18-year-old math whiz smashes all time highest score on ‘Countdown’

LONDON - A Brit teenage genius has stunned viewers by smashing the all-time points record on British game show ‘Countdown’.

Jack Hurst made a whopping final total, highest ever in the 28-year history of the show.

The 18-year-old boy from Desford, Leicestershire, has been appearing on the show throughout the last week.

And on Friday’s episode, his eighth and final appearance on the show, he racked up a massive score of 946.

During his impressive performance on the Channel 4 programme, Hurst found six nine-letter words and won each game with a clear majority.

“It was a really good feeling,” the Daily Mail quoted him as saying, after the show.

“After Wednesday’s show a producer told me I only needed 114 points 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,” he said.

Hurst added, “I’m actually going for second place because the runner-up gets 1,000 pounds and I’d rather have that.’

Hurst’s brother, Josh, a geography student at Manchester, said: “I went along to the filming with Jack and it was really great to see him doing so well.

“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 show, 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. (ANI)