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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Kyle O'Sullivan

Martin Lewis has spreadsheet for his unusual hobby - and got into funny spat with wife

When he's not saving the nation from financial disaster - Martin Lewis is engaging in a rather unusual hobby. The money saving expert, who has been fighting our corner for two decades, has started campaigns to take on unfair bank charges, uncapped energy bills and student finance.

Whether it be on TV, radio, online or in the newspapers, Martin has been giving us invaluable advice to save cash and leading the charge against those trying to rip us off. Outside of the financial world, Martin is a massive fan of Scrabble and even records all of his scores on a spreadsheet - as well as making graphs.

Martin Lewis competes against wife Lara Lewington at Scrabble (Instagram)

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Martin collects the data from his Scrabble games to track his progress and has a sensational average score of 407.

The financial expert competes with his wife, TV presenter Lara Lewington, around four of five times a week to see who has the strongest vocabulary.

In June last year, Martin revealed that the pair had played over a thousand games since they met and that he wins the most of the time.

Although Lara did try to stop him from revealing their shared passion to the public, probably because her husband keeps coming out on top.

After an appearance on the Martin lewis Money Show, the host tweeted: "To clarify what I was saying at the end of #martinlewis before @LaraLewington tried to censor me. We've played 1,153 games of scrabble since we met (I have a graph).

"I've won by a ratio of 2.17:1 - my average score is 407, Mrs MSE is 365. (Though she always wins at Monopoly deals!)"

However, Lara, who presents the BBC's weekly technology news show, Click, hit back by replying: "This is completely unnecessary information."

Her bragging husband responded: "Oh no it isn't!"

Martin records all of their Scrabble scores (Getty Images)
Martin wins at Scrabble but Lara beats him at Monopoly (PA)

Martin's followers found the revelation hilarious - with many stunned that he makes graphs and others laughing at the fact the money saving expert gets beaten at Monopoly.

"Nobody likes a bragger Martin," tweeted on person, while another added: "That’s maths geekery on a whole other level!"

A third person sympathised: "My husband also keeps spreadsheets, detailing similar info. He even has a spreadsheet of spreadsheets. I sympathise."

Martin's average has gone down since he revealed all about his Scrabble addict in a blog post on moneysavingexpert.com back in May 2012.

He explained that, aside from the first 17, he had recorded the results of all the games with his wife and they would take a Scrabble board out with them.

"One of my great joys in life is finding the time to pop out for food with Mrs MSE, with a travel (or mini) Scrabble board and playing," he wrote.

"Normally in life we're both very supportive (17 points) of each other, but in Scrabble, it's true no-holds barred competition."

However, Martin only likes the purest type of Scrabble and hates what he has described as the "b******isation" of the game with online versions.

Martin is a Scrabble whizz (PA)

The money saving expert questioned what the skill is in a computer telling you if you're correct and claimed it "cheated" by "falesly pushing scores up".

He rented: "My aversion to online Scrabble isn’t just a snobbery for the real board, and an ability to manually (13 points) manipulate tiles to find a word (though there is a good deal of that in there), but part of the game play of real Scrabble is word knowledge and challenges.

"If you're not sure of a word, you can choose to play it safe or take the risk placing it down. In computer Scrabble, if the word's not right (as far as I’ve been told) you get another couple of chances for another option, or in some versions unlimited chances."

Another reason Martin has for not playing with strangers online is that it would feel like 'cheating' on his wife.

He added: "Now I do hope you read this rant, knowing there's a twinkle (14 points) in my eye as I write it. Of course if you want to play online Scrablle, then enjoy it, its not a bad thing, its just not the game I like.

"And frankly, even if I did want to play online, Mrs MSE would get very upset with me. Her comment is that it'd be tantamount to infidelity."

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