If you're wondering why this review is later than usual, I'm been suffering from viral fever over the weekend and yesterday...rest should come first though. Still, it's better to be late than never and I'm typing this when I'm sufficiently well. Christmas is also coming so yay, the Countdown team decided to recycle the decorations from last year if you're observant enough.
Letters: If there's one thing that I learnt from today, it's probably that the selections can sometimes be horrible throughout the entire episode. Both contestants got caught up in the mess with all the invalid declarations, but hey, in spite of all that, Alan did manage to spot RADIX which is considered a good spot if you don't include MARUDIS.
Numbers: As Rachel Riley put it, "Quarter-Final Nerves" probably did both of them in. Most of you were probably expecting at least one of them or even both to solve R3 but instead both drew a blank.
While Andrew did manage to stun Alan in the easy R6 since it was impossible and R9 where it was difficult, an easy way out in R14 probably sealed his fate (Read the next section...)
Conundrum: I was on the edge of my seat as a Crucial Conundrum appeared. While both are good at this aspect, Alan is quick at doing this and when he got the correct answer, my jaw dropped. Alan has caused an upset in a dramatic way! I blanked out on this one as tbh, I've never heard of that term before.
Commiserations to Andrew who, in spite fighting very hard, lost to Alan. I expected Andrew to win by about 15 points against Alan but in the end, the opposite happened after a fight to the death with Alan scraping through with a two point margin. With that, Alan will now face Mike on Thursday in SF2. There are so many "What If" this had not happened that had not happened etc. but at the end of the day what's done is done. I wish Andrew all the best for the rest of your University Days and good luck with the Maths!
Tomorrow, QF4, "Defeated a previous Octochamp's mother" Dave Ashton vs "Coming back strong after 19 years" Tony Manwani. Let's see who is the last Semi-finalist.
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)
SF1 (19 December): Martin May (QF1 Winner) vs (QF4 Winner)
SF2 (20 December): Mike Daysley (QF2 Winner) vs Alan Duval (QF3 Winner)
GF (21 December): (SF1 Winner) vs (SF2 Winner)