Stu Harkness

Stu Harkness octochamp statistics
Final position	Semi-finalist
Seeding	2
Points total	886
Conundrums solved	5

Stu Harkness in Series 57...

...and 14 years later in Series 84.

And again in Championship of Champions XVI.

Stu Harkness was a contestant in Series 57, an octochamp in Series 84 and a participant in Championship of Champions XVI. He was a Maths Teacher from Tweedbank. He joined Apterous in 2020.

Harkness first appeared in December 2007, losing his only game to Jason Cullen (who would eventually make his own comeback in Series 92).

But on his tremendous return virtually fourteen years later, he spotted three nine-letter words and scored in every round that helped him break the record for the highest ever score from a challenger against a reigning champion with 148 points – the third-highest score in Countdown history – against five-time winner, Jack Millard. After that, he continued a strong run with six centuries and one score in the 90s. His eighth game was not broadcast on 3 December 2021, as scheduled due to technical problems; however, it was initially made available on Virgin Media's catch-up service before finally airing five days later on 8 December 2021 at 6:10am.

Entering the finals as the No. 2 seed, Harkness – sporting an exclamation mark on his shirt – returned on 16 December 2021 for the second quarter-final against fellow Scotsman, Roddie Bell. Despite Bell levelling the scoreline in the first numbers game, Harkness won several letters rounds to extend his lead – including a spot of LIONHEART – and confirm his place in the semi-final. In the last impossible-to-score numbers game, Harkness pulled off a hilarious gag; making a paper aeroplane out of his sheet with the target of 747 written on the side. Harkness then played against Florence Cappleman-Lynes in the semi-final. After Harkness had outaged ☓ disallowed in the second letters round, Florence held the lead although Harkness kept up very closely and reduced the game to a seven-point difference in the last letters round. But Florence solved the crucial conundrum to advance to the final, while Harkness bowed out with a second defeat.

Harkness returned to the show for the third time in Championship of Champions XVI on 5 January 2023 where his opponent was Series 81 champion, James Haughton. Haughton established a good lead in the game by the second commercial break, although Harkness all but wiped it out by spotting VOCALISES to eventually take the match to a crucial conundrum. But Haughton buzzed in at three seconds with SYLPHLIKE, meaning that Harkness lost on a crucial with 97 points in consecutive games. From twelve games, his overall points total is 1,255.

He is also a competitive Scrabble player, and represented Scotland at the 2023 WESPAC in Las Vegas.

On BBC One, he appeared on Pointless.

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
4499	10/12/2007	P	Jason Cullen	77 – 63	Stu Harkness	Des O'Connor	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Henry Blofeld	Alison Heard	122
7645	24/11/2021	P	Jack Millard	53 – 148	Stu Harkness	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Shirley Ballas	Susie Dent	153
7646	25/11/2021	P	Stu Harkness	104 – 38	Matty Hurst	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Shirley Ballas	Susie Dent	147
7647	26/11/2021	P	Stu Harkness	96 – 46	Chris Bickley	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Shirley Ballas	Susie Dent	133
7648	29/11/2021	P	Stu Harkness	107 – 63	Olly Walker	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Clare Balding	Susie Dent	133
7649	30/11/2021	P	Stu Harkness	110 – 28	Kate Sewell	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Clare Balding	Susie Dent	153
7650	01/12/2021	P	Stu Harkness	105 – 60	Shane Corry	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Clare Balding	Susie Dent	124
7651	02/12/2021	P	Stu Harkness	116 – 45	David Danskin	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Clare Balding	Susie Dent	136
7652	08/12/2021	P	Stu Harkness	100 – 53	Sophie Wilcox	Anne Robinson	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Clare Balding	Susie Dent	139
7661	16/12/2021	QF	Stu Harkness	112 – 82	Roddie Bell	Anne Robinson	Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon				Lucy Summers	Adrian Chiles		none	137
7665	22/12/2021	SF	Stu Harkness	97 – 114	Florence Cappleman-Lynes	Anne Robinson	Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon				Lucy Summers	Richard Coles	Susie Dent	122
7925	05/01/2023	CP	Stu Harkness	97 – 111	James Haughton	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Richard Osman	Susie Dent	134