Stu Harkness

Stu Harkness Octochamp Statistics
Final position	—
Seeding	2
Points total	886
Conundrums solved	5

Stu Harkness in Series 57...

...and 14 years later in Series 84!

Stu Harkness was a contestant in Series 57 and an octochamp in 84. He joined Apterous in 2020. He was a Maths Teacher from Tweedbank.

Harkness first appeared in 2007, losing his only game to Jason Cullen. On his tremendous return in 2021, he spotted three 9-letter words and scored in every round, helping him break the record for the highest ever score from a challenger against a carryover champion with 148 points–the third-highest score in Countdown history–against 5 game winner Jack Millard. He continued a strong run with 7 centuries and one score in the 90's. His eighth game was not broadcast on 3 December 2021 as scheduled due to technical problems; however, it was made available initially on Virgin Media's catch up service before finally airing five days later on 8 December 2021 at 6:10 am.

Entering the finals as the No. 2 seed, Harkness–sporting an exclamation mark on his shirt–returned on 16 December 2021 for the second quarter-final against fellow Scotsman Roddie Bell. Despite Bell levelling the scoreline in the first numbers game, Harkness won several letters rounds to extend his lead–including a spot of LIONHEART for 9–and confirm his place in the semi-final. In the last impossible-to-score numbers game, Harkness pulled off a hilarious gag; making a paper aeroplane out of his sheet with the target written on the side. Harkness then played against Florence Cappleman-Lynes in the semi-final. After Harkness had "Outaged" disallowed in the second letters round, Florence held the lead, although Harkness kept up very closely and reduced the game to a 7 point difference in the last letters round. Florence, however, solved a crucial conundrum to advance to the final, while Harkness bowed out with a second defeat. Harkness amassed an overall score of 1,095 points in his Series 84 run. With his Series 57 run, his overall total of points is 1,158 points.

He is also a competitive Scrabble player and qualified for the National Scrabble Championship Finals in 2016.

He has also appeared on Pointless on BBC One.

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
4499	10/12/2007	P	Jason Cullen	77 – 63	Stu Harkness	Des O'Connor	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Henry Blofeld	Alison Heard	122
7645	24/11/2021	P	Jack Millard	53 – 148	Stu Harkness	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Shirley Ballas	Susie Dent	153
7646	25/11/2021	P	Stu Harkness	104 – 38	Matty Hurst	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Shirley Ballas	Susie Dent	147
7647	26/11/2021	P	Stu Harkness	96 – 46	Chris Bickley	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Shirley Ballas	Susie Dent	133
7648	29/11/2021	P	Stu Harkness	107 – 63	Olly Walker	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Clare Balding	Susie Dent	133
7649	30/11/2021	P	Stu Harkness	110 – 28	Kate Sewell	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Clare Balding	Susie Dent	153
7650	1/12/2021	P	Stu Harkness	105 – 60	Shane Corry	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Clare Balding	Susie Dent	124
7651	2/12/2021	P	Stu Harkness	116 – 45	David Danskin	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Clare Balding	Susie Dent	136
7652	8/12/2021	P	Stu Harkness	100 – 53	Sophie Wilcox	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Clare Balding	Susie Dent	139
7661	16/12/2021	QF	Stu Harkness	112 – 82	Roddie Bell	Anne Robinson	Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon				Lucy Summers	Adrian Chiles		none	137
7665	22/12/2021	SF	Stu Harkness	97 – 114	Florence Cappleman-Lynes	Anne Robinson	Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon				Lucy Summers	Richard Coles	Susie Dent	122