By James Aukett
After a brief introduction to the contestants and guests in Dictionary Corner by Richard, the game proceeded.
Round 1 was even stephens (!) with both Stephen and I scoring 7 points. However, Round 2 gave me an edge with Stephen having GIRATES disallowed and myself picking up 7 points for CAGIEST. Round 3 gave me the opportunity to extend my lead, as Stephen could only manage to find a six letter word whilst I picked up yet another 7 points for MOULDER.
Next came the numbers game and my choice of numbers. I tried tactics, choosing six small numbers. Cecil, Countdown's number generator, revealed:
3 2 7 7 10 6 TARGET:175
I was able to get 175 as follows:
7*6=42
42-7=35
35*(3+2)=175
Stephen only managed to get 176, which surprised everyone considering he was a maths teacher! At the end of the first half, I had amassed a comfortable lead of 31-7. But everyting was not as it seemed as the second half came into play....
The start of the second half signalled Stephen's comeback as he picked up 7 points for LETTING whilst I was unlucky enough only to find a six letter word. The following two rounds gave us 14 points each before the second numbers game dawned upon us.
Stephen went for the more normal selection of one large number and five small numbers. Although the target was 759, Stephen got closer to it than I did, he was able to get 760 whilst I was seven off with 752.
With Stephen fighting back to reduce my lead to just ten points (45-35), the conundrum followed. The conundrum ATINYPATH was revealed, and Stephen was able to unscramble it in just two seconds to reveal ANTIPATHY, and that brought the score to 45-45. A TIE!
Cue a pause in recording to set up a second conundrum that would decide the game. The conundrum was then revealed to set up GLENQUAIL, and as quickly as I could (three seconds to be precise!) I pressed my buzzer to say EQUALLING. Unbelievably I was right, and that gave me ten points to bring the game to 55-45.
I HAD WON!
Unable to conceal my delight, I punched the air in jubilance. The game finished, recording over, I was the new champion!
I then went to get changed for the next recording. But outside the studio waiting for me was quarter finalist James Shepherd (again I'll go into that later). I happily shook his hand, then it was back to business as usual....
GAME 2
My next game was against Gill Munro, a housewife from Worcestershire. After recording began and everyone was introduced, the game started once more. The first half was nothing special, as both Gill and myself were 30 points apiece by the end of it. This did include a well too easy numbers game that really hacked me off!
Into the second half, and after the next rounds we were still level pegging with 43 points each. However, the following round proved to be my downfall as Gill scored 8 points for PRIMATES whilst I could only find a six letter word. Nerves were starting to creep back in.
The next numbers round came, and it was once again my choice of numbers, still opting for six small ones. This time the target was 657, I scored 7 points for getting 655 whilst Gill was unable to find anything.
But I was finally undone by the nasty conundrum that followed. SOUNDLUPE was unscrambled to reveal PENDULOUS (is that a word you hear every day - I think not!), yet it didn't stop my Countdown career ending on a high note as I pressed my buzzer on 29 seconds to say:
"It's OK - I thought I's press it for one last time!"
Alas, I had been dethroned from the champion's chair and my stint of fame on Countdown was over. Gill did fall victim to the next challenger, but that's a different story....