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Luke Johnson-Davies
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
Luke 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. His score broke Hamish Williamson's 10-year-old record for the highest ever score set by a challenger against a champion by 5 points and Elliott Mellor's 7-month-old record debut score by 8 points. Luke earned four more victories, all with scores well over a century and at least one nine-letter word, before stepping aside for the finals of Series 81.
Luke 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 joint 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 ever to join the "1,000 club", setting the second-highest ever cumulative score of 1,024 points (an average of 128 per game) after Mellor himself in the process.
Luke is the first contestant ever to declare a nine-letter word in all eight of one's heat games. He declared 11 nines in total, more than any other contestant prior to the finals. His octochamp run also includes – for the first time ever on Countdown – four consecutive scores over 125. He will almost certainly 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 | Suzannah Lipscomb | Susie Dent | 146 | ||
7221 | 6/12/2019 | P | Luke Johnson-Davies | 122 – 60 | Janice Collins | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Suzannah Lipscomb | Susie Dent | 144 | ||
7222 | 9/12/2019 | 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 | 2/01/2020 | P | Luke Johnson-Davies | 143 – 51 | Gagan Singh Gill | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Tim Vine | Susie Dent | 145 | ||
7233 | 3/01/2020 | P | Luke Johnson-Davies | 131 – 23 | Nathan Nicholson | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Tim Vine | Susie Dent | 135 | ||
7234 | 6/01/2020 | P | Luke Johnson-Davies | 126 – 36 | Carole Bramwell | Nick Hewer | Rachel Riley | Tim Vine | Susie Dent | 139 |