Ep 288: Anthony Kendall, David Lowden (March 25, 2015; originally aired October 5, 2011)

Rounds: Here.

Disclaimer: I watched this episode when it first aired, and although I did not recall any of it I cannot rule out memory being a factor.


This is the crucial fourth night for Anthony: A win here will very likely get him to the finals, particularly if he can keep his average up.  But first, Richard lets us know that Anthony used to be very competitive in rugby, and asks if he still plays it.  Anthony responds that he had to give up rugby some time ago; he grimaces as he says it was due to too many knee injuries.  As Richard observes, they've obviously been fixed if Anthony is doing all that running!  In fact, as Anthony explains, it was the reason he got into running in the first place.  Part of going through his many knee reconstructions (I wince at the thought) meant that he had to run to get back to fitness in order to be able to play sport.  Somewhere along the way he became enthused by the running itself and turned that into his sport of choice.

Tonight's challenge is David Lowden, a police officer who has proudly completed a couple of marathons.  That is two full marathons, as he points out, but since then he has cut back and now does half-marathons, just like Anthony.  He jokingly suggests that if the scores are tied at the end they should do a lap around the block to settle it.


David found an excellent word to take the initial lead, but then fell victim to a misheard (or mis-seen) letter and had an invalid answer in the second round.  A couple of shared rounds followed, but Anthony took the lead in round five and extended it in round six.  David was more than a conundrum's worth behind going into the final numbers round, so he tried to shake things up with a rat pack.  But Anthony navigated it better to be safe going into the conundrum.  He put the finishing touch on the victory with a fast solution to the conundrum, and the 63 to 31 victory gets him to his fifth game and likely into the finals.

In the rest of this write-up, I'll use "David" to refer to David Astel, and "David L" to refer to David Lowden.


As usual, details after the jump.