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| − | {{featured article}}
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| − | [[Image:Scott Mearns.JPG|thumb|right|250px|Mearns on a very festive set during his [[Championship of Champions]] final.]]
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| − | [[Image:Series 41.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Mearns, alongside fellow finalist [[Simon Cooper]], collecting his dictionaries in [[Series 41]].]]
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| − | '''Scott Mearns''' from Montrose in Scotland was [[champion]] of [[Series 41]] and [[Championship of Champions X]]. A student at Leeds University when he appeared, Mearns foreshadowed his form on the programme by passing his audition with a 100% record. Famously wanting to "put Montrose on the map", Mearns became an octochamp with an aggregate score of 510, before running out victorious in three relatively tight finals games to win the series. He later returned for the five game [[Championship of Champions X]], wherein he was seeded to automatically reach the semi-final. He defeated [[Series 39]] octochamp [[Terry Knowles]] and champion [[Kate Ogilvie]] to win the mini-series and claim the title of Countdown's tenth Champion of Champions. Along the way, Mearns demonstrated his prowess with the 6 small selection in numbers rounds. He is arguably one of the best 9 round players to have not contested the [[Series 33|Supreme Championship]].
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| − | ===Heat games===
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| − | He first appeared on Countdown in the [[Episode 2553|very first game]] of [[Series 41]], beating incumbent champion [[Bobby Johnson]] by 80 points to 12 in a phenomenal debut performance that included the [[niner|nine letter word]] {{word|SERRATING}}. Johnson had amassed his 12 points by the end of round two and failed to score again throughout the rest of the contest, including having {{word|compense}} {{X}} disallowed. Mearns unravelled the conundrum {{word|VIPERWEED}} in little more than a second, offering a ''preview'' of what was yet to come. His next five games featured scores of 50+, peaking at 76 in his third heat game against [[Sarah Houchin]]. Mearns suffered an uncharacteristically low score in his his penultimate heat game, beating [[William Brewer]] {{score|34|30}}, but he outplayed [[Lesley Millar]] {{score|61|27}} to become the first [[octochamp]] of [[Series 41]], averaging 63.75 points a game. Having secured the third-highest total of the nine round era, Mearns entered the series finals as #1 seed.
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| − | ===Series finals===
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| − | After a tense quarter-final against [[Rory Dunlop]], Mearns looked to be ''tyred'' heading into his [[Episode 2671|semi-final]] against [[Melvin Hetherington]], only managing to beat Hetherington in one of the eight preliminary rounds. The close game went to a crucial conundrum, with the scores poised at {{score|58|51}} in Mearns' favour. Mearns made the most of his small advantage and unravelled {{word|HOTWARMER}} in 2 seconds to wriggle into the Christmas Day final. The other seat in the grand final was occupied by #3 seed [[Simon Cooper]].
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| − | A promising letters selection in round 1 prompted Mearns to risk the invalid nine {{word|mortalise}} {{x}} whilst Cooper played safe with the eight letter word {{word|MORALIST}} to gain an early advantage. "It sounds like a word," agreed [[Richard Whiteley]] and [[Dictionary Corner]] guest [[Rick Wakeman]]. Mearns was not behind for long as his token 6 small numbers helped steal the lead from Cooper in Round 3. In round 7, Mearns unravelled the [[conundrum]] {{word|PIESNMASH}} to lead by 18 points. Poor letters selections resulted in the rest of the game being largely uneventful, though Scott widened the gap to 25 points after his second numbers game. Cooper attempted a comeback with, solving the last numbers game and the conundrum {{word|PARTYNITE}}, but it was too little too late as Mearns ran out the winner by 81 points to 73.
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| − | ===Championship of Champions X===
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| − | Mearns' remarkable performances in his main series saw him given a bye into the [[semi finals]] of the [[Championship of Champions X]]. Therein he played [[Terry Knowles]], beating him by 72 points to 46, before an encounter with [[Kate Ogilvie]] in the [[Episode 2678|final]]. Scott took a 10 point lead after Kate failed to solve her first numbers round, before winning three of the next four rounds outright to build a 34 point lead. This included 10 points from the conundrum {{word|MUDHUTLOO}}, which Mearns unravelled in one second. Thereafter the tables started to turn, as Ogilvie beat Mearns' seven with the eight letter word {{word|SPEAKING}}, before clawing back another seven points with {{word|ROTTERS}} as Mearns had {{word|distorter}} {{x}} disallowed. In spite of this, Scott still led by 53 points to 34 and had amassed an unassailable lead by Round 12. He relaxed for the conundrum, {{word|UGREATONE}}, which went unsolved. Nonetheless, Mearns became Champion of Champions only a week after becoming series champion. He was the fourth [[grand slam winner]] (undefeated in the heats, finals and Championship of Champions) after [[Harvey Freeman]], [[Nic Brown]] and [[Don Reid]].
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| − | ===[[Episode S9|Special Episode]]===
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| − | He later returned to play a special game against [[Championship of Champions IX]] winner [[Natascha Kearsey]], losing the game {{score|109|100}} and surrendering his undefeated streak along with it. As Mearns was in the champions' chair, he could not take full advantage of his 6 small numbers skill. Kearsey took the lead and held it, before Mearns had {{word|douchal}} {{X}} disallowed, meaning that it was not a crucial conundrum. Nonetheless, Mearns solved {{word|SCOTTWHAP}} was pride to score the most points by any losing player in the [[Special episode|Specials]].
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| − | {{series winner|preceded_by=Terence English|series=41|followed_by=Michael Calder (Series 42){{!!}}Michael Calder}}
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| − | {{Champion of Champions|preceded_by=Natascha Kearsey|coc=X|followed_by=Graham Nash}}
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| − | ==Episodes==
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| − | {{episode table}}
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| − | {{ep | 2553 | 28/06/1999 | P | [[Bobby Johnson]] | {{score|12|80}} | Scott Mearns | [[Jan Harvey]] | [[Damian Eadie]] }}
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| − | {{ep | 2554 | 29/06/1999 | P | Scott Mearns | {{score|67|35}} | [[Bill Rose]] | Jan Harvey | Damian Eadie }}
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| − | {{ep | 2555 | 30/06/1999 | P | Scott Mearns | {{score|76|39}} | [[Sarah Houchin]] | Jan Harvey | Damian Eadie }}
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| − | {{ep | 2556 | 1/07/1999 | P | Scott Mearns | {{score|74|32}} | [[Michael Forster]] | Jan Harvey | Damian Eadie }}
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| − | {{ep | 2557 | 2/07/1999 | P | Scott Mearns | {{score|55|43}} | [[Gareth Mort]] | Jan Harvey | Damian Eadie }}
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| − | {{ep | 2558 | 5/07/1999 | P | Scott Mearns | {{score|63|14}} | [[Tony Allen]] | [[Barry Cryer]] | Damian Eadie }}
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| − | {{ep | 2559 | 6/07/1999 | P | Scott Mearns | {{score|34|30}} | [[William Brewer]] | Barry Cryer | Damian Eadie }}
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| − | {{ep | 2560 | 7/07/1999 | P | Scott Mearns | {{score|61|27}} | [[Lesley Millar]] | Barry Cryer | Damian Eadie }}
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| − | {{ep | 2667 | 17/12/1999 | QF | Scott Mearns | {{score|59|48}} | [[Rory Dunlop]] | [[Carol Barnes]] | Damian Eadie }}
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| − | {{ep | 2671 | 23/12/1999 | SF | Scott Mearns | {{score|68|51}} | [[Melvin Hetherington]] | [[Rick Wakeman]] | [[Catherine Clarke]] }}
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| − | {{ep | 2673 | 25/12/1999 | GF | Scott Mearns | {{score|81|73}} | [[Simon Cooper]] | Rick Wakeman | Catherine Clarke }}
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| − | {{ep | 2677 | 30/12/1999 | CSF | Scott Mearns | {{score|72|46}} | [[Terry Knowles]] | [[Nigel Rees]] | [[Mark Nyman]] }}
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| − | {{ep | 2678 | 31/12/1999 | CGF | Scott Mearns | {{score|82|56}} | [[Kate Ogilvie]] | Nigel Rees | Mark Nyman }}
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| − | {{ep|S9|9/09/2003|S|Scott Mearns|{{score|100|109}}|[[Natascha Kearsey]]|[[Bob Bevan]]|[[Alison Heard]]}}
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| − | {{episode table end}}
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| − | {{CofC}}
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| − | {{DEFAULTSORT:Mearns, Scott}}
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| − | [[Category:Series winners]]
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| − | [[Category:Championship of Champions winners]]
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| − | [[Category:Octochamps of the 9 round era]]
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| − | [[Category:Contestants in Series 41]]
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| − | [[category:Contestants in Championship of Champions X]]
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