Rob Barkess

Rob Barkess octochamp statistics
Final position	TBC
Seeding	TBC
Points total	811
Conundrums solved	6

Rob Barkess was a contestant and octochamp in Series 90. He was a mortgage advisor/broker from Seahouses, Northumberland, and will almost certainly return for the end-of-series finals in December.

Heat Games

Barkess made his debut against 5-time winner Paul Johnson, dispatching the former with an opening of 105, which would ultimately be the first of four century games out of seven further victories, with quite notable differences in quality. Conundrums though proved to be a sweet spot for Rob, with the first four he faced each being solved in under two seconds.

His highest score of 126 (which at the time was also the highest score of the series) came during his sixth game, which also included the sole 9-letter-word spot of his heats in DUALISING. That was then followed with a very cagey affair (and strangely, at the time, the lowest winning score of the series) in his seventh game, thanks to blanks on two numbers rounds, and the unfortunate mis-declarations of ☓ flouter and ☓ hounder; the former being compounded as he also had the valid FROGLET scribbled down but chose not to declare.

Nonetheless, Barkess recovered in his eighth game by seeing off challenger Anna Heath without any major hiccups to secure Octochampdom and become a member of the 800 club before the conundrum. With neither player turning SUMOGROIN into GINORMOUS, 'The Underdog' as christened by Colin, finished on 811, just 8 points behind Fiona Wood, and as the provisional No. 2 seed with just under four months of heat shows left.

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
8337	13/08/2024	P	Paul Johnson	54 – 105	Rob Barkess	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	John Thomson	Susie Dent	123
8338	14/08/2024	P	Rob Barkess	120 – 66	Steve Howells	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	John Thomson	Susie Dent	145
8339	15/08/2024	P	Rob Barkess	96 – 70	Julia Little	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	John Thomson	Susie Dent	137
8340	16/08/2024	P	Rob Barkess	97 – 53	Ali Dootson	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	John Thomson	Susie Dent	134
8341	19/08/2024	P	Rob Barkess	101 – 39	Kileon Bounden	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Ria Lina	Susie Dent	125
8342	20/08/2024	P	Rob Barkess	126 – 53	Simon Cornwell	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Ria Lina	Susie Dent	146
8343	21/08/2024	P	Rob Barkess	72 – 50	Gavin Hudson	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Ria Lina	Susie Dent	123
8344	22/08/2024	P	Rob Barkess	94 – 46	Anna Heath	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Ria Lina	Susie Dent	123