WORD wizard Glen Webb, from Cradley Heath, lost out on a place in the final of TV’s Countdown after being struck down with a sickness bug.

His winning streak faltered in the semi-finals as the virus took hold, but he battled on despite feeling ill.

Although he found two nine-letter words, the maximum possible, the 39-year-old number three see lost by 25 points to the eventual winner, who was seeded at number seven.

Mr Webb, a financial planner, of Sandwell Grove, said: “I started with a sickness bug the day before filming and felt dreadful.”

It was his second attempt at winning the Countdown championship, having reached the quarter-finals of the Channel 4 quiz when he was just 17.