Series 93. In a relatively low-key debut, Thompson took the lead early on. But unfortunately after Judge spotted INTERVALS and UNSEATED followed by an easy final numbers round, Thompson then officially fell at the first hurdle.

Series 93

Heat Games

Virtually 11 years later, as now a father of three, and with considerably more time spent practicing on Apterous, he returned and kicked off with a very impressive 14-max game (he would eventually achieve this stat a further two times in his octorun) against fellow Apterite Tom Bashford. His debut score of 115 was the best in the series to date, which also gave him the teapot that he missed out on in his first appearance. He then followed that up with seven further brilliant performances which were also all centuries, and what were ultimately part of one of the greatest octoruns ever seen on Countdown; right-up there with the likes of Jen Steadman, Dylan Taylor, Elliott Mellor and Ronan Higginson.

Of particular note, he spotted five of the six nine-letter-words available during his run: RETOOLING, INSTALLED, PALATINES, REMEDIATE and DEROGATES with only the very obscure FOREWINGS eluding him. Some other notable letters spots included PENSIONE, ECHELON, MONDIAL, PINETUM, BANDITO, BOHEMIAN, ISOTHERM and AMORETTO. His numbers ability as well, specifically his four-large heroics was also extremely strong despite some occasional misfires as perhaps one minor chink in his armour. After seeing off a very creditable effort from Simon Randall (one of many strong competitors during his octorun), he certified his membership of the 900 club with a final total of 977 (the sixth-highest total ever recorded) to soar past Luke Selway and take the No. 1 seed with just over five weeks of heat games left to be broadcast.

Further noteworthy parts of Thompson's run include his matching of Dylan Taylor's stat for rounds maxed in an octorun with 101 out of 120, behind only Elliott Mellor. He also scored a phenomenal 92.7% of available points in his octorun (977 out of 1,054); one of the highest ever conversion rates recorded on Countdown. He also became only the fourteenth person ever to have solved all eight conundrums in their preliminary games, which saw him smash Tom Carey's 10-plus year record for the fastest time to solve them; he accomplished it in 12.5 seconds which was over 5 seconds faster than Maus's former record. Colin Murray then christened him "The Gazelle" as a final mark of his fantastic achievements to date.

Finals

"The Gazelle" was ultimately not dethroned as the Number 1 seed, which six weeks later led to a quarter-final matchup, and rematch against Tom Bashford. Thompson, despite dropping a letters round when Tom spotted the darrenic BUNIONS in round five, showed he had lost absolutely none of his edge, and would eventually max 13 rounds thanks to spots like IMPLANTS, GRAPPLED and TOMATO, as well as more good four-large numbers work. Topped off with the speedy spotting of the conundrum CHRYSALIS, which was his ninth in a row, he thus scored his ninth century and marched on the semi-finals.

His fellow semi-finallist Ian Kinsella proved to be no walkover, and after the first six rounds they were evenly matched. But then Patrick spotted REPUTABLE for nine, and then cracked a trademark four-large numbers round to establish a hefty 28-point-lead. After both of them spotted OUTLINERS in Round 10, Ian did nick some points post Origins of Words, after Thompson's gamble on ☓ notorni backfired. Patrick though then spotted EGOSURF in the final letters round, to officially confirm his victory. After an easy final numbers round, with Thompson also spotting the very difficult conundrum NEUROBICS for his tenth in a row, he progressed to Friday's Grand Final.

That match turned out to be one for the history books, as quite possibly the greatest game ever played in the 15-round format. Both Thompson and Harrison actually maxed out the first eight rounds, which also included the nine-letter-words of OPERATING and SECTIONED, to make the scores already 87-87 before the third numbers round. But, "The Gazelle" took a crucial break when he cracked yet another four-large selection, whereas Harrison was just one away to give Patrick a 10-point-lead. No further maxes were dropped after that, resulting in the very crucial conundrum ECCAUTHOR.

Thompson though very quickly buzzed in with CARTOUCHE, which was right for his eleventh on the spin. Not only had Thompson achieved the highest score of the series with 147, he also snatched the series crown, and had scored a max game for the first time in any series final. It also left Thompson with a fantastic Xicount total of 1,380 (the third-highest of all time, and the highest of anyone who didn't break the 1,000 barrier in their octorun) to add to the 81 he scored in his Series 72 game. Rachel Riley then presented Patrick the very much well deserved Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy, with the final act of the series being Thompson's dedication of the victory to his late brother-in-law James.

Preceded by
Jase Cullen		 Series winner
Series 93

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
6147 29/05/2015 P Patrick Thompson 81 – 99 James Judge Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Gloria Hunniford Susie Dent 134
8756 29/04/2026 P Tom Bashford 80 – 115 Patrick Thompson Colin Murray Rachel Riley Kate Bottley Susie Dent 122
8757 30/04/2026 P Patrick Thompson 105 – 68 Gavin Kitchingham Colin Murray Rachel Riley Kate Bottley Susie Dent 123
8758 01/05/2026 P Patrick Thompson 124 – 41 Jack Bradley Colin Murray Rachel Riley Kate Bottley Susie Dent 135
8759 04/05/2026 P Patrick Thompson 129 – 40 Helen Humby Colin Murray Rachel Riley Nina Wadia Susie Dent 146
8760 05/05/2026 P Patrick Thompson 124 – 67 Scott Babb Colin Murray Rachel Riley Nina Wadia Susie Dent 135
8761 06/05/2026 P Patrick Thompson 118 – 66 Simon Pitfield Colin Murray Rachel Riley Nina Wadia Susie Dent 126
8762 07/05/2026 P Patrick Thompson 142 – 58 Danny Heery Colin Murray Rachel Riley Nina Wadia Susie Dent 143
8763 08/05/2026 P Patrick Thompson 120 – 82 Simon Randall Colin Murray Rachel Riley Nina Wadia Susie Dent 124
8792 18/06/2026 QF Patrick Thompson 118 – 64 Tom Bashford Colin Murray Rachel Riley Charlene White Susie Dent 128
8796 24/06/2026 SF Patrick Thompson 138 – 99 Ian Kinsella Colin Murray Rachel Riley Oti Mabuse Susie Dent 145
8798 26/06/2026 GF Patrick Thompson 147 – 127 Charlie Harrison Colin Murray Rachel Riley Oti Mabuse Susie Dent 147

External Links

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