Darren Shacklady

Darren Shacklady first appeared in series 29, beating Tony David 69-38 on his debut on 18 February 1995. Darren went on to win four more games before losing to Tim Dickinson 63-52, but his scores- he averaged almost 65 points a game, which if he had completed his octochamp run, would've have put him on a par with Harvey Freeman- saw him return for the finals as #3 seed. darren beat Barry Hughes and Andy Cusworth on his way to the final against Chris Rogers. Darren dominated the final, winning 105-63 to become the 29th champion of Countdown. darren returned in 1996 for Championship of Champions VIII, beating Satbir Gupta before losing to kenneth Michie in the semi-finals.

Preceded by Damian Eadie

Series winner Series 29

Followed by Verity Joubert