A Cambridge University student who is obsessed with TV’s Countdown has recorded the highest ever score on the show.
Brainy Jack Hurst, 18, racked up a staggering 946 points – the highest score ever achieved by any contestant in the programme’s 28 year history.
The teenager, from Desford, Leics., became obsessed with the show when he was just 11 years old and spends hours every day practising on the programme’s website.
Yesterday he said: ”It was a really good feeling.
“After Wednesday’s show the producer told me I only needed 114 in the last two shows to get the record.
”Then on Thursday’s show I got 133, which was the highest score in the series.”
Jack, who studies Maths at Cambridge University, will compete in the grand final in December for a chance to win a 20-volume gold-leaf dictionary set.
But Jack says he would rather LOSE the final and come second so he can bag the runners-up prize.
He said: ”I’m actually going for second place because the runner-up gets £1,000 and I’d rather have that.”
Brother, Josh, 22, a geography student at Manchester, added: ”He’s been watching the programme for about seven years and he’s always practicing on the Countdown website, so we knew he would do well.”
A spokeswoman for Granada, which produces the Channel 4 programme, confirmed Jack had notched up the highest ever score.
He said: ”Jack was a terrific contestant with a great personality as well as a great brain, and he has every chance of winning the final on December 17.”
