Clive Spate

Clive Spate.

Clive Spate was a contestant in series 8. He first appeared on 30 January 1986, defeating Malcolm Edwards 66-28 and went on to win five more games, all with scores over 50 points. hw was defeated in his seventh game, though, by David Learner 54-46. Clive's six wins and impressive points haul were enough to earn him an invitation back for the final rounds as #1 seed, where he made short work of Tony Clarke and Y.T. in the quarter- and semi-finals respectively. In the final against Anthony Butcher, it seemed to be slipping away from Clive as he had EARHOLES disallowed and slipping behind by eighteen points. By the first commercial break, however, he had recovered to a 2 point lead, and after successfully risking the now-invalid word DOMINATER for eighteen points, Clive eventually ran out the winner of the match and the series by 107 points to 53- the first century score ever achieved on Countdown.

Surprisingly, Clive was the first player to win a series of Countdown after being seeded #1.

Clive returned for Championship of Champions II, narrowly losing to Peter Evans in his first game. Clive also played in the Supreme Championship, soundly beating David Reid in his first game before losing by three points to Jackie Mcleod in his second and final game.

Away from Countdown, Clive has had numerous success on other TV game shows, reaching the final of Fifteen-to-One and winning £125 000 on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? as well as winning £50 000 on the first (and, to date, only) series of the Carol Vorderman-fronted show Grand Slam. Clive is also a big name on the Scrabble scene, being a recognised UK Grand Master as well as organising the popular twice-yearly nottingham Nomads tournament.

Preceded by Ian Bebbington

Series winner Series 8

Followed by David Trace