Paul Nixon

Paul Nixon octochamp statistics
Final position	Semi-finalist
Seeding	3
Points total	893
Conundrums solved	7

Paul Nixon, 22 years after his first appearance, in Series 81.

Paul Nixon was a contestant in Series 34 and an octochamp in Series 81. As of his 2nd appearance, he was an Actuary from Surbiton in Surrey. His father, David Nixon, also appeared in both those series.

Nixon first appeared in February 1997 and won his first game against eventual series semi-finalist Paul Peters by 60 – 32 points. He then won his second game but lost his third against Roger Hayward in a low-scoring 31 – 29 game. He then returned to the programme 22 years later and started his run against Pauline Creer with a strong 107 points to Creer's 45 points. He then followed with several sensational performances, scoring a total of 7 centuries from his 8 games. He ultimately wrapped up his run with 893 points to become an octochamp, and qualified for the finals ranked 3rd.

In his quarter-final match against number 6-ranked John Osmond, it was very close; Nixon took an early lead with his finding of ADUSTION. However, his 6 small gambles went against him, and found himself 2 points behind going into the third half. Nixon beat Osmond in one more letters round to lead by 5 points going into a crucial conundrum, with both players over 100 points. With half a second left, Nixon buzzed in with the correct answer to book a place in the semi-final. Nixon took on number 2 prospect Jamie Wing in the semi-final, keeping the game neck-and-neck until very near the end, when Wing broke away with two quality solves in the final letters and final numbers to relegate Nixon to a semi-final defeat. Nixon amassed a total of 1,087 points in his Series 81 run, although with his 1997 run he garnered an overall total of 1,233 points.

Since appearing on the show, he became a member of Apterous and has participated in ZoomDown by appearing in Series 1, Series 2 and becoming a tetrachamp in Series 4, winning against James Burley in his quarter-final, but losing against Rachael Montgomery after an unsolved crucial Conundrum in his semi-final.

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
1937	7/02/1997	P	Paul Nixon	60 – 32	Paul Peters	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Geoffrey Durham	Rob Scriven	71
1938	10/02/1997	P	Paul Nixon	57 – 28	John Blackburn	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Jan Harvey	Susie Dent	74
1939	11/02/1997	P	Paul Nixon	29 – 31	Roger Hayward	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Jan Harvey	Susie Dent	71
7172	30/09/2019	P	Pauline Creer	45 – 107	Paul Nixon	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Pam Ayres	Susie Dent	154
7173	1/10/2019	P	Paul Nixon	93 – 48	Harry Robinson	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Pam Ayres	Susie Dent	122
7174	2/10/2019	P	Paul Nixon	107 – 44	Dave Richardson	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Pam Ayres	Susie Dent	129
7175	3/10/2019	P	Paul Nixon	126 – 45	Martyn Willmore	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	147
7176	4/10/2019	P	Paul Nixon	136 – 45	Helen Millington	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	167
7177	7/10/2019	P	Paul Nixon	109 – 32	Peter Williams	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	154
7178	8/10/2019	P	Paul Nixon	112 – 58	Elliot Black	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	135
7179	9/10/2019	P	Paul Nixon	103 – 30	Lorraine Davis	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	124
7227	16/12/2019	QF	Paul Nixon	117 – 102	John Osmond	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Jon Culshaw	Susie Dent	158
7230	19/12/2019	SF	Jamie Wing	91 – 77	Paul Nixon	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Tim Vine	Susie Dent	125