A Countdown champion has appeared in courtroom accused of stabbing a rival contestant at a quiz occasion.
John Cowen, 30, appeared within the dock at Preston Crown Court docket, accused of wounding with intent and two counts of possession of a bladed article, prosecutor Mercedeh Jabbari informed the courtroom.
Cowen, who appeared on the daytime TV quiz present in 2017, allegedly attacked Thomas Carey with a knife on the Countdown In Blackpool 2024 occasion on the Wainwright Membership in Hornby Street within the Lancashire resort on 14 September.
Mr Carey, a Cambridge maths graduate and fellow Countdown champion, was taken to hospital for remedy to an harm to his arm.
Cowen was arrested on the occasion shortly after.
The defendant, from Morecambe, Lancashire, spoke solely to verify his identification on the temporary listening to earlier than Choose Darren Preston.
He wore a gray pullover and nodded as he was informed he was to be remanded into custody at HMP Liverpool, till an additional listening to on 6 December.
The Countdown In Blackpool occasion is an annual event which pits former winners from the Channel 4 sport present in opposition to one another.
Cowen scored the third-highest complete of the sequence he was a contestant on, in addition to recognizing the nine-letter phrase “spreading”.
He went on to seem in an additional 11 episodes, profitable eight consecutive contests earlier than he was lastly defeated.
One among Britain’s longest-running sport exhibits, Countdown has been on air since 1982, and has had seven essential presenters, in addition to a number of co-presenters and visitor presenters throughout its 5 a long time.
Based mostly on a sequence of phrase and mathematical challenges, the format has impressed a number of spin-offs, the most well-liked of which is the late-night panel present 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, hosted by Jimmy Carr.
