c4countdown

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiit's the final! It's been a pretty long series, we've had lots of 7 and 8 time winners, and some strong contestants that didn't even make it that far. Many people from the series (including one of our finalists!) have since come to join us, and it's generally been a very good time. But there can only be one winner. Martin or Mike? The predictions thread made it clear that Martin is the favourite among the people (when coc rolls around, I'll be using some results of what you guessed in Zarte's prediction game). But yeah, here we go. Who'll end up joining Zarte and a bunch of other people on the Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy?


Final stats:

Martin May
Points: 1047 (104.7 per game)
Maxes: 78/150 (52%) (45/100 (45%) letters, 27/40 (68%) numbers, 6/10 (60%) conundrums)
Highest Score: 117 (games 2 and 8)
Lowest Score: 89 (game 6)
9s Achieved: 4/13


Mike Daysley
Points: 987 (98.7 per game)
Maxes: 79/150 (53%) (41/100 (41%) letters, 33/40 (83%) numbers, 5/10 (50%) conundrums)
Highest Score: 110 (game 1)
Lowest Score: 79 (game 7)
9s Achieved: 1/4

Epic finish! Great spot from Mike and a worthy winner!

Excellent nip and tuck game, well done chaps. Also well done Team Countdown on another great series.

Incredible final guys! Complete turnaround at the end. Really thought Martin would win, but congratulations Mike! Excellent play from you both!

Gotta admit, thought Martin would win but well done to Mike. You have an incredible honour and Martin you have a second place that could not be any more deserved

Hope to see ya both in a few years for the next championship of champions. 2022 probably

I agree with everything said above! Cracking finale! Well done to both chaps.

Terrific final today. Both were worthy finalists and it was a cracking game to watch. Well done to Mike, a consistent player and held his never under pressure well. Also Martin, who fought so valiantly throughout the series and indeed overall was the higher average scorer. Both worthy accolades and both done themselves proud. Here's to champion of champions!

Very impressed with how gracious Martin was. It can't have been easy to lose that one.

Well done Mike, very enjoyable final.

Thank you everybody and if Martin is reading thank you for a great game and I'm sorry I didn't thank you on the show at the end, its no excuse but I was genuinely shocked to have won and lost my head for a while

It's Christmas, this might be a few days late but hey, it's the season of joy and what more to end off the Series proper with my review here!

Letters: Very, very good playing from both contestants. For Martin, well done for spotting QADIS in R5 and beating Mike with the two 8s in R10 and R11. For Mike, well done for getting back into the game at the late stage by spotting OUTHAUL in R12. It shows you should never give up even though the odds may be stacked against you.

Numbers: No surprises thrown from Martin nor Mike as they decide to stick with what they are familiar with. All I do have to say here is that Martin's combination of six small seems to have backfired on him with Mike managing to solve R9. Oh dear...it isn't a good sign if you're the #1 Seed and you want to steer clear from any opposition.

Conundrum: So, for the third time in a row for a Grand Final, this ends in a Crucial Conundrum. Fingers crossed...wait did I here C2's buzzer? That means Mike might have it. MOTHPROOF? *A few seconds later* OH MY GOD!!! (I literally yelled that into my screen as I realised that he had just won!!!) A stunning last-round display means that for the first time in three years, the #1 Seed has failed to secure the Trophy!!

If you'd looked at my Series 79 Predictions Spoilers thread, no one voted for Mike which I think was a shame because probably no one expected him to win this Series, but hey he eventually did and won it fair and square. It sure wasn't an easy time coming up all the way here Mike, but here you are standing proudly with the Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy in your hand. Congratulations!!!

As for Martin, bad bad luck, so many people were rooting and supporting for you to win, but at least you tried and more improtantly, you were a good sport. It's a shame unlike Zarte, a return didn't pay off big for you and I'm sorry to see you relegated to runner-up. Nevertheless, there's nothing to be embarrassed about getting runner-up spot, that is already good enough IMO!

Well done to both players and to all the other six players in the Final! From me, the only thing left for me to do now is to say Merry Christmas, and have a Happy 2019! Don't forget the Championship of Champions XV is on from Wednesday, 02 January 2019!!

Progress:
QF1 (13 December): Martin May (#1) vs Bob Lunt (#9) (115 - 86)
QF2 (14 December): Mike Daysley (#2) vs Adam Rolston (#8) (104 - 58)
QF3 (17 December): Andrew Jackson (#3) vs Alan Duval (#7) (60 - 62)
QF4 (18 December): Dave Ashton (#5) vs Tony Manwani (#6) (79 - 114)
SF1 (19 December): Martin May (QF1 Winner) vs Tony Manwani (QF4 Winner) (93 - 83)
SF2 (20 December): Mike Daysley (QF2 Winner) vs Alan Duval (QF3 Winner) (97 - 69)
GF (21 December): Martin May (SF1 Winner) vs Mike Daysley (SF2 Winner) (80 - 82)