Steven Turnbull

He's not hot. He's not cold. He's Lukewarm!

Luke Johnson-Davies solving the conundrum in Episode 7102.

Luke Johnson-Davies was an octochamp in Series 82 who debuted in Series 81. He is an Apterite and a Student at Durham University, from Cambridge.

Johnson-Davies began attending Co-events in 2018 and was the runner-up of only his second event, CoNuT, in 2019.

On-screen

He first appeared on television in the second quarter-final of Series 80 as the audience member who solved the conundrum LOVECRISP with the answer COVERSLIP, which also had SLIPCOVER as a valid solution.

Nearly 6 months later, he made his debut as a player on 5 December 2019 against one-game winner Zach Hart. Two nine-letter words and scoring points in every round helped him beat Hart convincingly and catapult to 139 points, breaking Hamish Williamson's 10-year-old record for the highest ever score set by a challenger against a champion. Johnson-Davies' 139 is also the highest ever set on a player's first appearance, bettering Elliott Mellor's debut score by 8. Four more victories followed, all with scores well over a century and at least one nine-letter word, before stepping aside for the finals of Series 81.

He soon returned to the programme on 2 January 2020 to carry over his unbeaten run in the first heat of Series 82, kicking off the new year in style with spots of the nine-letter words MONTICULE and ESTIMATOR to win his sixth game with 143 points, the fourth-highest ever achieved in the "new" 15-round format. In the third show of the series, he became the standout provisional number 1 seed and only the second octochamp to join the "1,000 club", setting the second-highest ever cumulative score of 1,024 points after Mellor himself in the process.

Luke is the first ever octochamp to declare a nine-letter word in every heat prior to the finals, and has declared more nine-letter words than any other contestant across eight heat games: 11. He will return in June 2020 to compete in the series finals.

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
7220	5/12/2019	P	Zach Hart	26 – 139	Luke Johnson-Davies	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Suzannah Lipscomb	Susie Dent	146
7221	6/12/2019	P	Luke Johnson-Davies	122 – 60	Janice Collins	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Suzannah Lipscomb	Susie Dent	144
7222	9/12/2019	P	Luke Johnson-Davies	113 – 58	Jim Torpey	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Suzannah Lipscomb	Susie Dent	143
7223	10/12/2019	P	Luke Johnson-Davies	124 – 28	John Lawlor	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Suzannah Lipscomb	Susie Dent	144
7224	11/12/2019	P	Luke Johnson-Davies	126 – 59	Stephen Rooney	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Suzannah Lipscomb	Susie Dent	133
7232	2/01/2020	P	Luke Johnson-Davies	143 – 51	Gagan Singh Gill	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Tim Vine	Susie Dent	145
7233	3/01/2020	P	Luke Johnson-Davies	131 – 23	Nathan Nicholson	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Tim Vine	Susie Dent	135
7234	6/01/2020	P	Luke Johnson-Davies	126 – 36	Carole Bramwell	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Tim Vine	Susie Dent	139