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George Baker

From Countdown
George Baker
Octochamp Statistics
Final positionQuarter-finalist
Seeding5
Points total734
Conundrums solved5
George Baker in Series 88.

George Baker was an octochamp and finalist in Series 88. He was a Bartender and Chef running his own business from Croydon at the time of his appearances.

Appearances

Heat games

Baker débuted on the episode immediately after the game in which Harry Savage became the first octochamp of the series. In a very close affair against former finalist Ken Heaton, Baker cracked the crucial conundrum TENNISGIF to INFESTING with under half-a-second to spare, to win by 7 points. He followed this up with seven more victories to become the second octochamp of the series in three weeks and also stood out by being a regular chooser of 6-small numbers games, like octochamp John Cowen just over six years prior.

Of particular note, in his second game, he faced Avi Sharma – a candidate in the 2023 series of The Apprentice – who failed to score a single point. And in his sixth game he racked up his personal best, which also saw him spot the only 9 of his heats REREADING. Baker's seventh match was another nail-biter – one which could have swung in his opponent's favour had Will Gilchrist's disallowed nine coronates ☓ appeared in the dictionary. But, Baker quickly turned REDCATTLE into CLATTERED to remain in the champion's chair for one last heat game, in which he wrapped up with an exact century to finish with 734 points.

Finals

George ultimately returned as the fifth seed for a match against fourth seed Paul O'Brien. In a very closely-run affair, both players got off to a flier maxing out the first five rounds, and then traded blows with George being ahead by just a single point at the second ad break. O'Brien though pulled out an ace with AMUSEDLY, and after another winning round came together with a relatively easy 6-small final numbers selection, this meant Baker bowed out with his first defeat. He did get the last word by turning UGLIEENID into GUIDELINE to finish with a highly commendable 97 points and a final points tally of 831 from nine games.

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
8082 14/08/2023 P Ken Heaton 72 – 79 George Baker Colin Murray Rachel Riley Tom Read Wilson Susie Dent 141
8083 15/08/2023 P George Baker 92 – 0 Avi Sharma Colin Murray Rachel Riley Tom Read Wilson Susie Dent 123
8084 16/08/2023 P George Baker 82 – 45 Jen Finneran Colin Murray Rachel Riley Tom Read Wilson Susie Dent 144
8085 17/08/2023 P George Baker 89 – 78 Dudley Lidiard Colin Murray Rachel Riley Tom Read Wilson Susie Dent 126
8086 18/08/2023 P George Baker 90 – 35 Darryl Johnson Colin Murray Rachel Riley Tom Read Wilson Susie Dent 134
8087 21/08/2023 P George Baker 116 – 19 Anthea Leslie Colin Murray Rachel Riley Jeff Stelling Susie Dent 143
8088 22/08/2023 P George Baker 86 – 75 Will Gilchrist Colin Murray Rachel Riley Jeff Stelling Susie Dent 125
8089 23/08/2023 P George Baker 100 – 22 Dean Tulloch Colin Murray Rachel Riley Jeff Stelling Susie Dent 146
8173 19/12/2023 QF Paul O'Brien 100 – 97 George Baker Colin Murray Rachel Riley Christopher Biggins Susie Dent 139