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Noel McIlvenny

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Noel McIlvenny
Octochamp Statistics
Final positionSemi-finalist
Seeding4
Points total793
Conundrums solved4
Noel McIlvenny in Series 77.

Noel McIlvenny was an octochamp in Series 77, the fourth to be crowned in that series in fewer than two months, and a participant in Championship of Champions XV. He is a Maths teacher from Belfast. He is also an Apterite.

Appearances on the programme

Heat games

McIlvenny debuted on 15th August 2017, outrunning Sarah Capperauld 83 – 30. He achieved a further seven clear victories with an octototal of 793 points and a high score of 120, showing exceptional skill on the numbers rounds, where, when solving his preferred four-large selections, he frequently ascended into intermediate totals in the thousands or tens of thousands before dividing down again. During his heat run he thrashed previous Series 26 semi-finalist Chris Feetenby, winning 96 – 21.

Finals

He eventually returned for the Series 77 finals in December as the #4 Seed. There, he faced by coincidence, another Apterite, Irishman and teacher, Eoin Jackson who was the #5 Seed. The quarter-final game he played was a very close one, with both of them managing to spot two niners, LOCALISES and MONRADITE in the process. However, it was him who just won by two points with a score of 111 – 109 after the crucial conundrum, SUSIFENNT was left unsolved. McIlvenny then appeared in the immediately following game, his semi-final against #1 prospect Tom Chafer-Cook, and while he made a strong score of 83 here, it proved to simply not be enough against Chafer-Cook as the latter achieved the highest score of the series and ultimately came in just one point short of a max game. However, he showed off his numbers skill again on the final numbers round before bowing out in his first defeat.

Championship of Champions XV

McIlvenny returned to Countdown in 2019 for the Championship of Champions XV, where he played fellow Apterite Philip Aston in the last first round match of the tournament. He was eliminated by a score of 103 – 89, mainly due to Aston pulling away early on with his findings of TOLUENE and ROTAMER. Nonetheless, he maxed all the numbers rounds, including his use of the '937.5 trick' in the final numbers round. Aston praised McIlvenny as "the best 4-large player ever."

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
6645 15/08/2017 P Sarah Capperauld 30 – 83 Noel McIlvenny Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Barry McGuigan Susie Dent 134
6646 16/08/2017 P Noel McIlvenny 100 – 53 Andrew Smithies Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Barry McGuigan Susie Dent 155
6647 17/08/2017 P Noel McIlvenny 96 – 21 Chris Feetenby Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Barry McGuigan Susie Dent 134
6648 18/08/2017 P Noel McIlvenny 109 – 54 Paul Collins Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Barry McGuigan Susie Dent 132
6649 21/08/2017 P Noel McIlvenny 100 – 61 Mike Browning Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Barry McGuigan Susie Dent 144
6650 22/08/2017 P Noel McIlvenny 93 – 16 Ben Parker Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Martin Lewis Susie Dent 140
6651 23/08/2017 P Noel McIlvenny 120 – 36 Neil Harvey Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Martin Lewis Susie Dent 146
6652 24/08/2017 P Noel McIlvenny 92 – 44 Gary Shacklady Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Martin Lewis Susie Dent 127
6733 19/12/2017 QF Noel McIlvenny 111 – 109 Eoin Jackson Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Rufus Hound Susie Dent 142
6734 20/12/2017 SF Tom Chafer-Cook 134 – 83 Noel McIlvenny Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Rufus Hound Susie Dent 135
6987 11/01/2019 CP Philip Aston 103 – 89 Noel McIlvenny Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Dr Linda Papadopoulos Susie Dent 122