Spoilers For Bank Holiday Monday May 26th 2014

[James Robinson]

So, it's another Bank Holiday Monday, but Countdown is still more than active, as we head into the final 3 weeks of the heats.

6 people are safely in the finals now, and Samir Pilica will be hoping to make it 7, which he will do with 3 more wins to add to his 3 from last week, but I'm sure he'll be hoping to win all 5 this week to become the 3rd octochamp of Series 70. Can he do it

Julia Bradbury continues in DC upto Wednesday, before the more than welcome return of Myleene Klass on Thursday.

Andy will bring you the recap later on.

[Tony Atkins]

If Samir was worried by Simon's intro, seems he needn't have been.

[Tony Atkins]

Alt of DORKIEST in R2.

[James Robinson]

I actually saw Simon on the telly last week, as he was a member of the Edinburgh Scrabblers team who were on Series 1 of Only Connect, which has just been repeated on Dave.

The other 2 members of that team are also ex-Countdowners, Alan Sinclair, and my Breakaway companion, Melanie Beaumont.

[Tony Atkins]

((9x25)-10)x(10-6)+7 for 867

[Andy Platt]

((25 - 9) x 6 - 10) x 10 + 7 alternative for R6, but I was outside 30 s

[Tony Atkins]

PHOTINO was a word I didn't know so no max game for me...

[James Robinson]

PHOTINO was a word I didn't know so no max game for me...

Me neither, but I only got 866, so my max game ended the round before...............

[Tony Atkins]

GRAPHEME - I foolishly went HOMEPAGE which is still two words

[Tony Atkins]

Was that a 12 max game from Samir to impress all with his score of 120? Seemed that Simon was just getting wrmed up towards the end.

[James Robinson]

Was that a 12 max game from Samir to impress all with his score of 120? Seemed that Simon was just getting wrmed up towards the end.

Indeedy do, 12 max it was from Samir. Definitely his best game so far today. Hopefully, he will be an octochamp on Friday.

Simon was previously on in Series 23, losing on a crucial to finalist, Phil Jordan, the famed "inventor" of the "inverted T" selection in the numbers game.

[Martin Thompson]

I was rooting for Simon as he used to attend the same Scrabble club as me. He'll be disappointed, as that was way below his potential.

[Johnny Canuck]

Bloody awesome performance Samir! Beat me 110-105. PHOTINO was the clincher.

[Martin Thompson]

My predictions for this series based on observance and personal experience:
Mark Murray favourite, Andy Naylor and Samir Palica second favourites, with Neil Green an outside chance. Assuming no other strong players emerge.