c4countdown

So, we've reached the end of yet another series, and we've had some amazing players, brilliant matches and more drama in a series finals than in an entire season following Manchester United.....

So, for the 3rd year in a row, the first series final of the year is a battle between the #1 and #3 seeds.

The big favourite would be the #1 seed, Paul "The Pinner Pulveriser" Erdunast, as all 10 of his games have been won by relatively convincing margins, whereas the #3 seed, Ann "The Haslemere Hazard" Dibben, while doing some brilliant performances early doors, has been under big pressure in both the quarter- and semi-finals, eventually winning both high-scoring matches by just a single point.

She's certainly going to be up for the challenge against Paul, but will the added pressure of hoping to be the first female series champion in nearly 2 decades affect her

Well, we'll know soon enough, as the climax to Series 74 is about to be reached.....

Statistics Corner:

Firstly, No.1 Seed Paul "The Pinner Pulveriser" Erdunast - 10 Wins, 1,157 Points. (Average: 115.7)
Highest Score: 130 vs. Ben Dali (3rd Game)
Lowest Score: 98 vs. Colin Mills (7th Game)
9's Achieved: 4/8
Total Points/Max/%: 1157/1310 (88%)
Letters Points/Max/%: 730/813 (90%)
Numbers Points/Max/%: 337/397 (85%)
Conundrum Points/Max/%: 90/100 (90%)

Secondly, No.3 Seed Ann "The Haslemere Hazard" Dibben - 10 Wins, 1,104 Points. (Average: 110.4)
Highest Score: 128 vs. Nick Ferguson (8th Game)
Lowest Score: 99 vs. John Billitteri (3rd Game)
9's Achieved: 7/11
Total Points/Max/%: 1104/1340 (82%)
Letters Points/Max/%: 707/849 (83%)
Numbers Points/Max/%: 327/391 (84%)
Conundrum Points/Max/%: 70/100 (70%)

Join Anthony for the recap later.

Been an odd series for me this, mainly because the recaps have nowhere near caught up yet. Pleasant surprise to see who the finalists are.

Best R1 in a grand final ever? UROKINASE or MYOGLOBIN (Or something else maybe........ )

Ian Volante wrote:Been an odd series for me this, mainly because the recaps have nowhere near caught up yet. Pleasant surprise to see who the finalists are.

Sorry. I'm the most behind but I'm intending to get Tuesdays up to date pretty soon. In my defence, there was a backlog when I started and Tuesday is rarely a Channel 4 horse racing day.

You can always get the game records without the comments on the wiki.

Alt 3rd number (4+9)x25+(7x4)-1

End of a cracking set of finals and well done to the COREA runner up on his win!

Great final, many congrats to Paul on becoming series champ, awesome form as ever, very worthy champ and great wordsmith also congrats to Ann on becoming series runner-up, great form throughout the series and very gracious in victory and defeat.


Well done to the Countdown team for yet another splendid series.

A Whiteley-esque pun, in honour of Paul's great performance and worthy capture of the Memorial Trophy:
I wonder if Michael Calder is going to call Paul up now and start insisting that "MY-OGLOBIN is still better than UR-OKINASE".

Congrats, now and always, to both contestants -- this has been a truly remarkable knockout bracket.

3rd Numbers Alt.: (9 + 4) * 25 + 4 * 7 - 1 [EDIT: discovered independently from Tony]

ann dibben is so great wow

paul's cool too tho ggwp etc

Ian Volante wrote:Been an odd series for me this, mainly because the recaps have nowhere near caught up yet. Pleasant surprise to see who the finalists are.

Yeah, real shocker that these two chumps got through!

Other than that, it's been a pretty great series. Despite Ann being the number 3 seed, I do think that the best two players of the series were in the final, and it was a brilliant game to cap it off.

Also, nice of Susie to offer BIRD for 7 in the penultimate letters, when two of the letters weren't even there.

Which game was it that Rachel was talking about Tony Jardine? Ex-F1 driver indeed. Basically an amateur rally driver.

Thank you very much all for the kind comments!

As mentioned before, Ann was an incredible opponent, and a fantastic person and Countdowner.

I'd say MYOGLOBIN is the better spot as it's more "natural" a spot - one doesn't learn it as a word game word, as it were. But I'm very flattered if people want to disagree with me