Chris Kirby

From Countdown
Chris Kirby
octochamp statistics
Final position Runner-up
Seeding 1
Points total 880
Conundrums solved 5
Chris Kirby in Series 60...
...and 15 years later in Series 90!

Chris Kirby was a contestant in Series 60, and an octochamp in and runner-up of Series 90. At the time of his 2009 appearances, he was finishing his A-levels and about to start a degree in history and English at Liverpool John Moores University. As of his 2024 appearances, he was from Widnes, Cheshire and working as a key account manager. He has also been an Apterite since 2009.

Appearances

Series 60

Kirby first appeared towards the very end of Series 60 where two wins were notched up before he ultimately became unstuck against eventual Series 61 finalist, Jacqueline Baker, who solved the crucial conundrum of MEDIALUST to relegate Kirby to defeat.

Series 90

Heat games

Virtually 15.5 years later and with a considerable amount of time on Apterous under his belt, Kirby returned and kicked off with a century in a very convincing second debut against fellow returnee Jane Bates on whom he held to under 10 points despite not gambling on the valid OUTSTARES in the final letters round. He then followed that up with seven more strong victories to coincidentally become the seventh and final octochamp of the series as well as the last overall of 2024, and certify his progression for the series finals.

His final octotal of 880 was the highest ever achieved without spotting a nine-letter word – the only other one available to him in addition to OUTSTARES was ELICITORS in his final heat game against Bethan Phillips on who he didn't wholly shake off until the darrenic spot of MUTATED in the final letters round. This achievement knocked the then long-standing number one seed, Fiona Wood, into the number two position.

Finals

Upon his return, he faced Neil Holland (who entered the finals as the substitute due to James Swinnerton being unable to attend the finals). Kirby faced another tough challenge, but managed to win a spot in the semi-finals with 96 points to Holland's 68.

His semi-final against fellow returnee, David Roe, was again a tough proposition for Kirby but he eventually broke free thanks to the spots of TENSILE, TRAITORS, MUCOID and PERSONAL to secure a grand final berth before the final numbers round while scoring another century in the process.

Wood turned out to be Kirby's toughest opponent to date – even though she immediately fell behind thanks to the backfire on waspier ☓, Kirby produced two ultimately crucial misfires in cuttie ☓ and promotee ☓ respectively despite following both of those up with the darrenic of ROUTEING to establish a three-point lead. That was preserved until the crucial and championship-deciding conundrum of ITSSADUEL. Unfortunately for Kirby and for the first time in these series finals, it was Wood who buzzed in after 18.5 seconds with LASSITUDE to make history as: only the sixth female series champion in 42 years, the first ever in the history of the 15-round format, snatch the title from Kirby and condemn him to his second defeat. He finished with a final points tally of 1,166 and an average of exactly 106 points per game in Series 90, to add to the 271 points scored from his 2009 appearances.

Preceded by
Michael Calder		 Series runner-up
Series 90		 Followed by
Tim James

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
4831 03/06/2009 P Ian Sinclair 28 – 103 Chris Kirby Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Richard Digance Susie Dent 142
4832 04/06/2009 P Chris Kirby 99 – 47 Hans Farley Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Richard Digance Susie Dent 120
4833 05/06/2009 P Chris Kirby 69 – 82 Jacqueline Baker Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley Richard Digance Susie Dent 116
8406 27/11/2024 P Jane Bates 8 – 121 Chris Kirby Colin Murray Rachel Riley Sara Davies Susie Dent 135
8407 28/11/2024 P Chris Kirby 96 – 54 Smriti Jain Colin Murray Rachel Riley Sara Davies Susie Dent 122
8408 29/11/2024 P Chris Kirby 116 – 52 George Kyriazi Colin Murray Rachel Riley Sara Davies Susie Dent 121
8409 02/12/2024 P Chris Kirby 113 – 60 Emma Etherington Colin Murray Rachel Riley Justin Moorhouse Susie Dent 123
8410 03/12/2024 P Chris Kirby 107 – 29 Jack Wheeler Colin Murray Rachel Riley Justin Moorhouse Susie Dent 125
8411 04/12/2024 P Chris Kirby 112 – 39 Grace Ellis Colin Murray Rachel Riley Justin Moorhouse Susie Dent 120
8412 05/12/2024 P Chris Kirby 121 – 75 Jan Larsson Colin Murray Rachel Riley Justin Moorhouse Susie Dent 123
8413 06/12/2024 P Chris Kirby 94 – 77 Bethan Phillips Colin Murray Rachel Riley Justin Moorhouse Susie Dent 124
8417 12/12/2024 QF Chris Kirby 96 – 68 Neil Holland Colin Murray Rachel Riley Rory Bremner Susie Dent 133
8421 18/12/2024 SF Chris Kirby 101 – 82 David Roe Colin Murray Rachel Riley Christopher Biggins Susie Dent 132
8423 20/12/2024 GF Chris Kirby 89 – 96 Fiona Wood Colin Murray Rachel Riley Christopher Biggins Susie Dent 120
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