It made a nice change for a young, male octochamp (is there any other kind of octochamp nowadays?) to come across as being so well-adjusted and normal as Jeffery was. He wasn't overly competitive or constantly submitting words no-one had heard of before either.

Actually, did he break the 100-point mark even once? I don't think so anyway. He did well to become an octochamp at all really. Fair play to him!

I agree Jeffery was very pleasant,down to earth and well mannered. I look forward too seeing him back later in the year. I am sure he will do very well at Oxford.

Jeffery didn't get break the 100 point mark but he didn't need too.

Actually he seems to be part of the same Apterous crowd that hang out at www.c4countdown.co.uk.

To say this lot is competitive is understating it! Competing on-line with each other (ordinary Countdown is too easy; they have 12-letter selections!), learning wordlists and memorising dictionaries.

They classify contestants into two groups: one of them, and ordinary mortals like us, just cannon fodder on their way to being octochamps.

Doesn't mean they are unpleasant, just passionate some of them.

I agree it's a pleasant change to have games played with ordinary everyday words; using obscure words always seems a bit of a cheat, I don't know why they always seem to get more applause. (Why not just base it on the full OED then nearly every round will have 8/9 letter words that no-one's heard of?)

It's obvious these Octochamps are masters of Scrabble . Why else would unemployed non-scientists be familiar with obscure Botanical / Metallurgic / Anatomical words ?

It's not cheating, but it's like that Bolt fella running in the Dad's race at School Sports Day, showing off, it doesn't impress anyone.

It would be nice to see a female octochamp or even a middle aged man

There was in fact an female octochamp earlier this year called Cate Henderson. But before then there hadn't been one since early 2007, so I suppose there has been a distinct lack of female octochamps.

I missed Friday’s episode.

Anyone know if and when it will be repeated? I really wanted to watch the inevitable 8th victory for Jeffery.


Where are all the young female contestants on Coundown? Surely men are no better than women at the game?

I thought Laura (on Thursday) was refreshingly nice-looking (and she was a lovely girl, too). But it’s rare I see anyone I fancy in the contestants’ chairs.

Sometimes I think there should be a separate Countdown series for young, dictionary-swallowing blokes. This could run for, say, two months every year; let them beat each other every day with their fancy eights and nines every round.

Then, for the remaining ten months of the year, the programme could revert to having "normal" contestants (basically anyone who doesn't hang out on the Countdown forum that was linked to a few posts ago), who just play the game for fun and don't spontaneously combust if they fail to spot an "obvious" nine! It would make the show a lot more enjoyable for the casual viewer I think (at least for ten months of the year).

I think they're repeated two and a half days later, just check the listings (around 5 in the morning but take care because programs 12am to 6am are deemed by C4 to belong to the previous day; very confusing)

Or watch it online: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/countdown

Yes, Cate was very good. A bit scary at first, but fine when you got used to her!

This is actually Jeffrey, just registered to thank everyone for all the kind messages of support and congratulations.


This would largely be because I have also not heard of the kind of words some of the other Octochamps submitted!


I am indeed part of the c4c/Apterous crowd, although as you can probably tell from my low Octochamp score/easy word misses/frequent blips on the numbers/general shoddiness at conundrums (STIMPYING?)/lack of knowledge of obscure words I don't quite go to the lengths that the previous c4c/Apterous contestants have done in their attempts to win, although fair play to them- they are constantly raising the standard of play and to devote a lot of their time to doing so is up to them. For me, it's not as big a deal- obviously going into the show I wanted to win but I was more preoccupied with coming across alright and not losing too heavily. I can't hack learning the wordlists and memorising dictionaries, I just try and stick with the old method of finding a word in the selection, although that probably owes more to laziness.



I think it's a bit unfair to generalise and say everyone who goes on c4c/Apterous is obsessed with the game- out of my run in addition to myself Bob de Caux, Darren Carter, Laura Leach and Richard Moody are all or have been active on the forum or the game. The majority of people do still play the game for fun, I know I did- I certainly wouldn't want to be forced into playing in a special series with people like Chris Davies, Andrew Hulme and Innis Carson, I'd get annihilated! The thing is that these guys just want to be the best they can at the game, if someone revised for Mastermind you wouldn't criticise them- I can assure you that previous allegation of 'smugness' levelled against some of them are unfounded, they're all thoroughly nice people who happen to play words 99% of us aren't familiar with.

Hello Jeffery good too see you posting here. Congrats on becoming an Octo Champ and I look forward to watching you later in the year. May I also wish you the best of luck at uni and I hope that it goes really well for you.

Nice going jeffrey.

O man someone tell rachel that long hair style makes her look less like a sex bomb and more like a supply teacher aka not sexy although still quite good looking.
I think rachel's sex phase is over. It was good while it lasted i guess

But sweeping generalisations are such fun! But you're quite right. Actually I really liked Bob de Caux as well (can't quite place anyone else on your list at the moment). He came across really well, too, playing the game with a smile on his face. He's obviously had his fair share of troubles to overcome in his life as well, what with him being a Spurs fan and all!

Thanks, Bart!


Hi Jeffrey! Congrats on your octo-win and thanks for dropping by to say hello!

I think you’re pretty much adored by all Countdown viewers. You’re brainy, handsome, and you come across as a really down-to-earth bloke. I hope you win that oversized novelty dictionary collection, requiring a new room to be built on your house just to keep the things.

I wonder: have the finals been recorded already? I suppose they probably have. I’ll cross my fingers for you in the past.

Good luck at uni!

John ****in' Inverdale. That's me not watching this week. Someone please give me a heads up if Rachel wears one of her special dresses.

Nice dress Rachel!

VERY nice dress - her hair looks good too.

She's looking rather gorgeous today... bluey grey, nice and tight and short too! It will probably be on YouTube soon!

i guessed todays dress would get some male attention

Probably a cheap ploy by the producers to boost viewing figures by getting lovely Rachel to wear short skirts, tight-fitting dresses, sexy heels, etc.

And I for one am not too proud to say it works!

Well i was watching today and what a lovely dress Rachel was wearing. She is definately getting more confident now onscreen which it makes it better for us .....we like to see her enjoying herself and being comfortable.

There's deffo a trend for Rachel wearing short clingy oufits these last few weeks.

Whether it's a cynical ploy by C4 for attracting the pervo brigade and upping the ratings or it's Rachel's own choice, who cares !!!

Unlike Carol who only looked good in certain outfits, Rachel could wear a bin bag and still look gorgeous.

Ah, shucks.

The finals have not already been recorded, they're still doing the preliminary matches atm. I think finals are recorded sometime in November and broadcast in December.

Thanks to all for the congratz as well again!

Perhaps the most cringeworthy TV moment of the year this week, when Lesley Garrett launched into Climb Every Mountain! I actually had to look away, and I can't believe poor Suzi resisted sticking her fingers in her ears!