Viraj Seelam

Viraj Seelam Octochamp Statistics
Final position	TBC
Seeding	TBC
Points total	867
Conundrums solved	6

Viraj Seelam in Series 88.

Viraj Seelam was an octochamp in Series 88. He was a Film and Television Production undergraduate at the University of East Anglia, originally from Orpington in the London Borough of Bromley. He is also an Apterite and has qualified for the end-of-series finals in December.

Appearances

Heat games

Seelam made his debut on 8 November 2023 against returning contestant Jill Leatherbarrow, where the sole nine-letter word spot of his run in REPLAITED helped him race off the blocks with a debut score of 113 points to Leatherbarrow's 67, and this was despite his discounting of another valid nine in RECLOSING. From here, he rattled off seven more victories, which included only one non-century across them all.

Of particular note, in his seventh game, Viraj's score of 125 was the second-highest of all time without spotting a nine, with only Elliott Mellor's 126 from his sixth heat game being higher. He also carved out a valuable niche by picking 6 small in all of his numbers rounds, following in the steps of George Baker earlier in the series, as well as fellow octochamp and apterite John Cowen in Series 77.

He wrapped up his run on the 16th of November by holding off a spirited effort from returning contestant Daniel Green to lock in his seventh century and become an octochamp with 867 points; the same as Gerry Tynan from Series 72. This also confirmed his qualification for the end-of-series finals with roughly four weeks to go; at the time as the provisional No. 2 seed. He finally signed off with Colin then christening Seelam with his nickname 'The Font' owing to his interest in typography and his performances on the show.

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
8144	08/11/2023	P	Jill Leatherbarrow	63 – 113	Viraj Seelam	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Tanni Grey-Thompson	Susie Dent	144
8145	09/11/2023	P	Viraj Seelam	92 – 46	Rachel Broadbridge	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Tanni Grey-Thompson	Susie Dent	126
8146	10/11/2023	P	Viraj Seelam	109 – 46	Stephen Morris	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Tanni Grey-Thompson	Susie Dent	157
8147	13/11/2023	P	Viraj Seelam	103 – 78	Norman Dalgleish	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Claire Richards	Susie Dent	135
8148	14/11/2023	P	Viraj Seelam	110 – 34	Lynda Fenton	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Claire Richards	Susie Dent	129
8149	15/11/2023	P	Viraj Seelam	109 – 26	Dave Coot	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Claire Richards	Susie Dent	131
8150	15/11/2023	P	Viraj Seelam	125 – 48	Annemaire Gayle	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Claire Richards	Susie Dent	146
8151	16/11/2023	P	Viraj Seelam	106 – 68	Daniel Green	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Claire Richards	Susie Dent	125