Search found 71 matches

by Carl Harrison
Tue Sep 20, 2022 9:57 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Next Champion of Champions series
Replies: 197
Views: 27544

Re: Next Champion of Champions series

So, ignoring series 86 we have mainly all series finalists except 3, with 3 semi-finalists instead. It seems really shoddy treatment for Mike D not to be invited after winning his series (as no 2 seed), very odd. I wonder if the other two finalists who aren’t returning (Jamie W and Luke B) were invi...
by Carl Harrison
Wed Sep 14, 2022 5:10 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Next Champion of Champions series
Replies: 197
Views: 27544

Re: Next Champion of Champions series

As the series 86 finals haven’t been filmed yet, I can only assume that “two Series 86 players” means the eventual series winner and runner-up, yet to be determined. (But perhaps there remains uncertainty about whether those people will be available etc, hence the draw not being able to be finalised...
by Carl Harrison
Tue Sep 13, 2022 7:21 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Next Champion of Champions series
Replies: 197
Views: 27544

Re: Next Champion of Champions series

Would be good to see the draw for the tournament once that's been confirmed! (like it's been posted on this forum in previous years)
by Carl Harrison
Thu Sep 08, 2022 9:42 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Next Champion of Champions series
Replies: 197
Views: 27544

Re: Next Champion of Champions series

Who else has been invited, beyond presumably the last batch of finalists? I doubt whether the current series 86 finalists will get an invite, they normally go up the series ending 6 months before. So probably covering series 79-85 inclusive, which most likely means the (initial) invitees will be th...
by Carl Harrison
Tue May 10, 2022 8:32 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Anne Robinson to leave Countdown
Replies: 110
Views: 10852

Re: Anne Robinson to leave Countdown

Possibly Colin's done the old filming/broadcast dates mix-up and he's filling in all of the rest of S86. I doubt it as he also says 75 episodes, starting 14 July ending early Nov. My maths only gets to Wed 26 Oct but maybe there’s a few days with no shows on. Sounds to me like there’s a definite st...
by Carl Harrison
Wed May 04, 2022 9:05 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Anne Robinson to leave Countdown
Replies: 110
Views: 10852

Re: Anne Robinson to leave Countdown

When will be Anne's last episode as host? July. Specifically, we understand this is to be shown on 13 July if correct, on the basis that she’s recorded 265 episodes. How bizarre that Anne would film just the first few weeks of the next series, rather than leaving after the current series final, as ...
by Carl Harrison
Thu Feb 10, 2022 6:42 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Next Champion of Champions series
Replies: 197
Views: 27544

Re: Next Champion of Champions series

Serious question: Is Countdown not going to have a Champion of Champions anymore? Been an omnipresent question since about three CoCs ago tbh. No reason why they won't keep going with them still - I know the transition of presenters as well as COVID have used up a lot of resources recently. Don't s...
by Carl Harrison
Fri Feb 04, 2022 6:31 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 4th February (Series 85, Prelim 25)
Replies: 13
Views: 1071

Re: Spoilers for Friday 4 February (Series 85, Prelim 25)

Likewise. I'm sorry but I do believe that Susie is the one to make the most valid opinion here. I definitely agree with this. The problem is when Susie makes a different adjudication for the same word in different episodes. Which one to believe? But as a rule of thumb, I'd suggest that whatever has...
by Carl Harrison
Thu Jan 27, 2022 4:21 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 27th January 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 19)
Replies: 19
Views: 2036

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 27 January 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 19)

Another 7 shows like that and we'll have the first person in the 1100 club :D
by Carl Harrison
Wed Jan 26, 2022 7:01 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 25th January 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 17)
Replies: 8
Views: 857

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 25 January 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 17)

Philip A wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 5:01 pm Well done, Dan. See you in the finals.
Philip A wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 2:11 pm I reckon there’ll be 9 octochamps this series.
In which case the earlier quote might be slightly premature :D - 711 is a relatively low octotal
by Carl Harrison
Wed Jan 26, 2022 11:31 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 25th January 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 17)
Replies: 8
Views: 857

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 25 January 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 17)

dan hall could become an octochamp off this game. pretty mad that we've had two full 8-game runs in the first 17 episodes of the series :) And there's a rather good Apterite making his debut tomorrow (27th) - I won't be surprised if we have 3 octochamps within the first 26 episodes (which would be ...
by Carl Harrison
Tue Jan 18, 2022 6:11 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 682566

Re: Ask Graeme?

What is the highest numbers target that has ever been declared by a competitor (and/or scored points with it). I'm guessing there have been a few 1000's over time, but has there ever been anything declared in the 1001-1009 range?
by Carl Harrison
Wed Dec 29, 2021 2:10 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: The Countdown Android App is now out!
Replies: 153
Views: 28543

Re: The Countdown Android App is now out!

Any chance of this ever being available on iOS?
by Carl Harrison
Fri Dec 10, 2021 4:46 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 10th December 2021 (Series 84, Prelim 119)
Replies: 6
Views: 885

Re: Spoilers for Friday 10th December 2021 (Series 84, Prelim 119)

So if Janet loses one of the next 2 shows she'll be in the S84 finals (assuming she picks up another 23 points).

But if she wins both, she'll carry forward her 7 wins to S85 (and then if she loses the first match there, and there are 8 octochamps in S85, she won't qualify for the finals at all...)
by Carl Harrison
Mon Nov 29, 2021 4:56 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Great conspiracy theories of our time...
Replies: 27
Views: 2997

Re: Great conspiracy theories of our time...

Here's another one for you Eoin. The series 28 final was clearly fixed. One of the competitors was a well known football fan, and hence both conundrums used a scramble of a footballer which made it much easier for said contestant to get them both, the 20 points from which were enough to secure a nar...
by Carl Harrison
Thu Oct 28, 2021 4:45 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Premium VS Lexico (Countdown’s dictionaries)
Replies: 8
Views: 1265

Re: Premium VS Lexico (Countdown’s dictionaries)

Thanks Philip, interesting. Very bizarre that the Premium ("more accurate, reliable and voluminous than Lexico") still doesn't have the vast number of words added to Lexico over 3 months ago. I'd be interested in @CountdownTeam's take on all of this. Is it really right that on the show, ev...
by Carl Harrison
Sun Oct 17, 2021 3:05 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 682566

Re: Ask Graeme?

In how many games have there been more vowels than consonants picked in total across all letters rounds? I'd hazard a strong guess that surely there has never been a TV game where every single letters round has had 5 vowels. Sure, but that wasn't the question. More vowels than consonants has happen...
by Carl Harrison
Sun Oct 17, 2021 1:14 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 682566

Re: Ask Graeme?

Thanks for all your answers! Inspired by him being on a repeat of the celebrity chase right now - I've had Jon Culshaw as a DC guest for two separate 'runs' - my first 3 heats, and then my CoC QF. How many people have had some DC guest for more than one run? Has anyone had the same guest three sepa...
by Carl Harrison
Sat Oct 16, 2021 9:51 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 682566

Re: Ask Graeme?

Thanks for all your answers! Inspired by him being on a repeat of the celebrity chase right now - I've had Jon Culshaw as a DC guest for two separate 'runs' - my first 3 heats, and then my CoC QF. How many people have had some DC guest for more than one run? Has anyone had the same guest three sepa...
by Carl Harrison
Sat Oct 16, 2021 9:48 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 682566

Re: Ask Graeme?

In how many games have there been more vowels than consonants picked in total across all letters rounds? I'd hazard a strong guess that surely there has never been a TV game where every single letters round has had 5 vowels. (Perhaps back in the day you were allowed 6 vowels, but I still can't beli...
by Carl Harrison
Fri Sep 10, 2021 3:28 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Black To Front Spoilers for Friday 10 September 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 54)
Replies: 25
Views: 2914

Re: Black To Front Spoilers for Friday 10 September 2021 (Series 84, Preliminary 54)

Is Jodine the first person to appear in a normal series on 3 separate occasions? (not counting people carrying forward from one series to the next). There certainly can't be many others, albeit her circumstances are somewhat different - I presume she was invited back for this episode specially, rath...
by Carl Harrison
Wed Sep 08, 2021 2:35 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Which words are the most useful to know?
Replies: 92
Views: 35999

Re: Which words are the most useful to know?

Aye that is the problem - it's hard to know when to stop. How many words is "enough" for what you want to achieve? You can always think you'll improve if you just learnt some more, however far down the list you've gone. But there has to be a limit for everyone, beyond which trying to cram ...
by Carl Harrison
Mon Sep 06, 2021 7:44 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Which words are the most useful to know?
Replies: 92
Views: 35999

Re: Which words are the most useful to know?

Thanks Rob - fascinating stuff, and all makes good sense. Some of the words have moved around quite a bit, but it makes sense that when allowing for actual round-picking by bots or humans that some words might become less common (e.g. why a word like NUTRITOR is now a lot less valuable, as in practi...
by Carl Harrison
Sun Sep 05, 2021 3:36 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Which words are the most useful to know?
Replies: 92
Views: 35999

Re: Which words are the most useful to know?

Thanks for this Rob, fantastic work as always. :D The most interesting thing for me about this new release and the different method of using actual Apterous rounds rather than simulated ones, is that the relative importance of 9's seems to have significantly increased. For example, in the top 10,000...
by Carl Harrison
Fri Aug 20, 2021 7:04 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown tattoo's
Replies: 5
Views: 1546

Re: Countdown tattoo's

Here’s one former champion’s tattoo…

https://twitter.com/c4countdown/status/ ... 81120?s=10
by Carl Harrison
Fri Aug 20, 2021 5:58 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Next Champion of Champions series
Replies: 197
Views: 27544

Re: Next Champion of Champions series

Not happening in January. Ah well that’s better news, thanks 😀. To be fair, it looks like Rachel will be away for the January episodes, so maybe it’s better to wait until some time after she’s back. Can you give a clue as to the most likely broadcast date for next CoC then? July 2022-ish after seri...
by Carl Harrison
Thu Aug 19, 2021 9:59 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Next Champion of Champions series
Replies: 197
Views: 27544

Re: Next Champion of Champions series

Countdown Team wrote: Thu Aug 19, 2021 9:44 pm Not happening.
Ooh that’s a shame. Not happening in January, or not ever happening? Maybe next year instead or combined with a 40BC event, or is this completely off the table for now? Would be a real shame if CoC isn’t going to return again.
by Carl Harrison
Thu Aug 19, 2021 8:07 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Next Champion of Champions series
Replies: 197
Views: 27544

Re: Next Champion of Champions series

Late August now and still no word about whether a Champion of Champions series will be filming in the autumn / broadcasting in January. I'm guessing plans would be being put into place by now if so, so I'm wondering if this is going to be happening. @CountdownTeam, are you able to give any indicatio...
by Carl Harrison
Mon Jul 26, 2021 3:19 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Next Champion of Champions series
Replies: 197
Views: 27544

Re: Next Champion of Champions series

The more I see of Anne presenting Countdown, the more I think it would be great to see her doing a Champion of Champions series very soon. The "banter" with contestants may not initially be to everyone's taste, and I can see that some new contestants might have found it a bit intimidating ...
by Carl Harrison
Thu Jul 01, 2021 10:28 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: First impressions of Anne
Replies: 141
Views: 24373

Re: First impressions of Anne

There's a definite improvement in getting rid of Nick's monologue at the start and hearing a bit more from the contestants instead. It will be very interesting to see how Anne reacts when she gets an elite Apterous-level player - e.g. when someone like Luke (B or JD) comes along I wonder what she'll...
by Carl Harrison
Fri Jun 25, 2021 8:47 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 24th June 2021 (Series 83, Second Semi Final)
Replies: 15
Views: 2508

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 24 June 2021 (Series 83, Second Semi Final)

James was clearly not at the races today making some schoolboy errors although when he declared 9 with Underbets i thought he may have gone for the more likely SUBRENTAL. Still, well done for a scrabbler Luke by 2O+ tomorrow The letters weren't there for SUBRENTAL! SUBRENTED maybe? (would have been...
by Carl Harrison
Fri Jun 25, 2021 5:41 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 24th June 2021 (Series 83, Second Semi Final)
Replies: 15
Views: 2508

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 24 June 2021 (Series 83, Second Semi Final)

:!: I reckon his newly earned title of "Jammiest-Series-Finalist-Ever" will not be topped any time soon... as it was an administrative error that saw him face the easier S6-S2 path to the final, rather than the S5-S1 path he'd have faced had the seeding been correct. I presume you will tak...
by Carl Harrison
Wed Jun 23, 2021 8:59 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 22nd June 2021 (Series 83, Fourth Quarter Final)
Replies: 22
Views: 3404

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 22 June 2021 (Series 83, Fourth Quarter Final)

I would also do the same. Conundrums in the series finals are often very difficult and go unsolved (e.g. in the previous series only 3 out of 7 in the finals were solved) - so agree it's often worth taking the gamble to try to get in the lead going into the conundrum, particularly if you've already ...
by Carl Harrison
Wed Jun 16, 2021 2:38 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ask Graeme?
Replies: 1740
Views: 682566

Re: Ask Graeme?

What are the highest and lowest total "max" scores from an 8-game consecutive run during heats (in the 15-round era). Not necessarily looking at just the record from octochamps runs, but any consecutive set of 8 games. There was a bit of a discussion around this in the "1000 club"...
by Carl Harrison
Tue Jun 08, 2021 4:25 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Next Champion of Champions series
Replies: 197
Views: 27544

Re: Next Champion of Champions series

CoC isn't the be all and end all, with regular series being just the preliminaries. If you always have all the runners-up it's a bit like having the last 16 of the FA Cup, giving the eight winners a prize, and then reinstating all the losers and doing the draw again. I would compare it more to the ...
by Carl Harrison
Tue Jun 08, 2021 4:14 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Next Champion of Champions series
Replies: 197
Views: 27544

Re: Next Champion of Champions series

The last CoC only had 1 woman out of 16 competitors (Ann Dibben) - and she clearly deserved to be there, as a series runner-up.
by Carl Harrison
Tue Jun 08, 2021 2:55 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Next Champion of Champions series
Replies: 197
Views: 27544

Re: Next Champion of Champions series

I don't think I'd include Corrina Attwood personally. The CoC is really about finding the best players over the previous few series. Agree with that as well. On that basis, it's clear that all the series winners and runners-up should be invited (particularly as they were all #1 and #2 seeds, at lea...
by Carl Harrison
Sat Jun 05, 2021 10:18 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Next Champion of Champions series
Replies: 197
Views: 27544

Re: Next Champion of Champions series

Surely the certs (at least in the invites list) would be: Mike Daysley Martin May Dinos Sfyris Elliott Mellor James Haughton Jamie Wing Luke Johnson-Davies Sam Cappleman-Lynes Winner of S83 Runner-up of S83 Leaves room for 6 others: Tony Manwani Maggie Barlow Paul Nixon Leo Smith Ian Volante A semi...
by Carl Harrison
Fri Jun 04, 2021 3:51 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Next Champion of Champions series
Replies: 197
Views: 27544

Next Champion of Champions series

Now that the Series 83 finals have been filmed and will be broadcast later this month, I’m hoping that we may very soon know the potential line-up for the next Champion of Champions series! Recent CoC’s have always been 3 years apart, which would mean that the next one would be due to be broadcast i...
by Carl Harrison
Thu Apr 15, 2021 8:33 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Baby Riley-Kovalev
Replies: 55
Views: 30040

Re: Baby Riley-Kovalev

Great news for Rachel! As they're only filming about 6-8 weeks in advance at the moment (series 83 finals being filmed in early May), and Rachel had around 3-4 months off filming last time (November 2019 to February 2020) there will be quite a bit of catching up to do to get ahead far enough in film...
by Carl Harrison
Wed Mar 31, 2021 8:59 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: So, who will be the founding member of Countdown's "1000 CLUB"?
Replies: 129
Views: 82523

Re: So, who will be the founding member of Countdown's "1000 CLUB"?

Luke's PB from an Mocktorun on Apterous is 995 (which had a max of 1046), from 24 attempts. Must be nice to do your best ever performance on the show - but the max available of 1149 was incredible, and he certainly made the most of it. I don't know if there's a way of finding out the highest max sco...
by Carl Harrison
Tue Mar 30, 2021 9:06 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 30th March 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 62)
Replies: 10
Views: 2189

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 30 March 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 62)

I guess it gets a bit more draining when you're recording so many shows in a row (8 shows in 2 days I guess), so not surprised he slowed down a bit later on. He did have a very high set of max games with lots of 9's available, and I'm not sure his run was quite as good as the Luke from the last seri...
by Carl Harrison
Sat Mar 20, 2021 8:44 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 19th March 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 55)
Replies: 33
Views: 6458

Re: Spoilers for Friday 19th March 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 55)

Are you sure? It sounded like he wanted to stay anonymous, given the username and that he doesn’t seem to have said anything publicly, so I presume he wouldn’t have explicitly told anyone.

But it makes sense, a strong 2000+ rated player who only seems to have been around a year or so.
by Carl Harrison
Fri Mar 19, 2021 10:25 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 19th March 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 55)
Replies: 33
Views: 6458

Re: Spoilers for Friday 19th March 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 55)

Impressive debut! There's no way that Luke isn't a regular user of Apterous (perhaps under a pseudonym) or at the very least using Lexplorer or Rob's word lists - no regular player is going to come up with words like Rodential, Ponceaus, Maroudis, Giaours, Pilewort and Neuronic on their first show i...
by Carl Harrison
Wed Mar 17, 2021 10:20 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 16th March 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 52)
Replies: 7
Views: 1993

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 16th March 2021 (Series 83, Preliminary 52)

I will miss him too but I think he would need to sort a few things out if he was ever going to get the job full time. Agree with that - a few more examples here of Colin influencing gameplay, stating that a numbers rounds was very easy before players declared their target (and it wasn't THAT easy) ...
by Carl Harrison
Fri Mar 12, 2021 4:01 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: No More Studio Audience at Countdown Post Covid
Replies: 25
Views: 7885

Re: No More Studio Audience at Countdown Post Covid

This doesn't particularly surprise me to some extent. Very few daytime quiz shows seem to have an audience now, and it seems odd that Countdown very rarely actually shows the audience in the show at all these days, apart from when someone is asked to solve a conundrum - apart from that you wouldn't ...
by Carl Harrison
Tue Feb 16, 2021 5:03 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: ROBINSON TO HOST COUNTDOWN!!
Replies: 60
Views: 14309

Re: ROBINSON TO HOST COUNTDOWN!!

That might make up for the relative lack of female contestants (at least in the final stages - we haven't had a female quarter-finalist in the last 2 series. I actually think Anne will be quite nice to the contestants generally, she knows what she's doing with TV presenting. My concern might be abou...
by Carl Harrison
Thu Jan 28, 2021 3:00 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Which words are the most useful to know?
Replies: 92
Views: 35999

Re: Which words are the most useful to know?

This is an interesting point about the relative value of 9's. To my mind, they do seem to be worth more than the raw score of 18 (as used in Rob's spreadsheet) would indicate. In a tight game, getting the 9 that your opponent does not will frequently be the difference between winning and losing the ...
by Carl Harrison
Sat Jan 23, 2021 10:08 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Who should replace Nick Hewer?
Replies: 78
Views: 22225

Re: Who should replace Nick Hewer?

Nick has announced on Twitter he's filming until early May.

https://twitter.com/Nick_Hewer?ref_src= ... r%5Eauthor

I guess that means Nick will complete series 83, and the new host will take over at start of series 84 at end June/start of July.
by Carl Harrison
Fri Dec 18, 2020 11:06 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 18th December 2020 (Series 82, Grand Final)
Replies: 42
Views: 10989

Re: Spoilers for Friday 18 December 2020 (Series 82, Grand Final)

Well that was a great way to end an epic series. Very impressive performance both, but Luke was in a slightly different class.

Look forward to seeing you both back (and maybe Leo and/or Ian from the semi finals) in a Champion of Champions before too long I hope!
by Carl Harrison
Sat Dec 12, 2020 7:11 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 10th December 2020 (Series 82, 1st Quarter-Final)
Replies: 19
Views: 5225

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 10th December 2020 (Series 82, QF 1)

I can't see how they would know in the studio whether it's a max game, as Susie is often beatable on the letters rounds so presumably no-one is checking the Apto dictionary at the time
by Carl Harrison
Wed Dec 09, 2020 11:09 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Ladbrokes - Next Presenter Odds
Replies: 40
Views: 11024

Re: Ladbrokes - Next Presenter Odds

Ok I thought you were joking, but yes Paul really has made the Ladbrokes page - level with Alexander Armstrong (who was considered previously I think) https://sports.ladbrokes.com/event/tv-specials/uk/countdown-specials/next-permanent-countdown-host/231717757/all-markets Interesting there are so man...
by Carl Harrison
Fri Mar 27, 2020 9:04 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Tuesday 24th March 2020
Replies: 14
Views: 5502

Re: Spoilers For Tuesday 24th March 2020

Maybe they can show an edited version sometime in early May when they’ll have run out of new shows to broadcast.
by Carl Harrison
Fri Jan 03, 2020 11:47 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Introducing: the Focal Talk podcast (episode 1 out now)
Replies: 8
Views: 4062

Re: Introducing: the Focal Talk podcast (episode 1 out now)

I enjoyed listening to this. I found the most interesting was James Haughton's interview, and suspect for many people (like me) who haven't been to any Focal events it will be most interesting to hear about the TV show experiences (as presumably everyone listening will be very familiar with the TV s...
by Carl Harrison
Fri Dec 20, 2019 9:38 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 19th December 2019 (Series 81, SF2)
Replies: 6
Views: 2929

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 19th December 2019 (Series 81, SF2)

Thanks for your brilliant write-ups throughout the finals Ryan - really good and entertaining! I agree with everything you say here - a great game which probably could have gone either way, both these players were very good (and both with octotals which would have made them no 1 seed in many series)...
by Carl Harrison
Wed Dec 04, 2019 5:53 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Series 81 finals predictions
Replies: 8
Views: 5013

Re: Series 81 finals predictions

I agree that Paul Anderson was one of the best players this series - his average score would have made him no 4 seed - so he was very unlucky not to make the finals by coming up against the eventual no 2 seed in the heats (and very nearly beating him)! Under the old pre-series 64 system he would hav...
by Carl Harrison
Wed Dec 04, 2019 12:12 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Series 81 finals predictions
Replies: 8
Views: 5013

Series 81 finals predictions

So we now know the full quarter-final line up for this series!... (with commiserations to Corrina Attwood to be the first ever Octochamp not to qualify for the series finals, finishing as 9th seed) James Haughton (1) vs David Law (8) Jamie Wing (2) vs Tom Silverlock (7) Paul Nixon (3) vs John Osmond...
by Carl Harrison
Mon Nov 25, 2019 2:04 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 22nd November 2019
Replies: 4
Views: 2523

Re: Spoilers for Friday 22nd November 2019.

Yes very unlucky indeed for Paul. If the old (pre-series 64) scoring system was used to determine finalists - i.e. based on total points only, not wins first then points - then Paul would comfortably have qualified for the finals, with a total score that was higher than 4 of the series octochamps, d...
by Carl Harrison
Mon Nov 25, 2019 1:59 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 21st November 2019 (Series 81, Prelim 103)
Replies: 6
Views: 2596

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 21st November 2019 (Series 81, Prelim 103)

Someone on the fb thread suggesting that Paul's five consecutive 8s matches a record set by Charlie in this game http://wiki.apterous.org/Episode_4746 Anyone know how to check if that's true? I can't see any records for this listed anywhere, but Zarte's record-breaking (at the time) episode from Co...
by Carl Harrison
Wed Oct 23, 2019 8:30 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Ratings
Replies: 5
Views: 4440

Re: Ratings

Thanks - all a bit confusing! - but I like your quote on that ticket, which I would say remains true to this day based on my experience.... "If I was new to Apterous, I'd be thinking "What on Earth's going on with these rating systems?" " :) From what I can tell, the rolling rati...