A 21-year-old from Essex, who says he does not have GCSEs in both Maths of English, has received brain-teasing TV quiz Countdown proper instances – however cannot discover a job
Callum achieved the uncommon distinction of eight wins in a row (Picture: BBC)
An Essex man who admits he didn’t excel at college has received Channel 4’s brain-teasing quiz Countdown an unimaginable eight instances. However he nonetheless can’t discover a job.
Callum Ridley, from Witham, has been in search of a job in retail, the place his reward for lightning-fast calculations may effectively come in useful. However as but, he instructed the BBC, he’s had no luck.
Callum, 21, doesn’t have a GCSE in both English or Maths, however hopes his TV quiz achievements may impress potential employers. “Perhaps now that I’ve received eight exhibits on Countdown, I will put that on the CV [and] perhaps they will have a look at that and assume ‘he is really fairly good’,” he stated.
Callum, who’s an enormous fan of Isthmian League facet Witham City, added: “I will preserve wanting and hopefully one thing will come of it quickly.”
He says he had solely come throughout Countdown by probability. He occurred on the present about 5 years in the past whereas flicking by the TV channels, and rapidly grew to become hooked.
“I used to be enjoying alongside and thought ‘I am doing effectively’, so I assumed I will begin watching that,” Callum defined.
Finally, he determined to use to be a contestant, however he wasn’t anticipating to do in addition to he did. ”[I] thought, if I can win one [game], that’d be nice, get a teapot, however to go and win eight; it is simply loopy,” he stated.
“[It’s nice] to search out one thing I am good at, as a result of clearly you’d assume that if I am good with maths, [and] good with the letters and numbers, you’d assume I might have performed effectively at college.”
Callum added that fairly a number of of his former schoolteachers had received in contact to congratulate him on his Countdown success, in addition to family and friends members.
“It was a extremely good expertise,” he added, “and to win eight exhibits was simply superb.”
Callum expects to be invited to the Countdown finals in April (Picture: Channel 4)
Whereas Callum’s run on the present is undeniably spectacular, he’s not Countdown’s greatest winner. On Christmas Day 1987, Nic Brown set the best rating distinction ever achieved in a regular 14-round sport, thrashing Joel Salkin 108–36, a 72-pint margin of 72 factors.
He additionally went on to develop into one of many solely two contestants ever to realize an undefeated ‘grand slam’ – changing into an Octochamp, profitable a collection, and profitable a Championship of Champions.
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In April 2013, Giles Hutchings, a scholar at Royal Grammar College, Guildford broke the document for the best octochamp rating, amassing an unimaginable 965 factors over the eight video games. Teenager Elliott Mellor, went even additional, changing into the primary octochamp to interrupt the 1,000-point barrier in 2019.
Callum says he’s optimistic that he’ll be invited to the finals in April due to his excessive scores, so any future employer may must consider giving him a few days off for that.
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