Martin Gardner

Martin Gardner (born 19 september, 1983 in Leeds, England) was a contestant in Series 49. Before being a contestant on the show he ran the Countdown website Countdown Update UK. After finding the address on Ben Wilson's website he applied for the televised show.

After failing the audition, he was invited to the studios as a replacement after John Davies became an Octochamp. There he faced Anthony Wilson of Scotland, and won the game 107-81 spotting the conundrum INNERMOST in 14 seconds. 107 was the highest score by a debutant in Series 49. He went on to win his second games against Pat Elkington in a relatively low scoring game 72-44. His third game was again Bernard Gudgin which was also a low scoring game, due in part to both players not scoring anything on the first numbers, nor on the conundrum. Martin registered his second century against Richard Brooks, winning the game 101-64, before scoring 101 again against Gloria Crossley. His sixth game was a tight, tense affair with Martin not taking the lead definitively until he spotted MAGNETIC in round 12. Game 7 brought Martin his 4th century 102-33 against John Carpenter. In his final game, he was leading 99-56 before the conundrum, while his highest score to date was 107. However it was Tracy Murrell his opponent who spotted BLACKHEAD but lost the game 99-66.

Martin returned to the Series finals as #2 seed behind John Davies. Martin beat Peter Jeffreys in the quarter-final 101-64. Martin faced David Wilson in the semi-final and was ahead after 3 rounds when he beat David with UPRATED but was pegged back in the next round with MORGUES. After this round David scored in every round apart from the conundrum and won the game 98-86, although it was Martin that solved the conundrum SANDSTORM just before the end of the 30 seconds. Martin never got a nine letter word during his 10 appearances

Martin was not invited back to the 12th champion of champions tournament, possibly due to an alleged dispute with the producer Damian Eadie. Since appearing on Countdown, Martin has taken up Scrabble at first in English and then in French, and represented the United Kingdom in the French World Championship in 2006, finishing 33rd out of 54 competitors.

Games

|- | class="epnum" | 3482 | class="date" | 14/05/2003 | class="type" | P | class="c1" | Anthony Wilson | class="score" |81 – 107 | class="c2" | Martin Gardner | class="host" colspan="1" |Richard Whiteley | class="vs" colspan="3" |Carol Vorderman | class="ng" style="display:none" | | class="lg" style="display:none" |Lucy Summers | class="guest" | Linda Smith | class="lex" | Alison Heard | class="max" | |- | class="epnum" | 3483 | class="date" | 15/05/2003 | class="type" | P | class="c1" | Martin Gardner | class="score" |72 – 44 | class="c2" | Pat Elkington | class="host" colspan="1" |Richard Whiteley | class="vs" colspan="3" |Carol Vorderman | class="ng" style="display:none" | | class="lg" style="display:none" |Lucy Summers | class="guest" | Linda Smith | class="lex" | Alison Heard | class="max" | |- | class="epnum" | 3484 | class="date" | 16/05/2003 | class="type" | P | class="c1" | Martin Gardner | class="score" |88 – 35 | class="c2" | Bernard Gudgin | class="host" colspan="1" |Richard Whiteley | class="vs" colspan="3" |Carol Vorderman | class="ng" style="display:none" | | class="lg" style="display:none" |Lucy Summers | class="guest" | Linda Smith | class="lex" | Alison Heard | class="max" | |- | class="epnum" | 3485 | class="date" | 19/05/2003 | class="type" | P | class="c1" | Martin Gardner | class="score" |101 – 64 | class="c2" | Richard Brooks | class="host" colspan="1" |Richard Whiteley | class="vs" colspan="3" |Carol Vorderman | class="ng" style="display:none" | | class="lg" style="display:none" |Lucy Summers | class="guest" | Ken Bruce | class="lex" | Susie Dent | class="max" | |- | class="epnum" | 3486 | class="date" | 20/05/2003 | class="type" | P | class="c1" | Martin Gardner | class="score" |101 – 47 | class="c2" | Gloria Crossley | class="host" colspan="1" |Richard Whiteley | class="vs" colspan="3" |Carol Vorderman | class="ng" style="display:none" | | class="lg" style="display:none" |Lucy Summers | class="guest" | Ken Bruce | class="lex" | Susie Dent | class="max" | |- | class="epnum" | 3487 | class="date" | 21/05/2003 | class="type" | P | class="c1" | Martin Gardner | class="score" |76 – 63 | class="c2" | Dave Mackenzie | class="host" colspan="1" |Richard Whiteley | class="vs" colspan="3" |Carol Vorderman | class="ng" style="display:none" | | class="lg" style="display:none" |Lucy Summers | class="guest" | Ken Bruce | class="lex" | Susie Dent | class="max" | |- | class="epnum" | 3488 | class="date" | 27/05/2003 | class="type" | P | class="c1" | Martin Gardner | class="score" |102 – 33 | class="c2" | John Carpenter | class="host" colspan="1" |Richard Whiteley | class="vs" colspan="3" |Carol Vorderman | class="ng" style="display:none" | | class="lg" style="display:none" |Lucy Summers | class="guest" | Ken Bruce | class="lex" | Susie Dent | class="max" | |- | class="epnum" | 3489 | class="date" | 28/05/2003 | class="type" | P | class="c1" | Martin Gardner | class="score" |99 – 66 | class="c2" | Tracy Murrell | class="host" colspan="1" |Richard Whiteley | class="vs" colspan="3" |Carol Vorderman | class="ng" style="display:none" | | class="lg" style="display:none" |Lucy Summers | class="guest" | Ken Bruce | class="lex" | Susie Dent | class="max" | |- | class="epnum" | 3506 | class="date" | 20/06/2003 | class="type" | QF | class="c1" | Martin Gardner | class="score" |101 – 64 | class="c2" | Peter Jeffery | class="host" colspan="1" |Richard Whiteley | class="vs" colspan="3" |Carol Vorderman | class="ng" style="display:none" | | class="lg" style="display:none" |Lucy Summers | class="guest" | Clare Balding | class="lex" | Alison Heard | class="max" | |- | class="epnum" | 3510 | class="date" | 26/06/2003 | class="type" | SF | class="c1" | David Wilson | class="score" |98 – 86 | class="c2" | Martin Gardner | class="host" colspan="1" |Richard Whiteley | class="vs" colspan="3" |Carol Vorderman | class="ng" style="display:none" | | class="lg" style="display:none" |Lucy Summers | class="guest" | Geoffrey Durham | class="lex" | Susie Dent | class="max" |

External links

• Countdown Update UK
  • List of Martin's game on Countdown on Countdown Update UK