Andrew Hulme
| Andrew Hulme octochamp statistics | |
|---|---|
| Final position | Runner-up |
| Seeding | 1 |
| Points total | 930 |
| Conundrums solved | 7 |


Andrew Hulme was a contestant in Series 42, the winner of Junior Championship, an octochamp in the runner-up of Series 61, and a participant in 30th Birthday Championship. He is also an Apterite. As of his first appearance, he was from Ketton, Rutland. As of his Junior Championship appearances, he was at Casterton College. As of his Series 61 appearances, he was an economics student at Warwick University. And as of his 30th Birthday Championship appearances, he was a competitive poker player from Nottingham.
Hulme's grandfather, Ernie, appeared as a contestant in Series 44.
On-screen
Series 42
Hulme first appeared in February 2000 at around 11-years-old. Here, he faced eventual champion Michael Calder. Hulme kept up with Calder with the scores level, going into the conundrum. But Calder unscrambled BINGONUTT, to defeat Hulme and become an octochamp.
Junior Championship
Hulme's next appearance was midway through Series 47 when at 13-years-old, he took part in and won a special three-day Junior Championship. He prevailed over Amey Deshpande and Scrabble champion Perry Fung, to emerge the victor.
Series 61
Seven years after his Junior victory, Hulme returned to the show as an adult near the start of Series 61. In his debut episode, he and Micheal Harris impressively spotted POLICEMEN and DREAMIEST. After Harris finished with an impressive losing score of 101, Hulme finished with an incredible 133 (the then second-highest debut score in history). Hulme rattled off seven more wins and while none of his other opponents achieved centuries, he maintained his skill to the end by spotting impressive word spots like MINNEOLA and EXTRINSIC while never scoring below 101 en route to becoming an octochamp.
He became only the third contestant to score eight consecutive centuries in all his heat games and also the fourth to score over 900 points after Julian Fell, Craig Beevers and Kirk Bevins. Most notably, his octotal of 930 points broke the previous record of 925 set by Bevins in the previous series. Though, that record was beaten by Jack Hurst in Series 63.
He returned as the No. 1 seed in December 2009. He took on No. 8 seed Jacqueline Baker and after some very tough rounds plus an unsolved conundrum, he won his quarter-final with 86 points (his lowest score in the 15-round format). Hulme's score improved to 95 in his semi-final, due to his word spots of POLEAXE and SOUNDEST plus an excellent final numbers game. This brought him to the grand final against Chris Davies.
Although Hulme performed very well in the numbers rounds, he was ultimately outclassed by his opponent's word spots of TETRODE and DIARISES and made an inspired attempt at houseload ☓. This makes Hulme the first 900 club member to not win a series.
30th Birthday Championship
Hulme to the show in 2013, as one of 41 contestants that took part in 30th Birthday Championship. He won his first match against Steven Briers by 113 – 74, before losing to Series 66 runner-up Jonathan Rawlinson on a crucial conundrum.
| Preceded by Jimmy Gough |
Series runner-up Series 61 |
Followed by Nicki Sellars |
Episodes
| # | Date | Type | Contestant 1 | Score | Contestant 2 | Presenters | Guest | Lex | Max | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2706 | 09/02/2000 | P | Michael Calder | 57 – 47 | Andrew Hulme | Richard Whiteley | Carol Vorderman | Tim Rice | Susie Dent | 74 | ||
| 3208 | 13/03/2002 | JSF | Andrew Hulme | 66 – 44 | Amey Deshpande | Richard Whiteley | Carol Vorderman | Andi Peters | Phiona Stanley | 82 | ||
| 3209 | 14/03/2002 | JF | Andrew Hulme | 53 – 41 | Perry Fung | Richard Whiteley | Carol Vorderman | Andi Peters | Phiona Stanley | 72 | ||
| 4857 | 09/07/2009 | P | Micheal Harris | 101 – 133 | Andrew Hulme | Jeff Stelling | Rachel Riley | Donal MacIntyre | Susie Dent | 155 | ||
| 4858 | 10/07/2009 | P | Andrew Hulme | 116 – 52 | Eileen Broadhead | Jeff Stelling | Rachel Riley | Donal MacIntyre | Susie Dent | 132 | ||
| 4859 | 13/07/2009 | P | Andrew Hulme | 111 – 21 | Gordon Armour | Jeff Stelling | Rachel Riley | Ian Hyland | Susie Dent | 126 | ||
| 4860 | 14/07/2009 | P | Andrew Hulme | 119 – 48 | Steven Davenport | Jeff Stelling | Rachel Riley | Ian Hyland | Susie Dent | 139 | ||
| 4861 | 15/07/2009 | P | Andrew Hulme | 101 – 50 | Jonathan Good | Jeff Stelling | Rachel Riley | Ian Hyland | Susie Dent | 121 | ||
| 4862 | 16/07/2009 | P | Andrew Hulme | 104 – 19 | Barbara Speak | Jeff Stelling | Rachel Riley | Ian Hyland | Susie Dent | 121 | ||
| 4863 | 17/07/2009 | P | Andrew Hulme | 118 – 64 | Vicky Smith | Jeff Stelling | Rachel Riley | Ian Hyland | Susie Dent | 139 | ||
| 4864 | 20/07/2009 | P | Andrew Hulme | 128 – 52 | Mike Olive | Jeff Stelling | Rachel Riley | Anton du Beke | Susie Dent | 144 | ||
| 4947 | 10/12/2009 | QF | Andrew Hulme | 86 – 42 | Jacqueline Baker | Jeff Stelling | Rachel Riley | Dr Phil Hammond | Susie Dent | 118 | ||
| 4951 | 16/12/2009 | SF | Ryan Taylor | 48 – 95 | Andrew Hulme | Jeff Stelling | Rachel Riley | Rory McGrath | Susie Dent | 116 | ||
| 4953 | 18/12/2009 | GF | Andrew Hulme | 86 – 117 | Chris Davies | Jeff Stelling | Rachel Riley | Rory McGrath | Susie Dent | 120 | ||
| 5622 | 16/01/2013 | 30BP | Andrew Hulme | 113 – 74 | Steven Briers | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Martin Lewis | Susie Dent | 127 | ||
| 5639 | 08/02/2013 | 30B1 | Andrew Hulme | 91 – 98 | Jonathan Rawlinson | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Kate Adie | Susie Dent | 115 | ||