Wayne Kelly

Wayne Kelly in his fourth appearance in Series 28...

...and 19 years later in the 30th Birthday Championship!

Wayne Kelly was the runner-up of Series 28, and a contestant in Championship of Champions VII, the Supreme Championship and the 30th Birthday Championship. As of 2021, he is the current chair of the Association of British Scrabble Players.

He made his first appearance on 10 August 1994, defeating Helen Wood 55 – 45, and won a further five games before exam pressures forced him to retire before he could complete a potential octochamp run. He returned for the finals as number five seed, and beat Isabelle Heward and Suzanne Miles on his way to the grand final. In the grand final against Damian Eadie, it went straight to the wire with Kelly trailing by a solitary point going into the final, crucial conundrum. Ultimately, it was Eadie who buzzed first, meaning Kelly had to settle for second-best and a clutch of book tokens (which, when Dictionary Corner guest Michael Parkinson asked what he would do with them, Kelly famously replied he would 'buy some books').

Kelly returned at the start of the next series to participate in Championship of Champions VII, but was knocked out in the first round by Richard Campbell.

Kelly also participated in the Supreme Championship the following year, losing in the first round to Gareth Williams.

He returned to Countdown in 2013, as one of 41 contestants taking part in the 30th Birthday Championship. He won his first match against the Series 56 champion, Nick Wainwright, before losing to the Series 63 champion, Jack Hurst in the first round proper, where Hurst scored 143, which was then the second highest score in the show's history.

Since his appearances on Countdown, Kelly has become an avid Scrabble player, achieving grandmaster status within the Association of British Scrabble Players, which he is a member of, and representing England at the 2007 World Scrabble Championship. He won the National Scrabble Championship in 2011 and also organises tournaments.

He appeared on the BBC Two quiz show Eggheads in 2013. He then appeared on the BBC Radio 2 quiz PopMaster in 2017, where he answered every question correctly to beat fellow Scrabbler Karl Kwiatkowski and avoid the "three in ten" round, automatically winning a radio. He returned to PopMaster again in December of that year for the "champions league" round, in a bid to qualify for the grand final, but was one point short of making the top two highest scorers. He appeared on ITV’s Tenable on 11 September 2018.

Preceded by Richard Campbell

Series runner-up Series 28

Followed by Chris Rogers

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
1550	10/08/1994	P	Wayne Kelly	55 – 45	Helen Wood	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Jenny Hanley	Ruth Killick	83
1551	11/08/1994	P	Wayne Kelly	40 – 34	Linda Allen	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nigel Rees	Richard Samson	68
1552	12/08/1994	P	Wayne Kelly	71 – 36	Mike Salt	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nigel Rees	Richard Samson	77
1553	15/08/1994	P	Wayne Kelly	51 – 47	John Arand	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nigel Rees	Richard Samson	70
1554	16/08/1994	P	Wayne Kelly	67 – 10	Guy Wan Ali	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nigel Rees	Richard Samson	72
1555	17/08/1994	P	Wayne Kelly	67 – 21	Michael How	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nigel Rees	Richard Samson	72
1583	26/09/1994	QF	Wayne Kelly	59 – 46	Isabelle Heward	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Michael Parkinson	Richard Samson	73
1585	28/09/1994	SF	Wayne Kelly	56 – 40	Suzanne Miles	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Michael Parkinson	Richard Samson	68
1587	30/09/1994	GF	Wayne Kelly	83 – 94	Damian Eadie	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Shirley Anne Field, Michael Parkinson	Richard Samson	124
1591	05/01/1995	CQF	Wayne Kelly	36 – 52	Richard Campbell	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Denis Norden	Richard Samson	73
1896	05/12/1996	gQF	Gareth Williams	59 – 55	Wayne Kelly	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Richard Digance	David Swarbrick	72
5616	08/01/2013	30BP	Wayne Kelly	105 – 68	Nick Wainwright	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Dave Myers	Susie Dent	120
5636	05/02/2013	30B1	Wayne Kelly	89 – 143	Jack Hurst	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Kate Adie	Susie Dent	152