A Ramsgate teenager will be one of eight contestants battling it out to be named the Countdown champion.
Ronan Higginson, 17, goes head to head with other hopefuls in the quarter finals of the Channel 4 series being aired from this Wednesday (June 21).
The Ursuline College year 12 student made his debut of series 87 of the show in May and has recorded some stunning successes.
His first appearance was against five-game winner Jonathan Seal which Ronan won with 132 points to Seal’s still comparatively impressive 98 points. It was also the highest joint score in a preliminary game under the new 15 round format; a record unbeaten for nine-and-a-half years.
Ronan then rattled off seven more amazing performances to become only the second octochamp (eight game champ) of the series.
The youngster can also lay claim to achieving achieved only the 13th perfect game in the long-running series with 135 points being both the maximum and his score.
Ronan has also equalled a four-year-old record for the highest margin of victory in a game of Countdown and is now ranked the No.1 seed.
And the teen, who has been dubbed Hurricane Higginson by the Countdown team, is one of just five players to have scored more than 1,000 points.
Ronan said: “I have been a big fan of the show from a young age and have enjoyed playing along with the contestants. I applied as early as I possibly could at the start of 2022, after around one year’s wait I was finally invited to record for the programme.
“It’s a fabulous experience, meeting some great people, including the hosts, guests, contestants and production team members.
“It was very much worth the wait to appear as there was a lot of valuable time to practice and improve before then.”
Mum Patricia added: “Ronan has loved the programme since he was a child and learned to read and write through Countdown. It has been his ambition to be on the programme since he was five years old.”
The words and numbers quiz was the first show to appear on Channel 4 in 1982 and has been a popular, cult programme ever since.
It is currently hosted by Colin Murray and Rachel Riley with Susie Dent in Dictionary Corner.
The quarter finals start on Channel 4 on Wednesday, screened at 6:05am and 2:10pm.
