James Kennedy

James Kennedy octochamp statistics
Final position	Quarter-finals
Seeding	7
Points total	736
Conundrums solved	5

James Kennedy in Series 77, 17 years after his first appearance.

James Kennedy solving the conundrum in Episode 7297.

James Kennedy was an contestant in Series 43 and an octochamp in Series 77. As of his second debut, he was a retired teacher from Scotland.

Kennedy first appeared in September 2000, where he blundered on a crucial conundrum and lost by eighteen points.

He returned seventeen years later in another close game. He got the crucial conundrum wrong again but this time, wasn't costly as he was seven points ahead and Alex Smith comically drew a blank. Kennedy followed this with a sole century during his octorun while scoring no lower than 83 in his remaining six wins, plus a one-point win over Rania Abdul-Wahab.

As a result of his octochampdom, Kennedy returned for the series finals in December. But in a long and strong series, his octotal of 736 points was enough to make him the No. 7 seed. He ran No. 2 seed and Apterite Bradley Horrocks very close in his quarter-final match, leading him by four points when going into the crucial conundrum. However, Horrocks came through with the solution to GYRATIONS.

After becoming a quarter-finalist, two of Kennedy's cousins then appeared on the show – Jane Burns in Series 79 and Monica Quadri in Series 80.

Less than 2.5 years after his last appearance, he was the audience member that solved the conundrum on 2 April 2020.

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
2843	20/09/2000	P	Iain Macdonald	58 – 40	James Kennedy	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Geoffrey Durham	Damian Eadie	74
6690	18/10/2017	P	Alex Smith	73 – 80	James Kennedy	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Adrian Chiles	Susie Dent	132
6691	19/10/2017	P	James Kennedy	105 – 39	Krishna Shukla	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Adrian Chiles	Susie Dent	136
6692	20/10/2017	P	James Kennedy	88 – 41	Dylan Henderson	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Adrian Chiles	Susie Dent	137
6693	23/10/2017	P	James Kennedy	83 – 82	Rania Abdul-Wahab	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Adrian Chiles	Susie Dent	135
6694	24/10/2017	P	James Kennedy	99 – 46	Ian Currie	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Adrian Chiles	Susie Dent	132
6695	25/10/2017	P	James Kennedy	95 – 80	John Oxley	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	John Challis	Susie Dent	146
6696	26/10/2017	P	James Kennedy	94 – 61	Mary Anderson	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	John Challis	Susie Dent	125
6697	27/10/2017	P	James Kennedy	92 – 52	Charlie Turner	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	John Challis	Susie Dent	113
6731	15/12/2017	QF	Bradley Horrocks	86 – 80	James Kennedy	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Paul Zenon	Susie Dent	121