Spoilers for Monday 18th December 2023 (Series 88, Quarter Final 3)
Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2023 4:15 pm
Well, there's got to be some firsts I guess, and that is that my review is the first post to a Finals thread. Not sure where everyone went today on Apterous, but it's Holiday season and I presume everyone's out a week before Christmas. Speaking of which, yes, the decorations are back and the snowflake lighting is better than the past few years! Colin also upped his game with a mini-Christmas tree on his table as well. What a great way to end the Series with our final guest too, Christopher Biggins and the fact that PANTOMIME was the second Teatime Teaser with a bit of relevant humour just before that! 
But here we are, two Maths teachers, past and present are here to see who clinch the third Semi-Final spot!
Letters: Steady start, but Ben pulls ahead after the first break with the classic GODETIAS in R4, and despite Caroline's best efforts to cling on, she only managed to tie with Ben once in R10 afterwards. The fatal blow came after LUNATICS in R7 was undoubtedly QUESTIONS in R12, slamming the door shut for Caroline and giving Ben the chance to post the highest Finals score so far. Certainly no questions asked as we now know Viraj's opponent on Thursday!
Numbers: Sensing that Caroline's skills may be good here, Ben gambles with 3 Large in R3 but it was so easy for a Finals match. And yes, I did believe Caroline had Ben's method originally. Thankfully Caroline didn't screw up in R6 even though she probably wasn't 100% sure of her solution. Then, came R9, Rachel shaking her head and saying "Oh my God" after yet another 3 Large round turned up an easy solution, that was the highlight of the whole episode. The pure irony, that Ben and Caroline, both Maths Teachers, saw the obvious way out too late and missed the target was a literal facepalm moment! I kid you not, I played this segment after the show multiple times and couldn't stop laughing. That was a PANTOMIME on its own appropriately!
Finally, wise choice by Caroline in R14 by going for something different but it was yet another insult to injury as there was an easy way out too with both missing once more. My method was (100 - 25) × 7 + 6 ÷ 2 if anyone was wondering.
Conundrum: Disgusting scrabble if you know what I mean with GETting someone DUNG, but got this one quickly. Ben certainly didn't find this a challenge and with his correct answer manages to score the highest winning score in this Series' Final so far, beating Harry's 118 last Thursday!
I predicted Ben to win by a margin of 60 points in part due to Caroline's performance in the Numbers Rounds during her preliminary. While the margin was eventually at 63 points, it definitely wasn't due to that and more of the Letters rounds! I'm not sure if Caroline is really the first Octochamp from Guernsey, but if you're seeing this, you played well today and certainly you've made me more interested in the language Guernesiais if anything. Sadly, it's "À la perchoïne" to you, but hopefully the next time someone says "Baonjour" to you on the streets, it's because of what you've achieved on Countdown. Strive to keep your brain active as well too in retirement!
As Colin advised Ben, he definitely does not want to screw up this badly in the Numbers Round come Thursday or I think he'll be out of a job as the Head Maths Teacher of a school (Just kidding of course... ). Anyways, one last Quarter-Finals to go, let's see if "Yet another Teacher and managed to secure Octochamp status thanks to an unfortunate blunder by his final opponent" Paul O'Brien or "Chef who has had platters in the forms of a last second victory in his first match and having an opponent who scored absolutely nil-pua prepared by him" George Baker will take the spot to face Harry the day after!
Progress:
QF1 (14 December 2023): Harry Savage (#1) vs David Edwards (#8) (118 - 58)
QF2 (15 December 2023): Viraj Seelam (#2) vs Rachel Copley (#7) (103 - 59)
QF3 (18 December 2023): Ben Bazzard (#3) vs Caroline McManus (#6) (124 - 61)
QF4 (19 December 2023): Paul O'Brien (#4) vs George Baker (#5)
SF1 (20 December 2023): Harry Savage (QF1 Winner) vs (QF4 Winner)
SF2 (21 December 2023): Viraj Seelam (QF2 Winner) vs Ben Bazzard (QF3 Winner)
GF (22 December 2023): (SF1 Winner) vs (SF2 Winner)
But here we are, two Maths teachers, past and present are here to see who clinch the third Semi-Final spot!Letters: Steady start, but Ben pulls ahead after the first break with the classic GODETIAS in R4, and despite Caroline's best efforts to cling on, she only managed to tie with Ben once in R10 afterwards. The fatal blow came after LUNATICS in R7 was undoubtedly QUESTIONS in R12, slamming the door shut for Caroline and giving Ben the chance to post the highest Finals score so far. Certainly no questions asked as we now know Viraj's opponent on Thursday!
Numbers: Sensing that Caroline's skills may be good here, Ben gambles with 3 Large in R3 but it was so easy for a Finals match. And yes, I did believe Caroline had Ben's method originally. Thankfully Caroline didn't screw up in R6 even though she probably wasn't 100% sure of her solution. Then, came R9, Rachel shaking her head and saying "Oh my God" after yet another 3 Large round turned up an easy solution, that was the highlight of the whole episode. The pure irony, that Ben and Caroline, both Maths Teachers, saw the obvious way out too late and missed the target was a literal facepalm moment! I kid you not, I played this segment after the show multiple times and couldn't stop laughing. That was a PANTOMIME on its own appropriately!
Finally, wise choice by Caroline in R14 by going for something different but it was yet another insult to injury as there was an easy way out too with both missing once more. My method was (100 - 25) × 7 + 6 ÷ 2 if anyone was wondering.Conundrum: Disgusting scrabble if you know what I mean with GETting someone DUNG, but got this one quickly. Ben certainly didn't find this a challenge and with his correct answer manages to score the highest winning score in this Series' Final so far, beating Harry's 118 last Thursday!
I predicted Ben to win by a margin of 60 points in part due to Caroline's performance in the Numbers Rounds during her preliminary. While the margin was eventually at 63 points, it definitely wasn't due to that and more of the Letters rounds! I'm not sure if Caroline is really the first Octochamp from Guernsey, but if you're seeing this, you played well today and certainly you've made me more interested in the language Guernesiais if anything. Sadly, it's "À la perchoïne" to you, but hopefully the next time someone says "Baonjour" to you on the streets, it's because of what you've achieved on Countdown. Strive to keep your brain active as well too in retirement!
As Colin advised Ben, he definitely does not want to screw up this badly in the Numbers Round come Thursday or I think he'll be out of a job as the Head Maths Teacher of a school (Just kidding of course...
). Anyways, one last Quarter-Finals to go, let's see if "Yet another Teacher and managed to secure Octochamp status thanks to an unfortunate blunder by his final opponent" Paul O'Brien or "Chef who has had platters in the forms of a last second victory in his first match and having an opponent who scored absolutely nil-pua prepared by him" George Baker will take the spot to face Harry the day after!Progress:
QF1 (14 December 2023): Harry Savage (#1) vs David Edwards (#8) (118 - 58)
QF2 (15 December 2023): Viraj Seelam (#2) vs Rachel Copley (#7) (103 - 59)
QF3 (18 December 2023): Ben Bazzard (#3) vs Caroline McManus (#6) (124 - 61)
QF4 (19 December 2023): Paul O'Brien (#4) vs George Baker (#5)
SF1 (20 December 2023): Harry Savage (QF1 Winner) vs (QF4 Winner)
SF2 (21 December 2023): Viraj Seelam (QF2 Winner) vs Ben Bazzard (QF3 Winner)
GF (22 December 2023): (SF1 Winner) vs (SF2 Winner)
Glad that all of us didn't have issues today!