JT in particular I think knew how poor his offer was, from his facial expressions...but was too polite to say it. I agree re that pattern beginning around the time of Trevor; if he'd played four months earlier, he'd have been looking at £30,000 or £40,000 with four blues and the quarter-million, not a stick at £9,900. By later standards, £9,900 was generous...

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By the time the Offer Button and 23 came the show already died, so it can't be blamed on that. I think that fun element was taken out of it and the unpredictability and thrills you had in the earlier seasons. I think it got stale as time went on because virtually everything was already accomplished so what else could they do with it? I also felt that DOND became tighter with money as time went on, as you saw less of big wins and things like it. It was always people taking the offer at 8 box or 5 box. There was no risk at all.

People always assumed the recession was entirely to blame for this, but I felt DoND started to get tighter with money after the phone-in competition was scrapped - notice all the gimmicks, sob-stories, playings becoming more cautious etc. started almost immediately after the home viewer competition was axed? It just felt as if the show began to struggle with revenue from that point on and they began using (sometimes desperate) cost-cutting measures to help the show survive on a reduced budget as there weren't as many big wins or exciting games as there used to be

It got to the stage where people were (mostly) just taking the first offer of "good money" rather than playing the game statistically and at times i felt like they were deliberately trying to discourage players from gambling to save the show money, by having Noel and/or the wing contestants talk down the game by playing up the worst case scenario, the contestant in the chair's sentimental reasons for wanting money, how unbearable life would be for them if they played on and it went wrong and how "generous" the offers were (when they were like 15% of the average if that ) to get the person in the chair to deal

Another problem with these games, if a player won a blue in 1 game, then the next 3 or 4 games in a row would be people dealing at 8 box, or being cautious due to the previous game. It was kinda annoying how people got influenced by other games it's your own game, not theirs!

For me, I suffered with DOND fatigue. Too many games, sometimes 6 days a week, some days with two shows in a day - it was on SO much in the earlier years.

I still think 5 shows a week, with the odd weekend special ( Easter Sunday / Bonfire Night / Christmas ) would have been more than enough. It got stale for that reason, but in addition the gimmicks took away the traditional feel.

Is still genuinely one of my favourite shows of all time. I will never forget the utterly captivating Game 362 with Sarah back in 2007 where she actually swapped for the £250k during the early part of the game!!!