Welcome once again to another recap of Le Banquier, where one case leads to another, and the right one can lead you to half a million dollars.

Tonight, we pay tribute to a French-Canadian soap opera called Chambres en ville, which aired on TVA from 1989 to 1996. Neither you, dear reader, nor your humble recapper have ever heard of this show before, but that's irrelevant. However, there is one person who it is relevant to, and her name is Isabelle Lalonde, a 39-year-old single mother of two from Vieux-Longueuil, Quebec. She's our contestant for the evening, and is a mega-fan of this show. She plans to use her winnings to renovate her house.

And because Le Banquier is apparently a show for people who are fans of certain things, our 26 case holders are 26 actors and actresses who appeared on Chambres en ville during its seven-year run.

After much faffing about, which includes going to a commercial break before the contestant chose her case, Isabelle receives a home theatre system from Stereo Plus worth $10,000 for no reason at all. She then plucks case 24 off of the gallery and begins her quest for half a million bucks.

Round 1
[20] - $200,000
[19] - $125,000
[5] - $25,000
[14] - $300
[13] - $150,000
[7] - $50

BANKER'S OFFER

$39,000

Isabelle says REFUSÉE.

Round 2
[1] - $750
[6] - $300,000
[3] - Surprise / $0.01 - The Surprise is $7,500 worth of fashion accessories from Le Château.
[22] - $1
[25] - Sunwing / $500 - Isabelle wins a trip to Riviera Maya in Mexico ($8,000).

BANKER'S OFFER

$49,000

Isabelle says REFUSÉE.

Round 3
[12] - $10
[16] - Vidéotron Mobile
[21] - $400
[18] - $75

BANKER'S OFFER

$77,000

Isabelle says REFUSÉE.

Round 4
[9] - $200
[15] - $100
[8] - $20

Quite the blues cruise we have going on here. In fact, it's gone so well that only $5 remains on the left side of the board at this point. The Banker chimes in with this offer:

BANKER'S OFFER

$108,000

Isabelle says REFUSÉE.

Round 5
[2] - $5 - Left side cleared !
[17] - $1,000

We could be in the midst of history here. The offer skyrockets to...

BANKER'S OFFER

$164,000

Isabelle says REFUSÉE.

Round 6
[11] - $100,000

This game has gone from yet another celebrity gabfest to a real nail-biter. Cue the offer.

BANKER'S OFFER

$192,000

Isabelle says REFUSÉE.

Round 7
[23] - $175,000

Is there anything that will stop this woman? The Banker thinks this offer will.

BANKER'S OFFER

$230,000

That's a pretty good offer. Isabelle's got a solid safety net, as the top two amounts, $400,000 and $500,000 are still up for grabs. I think some people on this forum might give heavy consideration to this offer, but Isabelle isn't one of those people. She says REFUSÉE, which shocks everyone.

Round 8
[4] - $400,000 - That was not the time for that.

The safety net has been eroded, leaving the half-mill, $50,000 and $5,000 on the board. The Banker takes this into consideration and tables this to Isabelle:

BANKER'S OFFER

$210,000

Everyone is imploring Isabelle to accept the offer. After a tearful decision - yes, we went there, folks - Isabelle decides to listen to the crowd and say ACCEPTÉE.

Isabelle is now in the Hall of Fame, as $210,000 is one of the highest offers ever accepted. The prizes she picked up during the game will add to that take. But did Isabelle potentially give up the chance of a lifetime? Let's find out.

Proveout
Round 9
[26] - $5,000 - Uh-oh.

Cue overly inflated final offer...

BANKER'S OFFER WOULD'VE BEEN

$310,000

In live play, that final offer would've been in the $240,000 to $260,000 range.

And now for the moment of truth. Was Isabelle sitting on top of one of the biggest payouts in Canadian game show history, or was only 10 per cent of that amount in front of her? Cases 10 and 24 are opened simultaneously, delivering this result:

[10] - $50,000
[24] - $500,000

*cue Price is Right losing horns*

Let's not show this recap to Mark Dade, okay? Isabelle had the jackpot in her case the whole time, but let the audience sway her to accept that offer. It cost her $290,000.

However, Isabelle does get to take an impressive $247,000 in cash and stuff back to Vieux-Longueuil. Julie points out that this total is just three grand shy of a quarter of a million dollars. But Julie, who clearly loves TVA's sponsors, has just the solution for that.

Yes, that's right, folks. It's time once again to take a trip to Aunt Julie's Used Car Lot. Today's special: A brand-new Nissan Rogue worth $30,360, all yours for the fantastic price of no reason at all. That unnecessary prize bumps Isabelle's total to $277,360, making her the biggest winner in Le Banquier history.

An historic game? For sure. But could it have been better? Most definitely.

Will someone ever win the half-mill? I'm not holding out too much hope. I think the only way to do it is to somehow get Julie to hand it to you on a silver platter. She gives cars away like they're candy, so why not give the jackpot away in the same fashion?

Join me next week for more Le Banquier. Until then, good night, and good deals.

Man, if only Isabelle opened any other case with 4 cases left, then she would've received the highest offer in Le Banquier history. Still, thanks to there being loads more bonus prizes now than back when that $255,000 offer was made, Isabelle STILL ends up braking the record for the BIGGEST WINNER in Le Banquier history.

I would've done the same as her for certain, as would Mark Dade even if he claims he would've won the $500k with hindsight.