A 17-year-old Croydon College student appeared in the grand final of Channel 4's teatime programme Countdown and won a £500 cash prize.

Tom Hargreaves (pictured), the youngest contestant in the knockout stages, appeared in the grand final on June 28 but made his first appearance on the show in December 2001.The Leisure and Tourism student, who first became interested in the show when he was 13, won eight games to get to the final. Referring to his final appearance, the college student said: "I was really nervous but I decided to be confident in my playing methods, especially as I had only just got through the semi-finals." On the day, Tom missed out on the top prize but said: "I lost to the top seed and the better player won on the day, but I enjoyed the experience and won £500 which I will be putting towards driving lessons."

Tom still has ambitions of appearing on Countdown's Champions of Champions but admits "most of my friends did wonder why I hadn't applied to be on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire!"

July 10, 2002 10:30