Matt O'Connor

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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 Jon Culshaw Susie Dent 117
5289 20/06/2011 P Matt Croy 96 – 45 Pete Snowdon Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Tim Vine Susie Dent 119
5290 21/06/2011 P Matt Croy 100 – 53 Mark Worsfold Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Tim Vine Susie Dent 119
5291 22/06/2011 P Matt Croy 95 – 86 Chris Hemingway Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Tim Vine Susie Dent 129
5292 23/06/2011 P Matt Croy 71 – 45 Kevan Nijjar Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Tim Vine Susie Dent 118
5293 24/06/2011 P Matt Croy 90 – 91 Andrew Halliburton Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley 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 Giles Coren Susie Dent 144
7742 18/04/2022 P Matt O'Connor 130 – 6 Charlie Edwards Anne Robinson Rachel Riley Sophie Ellis-Bextor Susie Dent 133
7743 19/04/2022 P Matt O'Connor 118 – 20 Tom Parkin-Coates Anne Robinson Rachel Riley Sophie Ellis-Bextor Susie Dent 136
7744 20/04/2022 P Matt O'Connor 120 – 6 Anna Chandra Anne Robinson Rachel Riley Sophie Ellis-Bextor Susie Dent 125
7745 21/04/2022 P Matt O'Connor 123 – 74 Stewart Cairns Anne Robinson Rachel Riley Sophie Ellis-Bextor Susie Dent 137
7746 22/04/2022 P Matt O'Connor 102 – 53 Paul Merison Anne Robinson Rachel Riley Sophie Ellis-Bextor Susie Dent 142
7747 25/04/2022 P Matt O'Connor 139 – 34 James Campbell Anne Robinson Rachel Riley Justin Webb Susie Dent 144
7748 26/04/2022 P Matt O'Connor 104 – 78 Liam Moss Anne Robinson Rachel Riley Justin Webb Susie Dent 145
7781 10/06/2022 QF Matt O'Connor 106 – 58 Dan Hall Anne Robinson Rachel Riley Jay Rayner 125
7785 16/06/2022 SF Matt O'Connor 117 – 77 Steve Hyde Anne Robinson Rachel Riley Robert Rinder 122
7786 17/06/2022 GF Dan Byrom 81 – 78 Matt O'Connor Anne Robinson Rachel Riley Robert Rinder 136
7929 11/01/2023 CP Matt O'Connor 78 – 101 Sam Cappleman-Lynes Colin Murray Rachel Riley Heather Small Susie Dent 124
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