Due to persistent vandalism, account creation has been suspended. If you would like an account, please contact Charlie Reams on Apterous.

Ahmed Mohamed

From Countdown
Revision as of 01:17, 22 January 2023 by GTh (talk | contribs) (Championship of Champions XVI)
Ahmed Mohamed
Octochamp Statistics
Final positionChampion
Seeding1
Points total927
Conundrums solved7
Ahmed Mohamed in Series 84.

Ahmed Mohamed was an octochamp in and the champion of Series 84, and the champion of the Championship of Champions XVI. He was a Sports Steward (in between jobs) from North London. He is also a long-time Apterite, who was previously on Apterous under the pseudonym James Nguyen. He is also one of the most talented contestants to appear on the show, due to his brilliant word knowledge, lightning-speed conundrum spots, and unshakeable demeanour under pressure.

On-screen

Heat games

Mohamed made his debut on 29 September 2021, winning a score of 111 against four-time winner Daaniyal Ali. Mohamed went on to run off with seven more wins, all with scores above 100 including a top score of 138, although he survived a crucial conundrum against Co:Man2020 attendee Richard Williams in his sixth match. In three of his matches, he solved the conundrum in under a second. Along the way, he attained 927 points – the highest total which has involved at least one crucial conundrum – to place first in the seed table. He is also the 25th member of the 900 club.

Clips of his eighth game featured on Celebrity Gogglebox on 15 October 2021.

Finals

Mohamed returned for the first quarter-final on 15 December against five-game winner Janet Noe, where three nines helped him finish with a personal best of 143 points, although an unsolved and difficult conundrum denied him the chance to break Elliott Mellor's record of 152 points by just one point. Mohamed then played against Jeremy Slaney in the semi-final, picking out both available nine-letter words to eke out a commanding lead early on; although Slaney went on to beat him in two games during the third "half", Mohamed maintained his lead and finished by unraveling the conundrum COLICPITA to OCCIPITAL with half a second to spare, scoring 118 points and booking a grand final berth, where he faced Florence Cappleman-Lynes.

In the final, he took an early lead, but Florence made a comeback by beating him in the third numbers round. Mohamed though confirmed his win in the last letters round with PAGUROID and solved the conundrum by unscrambling IPAARTIED to TEPIDARIA in under two seconds to deny Florence a 100% record on them. He thus won the Grand Final with 114 points out of 125 and amassed an overall total across his 11 games of 1,302 points. He was not filmed lifting the Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy.

Championship of Champions XVI

Mohamed returned to the programme in January 2023 for Championship of Champions XVI where his first opponent was Edward Byrne. A scintillating performance with spots like VANITASES, GEEGAWS and MABATI meant Ahmed raced through to the quarter-finals, secured his twelfth century and his joint-third highest score, although Byrne did solve the conundrum as a consolation.

Luke Johnson-Davies lay in waiting for a hotly anticipated quarter-final matchup, and both players got off to a flier with consecutive 9-letter words. But then Ahmed put his foot on the accelerator, beating Luke in two numbers rounds and by maxing every letters game with the beaters being AMBREINE and JUDOIST. The only time he didn't score was in a dead-rubber last numbers game which Luke solved, and Mohamed capped off his victory by spotting NICOTIANA from OATNIACIN to secure progression to a semi-final against fellow unbeaten player Dan Byrom.

In the semi-final, Dan and Ahmed scored in all of the first 14 rounds, which was only the second time it had ever happened in the 15-round format. In addition, every round except Round 10 was maxed, with the darrenic ANTERNES eluding both players. But Mohamed ultimately came out on top by turning ALLPOTPIE into POPLITEAL in under 2 seconds, securing progression to the grand final against James Haughton after one of, if not the greatest ever 15-round game.

In the grand-final, Ahmed was presented with his toughest challenge, as despite taking an early lead through WANDERER, Haughton created his own big advantage thanks to BRAVURA, ABATISED and an excellent as-close-as solution to an impossible 4L numbers game. Mohamed though dug deep by spotting the brilliant MAGILUS to put himself back into shooting range, and ultimately the match went into a championship-clinching crucial conundrum. Ahmed buzzed in first with PULSATILE, which was right, meaning that despite scoring his lowest total to date, he remained unbeaten with a Grand Slam, claimed the CoC title, and certified himself as one of the most successful Countdowners to appear on screen. His final points total was 1775, which equated to roughly 118.3 per game.

Off-screen

Mohamed appeared on ZoomDown Series 4 shortly after his heats were broadcast, but withdrew for personal reasons after winning one game with 117 points. He partook in the Tiny Tots Tournament and the Apterous Masters 2011 tourneys.

Preceded by
Adam Latchford
Series winner
Series 84
Followed by
Dan Byrom
Preceded by
Zarte Siempre
Champion of Champions
Championship of Champions XVI

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
7605 29/09/2021 P Daaniyal Ali 51 – 111 Ahmed Mohamed Anne Robinson Rachel Riley Stanley Johnson Susie Dent 126
7606 30/09/2021 P Ahmed Mohamed 121 – 27 Tom Lennon Anne Robinson Rachel Riley Stanley Johnson Susie Dent 123
7607 01/10/2021 P Ahmed Mohamed 107 – 27 Mags Kelly Anne Robinson Rachel Riley Stanley Johnson Susie Dent 123
7608 04/10/2021 P Ahmed Mohamed 138 – 52 Colin Wright Anne Robinson Rachel Riley Dr Phil Hammond Susie Dent 144
7609 05/10/2021 P Ahmed Mohamed 116 – 33 Francis Maher Anne Robinson Rachel Riley Dr Phil Hammond Susie Dent 125
7610 06/10/2021 P Ahmed Mohamed 106 – 87 Richard Williams Anne Robinson Rachel Riley Dr Phil Hammond Susie Dent 121
7611 07/10/2021 P Ahmed Mohamed 116 – 47 Hugh Smithson-Wright Anne Robinson Rachel Riley Dr Phil Hammond Susie Dent 132
7612 08/10/2021 P Ahmed Mohamed 112 – 66 Kerry Holden Anne Robinson Rachel Riley Dr Phil Hammond Susie Dent 123
7660 15/12/2021 QF Ahmed Mohamed 143 – 59 Janet Noe Anne Robinson Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon Adrian Chiles 154
7664 21/12/2021 SF Ahmed Mohamed 118 – 65 Jeremy Slaney Anne Robinson Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon Richard Coles Susie Dent 145
7666 23/12/2021 GF Ahmed Mohamed 114 – 77 Florence Cappleman-Lynes Anne Robinson Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon Richard Coles Susie Dent 125
7924 04/01/2023 CP Ahmed Mohamed 121 – 76 Edward Byrne Colin Murray Rachel Riley Richard Osman Susie Dent 142
7932 16/01/2023 CQF Ahmed Mohamed 132 – 100 Luke Johnson-Davies Colin Murray Rachel Riley Rick Edwards Susie Dent 145
7935 19/01/2023 CSF Dan Byrom 111 – 121 Ahmed Mohamed Colin Murray Rachel Riley Rick Edwards Susie Dent 122
7936 20/01/2023 CGF James Haughton 96 – 99 Ahmed Mohamed Colin Murray Rachel Riley Rick Edwards Susie Dent 124


Championship of Champions Winners

I : Mark Nyman | II : Clive Freedman | III : Harvey Freeman | IV : Nic Brown | V : Tim Morrissey | VI : Wayne Summers | VII : Don Reid | VIII : Chris Rogers | IX : Natascha Kearsey | X : Scott Mearns | XI : Graham Nash | XII : Paul Gallen | XIII : Steve Briers | XIV : Dylan Taylor | XV : Zarte Siempre | XVI : Ahmed Mohamed