This feeling was prevalent at the time, I'm sure. I think it was H who brought it up, how the July crop seemed tame and nondescript compared to the characters of the ''old days''... 3-4 months earlier. Nick M I seem to recall looking like a hulked up menace with black eyes, but on watching an old ep with him on the wings he's just some tall skinny dude with a shaved head.

The general consensus at the time was that in the last 2 weeks before the summer hiatus (after Mad Paul, Vic and Roy played), Lance and Giorgio were the only standout characters on the wings , while the other people on the wings pretty much went through the motions, and while you did have the likes of Cocky Bill, Emi and Naughty Barbara debuting in the last week or so of the season, they didn't say a word until after the summer break.

Now speaking of Nick M, he reminded me of someone who played during 2010, but I forgot who it was. IIRC he played around the middle of the year, and was around the same area of the east wing I think

Then thats a conspiracy with some substance!

I just don't see how someone could book 3-4 weeks off work for what was a frivolity after all. Her job wasn't anything to sniff at from memory, something in the police force I think? By contrast, two of the other 30+ show runners (Sarah and Dave Smiler) were respectively a self employed author and a student. They had the time to spare.

Jez? (12/07/10)?

I'd say this was especially true of the show's later years, when a lot had stopped watching and were mainly relying on this forum to keep up with what happened. Apart from Dale, and possibly Nong, I think most of the really big winners of the show's later years would've probably been forgotten quickly by most if they'd had lesser games.

I also think the same goes for 1p winners, most of whom wouldn't be any where near as well remembered if they'd won a different blue or a moderate red.

I actually remember setting up a thread way back when I first joined this forum bemoaning players who made 'really bad deals' being remembered for that and nothing else. Here it is, in fact: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21930

Ah yes, it was Jez I was thinking of, thanks for that

Another interesting thing. During the show's last 18 months or so, the banker seemed to go back to his circa-2005 offer patterns, with generally poor offers during the opening stages of the games and then generous offers from around 11-box onwards

When some mentioned they needed money for something important like money to stay in their house or something, I instantly felt they wouldn't win big. The ones who need the money the most don't get the big money imo.

Examples of this are Joy, Beryl, ect.

From about 2008 to 2010, the show seemed to go through a phase of contestants using gimmicky nicknames or variants of their names on the show (often to avoid name duplications on the wings).

Nobody who did a short run (under 14 shows) did so under their discretion. It was deliberate on the producers part and likely to do with the lack of 'chemistry' between them and the other players.

Janelle for example?

I think Janelle was the game that brought about this idea that short-running contestants were picked early because of the other contestants having problems, though it wasn't always the case, as some contestants were picked early because of personal commitments or due to poor health.

Come to think about it, how many contestants (besides Janelle, CJ and Ryan from 2013) had gained "notoriety" for allegedly being at odds with their colleagues on the show? I remember there was a young female contestant in 2008, who was torn apart by several of her fellow contestants on here!!

Remember who that was?

Just went back to check, it was Emma from April 2008 I was thinking of. In Emma's "fan club" on here, there were a number of complaints about Emma from some of her fellow contestants, in particular Angela and Troy, who told us that she didn't mix with the group and had a friend with her called "Stevie" who was quite nasty to everyone at the hotel, and I think there was talk of Emma and this friend of her's possibly being homophobic (Troy and Angela were both gay IIRC), as they allegedly made a derogatory comment towards Troy and his boyfriend, calling them a pair of "bar maids". Apparently, Emma and her friend "Stevie" also sent nasty e-mails to all the contestants afterwards and bragged about being happy that Angela lost

I honestly think a lot of this was exaggerated, and these contestants were crying sour grapes more than anything. Plus Emma still would've made some friends at least, IIRC £7,700 Steve posted in her fan club saying he got on with her fine, and she did seem really supportive of Peter.

After seeing Angela's attitude in her game, I liked Emma heaps better anyway, on the show at least

Rob from September 2006 was another one wasn't he?

The funny thing about that game was how the day before in Sarah's game, Maddie was in tears after revealing the £250k......yet when she revealed it again in Rob's game, she gave him a look as if she was about to come after him!

Yep. Very strange atmosphere in that game. Seems he really just was there for some spends, sod the hotel and engaging with other ''plebs''.

There were a few factors that pointed to a lack of chemistry between Rob and the others, such as the flat atmosphere, the body language on the wings when Rob took forever to choose a box, Maddie's reaction to revealing the £250k compared to the previous day, and the distinct lack of emotional investment in the game, especially with Noel sounding a lot more blasé than usual when talking about how often a big offer declined was followed by a big crash-and-burn round, as he'd usually sound very frustrated when talking about this happening.

The time around H's run on the show (February-April 2009) was perhaps the most interesting time for short-running players (those who played after 10-15 shows on the wings), as we heard a variety of reasons for players being picked early.

Obviously Joe couldn't stay on long due to his age, but then there were the others - Maureen only played on her 15th show, which felt particularly strange since she played on a Friday, at a time when Friday players were always the big standout characters, yet Maureen's game had just about every component of a forgettable Sunday game. But the most infamous example was Kath who was chosen to play after 14 shows and was not only utterly horrified to be chosen early, but her surprise early showing really knocked her six, to the point of actually compromising her confidence playing the game. An interesting post came from Clare-Louise (one of the many contestants from that era who regularly posted here), saying that she was picked early "for reasons only known to Kath", which made me wonder if something wasn't right

I consider Eileen's game from June 2006 (i.e. the post-DDW era/last month of season 1) to be the beginning of "New DoND", rather than the start of season 2. Eileen's game was the first game with "raised" box inserts, and after double deal week, the banker's early-mid game generosity began (Wayne and Ashok were the first games in which I would've actually considered taking the second offer!!) - the first signs of what was to come in Season 2 and early 2007.

Actually, a lot of things in general changed in 2006. By the end of the year, everything felt completely different to what it did at the start, reinforced by the fact that I moved house in June, and our version of "Wheel of fortune" ended in July after a 25 year run on the air - it was like the year was split into two parts!

I felt that the "magnetic seal" era (Lynn-Marie) was the feet-finding days of the show, and from Charles' game-onwards (when the March 2006 players such as Norma, Lucy, Sam, Marcus, Germaine etc. started showing up), it started to "feel" more like DoND

Very good point! Culminating in the red/blue colour coded box values in Gary's game, from there until maybe June was the absolute heyday. It coincided with this forum booming into life, the prime time shows and the accolade of TV awards. It fully permeated popular culture.