Chris Kirby

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 working as a key account manager for the UK/Nordics division of the US construction equipment supplier Illinois Tool Works. 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 series finalist, Jacqueline Baker, who solved the crucial conundrum MEDIALUST to relegate Kirby to defeat.

Heat games

Virtually 15-and-a-half years later and with a considerable amount of time on Apterous now under his belt, Kirby returned and kicked off with a century in a very convincing second debut against fellow returnee, Jane Bates, whom he held to under 10 points despite not gambling on the very much valid OUTSTARES in the final letters round. He then followed that up with seven more strong victories to become, coincidentally, the seventh and final octochamp of the series to certify his progression to the series finals.

His final octotal of 880 was the highest ever achieved without spotting a nine-letter word – the only other one actually available to him in addition to OUTSTARES was ELICITORS in his final heat game against valiant challenger, Bethan Phillips, 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, and Kirby marched into the quarter-finals.

Finals

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

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.

Fiona 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 darrenic ROUTEING to establish a three-point lead. That was preserved until the crucial and championship-deciding conundrum ITSSADUEL. Unfortunately for Kirby, and for the first time at all in these series finals, it was Wood who buzzed in after 18.5 seconds with the very much right LASSITUDE to make history as only the sixth female series champion in over 40 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 in his Series 60 appearances.

Preceded by Michael Calder

Series runner-up Series 90

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