20 � PEOPLE
SHE’S A TUNBRIDGE WELLS TEMP WITH A TASTE FOR TRAVEL – BUT SHE’S ALSO A COUNTDOWN QUEEN.
J
ENNIFER steadman has not only scored more points than any other woman on Countdown, she was picked to represent the show on comedy quiz 8 Out of 10 Cats, is hopeful of appearing on the Champion of Champions grand final - and even met her current boyfriend when she was pitted against him in the quarter-final. The 22-year-old from Paddock Wood notched up eight wins in two days in 2013, smashing records aplenty and winning her now treasured Countdown teapot, and only lost to the eventual winner in the series final. She says: “I genuinely thought I was going to throw up when I walked on set for the first time. “But as soon as I got an eight in my first letters round, I was fine. By my seventh game, I was so relaxed, I did an air-drum solo during the introductory music, much to the amusement of my friends in the audience.” Jennifer only became a regular viewer of the programme, which features two contestants battling it out to create words from nine random letters as well as numbers rounds and an anagram challenge, when she was studying English at Exeter University - but she was a fan from a young age. “I don’t remember but my nan told me she took me to the park when I was two or three and I started crying my eyes out”, she explains. “I was beside myself. Apparently, when I calmed down, it turned out I was upset because I was missing Countdown.” Jennifer remembers occasionally watching the show as a sixth form student but when she went to university, it became a habit. She then discovered Apterous, an online forum on which contestants chat and practise with each other. “I wasn’t planning to apply for the show immediately because when I got on Apterous, I realised I was a bit rubbish. I was so bad, I got demotivated and only kept playing as I’d paid £15 membership and didn’t want to waste it”, she laughs. But slowly, Jennifer’s practice began to pay off, helped by another member who had lost in a semi-final and who took her under his wing until she felt confident enough to apply. “There are live tournaments, the main one being Countdown in Lincoln. I went to
that and beat the best player of all time. I thought ‘now I’ve beaten him, I’m not scared of anyone.’”, she says. “I applied in February 2013 and had to audition over the phone. “They gave me letters rounds, numbers and conundrums. I did terribly by my standards because I’d freaked out so badly – but they told me I’d passed.” Jennifer’s television debut was in midJuly, by which time she had graduated, with first-class honours, and so had had time to practise. “I was confident I’d win eight games (the maximum run for any contestant) which is pretty presumptuous but I didn’t think I’d score amazingly highly. I was hoping to get more than 800, which is the benchmark of a
COUNTDOWN CHALLENGE YOURSELF
Find the longest word available from these nine letters:
WELFGAHNO Get to the target of 518 in the quickest time using these six numbers - 75 10 3 5 9 8 Jennifer solved this in four seconds
good player. Only ten people had then ever got more than 900 before I did. “I was so nervous when I went onstage, but as soon as the first letters came out, I had an eight-letter word and that calmed me down.” Jennifer won that game with 104 points, her lowest total of the eight games, and as five matches are filmed per day and hers was the third, she took part in three the first day and five the second. “A lot of people are shattered by the end of the fifth game but I never felt that”, she says. “I just felt more pumped up for it, I was absolutely buzzing. “After my last game, when they told me my 952 points was the highest ever scored by a woman and the third-highest ever, I cried my eyes out and my friend who’d tutored me gave me a hug and said: ‘Isn’t this the best feeling in the world?’ and I said yes.” After the high of the show, it was “back to reality”, as Jennifer planned to travel in
Each episode of Countdown, which was first broadcast in November 1982, features ten letters rounds, in which contestants have to find the longest possible word from nine letters picked at random; four of numbers for which a target answer must be reached by using six others and the first-on-the-buzzer conundrum, a nine-letter anagram.
Europe and look for a job. But by November, the series final was looming and Jennifer knew she could be facing her then 17-year-old “nemesis” as an opponent. “He was terrified of me – and he ‘didn’t want to lose to a girl’, in his words – so he started playing mind games”, she says. “He’d take my bad performances and nominate them for game of the week online to bring them to people’s attention, which didn’t help. “There was so much pressure, people wanted a female champion and I’d just got back from travelling so hadn’t played for months.” Jennifer lost her first game in the finals, but by three points and to the eventual winner Callum Todd – who not only beat her nemesis in the final, he also became her boyfriend. “We became friends after that, on and off, then the following year, we chatted a lot on Skype and when I found out he’d never properly experienced London, I planned a route around the city, showing him the landmarks. We’ve now been together two and a half months and we do play Countdown! I think the last two normal games we’ve played, we’ve won one each, so we’re pretty evenly matched.” And more stardom was in store for Jennifer, who was invited to appear on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, the comedy panel show’s take on the format, which was
screened last month. “I was nervous being with Jonathan Ross, Sean Lock, Jason Manford, Sarah Millican and Jimmy Carr but it was a great experience. It gets about two million viewers, it’s pretty massive to think two million people saw me!” Having helped Sean Lock’s team to victory over Sarah Millican’s, Jennifer’s next goal is to be picked for the Countdown Champion of Champions edition. And although she was told by a series producer that she would be chosen, along with recent series champions, it has not yet been revealed when the next grand final will take place or who will take part. “If I won that, I’d be a legend”, she grins. “But I’m not thinking about it because it would raise expectations too high and I know it’ll be extremely difficult to win – but if I did, it would be absolutely amazing. “Countdown has changed my life. If anyone had told me five years ago I’d be on the show ten times, travelled the country to play it with weird and wonderful people, had a relationship as a result, and been recognised on the street for being able to spell and count, I’d have thought you were on something. Sometimes I think I’m on something because it’s so crazy how things have turned out, but I wouldn’t change it for anything.”
• CINEMA • LIVE ENTERTAINMENT • LIVE MUSIC • COMEDY • DRAMA • MUSICALS • OPERA • BALLET Search Stag Sevenoaks Wednesday 11th March 2015
ANSWERS: Halogen 518 – (75-(9-8)) x (10 – 3)
Eleanor Jones met Jennifer Steadman, the most successful female contestant the Channel 4 gameshow has ever had
“After my last game, when they told me my 952 points was the highest ever scored by a woman and the thirdhighest ever, I cried my eyes out and my friend who’d tutored me gave me a hug and said: ‘Isn’t this the best feeling in the world?’ and I said ‘yes’.”