Contestant: Tommy Nolton

Chosen Case: 18

Fun Facts: Tommy is a self-proclaimed "chick magnet," and his pick-up line is "Hey, what's up?" His favorite model is Sarah, #7. He wants to buy a new car with the money.

New Feature: I will be the rating the game, so each round will have a rating, as well as entertainment, and I will combine those two with a secret system to give the game an overall rating. Each rating is out of 100. Round ratings are based on the chances of the banker's offer going up.

Remember, this a Million Dollar Mission game with 5 million dollar cases!

Here we go...

Round 1

14: $1,000,000 That's not the way to start!
11: $50
2: $750
15: $5,000
25: $10,000
8: $10

Aside from the million going, that was an average round. Technite's Round Rating: 80


Banker's Offer: $83,000!

Tommy Says: NO DEAL!

Round 2

21: $75,000
9:$1,000,000
16: $1,000,000 He still has 2 left though!
1:$25,000
6: $200,000

All in all, a terrible round. Technite's Round Rating: 35
The banker has to go down after this one...

Banker's Offer: $65,000

Tommy Says: NO DEAL!


Round 3

10: $400

23: $.01!

4: $500

13: $100,000

This was his best round so far! I proclaim it good, not great since he lost a safety net. Technite Round Rating: 90 + 1 for finding the penny = 91


Banker Offers:

$90,000!



Tommy Says:



NO DEAL!


Round 4

24: $300


3: $50,000


7: $5 His favorite model delivers, and she now joins him as a supporter.

This was a great round! Technite's Round Rating: 95


The banker calls, and he has a special offer for Tommy. He will give him a new car on one condition:

He must be able to get in the car, and close the door. (He is overweight, and the banker is making fun of him with this offer.) However, Tommy easily manages this and gets the car no matter what he wins!




Banker Offers: $111,000!

Already, Tommy has a six-figure decision. With the help of his supporters, Tommy reaches a decision:






NO DEAL!



Round 5


26: $75!!






20: $25!!!



This was a superb round, and one of the best Final Sixes that Deal or No Deal USA has seen. Technite's Round Rating: 100, something I won't give out often



Final Six:
-$1
-$100
-$200
-$1,000
-$1,000,000
-$1,000,000



Banker Offers: $179,000!





This is a tough decision for Tommy, as it would go a long way to help him. Tommy thinks for a while and comes to a decision:









NO DEAL!






Round 6










5: $1!!!!!

Perfect! Technite's Round Rating : 101 A perfect round at a crucial time deserves extra credit.







The banker is getting nervous now and is forced to bring the offer to another level:







Banker's Offer:





$262,000!




This is an amazing offer, and Tommy knows it. His mother is encouraging him to go on because he still has 2 millions. Tommy Says:




















NO DEAL!



that was tough, but now Tommy must focus.




Round 7







22: $100!!!! Another perfect round!

Technite Round Rating: 105 Two perfect rounds in a row at the most important stage of the game deserves such a high mark.











The banker is scared silly, and is pacing in his booth. Tommy now has a 50/50 shot at one million dollars:

Final Four:
- $200
- $1,000
- $1,000,000
- $1,000,000


This is a rare board at this stage of the game so the banker must make a rare offer:












$448,000!!












Tommy bypassed the $300's and went straight to the $4's!


This is a huge sum of money, and Tommy is unsure about whether he wants to risk it. He says:


















DEAL!


Tommy Nolton is now the 8th all-time Deal or No Deal Winner. But was it the right decision? Let's find out...






PROVEOUT



Tommy would've chosen














19: $1,000!!!

This would've been a Technite Round Rating of 110, and a banker offer of:









$693,000!!!


Only two other people have held on to two million dollar cases at this stage in the game, Katie Henslin (offered $491,000) and Britney Lewzader (offered $625,000), but both played on, and both lost a million the next round. Let's see if Tommy will follow the trend.

Tommy would've chosen:
















17: $200!!!

His Final 2 would've been:

-$1,000,000
-$1,000,000 !!!!!!!!


This has never happened before! Of course, he had the million in his case with a terrible deal. However, he is still happy because he won $448,000!, a lot of money.

What a great show!




Show Rating: 98

Oh my god!!!

A massive squander, but come on! He would have been crazy to have not taken that offer seriously!!!

What a game! Thanks for the commentary! Can see why you're so well known now!

OMFG WHAAAAAAAAA?!?!!?!?!?!?!!? Wow... Awesome episode. I think I'd have got a million there.

To quote our former Wakeyist members, "What a massive squander." He should have played till the end. Sure, he won a ton of money, but he ended up selling his case for 44.8% of its total value. Those offers were terrible, and I'm sure most people would have played on. If it were me behind the Dollar Desk, I'd have become a millionaire. Regardless, great recap as usual, Mr. Technite !

Show Rating: 2¼ out of 5 stars for the massive squander.

Sounds like a good show. I'd have done the same as Tommy.

The all-millions finish had to happen sometime. Shame it wasn't with someone who followed the 'play on until you've only got one million-dollar case left, then Deal' philosophy so many seemed to have early in the mission, but he played on long enough to get a huge win. I'd have done the same too. Also a proveout AMO...

I don't think that 693k would've been the real offer, probably 100k less. It was an amazing game to watch and I would've won the million for sure. I thought he was going to no deal so I was shocked when he took it. Despite the squander, it was very entertaining and tense.

Still a huge (and not stingy even for the board) offer. I can't criticise it, especially now. Tommy's finances just got recession-proofed. Way to go.

HAHA! What a comment!

It was an excellent offer, and you can't fault his decision but it would've been so much better if he had gone all the way.

From an analytical perspective, it was the game's big decision, the main marginal call (the ones before were too stingy certainly for my liking; the three-case offer was an AMO). It's impossible really to argue against either, and my opinion would be to take it if a) you can't think of how to spend more than 250k (which is about what it'd be after tax), b) you aren't prepared for the 50% chance of sending the offer back to roughly the previous one by hitting a million-dollar case.

Because I wouldn't want the publicity of a million-dollar win (although anyone thinking like that wouldn't get onto the show...) I'd be much more likely to go on if I knew a three-case AMO was coming...

At the beginning of the show's run, you were practically guaranteed an AMO at 3-and 2-case but lately that hasn't been the case except for high-stakes 2-case after the player has been extremely gutsy and it has paid off, such as Koshka Blackburn ($530,000 on $5k-$1M). I remember proveout offers of about $415k with $750k and peanuts, and now people have been offered less than that with a million still in the final two.
The key is that the banker's offers are based on a relativity factor, meaning if you knock out a huge amount even though the offer should be higher, it will go down. A good example of this is Nate and Sarah Harrison, who were tpart of the MDM with 13 millions. At 8-case, they had $100,$750, and 6 millions with an offer of $435,000, which they said no deal. At that point, they opened nothing but millions until at 3-case they had only one million left with an offer of $209,000 which was terrible for the board but acceptable since they knocked out a million dollar case.
At 4-case, they had a similar board to Tommy here, but offered almost $200k less than him. So, it's all relative to what case they opened.

It was nice to see my girls again, but this show was a reminder of why the syndicated version is the better edition of Deal. Worst of all, the deal was terrible. We should have had another million-dollar winner, plain and simple. At least I got a Lindsay dip/squeal in this show.