Luke Johnson-Davies
| Luke Johnson-Davies octochamp statistics | |
|---|---|
| Final position | Champion |
| Seeding | 1 |
| Points total | 1,024 |
| Conundrums solved | 6 |
Luke Johnson-Davies was a contestant in Series 81, an octochamp in and the champion of Series 82, and a quarter-finalist in Championship of Champions XVI. He was a maths and computer science student at Durham University, from Cambridge at the time of his initial appearances. By the time of his Championship of Champions appearances, he had graduated from Durham and was a software engineer. He is also an Apterite.
Luke began attending Co-events in 2018 and was the runner-up of only his second event, CoNuT 2019.
Appearances on the show
Pre-COVID-19 pandemic suspension
Luke made his TV debut on 21 June 2019 as the audience member who came up with COVERSLIP as the correct conundrum answer, though SLIPCOVER was also a valid solution.
He then debuted on 5 December 2019 against Zach Hart. Two nine-letter words and scoring points in every round helped him beat Hart convincingly and catapult to 139 points, a score that broke two records: Hamish Williamson's ten-year-old record for the highest-ever score set by a challenger against a champion by five points – and Elliott Mellor's seven-month-old record for the highest-ever debut score by eight points (until it was broken by Dan Byrom on 27 January 2022). He earned four more victories while never falling below 113 points nor failing to declare at least one nine-letter word, before stepping aside for the Series 81 finals.
He returned on 2 January 2020 to carry over his unbeaten run in the first game of Series 82. Showing no signs of slowing down, he kicked off the new year in style by spotting another pair of nine-letter words to win his sixth game with 143 points – at the time, the joint fourth-highest ever achieved in the new 15-round format. In the third show of the series – he became the standout No. 1 seed and only the second octochamp ever to join the 1,000 club, having accumulated 1,024 points – at the time, the then second-highest ever after Mellor's 1,061 – giving him an average of 128 points per game.
Luke is the first ever contestant to declare a valid nine-letter word in at least one letters round in all eight of their heat games. He also broke the record for the most valid nines declared in heat games alone with eleven (until it was beaten by Luke Boynton with twelve): HAILSTONE, OUTDRIVES, EUTOPIANS, LEGATIONS, ARRESTING, RESINITES, DISLOCATE, MONTICULE, ESTIMATOR, PARVITUDE and COURTIERS. In addition, he is the first ever contestant to record a run of four consecutive scores over 125.
Post-suspension
As a result of filming being suspended in March due to the 2020 COVID-19 hiatus, Series 82 was extended to finish on-screen in December following its resumption in August.
Luke returned to play his quarter-final against David Kempshall on 10 December, a record of 342 days after becoming an octochamp. He sailed off to a convincing lead while Kempshall kept up. Both players spotted DETAILING before Luke emerged victorious with a max game as it was only the eleventh in the history of Countdown, the second in the new 15-round era and the first since 17 December 2014.
Luke then faced Ian Volante in his semi-final. Luke added yet another eighteen points to his total with a word spot of SOAPINESS. Despite Volante beating him in the second numbers round, Luke outmuscled the opposition by a score of 112 points to Volante's 65. This propelled him into the ultimate series showdown against Sam Cappleman-Lynes – only the second episode in more than 7,000 to feature two contestants bearing double-barrelled surnames, the first being on 28 July 1989 between Derek Stuart-Clark and John Gough-Cooper.
In the grand final: after picking one large in his previous ten shows, Luke opted for six small in the first numbers round. A very easy target of 150 helped neither player and the scoreline after three rounds remained level at 25 – 25. He then broke the deadlock in Round 4 by spotting MAGESHIP in a consonant-heavy selection chosen by Sam. Luke remained eight points up after gambling on six small again, which proved much more challenging than the previous two numbers rounds. In the final stretch of the match, Luke spotted LEAPFROG to escape the crucial ten-point margin with five rounds remaining before confirming his 100% record of finding a nine in every show of his series with a word spot of EUTOPIANS again. In the final letters round – Luke once again edged the opposition with a word spot of MAEGBOTE to claim the title of Series 82 champion and in doing so, winning the longest ever series of Countdown. Luke held the Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy but for reasons unknown, this shot was not shown in the final cut.
Amazingly, Luke found the longest possible word in every letters round across the finals stages. In addition, he declared more nine-letter words in the letters rounds than anyone else on the show with fourteen so far. Across his eleven victories in his series, he amassed an aggregate total of 1,384 points – the highest ever achieved at the time – this statistic also makes him the first contestant to win a series with an average above 125. He had fallen behind in the scoreline only once thus far, and remained unbeaten on the show.
Championship of Champions XVI
Luke returned in January 2023 for Championship of Champions XVI.
He played against Martin May and won four rounds to eclipse the opposition by 27 points, with the only missed maxima being ABUTTER and the nasty conundrum of LOTTOLIAM.
In his quarter-final against Ahmed Mohamed, both players roared off the blocks by spotting two nine-letter words in succession although Mohamed then put his foot on the gas with some excellent numbers round solutions along with the word spots of AMBREINE and JUDOIST. Luke did steal the last numbers round to ensure he kept his record of scoring a century in every game but Mohamed finished with a flourish by unscrambling the conundrum of OATNIACIN, knocking Luke out of the tournament and condemning him to his only defeat on the show. That being said, Luke did manage to maintain his 100% record of spotting a nine-letter word in every episode – having spotted a total of seventeen.
Luke has scored 1,601 points over his thirteen games, giving him an average of just over 123 points. He is also the seventh octochamp to have scored only centuries after Julian Fell, Craig Beevers, Jack Hurst, Dylan Taylor, Jen Steadman and Robin McKay.
ZoomDown
Whilst Countdown was airing with COVID-19 precautions, he appeared on ZoomDown Series 2. He won on a crucial conundrum against David Barnard, but lost on a crucial against Jack Hurst.
He then appeared in the special GoatZDown series, losing his only game to Jack Worsley.
Nearly a year later, Luke appeared in Series 4 where he lost against Eeshan Malhotra. But after Malhotra withdrew for personal reasons, Luke was invited back and he then won the last two preliminary matches of the series with a total of 249 points.
He was then invited for the Championship of Champions as a wild card (since Elliott Mellor qualified in two series), winning against Jonathan Wynn and Rachael Montgomery before eventually losing to Conor Travers.
| Preceded by James Haughton |
Series winner Series 82 |
Followed by Adam Latchford |
Episodes
| # | Date | Type | Contestant 1 | Score | Contestant 2 | Presenters | Guest | Lex | Max | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7220 | 05/12/2019 | P | Zach Hart | 26 – 139 | Luke Johnson-Davies | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Suzannah Lipscomb | Susie Dent | 146 | ||
| 7221 | 06/12/2019 | P | Luke Johnson-Davies | 122 – 60 | Janice Collins | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Suzannah Lipscomb | Susie Dent | 144 | ||
| 7222 | 09/12/2019 | P | Luke Johnson-Davies | 113 – 58 | Jim Torpey | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Suzannah Lipscomb | Susie Dent | 143 | ||
| 7223 | 10/12/2019 | P | Luke Johnson-Davies | 124 – 28 | John Lawlor | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Suzannah Lipscomb | Susie Dent | 144 | ||
| 7224 | 11/12/2019 | P | Luke Johnson-Davies | 126 – 59 | Stephen Rooney | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Suzannah Lipscomb | Susie Dent | 133 | ||
| 7232 | 02/01/2020 | P | Luke Johnson-Davies | 143 – 51 | Gagan Singh Gill | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Tim Vine | Susie Dent | 145 | ||
| 7233 | 03/01/2020 | P | Luke Johnson-Davies | 131 – 23 | Nathan Nicholson | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Tim Vine | Susie Dent | 135 | ||
| 7234 | 06/01/2020 | P | Luke Johnson-Davies | 126 – 36 | Carole Bramwell | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Tim Vine | Susie Dent | 139 | ||
| 7407 | 10/12/2020 | QF | Luke Johnson-Davies | 136 – 89 | David Kempshall | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | John Inverdale | Susie Dent | 136 | ||
| 7411 | 16/12/2020 | SF | Luke Johnson-Davies | 112 – 65 | Ian Volante | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Levi Roots | Susie Dent | 135 | ||
| 7413 | 18/12/2020 | GF | Luke Johnson-Davies | 112 – 95 | Sam Cappleman-Lynes | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Levi Roots | Susie Dent | 135 | ||
| 7927 | 09/01/2023 | CP | Martin May | 90 – 117 | Luke Johnson-Davies | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Heather Small | Susie Dent | 128 | ||
| 7932 | 16/01/2023 | CQF | Ahmed Mohamed | 132 – 100 | Luke Johnson-Davies | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Rick Edwards | Susie Dent | 145 | ||
