Elliott Mellor was an octochamp in Series 80 of Countdown. He is a Maths Student at Manchester Metropolitan University from Oldham. He is also an Apterite who peaked at No.1 in the Pro Ranks on Apterous, less than 12 months after joining the site.
Arguably one of the most talented and dominant Apterites ever, he made his TV debut on 9 November 2018 as the audience member who solved the conundrum after a failed attempt from both contestants.
Mellor first appeared as a contestant in Series 80 on Thursday 16 May 2019 against 2 game winner Arran Cleminson, maxing 13 rounds and setting the highest-ever debut score in history: 131. He spotted impressive word findings such as TAIAPURE and NEOTERISM, while his adversary scored only in the four numbers rounds. The following day, three 9-letter words helped him card the highest-ever score of 152, toppling Zarte Siempre's four-month old record of 150. A third consecutive 13-max performance followed, which also marked the first ever consecutive hat trick of scores over 130. During his fifth match, Mellor shattered yet another record by defeating his challenger Kieran Matley by 133 points, overcoming the previous record winning margin by 21. Mellor wrapped up his octochamp run with a record cumulative score of 1,061 – the first ever over 1,000 – overhauling Dylan Taylor’s record by 87 points. His average heat score is also the first ever over 125 (132.625). Away from Countdown, Mellor enjoys tennis.
Mellor returned in June 2019 for the Series 80 finals, and after defeating #8 seed Mark Decouto in the quarter-finals, and #4 seed Maggie Barlow in the semi-finals, Mellor suffered his first defeat on Countdown in the Grand Final to #2 seed Dinos Sfyris.
Mellor now works as a Data Anaylst for AJ Bell