Championship of Champions X

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A new opening title sequence and logo was introduced in the first game of this championship.

Championship of Champions X.

Richard Whiteley and Carol Vorderman close the Championship by wishing viewers a "Happy Millennium".

Championship of Champions X ran from 27 to 31 December 1999, and was won by Scott Mearns. It was the first series to be broadcast in 16:9 aspect ratio. With Countdown's commission being extended to year-round in mid-1996, this Championship of Champions came nearly 500 episodes after the previous edition, thus making this the longest gap between CoCs until this point in terms of episodes. However, it maintained the tradition of being played once every four series, which would be broken after this edition.

Richard Whiteley referred to the contestants selected as the "super six" - the four winners of Series 38 through to Series 41, as well as the two highest scorers through those four series: John Ashmore from Series 38, Kate Ogilvie and Terry Knowles from Series 39, Terence English from Series 40, and Scott Mearns and Simon Cooper from Series 41. Because the tournament was a lot shorter than normal, only lasting 5 games, Ogilvie and Mearns, the only unbeaten players, were given byes into the semi-finals, and seedings were therefore in force.

In the first quarter-final between Simon Cooper and Terence English, English took an early lead with VIRULENT, before Cooper struck back by getting seven points off a difficult numbers game. English held a steady one-point lead until round seven, when he spotted MUTATION, stretching his lead to nine points. Both contestants failed to achieve the final numbers game, meaning the conundrum was still crucial, but English unravelled FINESTYIN within two seconds to win by a bigger margin than the game might suggest. The second quarter-final was even more exciting, between Terry Knowles and John Ashmore. In round one, Knowles had WORSTED, whilst Ashmore attempted to stick an A into Knowles's world, but worstead ☓ was disallowed. Ashmore reduced the deficit by five points on the first numbers game, before taking the lead in round five as Knowles spotted a phantom O. The gap did not change throughout the next two letters rounds, before Knowles spotted the final numbers game to hold a six-point lead going into a crucial conundrum. Neither player was able to spot HARRYRIDE, leaving Knowles to advance into the semi-finals.

English played Ogilvie in the first semi-final, which was the first between two champions in the tournament. Ogilvie pulled out an eight-point lead in round one, immediately countered by English in round two before taking the lead in round three as English spotted ACTIVE whilst Ogilvie could only find FACET. Ogilvie, however, hit 977 on the following numbers game, whilst English could only muster 978, handing the lead back to Ogilvie. Thereafter, the game spiralled downwards for English: the gap was increased to 11 points in round five, and English tried a "desperate" gamble with lousey ☓ in round seven, increasing the deficit to 17 points. Both contestants spotted the following numbers game, and Ogilvie also spotted the conundrum, to guarantee herself a place in the final. Mearns dominated the other semi-final, between himself and Knowles. Three eight-letter words to start with plus a perfect numbers game gave Mearns a commanding 16-point lead at the break. Mearns and Knowles matched each other through the second half, before Mearns was able to spot LAMCURRIE in just under three seconds to book his place in the final. Mearns only dropped four points from a max game: he dropped one point in round five and missed the last numbers game.

It was to prove coincidental that the two players who received byes would play each other in the final. Mearns and Ogilvie both started the 14-round game with two sixes in the first two rounds, before Mearns spotted 548 in the first numbers game whilst Ogilvie only saw 547. Mearns then spotted TOMBOLA in round five and got one away on a difficult six small numbers game in round six, and then buzzed in on one second on the first conundrum, MUDHUTLOO, with "it's not me, but LOUDMOUTH", giving Mearns a hefty 34-point lead at the halfway stage. Ogilvie attempted a comeback by spotting SPEAKING in round eight, and Ogilvie's chances were increased when Mearns had the nine distorter ☓ disallowed the following round. With the deficit reduced to 19 points, Mearns added another seven points onto his lead on another difficult six small numbers game, before a poor letters selection in round eleven and a comparatively easy one in round twelve gave Mearns an unassailable lead. The final numbers game was straightforward, but neither contestant was able to spot UGREATONE, leaving Mearns to run out the winner by 82 points to 56.

Seed table

Rank	Name	Wins	Points
1	Scott Mearns	11	718
2	Kate Ogilvie	11	613
3	Terence English	9	594
4	John Ashmore	7	476
5	Terry Knowles	9	608
6	Simon Cooper	10	676

Xicounts were given a bye, then followed the two champions, and then the two "wildcards" were possibly (although never confirmed) sorted by average 9-round score, with Knowles's average in 9-rounders 60.8 and Cooper's 60.3.

Progress

Kate Ogilvie (39)	Kate Ogilvie vs Terence English	Kate Ogilvie vs Scott Mearns
Simon Cooper (41) vs Terence English (40)
Terry Knowles (39) vs John Ashmore (38)	Terry Knowles vs Scott Mearns
Scott Mearns (41)

The winner of each game is displayed in bold.
The numbers refer to the series in which each contestant originally played in the finals.

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
2674	27/12/1999	CQF	Simon Cooper	39 – 58	Terence English	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nigel Rees	Mark Nyman	83
2675	28/12/1999	CQF	Terry Knowles	43 – 37	John Ashmore	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nigel Rees	Mark Nyman	72
2676	29/12/1999	CSF	Kate Ogilvie	57 – 30	Terence English	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nigel Rees	Mark Nyman	85
2677	30/12/1999	CSF	Scott Mearns	72 – 46	Terry Knowles	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nigel Rees	Mark Nyman	76
2678	31/12/1999	CGF	Scott Mearns	82 – 56	Kate Ogilvie	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nigel Rees	Mark Nyman	128

External link

• Championship of Champions X on The Countdown Database.
• Championship of Champions X on The Countdown Page.