Kai Laddiman

Kai Laddiman Octochamp Statistics
Final position	Semi-finalist
Seeding	4
Points total	756
Conundrums solved	8

Kai Laddiman in Series 59...

and five years later in the 30th Birthday Championship!

Kai Laddiman was a finalist in Series 59, a quarter-finalist in Championship of Champions XIII and a participant in the 30th Birthday Championship.

Laddiman won eight games with a top score of 105, including the nine letter words INCAPABLE and THIRTEENS. Laddiman was just eleven years old and attracted a lot of national media attention because of his age. Laddiman is the second youngest octochamp ever, behind Allan Saldanha, and the youngest to achieve it for 20 years. Also notable is the fact that he solved all eight of his conundrums, becoming only the fifth player to do so after Darryl Francis, Harvey Freeman, David Williams and Julian Fell.

Laddiman made his debut on 2 October 2008 in the champion's chair, the day following another octochamp run by Junaid Mubeen. He won comfortably 93 – 64 against James Bruce. His second opponent Jeff Francis held him to a tighter match as he missed ORDAIN and BANDIEST, setting up a highly crucial conundrum with Francis leading by one point, however Laddiman spotted that MUDTEMPLE anagrammed to PLUMMETED to earn another victory. The following week, he scored consistent comfortable victories against Bill Franklin, Don Walker and Alex Gaywood. He went on to beat Zachery Stephenson in a game notable for his nine INCAPABLE as well as a very funny blooper by Carol in the last numbers game (which neither contestant solved correctly). Laddiman beat Hardev Raikmo and finally Richard Pascoe, scoring his only century with words including MOPEDS, MATCHES and another nine, THIRTEENS. He topped it off by unscrambling NICEJOINT to keep his perfect conundrum record.

Laddiman returned for the Series 59 finals in December as the #4 seed, aged twelve, and beat Debbi Flack following an unsolved crucial conundrum scrambled as CLASSRIDE. In the semi-final he faced #1 seed Charlie Reams. Laddiman went 14 – 0 after two rounds, but couldn't keep up the same pace and when Reams spotted SUNDIAL in the final letters round, the game was effectively over. Both players scored on the next numbers game, but neither player could solve the conundrum AMBERNAIL, which was solved by Jo Brand in Dictionary Corner with the answer LAMEBRAIN.

He went on to play in the Championship of Champions XIII, still only aged twelve, and won a dramatic game on a crucial conundrum against Richard Priest, when Priest buzzed in instantly, but incorrectly answered with CAFETERIA ☓ instead of CAFETIERE. In Laddiman's following game, he faced undeafeated Series champion Nick Wainwright and kept the game close, notably solving a difficult six-small numbers game in round 10. However, Wainwright spotted the nine DEUTERONS when Laddiman only had an eight, which saved Wainwright from a crucial conundrum.

Later in 2009, Laddiman returned to Countdown to attend his first unofficial tournament, CoNot 2009 followed later by CoLei2, COLIN 2010 and Co:Lon 2010. He then attended COLIN 2011, and didn’t attend another event until Co:Man2020, 9 years after his previous appearance. During this time, he also organised Goatblitz 2010 online.

Laddiman returned to Countdown in 2013, as one of 41 contestants taking part in the 30th Birthday Championship. He received a bye to the first round, but lost his only game to Series 53 semi-finalist Jon O'Neill by a score of 101 – 76.

Laddiman was seated in the champion's chair for all 14 of his appearances, a record number of consecutive games spent in the same contestant position.

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
4681	2/10/2008	P	Kai Laddiman	93 – 64	James Bruce	Des O'Connor	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Barry Cryer	Susie Dent	120
4682	3/10/2008	P	Kai Laddiman	95 – 86	Jeff Francis	Des O'Connor	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Barry Cryer	Susie Dent	118
4683	6/10/2008	P	Kai Laddiman	95 – 61	Bill Franklin	Des O'Connor	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Barry Cryer	Susie Dent	120
4684	7/10/2008	P	Kai Laddiman	91 – 68	Don Walker	Des O'Connor	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nicholas Owen	Susie Dent	121
4685	8/10/2008	P	Kai Laddiman	89 – 56	Alex Gaywood	Des O'Connor	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nicholas Owen	Susie Dent	125
4686	9/10/2008	P	Kai Laddiman	97 – 56	Zachery Stephenson	Des O'Connor	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nicholas Owen	Susie Dent	133
4687	10/10/2008	P	Kai Laddiman	91 – 59	Hardev Raikmo	Des O'Connor	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nicholas Owen	Susie Dent	120
4688	13/10/2008	P	Kai Laddiman	105 – 55	Richard Pascoe	Des O'Connor	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nicholas Owen	Susie Dent	132
4729	9/12/2008	QF	Kai Laddiman	82 – 73	Debbi Flack	Des O'Connor	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Jo Brand	Susie Dent	132
4730	10/12/2008	SF	Kai Laddiman	70 – 99	Charlie Reams	Des O'Connor	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Jo Brand	Susie Dent	133
4736	15/01/2009	CP	Kai Laddiman	93 – 85	Richard Priest	Jeff Stelling	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Andrew Sachs	Susie Dent	117
4744	27/01/2009	CQF	Kai Laddiman	91 – 94	Nick Wainwright	Jeff Stelling	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Paul Zenon	Susie Dent	128
S28	2/08/2010	S	Kai Laddiman	84 – 90	Dinos Sfyris	Jeff Stelling	Rachel Riley					Gary Osborne	Susie Dent	141
5625	21/01/2013	30B1	Kai Laddiman	76 – 101	Jon O'Neill	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Margaret Mountford	Susie Dent	132

External Links

• Article on Kai after winning his first show