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Allan Saldanha

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Allan Saldanha during the Supreme Championship.
Allan Saldanha at the 1993 UK Scrabble Championship.

Allan Saldanha was an octochamp in and the runner-up of Series 15, as well as the runner-up of the Supreme Championship. He is one of the most well-known Countdown contestants of all time, and also among the greatest players to never win a series. He was deemed a prodigy after first appearing as a ten-year-old boy. Including his special episodes and Countdown Masters match, Saldanha has competed in 21 games of Countdown.

Appearances on the programme

Heat games

Upon his début appearance in 1988, Saldanha was a schoolboy from London aged just ten years old. In his first game against Bridgette Lagden, he quickly amassed a 19 point lead and ran out a comfortable winner, 57 – 28. The six-letter word TOGGLE gave opponent Billy Wright an early lead in Saldanha's second heat game, but the schoolboy regained the advantage in the very next round and won by 61 points to 26. Saldanha's third heat game was similarly dominant; he scored in 8 out of 9 rounds and won 57 – 26. He defeated Margaret Elliot by 65 points to 23, and won his fifth game against Antony Stafford with a total of 60 points – he had actually scored 66 but his offering of CLOAKS was erroneously not added to his cumulative total. In his next game, he played Katy Green and amassed 81 points out of a possible 84, including 18 for the nine BARITONES. Nick Wilkes forced Saldanha to his first crucial conundrum in his penultimate heat, but Saldanha unravelled GUNGIERHN in 2¾ seconds to take the match. A score of 54 – 40 against Danny Morris gave Saldanha an octochamp total of 490 points, and he qualified for the series finals as #1 seed.

Series finals

He briefly fell behind in his quarter-final against Paul Walker after his opponent spotted MOLEST. Saldanha regained the advantage with MOLARS in round 6 and GAITERS in round 7 and won 50 – 37. In his semi-final versus Peter Pryer, Saldanha gained an early lead with ANTIGEN but then had morales ☓ and prones ☓ disallowed in consecutive letters rounds. Pryer beat him to the conundrum LATINMANG, but overall he had been unable to capitalise on Saldanha's mistakes and it was the youngster who qualified for the series final against Dick Green.

The final proved to be one of the most controversial games in Countdown history. The six-letter word CONGAS gave Green the lead in round 2, before the eight-letter word STODGIER enabled Saldanha to take a slim lead in round 5. TIARA gave Green a slight advantage in round 8 which he retained until the penultimate letters game. Trailing by three points, Saldanha risked the word YOLKED, which was incorrectly disallowed by lexicographer Catherine Clarke. The game ended 70 – 81 to Green and, whilst Saldanha would still have lost the game had YOLKED it been allowed, it was felt that the wrongful dismissal of this word had had a psychological effect on the young man going into the conundrum behind rather than ahead of his opponent. Then-producer John Meade acknowledged the controversy and bought Saldanha a complete set of the Oxford English Dictionary, identical to the prize awarded to Green.

Special episodes

Saldanha returned to Countdown for two special episodes to celebrate the programme's longevity: he defeated fellow prodigy Tim Morrissey to celebrate the '1000th' episode, and beat Gareth Williams in the '1500th' episode. He played in a rematch of sorts against Morrissey in the Countdown Masters, winning 83 – 100 on the crucial conundrum ROYDANCES.

Championship of Champions IV

Saldanha played in Championship of Champions IV in January 1989, but was knocked out in the first round by Nita Marr. She had gained a 23 point advantage within the first three rounds, in part due to the nine-letter word ASPERSING, but Saldanha fought back to take the game to a crucial conundrum. Neither contestant solved it within the 30 seconds, and Marr won 45 – 53.

The Supreme Championship

In 1996, the then 18-year-old Saldanha made his final competitive appearance on Countdown in the Supreme Championship. Playing in Group E, he beat Michael Wareham comfortably with a final score of 20 – 69, before crushing Darryl Francis by 83 points to 24, equalling Steve Balment's record for the highest 9 round score. In the group final against David Trace, Saldanha had betime ☓ and misrating ☓ disallowed, but two perfect numbers solutions helped him to win 34 – 45.

In the series quarter-final, Saldanha achieved a perfect game against Joyce Cansfield. Only the conundrum prevented him from equalling this feat in his semi-final, played against Tim Morrissey in their third Countdown encounter. This victory gave Saldanha a place in the tournament final against Harvey Freeman, the champion of Series 10 and Championship of Champions III. Saldanha made a poor start, refusing himself CREOSOTED which allowed Freeman to take an 18 point lead after the first round. Saldanha narrowed the gap when Freeman had AMATIVE disallowed. The contestants scored evenly in the next four rounds, with neither solving the conundrum in round 7. Round 8 saw Freeman go even further in front with LUGHOLES, and after a seven each, Freeman beat Saldanha again on the numbers game. Thereafter, Saldanha spotted CONACRE, solved the final numbers game and unscrambled the conundrum PASTURERS to lose by just three points, having trailed by 30 earlier in the game.

Saldanha would also make a cameo appearance before his brother Richard Saldanha's special episode against Kate Ogilvie, recorded in 2002.

Away from Countdown

Despite not winning a series, Saldanha remains the youngest ever UK National Scrabble Champion to date, having won in 1993 at the age of 15.

He is currently working as an audit manager.

Preceded by
Joel Salkin
Series runner-up
Series 15
Followed by
Roger Wales


Preceded by
Dennis Fearon
Series runner-up
Series 33
Followed by
Harshan Lamabadusuriya

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
708 11/04/1988 P Allan Saldanha 57 – 28 Bridgette Lagden Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Clement Freud Julia Swannell 83
709 12/04/1988 P Allan Saldanha 61 – 26 Billy Wright Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Clement Freud Julia Swannell 73
710 13/04/1988 P Allan Saldanha 57 – 26 Alan Brooker Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Clement Freud Julia Swannell 73
711 14/04/1988 P Allan Saldanha 65 – 23 Margaret Elliot Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Clement Freud Julia Swannell 74
712 15/04/1988 P Allan Saldanha 60 – 24 Antony Stafford Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Clement Freud Julia Swannell 76
713 18/04/1988 P Allan Saldanha 81 – 15 Katy Green Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Clement Freud Julia Swannell 84
714 19/04/1988 P Allan Saldanha 55 – 45 Nick Wilkes Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Clement Freud Julia Swannell 69
715 20/04/1988 P Allan Saldanha 54 – 40 Danny Morris Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Clement Freud Julia Swannell 73
751 9/06/1988 QF Allan Saldanha 50 – 37 Paul Walker Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Gyles Brandreth Julia Swannell 74
755 15/06/1988 SF Allan Saldanha 42 – 38 Peter Pryer Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Gyles Brandreth Julia Swannell 74
757 17/06/1988 GF Allan Saldanha 70 – 81 Dick Green Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Richard Stilgoe,
Gyles Brandreth
Catherine Clarke 115
815 4/01/1989 CQF Allan Saldanha 45 – 53 Nita Marr Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Lucy Summers Tim Rice Catherine Clarke 84
M37 11/12/1989-15/12/1989 M Tim Morrissey 83 – 100 Allan Saldanha Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman none Freda Thornton 138
1003 2/07/1990 S Allan Saldanha 94 – 93 Tim Morrissey Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Gyles Brandreth,
Richard Stilgoe
Catherine Clarke 121
1523 4/07/1994 S Gareth Williams 62 – 99 Allan Saldanha Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Denis Norden Mark Nyman 129
1884 19/11/1996 eQF Michael Wareham 20 – 69 Allan Saldanha Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Barry Cryer Susie Dent 75
1886 21/11/1996 eSF Darryl Francis 24 – 83 Allan Saldanha Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Tom O'Connor Catherine Stokes 85
1887 22/11/1996 eF David Trace 34 – 45 Allan Saldanha Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Tom O'Connor Catherine Stokes 70
1903 16/12/1996 SQF Joyce Cansfield 50 – 67 Allan Saldanha Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Nigel Rees Catherine Clarke 67
1906 19/12/1996 SSF Allan Saldanha 61 – 57 Tim Morrissey Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Nigel Rees Catherine Clarke 71
1907 20/12/1996 SGF Allan Saldanha 79 – 82 Harvey Freeman Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Nigel Rees Catherine Clarke 127

See also

Richard Saldanha, Allan's younger brother who reached the final of Series 39.