Barring a miracle, this won't be the biggest-money game show in Europe this weekend - not very often we can say that, but €2m was given away on "Schlag den Raab" (a spin-off of which turned into our "Beat The Star") in Germany last year.

That said, we gave away more than €2m last night - €1m to the player, as Linda reminds us, and another €1m to a viewer at home, plus all the prizes earlier on. Can we get anything like that tonight?

We start with the quiz of course. First round has a question about a Chinese curling team member at the recent Winter Olympics. I'm not even kidding. Blue 'tribune' win 469-432; every one of them gets, if I've heard this rightly, a short break at some nice rural hotel. Wonder if they'll meet each other... anyway, random remote picks 1A/1, Ben, who looks to be of non-European origin, and the 'three hunks' are holding the coloured cases for him to choose from. He picks blue... and he's got the place in the final six! He looks stunned!

Who will join him? We move closer with three more questions, starting with a Dutch-to-Afrikaans translation. (The latter is effectively a dialect of the former, as I understand it.) Two questions later, one of which has an answer "Bob de Bouwer" (yes!)and Block 9 emerge victorious, storming away on the last question to come back from behind and win with something to spare. Random remote picks out 7A/11, Susan - she picks white and wins an Apple iMac for her and the rest of her block! And we get to see that the models aren't just decoration - one of them is actually doing something! (To wit, holding the extendable microphone stand that


They'll be opening the cases next.

Oh what the flipping heck, it's a puppet version of Bohemian Rhapsody in the video question. Never let me watch the quiz again. It boils down to the Dutch translation of the word "rhapsody". Right. Block B storm to victory, 59-36! Linda jokes that they celebrated like they won the Champions League! Seat 12 - Johan - picks red, gets applauded for what he said for some reason... and gets the spot in the final six!

Top four from 9B take the remaining spots in The Round I Don't Understand. We lose black female contestant Adelaide third, and if there's ever been a non-white finalist on this show I've never seen him or her. 402 of the 494 in the audience have children, which says a lot. It's Ben v Margriet in the final! Margriet is 62, and that fact gains applause for some reason; I didn't hear what Ben said but he looks like he might be possibly from New Zealand or South Africa. Anyway, money clock time. It's rocketed up at the start! Then it slows up... not now, it's going very quickly. I'd stop at about €70k, it's going to go that high. Suddenly slows up in the 30s, then speeds away a bit... it might stop early actually... BEN STOPS AT €51,800! He looks very relieved! The case had €57,000!! For the second time in three weeks, someone leaves at a very good time. Brilliantly handled money clock this week!

MARGRIET, who looks like she might be Linda's mum with her blonde hair and vaguely similar (but much more wrinkled) features, is the player. She talks a lot about why she's chosen it, but all I care about is that Case 10 is what she's bought to the table. One random double €10,000 giveaway (to the wonderfully-named Yolanda Lohman and one viewer) later, and we're away! She's got a female for support in the audience, missed who it was, she seemed to mention a husband. She mentions a house as something she could get with her winnings, I think.

"You call the shots" says Linda in English... we're away!

ROUND 1
2 (guess €500,000) - €0.01! And very rare first-case applause!
14 (guess €25,000, and Linda points out that's what he'd win for a correct guess!) - €200,000. Margriet shrugs it off.
20 (guess €50) - €5! Nearly. Good for her anyway, and it's still applauded.
26 (guess €20) - €100! See last box.
17 (Adelaide - guess €10,000) - €300,000. Again, not that bad.
8 (guess €25,00) - €1,000,000! That is. Little gasps all round.

The last two shows, the top two have come to the table. They're still in tow for now.

OFFER €28,000

She's motioned to close the case as soon as Linda's opened it. NO DEAL.

ROUND 2
1 (guess missed) - €0.50! That'll do.
24 (guess €75,000) - €10,000. Still applauded and rightly so.
12 (guess €500 I think) - €2,500.
19 (guess €25,000) - €500,000. "Oo-ee." First hit of the round.
5 (guess €500) - €75,000.

We still have the top two with backup, at least.

OFFER €84,000

We get talk this time. Linda mentions that in theory the top four could all go in one round but also that it's very unlikely indeed. Linda slows it up a bit, but Margriet wants to NO DEAL and duly does.

ROUND 3
25 (guess €100,000) - €25,000. Linda notes the irony of that being in that case.
6 (guess €20) - €5,000. Still good for Margriet and it's applauded. Half the cases gone and it's a very good board, albeit a little hairy.
22 (guess €20) - €2,500,000! "That's unlucky." Now it's volatile. Linda emphasises the importance of the top prize.
16 (guess €50,000) - €0.20! At least one euro is there.

"€2,500,000 was unlucky," Linda says again, but she mentions that there are three huge amounts left on this board:



OFFER €165,000

That causes Margriet's supporter to get all excited. I'd play on. All sides agree this is a lot of money... with a promise of "one more", Margriet says NO DEAL!

ROUND 4
9 (guess "a little" €100,000 from a hyperactive contestant) - €50,000!
Bit of comedy that went over my head. Linda emphasises the importance of not hitting €5m.
11 (guess €5,000,000!) - €5,000,000!! CORRECT GUESS FOR €10,000 and he looks embarrassed to claim it!!


Linda's strength is that she really, really reacts to the game.

23 (guess €50) - €10!

We still have three six-figure amounts to chase here, including €750,000. After the break...

OFFER €55,000

Groans. "What a bad offer!" Oh goodness, Miljoenenjacht is turning into the UK show. For me, not in a good way. All agree that it should be a No Deal, and Margriet is no exception - NO DEAL it is.

Joke offers in the important stage of the game. I've seen enough of that in the UK.

ROUND 5
3 (guess €400,000 to nervous laughs) - €20!
21 (guess €100,000) - €100,000! CORRECT GUESS FOR €7,000!

The Final Six
€1
€50
€500
€1,000
€400,000
€750,000

Two huge amounts, one case to open. It's the classic scenario on the original ruleset.

OFFER €92,000

Linda anticipated six figures. Some wag in the audience immediately shouts to play on, and as the case is opened a lot more join in - NO DEAL it is!

I've just realised the earlier joke was after she said "one more" at the third offer. Straight out of the Edmonds-Hugill playbook, that.

ROUND 6
13 (guess €1,000) - €50! Linda does a little air punch. Now we'll be threatening the third-offer peak...

OFFER €145,000

Twenty grand short. It's the biggest decision of the game so far. Do you bank on a near-mean four-case offer if you hit a big number? She's talking it over with her supporter... NO DEAL!

"Exciting, eh?"

Bit of a discussion with which case to pick, and laughter that went over my head, before we finally pick the case for...
ROUND 7
4 (guess €750,000 - I think that was what the laughter was all about!) - €1!

50% chance of massive money in the case. This will be big.

OFFER €198,000

"Yes!" I'm not so impressed, actually. Her supporter says stop; I'd play on, as I can see a six-figure offer even if this is €750,000. "Two higher, two lower", points out Linda. She then says the offer for taking out €750,000 - which she points out is a 25% chance - will be "not near two ton". DEAL! And I can't really criticise that. More generous than I realised at the time it came up.

PROVEOUT
7 (guess €400,000) - €400,000! CORRECT GUESS FOR €4,000 and let's not even try and predict the hypo offer here. It'd have been dealt anyway.
18 (guess €1,000) - €750,000!! As far as I'm concerned that's an OPW!!

It hardly matters, but case 15's holder guesses he has €1,000, and it is €1,000! CORRECT GUESS FOR €2,000 and Margriet sold a €500 case for €198,000!

I presume the puppet Bohemian Rhapsody was the Muppet version (which is actually mildly amusing)

Yes, it was.

The fact that there are no proveout offers seems a bit... lame. I mean, the viewer's often interested to see how much a player may have missed out on or what they would have collapsed to. Otherwise, it looks liek a great format.

On the other hand, it greatly reduces the potential to make players feel useless. It's not the DoND we're used to and your point is accurate, but it fits in very much better with the presentation of this version, which is all about being a tense but ultimately very cheerful vehicle for the Postcodelotterij and a show that delights in its immense prize budget.