George Baker

George Baker octochamp statistics
Final position	Quarter-finalist
Seeding	5
Points total	734
Conundrums solved	5

George Baker in Series 88.

George Baker was an octochamp and finalist in Series 88. He was a Bartender and Chef running his own business from Croydon at the time of his appearances.

Appearances

Heat games

Baker débuted on the episode immediately after the game in which Harry Savage became the first octochamp of the series. In a very close affair against former finalist Ken Heaton, Baker cracked the crucial conundrum TENNISGIF to INFESTING with under half-a-second to spare, to win by 7 points. He followed this up with seven more victories to become the second octochamp of the series in three weeks and also stood out by being a regular chooser of 6-small numbers games, like octochamp John Cowen just over six years prior.

Of particular note, in his second game, he faced Avi Sharma – a candidate in the 2023 series of The Apprentice – who failed to score a single point. And in his sixth game he racked up his personal best, which also saw him spot the only 9 of his heats REREADING. Baker's seventh match was another nail-biter – one which could have swung in his opponent's favour had Will Gilchrist's disallowed nine coronates ☓ appeared in the dictionary. But, Baker quickly turned REDCATTLE into CLATTERED to remain in the champion's chair for one last heat game, in which he wrapped up with an exact century to finish with 734 points.

Finals

George ultimately returned as the fifth seed for a match against fourth seed Paul O'Brien. In a very closely-run affair, both players got off to a flier maxing out the first five rounds, and then traded blows with George being ahead by just a single point at the second ad break. O'Brien though pulled out an ace with AMUSEDLY, and after another winning round came together with a relatively easy 6-small final numbers selection, this meant Baker bowed out with his first defeat. He did get the last word by turning UGLIEENID into GUIDELINE to finish with a highly commendable 97 points and a final points tally of 831 from nine games.

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
8082	14/08/2023	P	Ken Heaton	72 – 79	George Baker	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Tom Read Wilson	Susie Dent	141
8083	15/08/2023	P	George Baker	92 – 0	Avi Sharma	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Tom Read Wilson	Susie Dent	123
8084	16/08/2023	P	George Baker	82 – 45	Jen Finneran	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Tom Read Wilson	Susie Dent	144
8085	17/08/2023	P	George Baker	89 – 78	Dudley Lidiard	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Tom Read Wilson	Susie Dent	126
8086	18/08/2023	P	George Baker	90 – 35	Darryl Johnson	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Tom Read Wilson	Susie Dent	134
8087	21/08/2023	P	George Baker	116 – 19	Anthea Leslie	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Jeff Stelling	Susie Dent	143
8088	22/08/2023	P	George Baker	86 – 75	Will Gilchrist	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Jeff Stelling	Susie Dent	125
8089	23/08/2023	P	George Baker	100 – 22	Dean Tulloch	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Jeff Stelling	Susie Dent	146
8173	19/12/2023	QF	Paul O'Brien	100 – 97	George Baker	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Christopher Biggins	Susie Dent	139