World Scrabble Championship: London man beats former Countdown producer with 176-point word

Brett Smitheram clinched the title with his highest scoring word braconid - a parasitic wasp

A recruitment consultant from east London has become the World Scrabble Champion after beating a former Countdown producer who he called his “Scrabble idol”.

Brett Smitheram, from Chingford, beat Mark Nyman in three rounds at the championship final in Lille, France.

The 37-year-old clinched the title with his highest scoring word braconid - a parasitic wasp - earning him 176 points.

He earned a further five points after it was challenged by his opponent, Mr Nyman, from Knutsford in Cheshire, who previously worked for Channel 4's famous word and number puzzle game show.

Mr Smitheram , who has appeared on Countdown several times, revealed Mr Nyman had been one of his "Scrabble idols" growing up.

"He used to be the producer of Countdown and he got me on Countdown when I was 17, 20 years ago now. I was on Countdown 10 or 12 times.

"So he's known me for 20 years, and at the time he interviewed me for Countdown, he said 'What's your biggest aspiration?' and I said 'I want to win the Scrabble World Championship'.

"And today I beat him in order to do it. Quite a story behind it.

"It's absolutely amazing," Mr Smitheram said of his victory. "I'm still speechless had to come back from behind to qualify for this."

The former UK Scrabble champion said he spent between one and two hours a day revising words and playing the puzzle on the computer in preparation for the match.

Other high-scoring words during the game were Periagua , a dugout canoe used by American Indians scoring 76 points, Sundari, an East Indian tree scoring 28 points, and Gynaecia, a type of flower scoring 95 points.

Mr Smitheram , who reached the quarter finals of the World Scrabble Championship in 2014, won €7,000 (£5,873).

Additional reporting by Press Association