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Jack Hurst
- See also : Josh Hurst
Jack Hurst was an octochamp and the champion of Series 63. He is currently participating in Series 68.
Hurst made his debut on 13 October 2010 and established himself as a Countdown legend from the get-go, getting a nine-letter word in the first round of his career and solving his first conundrum in 0.1 seconds, not the only time he would achieve this. He convincingly won all 8 of his preliminary matches, achieving a high score of 133 (one of the highest ever) as well as a low of 110. In addition, he found niners in all but two of his heats.
When the dust settled, Hurst had accrued 946 points, more than twice the total of all his opponents combined and the highest total for any octochamp in the history of the show, beating the previous record set by Andrew Hulme in Series 61. Hurst was also one of very few players in history to score centuries in all eight of his heat games, and the only player to score above 110 in all eight heat games. However, Hurst had appeared only a few weeks after the previous player to achieve eight centuries, Eoin Monaghan, and it was no coincidence that these two contestants would play each other in the grand final. Nonetheless, he was still #1 seed by nearly 50 points, and easily saw off Peter Godwin when he returned for the quarter-finals.
However, feeling confident after his quarter-final, he was brought up against Marcus Hares, and Hares was no pushover. It took the impressive word NARIYALS, a mistake from Hares when he declared UNTITLED as a 7, and a truly amazing numbers game from Hurst, reminiscent of that of James Martin, before the game was settled.
The grand final against Eoin Monaghan was a close game, with Hurst only beating Monaghan in one letters and one numbers round, but it was enough to duck out of a crucial conundrum, and he finished off with a flourish by solving SMARTIACE in 0.25 seconds, the fastest ever conundrum spot in a final (beating even Jeffrey Hansford). Hurst racked up a total of 1,276 points, scored at least 108 in every game he played (averaging 116), and remains undefeated to this day.
He returned to Countdown in 2013, as one of 41 contestants taking part in the 30th Birthday Championship. He won his first match against Series 65 semi-finalist Mark Deeks by a score of 108 – 103. He then beat the Series 28 runner-up Wayne Kelly, scoring 143 points in the process, the 2nd highest score in the history of the show. He then defeated the Series 47 champion Chris Wills in round 2, setting up a quarter-final with either David O'Donnell or Chris Davies.
Before appearing on the show, Hurst attended the unofficial Countdown tournaments COLIN 2010, CoLei Summer Special and was due to appear at CoLei3, which was happening during the time his shows were broadcast but pulled out with a few days to go. He then made up for this by attending COLIN 2011 and CoNot 2011, as well as winning CoLei4.
Preceded by Oliver Garner |
Series winner Series 63 |
Followed by Edward McCullagh |
Episodes
# | Date | Type | Contestant 1 | Score | Contestant 2 | Presenters | Guest | Lex | Max | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
5131 | 13/10/2010 | P | Andrew Greenway | 66 – 114 | Jack Hurst | Jeff Stelling | Rachel Riley | David Lloyd | Susie Dent | 124 | ||
5132 | 14/10/2010 | P | Jack Hurst | 120 – 57 | Ailsa Jensen | Jeff Stelling | Rachel Riley | David Lloyd | Susie Dent | 136 | ||
5133 | 15/10/2010 | P | Jack Hurst | 112 – 46 | David Smith | Jeff Stelling | Rachel Riley | David Lloyd | Susie Dent | 115 | ||
5134 | 18/10/2010 | P | Jack Hurst | 122 – 44 | Charlie Clarke | Jeff Stelling | Rachel Riley | Alistair McGowan | Susie Dent | 141 | ||
5135 | 19/10/2010 | P | Jack Hurst | 120 – 56 | Phil Bishop | Jeff Stelling | Rachel Riley | Alistair McGowan | Susie Dent | 131 | ||
5136 | 20/10/2010 | P | Jack Hurst | 115 – 29 | Joseph Bartram | Jeff Stelling | Rachel Riley | Alistair McGowan | Susie Dent | 119 | ||
5137 | 21/10/2010 | P | Jack Hurst | 133 – 65 | Alex Curran | Jeff Stelling | Rachel Riley | Alistair McGowan | Susie Dent | 134 | ||
5138 | 22/10/2010 | P | Jack Hurst | 110 – 49 | Jonathan Welti | Jeff Stelling | Rachel Riley | Alistair McGowan | Susie Dent | 131 | ||
5172 | 9/12/2010 | QF | Jack Hurst | 108 – 40 | Peter Godwin | Jeff Stelling | Rachel Riley | Amanda Lamb | Susie Dent | 114 | ||
5176 | 15/12/2010 | SF | Marcus Hares | 80 – 109 | Jack Hurst | Jeff Stelling | Rachel Riley | Paul Zenon | Susie Dent | 118 | ||
5178 | 17/12/2010 | GF | Jack Hurst | 113 – 85 | Eoin Monaghan | Jeff Stelling | Rachel Riley | Paul Zenon | Susie Dent | 114 | ||
5617 | 9/01/2013 | 30BP | Mark Deeks | 103 – 108 | Jack Hurst | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Dave Myers | Susie Dent | 120 | ||
5636 | 5/02/2013 | 30B1 | Wayne Kelly | 89 – 143 | Jack Hurst | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Kate Adie | Susie Dent | 152 | ||
5643 | 14/02/2013 | 30B2 | Chris Wills | 70 – 115 | Jack Hurst | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Ken Bruce | Susie Dent | 119 |
External Links
- Maths genius, 18, smashes highest ever score on TV's Countdown (that's 946 in eight programmes), The Daily Mail, 25 October, 2010
- Teen genius Jack Hurst smashes Countdown points record, Metro, 25 October, 2010
- DTCEIASHF?… Then you're not welcome on Countdown, The Guardian, 4 November 2010
- Countdown contestant Jack Hurst suggests s**tface in letters round, Metro, 4 November 2010
- Could you make an eight-letter word out of F I D E T C A S H?, The Independent, 5 November 2010