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Luke Johnson-Davies

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He's not hot. He's not cold. He's Lukewarm!
Luke Johnson-Davies solving the conundrum in Episode 7102.

Luke Johnson-Davies was an octochamp in Series 82 who debuted in Series 81. He is an Apterite and a Student at Durham University, from Cambridge.

Johnson-Davies began attending Co-events in 2018 and was the runner-up of only his second event, CoNuT, in 2019.

On-screen

He first appeared on television in the second quarter-final of Series 80 as the audience member who solved the conundrum LOVECRISP with the answer COVERSLIP, which also had SLIPCOVER as a valid solution.

Nearly 6 months later, he made his debut as a player on 5 December 2019 against one-game winner Zach Hart. Two nine-letter words and scoring points in every round helped him beat Hart convincingly and catapult to 139 points, breaking Hamish Williamson's 10-year-old record for the highest ever score set by a challenger against a champion. Johnson-Davies' 139 is also the highest ever set on a player's first appearance, bettering Elliott Mellor's debut score by 8. Four more victories followed, all with scores well over a century and at least one nine-letter word, before stepping aside for the finals of Series 81.

He soon returned to the programme on 2 January 2020 to carry over his unbeaten run in the first heat of Series 82, kicking off the new year in style with spots of the nine-letter words MONTICULE and ESTIMATOR to win his sixth game with 143 points, the fourth-highest ever achieved in the "new" 15-round format. In the third show of the series, he became the standout provisional number 1 seed and only the second octochamp to join the "1,000 club", setting the second-highest ever cumulative score of 1,024 points after Mellor himself in the process.

Luke is the first ever octochamp to declare a nine-letter word in every heat prior to the finals, and has declared more nine-letter words than any other contestant across eight heat games: 11. Barring a total miracle, he will return in June 2020 to compete in the series finals.

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
7220 5/12/2019 P Zach Hart 26 – 139 Luke Johnson-Davies Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Suzannah Lipscomb Susie Dent 146
7221 6/12/2019 P Luke Johnson-Davies 122 – 60 Janice Collins Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Suzannah Lipscomb Susie Dent 144
7222 9/12/2019 P Luke Johnson-Davies 113 – 58 Jim Torpey Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Suzannah Lipscomb Susie Dent 143
7223 10/12/2019 P Luke Johnson-Davies 124 – 28 John Lawlor Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Suzannah Lipscomb Susie Dent 144
7224 11/12/2019 P Luke Johnson-Davies 126 – 59 Stephen Rooney Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Suzannah Lipscomb Susie Dent 133
7232 2/01/2020 P Luke Johnson-Davies 143 – 51 Gagan Singh Gill Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Tim Vine Susie Dent 145
7233 3/01/2020 P Luke Johnson-Davies 131 – 23 Nathan Nicholson Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Tim Vine Susie Dent 135
7234 6/01/2020 P Luke Johnson-Davies 126 – 36 Carole Bramwell Nick Hewer Rachel Riley Tim Vine Susie Dent 139