Daniel Face
| Daniel Face octochamp statistics | |
|---|---|
| Final position | Quarter-finalist |
| Seeding | 4 |
| Points total | 854 |
| Conundrums solved | 5 |
Daniel Face was an octochamp and quarter-finalist in Series 93. He was a senior reporter specialising in digital news from Wokingham, Berkshire and is also an Apterite.
Heat games
Daniel unseated Sean Haughey on his debut, winning by 35 points, and then followed this with seven further victories, which included five centuries among them. Of particular note, while he fell behind in the opening round of his fifth game, he clawed his way back by winning seven of the rounds after that, to escape a crucial conundrum. He found excellent form in his 6th game by maxing 11 rounds, and spotted his first nine-letter word of DETONATES during his 7th game.
He wrapped up with a personal best of 123 in his eighth victory; despite being only nine points ahead after round six, he maxed the remaining nine rounds, of which one of them was his second nine-letter word IRRIGATED. This made him the second octochamp in the first 16 episodes of Series 93, and he was also the first non-returning contestant since Rob Barkess in August 2024 to average over 100 points across 8 heat games.
Finals
Just under five months later, as part of a very strong series, he returned as the fourth seed to play Ian Kinsella, for on paper a very evenly matched affair. Daniel broke first when he cracked the first numbers round, although Kinsella was closer in the next one, and later both of them pulled out an excellent nine-letter-word spot in ESTUARINE. The critical moment came just after Origins of Words, where Daniel took an unfortunate punt on ☓ optioners, while Kinsella played TROOPIES to take a five-point-lead. This was preserved until the very crucial conundrum DAVESCENE, which neither of them unscrambled to EVANESCED. Despite scoring a sixth century and maxing 10 rounds, Daniel was knocked out of Series 93, with a grand total of 956 points from his nine appearances.
Episodes
| # | Date | Type | Contestant 1 | Score | Contestant 2 | Presenters | Guest | Lex | Max | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8682 | 15/01/2026 | P | Sean Haughey | 58 – 93 | Daniel Face | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Mark Durden-Smith | Susie Dent | 120 | ||
| 8683 | 16/01/2026 | P | Daniel Face | 110 – 62 | David Jackson | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Mark Durden-Smith | Susie Dent | 130 | ||
| 8684 | 19/01/2026 | P | Daniel Face | 114 – 40 | Maggie O'Brien | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Jo Good | Susie Dent | 139 | ||
| 8685 | 20/01/2026 | P | Daniel Face | 95 – 56 | Jamie Gray | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Jo Good | Susie Dent | 120 | ||
| 8686 | 21/01/2026 | P | Daniel Face | 90 – 63 | Stuart Tarrant | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Jo Good | Susie Dent | 132 | ||
| 8687 | 22/01/2026 | P | Daniel Face | 118 – 48 | Chris Scragg | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Jo Good | Susie Dent | 124 | ||
| 8688 | 23/01/2026 | P | Daniel Face | 111 – 76 | Steve Barry | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Jo Good | Susie Dent | 143 | ||
| 8689 | 26/01/2026 | P | Daniel Face | 123 – 49 | Shane Sivagnanam | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Tom Read Wilson | Susie Dent | 141 | ||
| 8795 | 23/06/2026 | QF | Daniel Face | 102 – 107 | Ian Kinsella | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Oti Mabuse | Susie Dent | 132 | ||
