A STUDENT from the Herefordshire border has made it through to the champion of champions showdown of Channel 4’s Countdown.

The brainiac won eight consecutive head-to-heads and made history by recording the iconic daytime show’s highest-ever score.

Tom Stevenson, who is in the third and final year of his English literature with media and culture degree at the University of Worcester, appeared on the show every day last week and again from Monday to Wednesday this week, proving his lexical dexterity and numerical agility skills.

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Mr Stevenson, from Burford, near Tenbury Wells, said: “Once you have won eight times, which I did, you are then through to the series final, and I’ve also been invited to the champion of champions.

"I am so pleased. It was always something of a bucket list thing to do, and it took me quite a few rounds of applying before I even got on to the show.

"To then go on to win eight times and now be in the champion of champions is just amazing.”

He recorded the show’s highest-ever score of 154 last week after cracking the infamous Countdown conundrum in just three seconds. At the time of the broadcast, he was the number one seed.

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“It was an amazing experience filming the shows and far surpassed my expectations,” he added.

“We filmed five shows on one day, which was tiring but I had a really great time meeting other people and I’m looking forward to filming the final in a few weeks’ time and then the champion of champions later in the year.”

Mr Stevenson is hoping to continue his studies, after completing his undergraduate degree, with a postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) and is hoping to become an English teacher.