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Craig Beevers

From Countdown
Revision as of 21:07, 12 December 2008 by Mglovesfun (talk | contribs)
Craig Beevers playing Scrabble.

Craig Beevers is the champion of Series 57. He is only the second contestant to score centuries in all eight heat games, and also the second to score over 900 points. He scored three further centuries in his three appearances in the finals. He is known for his composed demeanour and incredible consistency, especially in the letters rounds.

Beevers' appearances began with a crushing victory over Baz Hunt, including impressive finds like TOEHOLD and EXTREMA. He continued to a seven further victories in an octochamp run that never looked in doubt, with further flourishes like ICEBOATS, TANDOORI, DOPAMINE and RUMINATED and a top score of 128. Solid performances on the numbers and seven solved conundrums saw Beevers' cruise to eight centuries and approach Julian Fell's long-standing points record of 924. However an unfortunate shortage of available nines left a maximum total of 985, one of the lowest ever, and Beevers did well to make 907 -- percentage wise, the best octochamp run on record.

Inevitably, Beevers returned for finals as top seed, beating Mikey Lear and fellow octochamp David Edwards without ever looking under serious pressure. The final, against Jeffrey Hansford, was a closer game -- AMMONITE and SNIFTER handed Beevers a 15-point advantage going into the first break, and maximums in the next eight rounds left him with an unassailable lead of 23 with two to play. Hansford declared nothing on the final numbers game, but adopted his favoured tactic for the conundrum, buzzing as soon as RULEAGAIN was revealed and answering correctly to leave a final score of 105-82. Beevers had dropped just thirteen points in the whole game, taking his all-games total to 1236 -- still some way short of Julian Fell's 1307.

Beevers opted out of Championship of Champions XIII, just as fellow Scrabble Grandmaster Stewart Holden had done for the previous Championship of Champions event.

Away from Countdown, Craig is a member of the Association of British Scrabble Players, and has been the Cleveland club Scrabble champion on three occasions. In the preamble chat with Des O'Connor, he stated his intention to be a future World Scrabble champion.

Preceded by
Nick Wainwright
Series winner
Series 57
Followed by
David O'Donnell

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
4465 23/10/2007 P Baz Hunt 48 – 108 Craig Beevers Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Barry Norman Susie Dent
4466 24/10/2007 P Craig Beevers 109 – 24 Thomas Baldwin Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Barry Norman Susie Dent
4467 25/10/2007 P Craig Beevers 103 – 33 Chris Bibby Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Barry Norman Susie Dent
4468 26/10/2007 P Craig Beevers 128 – 36 Peter Watts Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Barry Norman Susie Dent
4469 29/10/2007 P Craig Beevers 104 – 70 Martin Larter Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Paul Zenon Susie Dent
4470 30/10/2007 P Craig Beevers 118 – 71 Stuart Hamilton Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Paul Zenon Susie Dent
4471 31/10/2007 P Craig Beevers 120 – 57 Allan Millington Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Paul Zenon Susie Dent
4472 1/11/2007 P Craig Beevers 117 – 40 Shemina Kirby Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Paul Zenon Susie Dent
4502 13/12/2007 QF Mikey Lear 69 – 106 Craig Beevers Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Henry Blofeld Alison Heard
4506 19/12/2007 SF David Edwards 60 – 118 Craig Beevers Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Pam Ayres Alison Heard
4508 21/12/2007 F Craig Beevers 105 – 82 Jeffrey Hansford Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman Pam Ayres Alison Heard