Magherafelt Countdown contestant ‘surprised’ at equalling highest score

The Magherafelt man, who equalled the highest ever score of 154 held by Tom Stevenson, won all eight of his games to become an Octochamp.

The 39-year-old risk analyst believes the 154 score could be beaten given the right letters, numbers and luck.

"It also depends on the calibre of the players and they have been improving in recent years," he said.

Cillian, originally from Killyclogher, admits to "loving" Countdown from an early age, and has been faithfully recording the programme for years to watch in the evenings.

He first appeared on the show back in 2011 when Jeff Stelling was the host and lost out to eventual Octocamp Dave Taylor.

"I decided that I wanted to go back on the programme to get revenge for losing out," he laughs, and is surprised about how well he did.

The audition for the show takes place over the telephone before the successful applicants are invited to recordings of the show at Media City in Manchester.

Five shows are recorded each day and Cillian admits he was so nervous, or concentrating so hard, that he did not hear the famous clock counting down.

"I was really nervous in the first show but then I relaxed after the second," he said. "I was told the clock was ticking down but I never heard it while I was on the show."

Everyone on the show was welcoming and put him at ease, especially the host Colin Murray who is from Northern Ireland.

Cillian is now focusing on the final and watching each Countdown show to see who he will be playing against. He prepares in his free time for the challenge online, but admits his preparations are "nothing special".

His wife, Catherine, was unable to accompany him to the show in November because they have a young family, but she hopes to go over to Manchester for the final.

Win or lose, Cillian McMulkin has written himself into the history of the cult game show which has thrown up some incredible champions over the past 40 years.