15 years ago, we were just coming out of the "Double Deal Week" craziness, and into the last portion of Season 1, although the Season 2 players were yet to start appearing on the wings at this particular point in time (details were still sketchy over the situation with Joseph, who disappeared during double deal week and ultimately played in September)

June/July 2006 was a weird time for the show - along with double deal week, this era was defined by several contestants who barely spoke a syllable on the wings and then suddenly turned into loud characters in the chair, and unlucky games during double deal week and in the last week leading up to the summer break, making the later stages of season 1 the low point of the show's early days for some people - but it was still far from devoid of it's great moments. After double deal week, the banker started making generous early-mid game offers, a feature that would become commonplace in Season 2

On this particular day in question 15 years ago, was the game of Bianca (i forgot how pretty she was until i saw her game again!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvIfXESie6E&t=567s

By a mile one of the most emotional games/contestants of Season 1. A highlight was Noel throwing his fake tantrum over the emotionally-wrecked Bianca using up all the tissues! Wasn't Bianca's reputation on the forum somewhat tarnished by some sour chappy posting on here, who apparently ranted about how haughty and full of herself Bianca was when he went down to Brist-Vegas to watch some games live whilst she was on the wings (and it was months before Bianca even showed up on our screens)?!

Indeed Jim, you're correct - I can't remember his username but I'll readily admit I had a slightly warped impression of Bianca for many years, until I watched her game again on YouTube. This was really an early example of social media being used for the kind of malicious purposes we're so used to in today's world...but the commonality of such behaviour was alien to people in 2006, and trolls were rarely, if ever, recognised for what they were...

The user in question went by the name of "NoelsBi-atch", and this was the thread where this rather colourful character decided to let off some "steam" about Bianca

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1303

Ahh, yes, I remember them! I remember them well. At the time I had no idea what a bi-atch' was - in my head I pronounced it 'Noel's Bye-Atch' - it wasn't something one heard too often in the playground after all. It was something one heard rather often at secondary school though, so I cottoned on after a few months of blissful ignorance...

Whatever prompted them to do that I can only imagine, because it wasn't like they'd joined for the specific purpose of slinging some mud at Bianca, NoelsBi-atch was a regular for at least a good...well, no, actually, the ellipsis this time was because I'd had a look at their posts, curiosity if nothing else. Yeah, it does look like they joined to slag Bianca off a bit, then wait for everyone else to either fall for it or fall out because of it, and when Suez put them to rights as she was wont to do, they disappeared off the face of the earth, never to return. Bianca apparently got wind of the comments and read them herself, which must have been alarming to say the least!

I remember them being a fair bit more regular! Certainly it's a username which is more familiar than not.

Suez was a very interesting character. How did she become so 'in' with the contestants and even Endemol as a whole? By asking nicely? Sure some of it was embellished but she attended meet-ups and sat in the audience etc (Endemol in their 'Soviet rule' phase wouldn't have let her near had she been a full on blagger). I still have her down as someone who's still engaged with the show, even on a trace level. You can't be that invested with the show, at the peak of its powers, and just disappear from it like it was nothing.

Uch, why does this matter 15 years later. Ha. But again, does anything matter?

I think it was as much a part of her as she wanted to be a part of it, really. The amount of time she spent on here was bordering on the clinically insane, and that's without touching on the vast majority of posts she contributed...she contributed more than I, and I'm not decrying it by any means, but I do feel a dash of madness had to be there for that to happen in the first place. I never could work her out, for better or worse.

Exactly 8 years today since Paddy won the £250k. First Male 250K winner.

Time files by lol

Can you believe it was exactly one decade ago when we watched Loz lift Noel up in the air!!

5 years since it was announced Deal was coming to an end.

I'd not even watched the show for about 3 years at that point...

God almighty, I feel old.

I remember (I think it was me who started it) the speculation about DoND being on its way out started back in around April 2015 when the show started being on less frequently due to horse racing telecasts, the weekend shows being mothballed in late 2014 and the show being off for 2 months in July-September. I think by that point, the final episodes were already in the can - funny to think that by the time the last studio episodes aired in December 2016, we were technically watching nearly-2 year old episodes

What I make of it is:

[list=]DoND stopped filming their regular shows in April 2015.
To save the shows until the end of 2016, they had to have those 2 long breaks.
The studio had been scrapped meaning they had to take their shows On Tour.
They decided it was enough after creating the last £250,000 winner.[/list]

Can't believe today is a whole decade since Gurpal played one of the most amazing games. Declining £70k on a £5/£250k climax, just a shame it didn't work out.

Unbelievable that today is 10 years since the show crowned its 4th £250k winner! Time really has flown by in a flash.

Where's my namesake when you need him to commemorate yesterday's 15th anniversary?!

Oops missed it

However I think he is one of my all-time top 3 contestants (the others being Farmer Clive and Dirk). Stuart Ventress was relegated after his game got repeated on Challenge, I thought he was a bit of a prat in his game!

The beginning of Harry's game is really awkward for some reason. Stilted chat. It's on Youtuibe, it's a weird watch. Small talk.

11 years ago was the game of Hetty who played during the Halloween specials, who battled mind banker mind games after she found the "trick" at 5-box and swap-only offer at 2-box to win £15,000!

Interestingly, this was the only time somebody had an all-red 5-box without any of the power 5 in play and was actually one of the very few times where I didn't feel annoyed about a swap-only offer at 2-box (probably because it felt expected due to usual banker mind games after a failed 5-box, unlike say, Anji a few weeks earlier )

Hetty's £15k win in a way felt more satisfying than £100k Chris the day before. A taste of what was to come 8 months later!

15 years ago, DOND had it’s 1st Birthday Show and David (who was also playing for the viewers at home, had us all on the edge of our seats with a £10k-£250k climax! He got an offer of £70k, which I thought was very low for the board (I would’ve expected something around £100k) and I would’ve expected to go all the way but he played it safe (mainly because of his wife) and dealt. Fortunately, it was the right decision as he had just £10k in the box! Great episode all round!

12 years ago today, Deal had one of the most iconic games of all time where Corinne played. She was wanting to achieve her 50+ year dream of a Bentley worth around £200k.


To no surprise, she got to 2 box in LIVE play, with the £250,000, and... 1p


The offer???





And then came the question....





"£88.... thousand pounds.... Deal.... or No Deal"....






"I can't believe I'm doing this... NO DEAL



Now, you'd expect there to be a good bit of talk about how courageous Corinne had been, but no....





"What I'm now going to do, is either make your. Dream. Come true... or not."


*Corinne sits there peacefully smiling* "Yes"




*seal off* and not much talk from Noel like there would be in more recent years...



"I hope this is the dream"....