I am glad she got some money but there was clearly a fair bit more in it yet and she could have done more with it. 41K goes alot further than 16 in this day and age.

All this bickering arguing now just imagine SHE HAD THE 250K would you still be as defensive?

I had no problem with Sarah as a person I just felt her decision with the board was completly stupid and knew she would pay a fair bit (41K) although it was looking like the ultimate was going to happen. There was clearly at least one more round in there. If she had took the 30K id say ok cool its to help others fair enough but for where she went it seemed like she put too much fear into herself and buckled too quickly.

Get a lotto ticket its just chance like DOND is and you might get a better payout.

Always a fall back option

See this is where your argument falls apart, what difference does it make? She didnt have a clue what was in her box when she dealt, it could have been £250k, tough luck, or 50p!! Hindsight is a wonderful thing...

I feel like I'm watching a different show from everyone else at times.

The deal was cautious, but it was an entirely reasonable one. Everyone here seems to be thinking she should have continued, but if you were watching, you would have seen the game was up before the third offer.

The banker had worked out Sarah's plan when he said she was a mathematician looking for a deal. When he works out a player's basis for being there, his strategy is simple.

He attempts to encourage an early deal with a semi-reasonable offer, and undermine a no deal with bad offers. He may then make an offer which is fair, but usually doesn't make up for not dealing earlier.

A decision to deal, while not to everyone's tastes, always has a reason behind it. There must be a middle ground between the random dice of no dealing, with the pressure of others to make you play on, and the lack of taking any risks at all.

Convincing players that this is a binary game, that only one decision is right, only encourages extreme play, and as a result, often bad decisions as well.

I like Sarah's decision to play selflessly. Many would no deal in the same position, though if you were sussed by the banker, you may have second thoughts.

Yes but you can look at odds and obviously there is no gurantees the chances are there and fact being told with her board there was no way it was really going to go wrong bar a what 2% chance.
Everyone is crumbling and buckling so easy these days they need to realise luck turns and every game is different.

The Banker to me today seemed to have Sarahs number but what I would love to know is if Sarah was playing for herself would she have still gone when she did?

JC just encourages deals he is annoying he might do a worse 3rd offer deal when he plays.

Do you think saying that makes her feel better? Or are you trying to make her feel bad for dealing too early? If it's the latter, why? There's nothing she can do about it, the show was filmed in June for goodness sake, it's been done and dusted and shown on TV, there's no point banging on about what could have been.



Yes of course we would still be as "defensive"* - as Tom said, she couldn't control what she had in her box!!!

*The use of the word defensive is questionable. I'd say we're respecting her decision rather than being defensive...

No I not trying to make her feel bad just saying there was so much more in it if she was not so hasty.
I'll drop the whole hearing aids comment it sounds too bad a taste and its not mean't to.

Thinking back maybe it was just pressure to help her cause that made her deal I really do wonder if she would had she been playing for herself?

The same JC who said today "I think there's one more there", or did i mishear him? (believe me it's possible )

Well done Sarah on getting the £16,500. I must admit I did think you dealt a bit early but you did have good justification for this and if the money's going to make such a big difference to the children in Zambia then you've definitely made the right decision.
Don't pay any attention to those criticising your decision, I'd imagine it's a lot harder being in the studio making decisions than sitting in front of a tv. Good for you!

Woko - I was shocked too but he still seemed to really put the doom of what can happen right into her and seems quite pessimistic but your right even he agreed there was one more in it.

I can see people's frustration, as we haven't had a classic game or anything that can be described as a big win since Halloween. But I can understand why Sarah made the deal she did, though I wouldn't have done it myself. Surprised they didn't put someone they viewed as a gambler on today, given the recent run we've had.

And regarding Travis's comment, I have to say I'm not particularly looking forward to those Christmas specials. I'm fully expecting them to be all sob story and very little gameplay, with contestants we've never seen before they play anyway - may as well have stuck to Noel's Christmas Presents if that's the case.

Have to agree about the Christmas specials. Apparently there will be 6 - 2 on Christmas Eve, 2 on Christmas Day and 2 on Boxing Day... which means that we won't get the 22 we saw on 23rd December playing again until 27th December! It'll be very odd and like you say, probably more sob story and less gameplay. Still, I'm looking forward to them with interest, I think that's all that can be said for now.

When she said the word I didn't think it was a bad decision at all - don;t risk it if it means so much to you - but was dreading coming on here - but it wasn't exactly the greatest board we've ever seen was it? There was only 3 boxes higher than the offer after all! It was actually one of the more generous offers I've seen lately with 4 of the top 7 gone. It reminded me of Paul B's board and look what happened to him! And if she'd done the three proveout rounds in reverse it would have easily been the highest amount offered in the game!

Sometimes I get the impression some people would have been happier with seeing her win 50p. And these people have also criticised people for no-dealing if it makes them so upset if they end up losing it (Lynn) or gambling if they needed the money not for themselves (Bernie). Both applied to Sarah and all of a sudden it's the exact opposite!

And she didn't squander 41k at all, everyone knows that's inflated!

I'm actually really happy for her that she's won something nice as I thought she was really sweet - but maybe someone could go the end tomorrow and win a large amount would be nice!

I don't wish to demean or diminish Sarah's charitable act because any donation regardless of size is not only most welcome but in many cases vital. But 30 hearing aids do not cost £16,500. I'd be surprised if they cost £500. So the vast amount of the money was going to herself.

And unless I misheard she didn't mention the donation to charity amongst her excuses for dealing when she did.

Well an interesting show for the 600th episode. Well done Sarah on your £16,500.

It's been a while since we've seen a 3rd offer deal and while I think Sarah should of gone on at least one more round it was clear she was struggling with the offer and what to do. As Noel says if it takes that long perhaps the best option is to deal and at least go home with an amount you're happy with. As with any game of DOND the board can go either in your favour or the Banker's favour and while at that stage it was in Sarah's favour imagine if she had hit the £250,000 etc in the next round.

Well, i really don't know what to say about this one...

I'm not normally like this, but i was actually extremely annoyed at the deal today. People have done worse and i've not had the reaction i did today. And to be honest, i'd thought she had squandered a lot more than £25,000 so it was nice to see the £250,000.

But anyway, despite my annoyance, well done Sarah at getting £16.5k.

This forum seems to be getting rather tiresome. We get the same predictable comments every day when someone dares to say a 4 letter word on the show.

We can all play a simulated game and no deal to the end but this is real money that people are gambling. £16.5K was certainly not a clear cut no-deal today.

Some people seem to think that only financially sound people who can afford to gamble deserve to be on the show.

It's like going to a casino. A millionaire can place a £20,000 bet which for him is small change but to an average person is a lot of money. People's circumstances determine how they will react and unless you can get inside someone's mind, you don't know how they are thinking.

Sarah's remarks here are completely justifiable. How would the no-dealers react if they no dealt in a game ended up with 1p and then read people on an internet forum say how stupid they were to deal?

I agree, the comments have been similar and so have the games.

As i've already said before, it was the contestants decision to deal and i respect that even if i would have gone on myself. I would rather be a slightly cautious dealer who won a nice amount [but could have got more potentially] than a greedy/foolish no dealer who went away with very little.

However, for some odd reason, today was just slightly different...

LOL! I doubt that was intentional, but it's the funniest thing I've heard all day!

30 hearing aids would probably cost pretty close to £15,000 in this country alone and so, although I doubt it would come to that in Zambia, it can't be far off so the £500 comment isn't really justifiable.

However, on to the gameplay and I felt, personally, that there was another deal in the game but, at the same time, I did find the £16,500 offer too high for the board and it simply seemed to me that the banker wanted to use the £16,500 "mind game" at some point and so decided to dredge it up at the 3rd offer.

The deal was reasonable in my opinion and it was money that clearly meant a lot to Sarah. Ok, I'd have dealt at £30,000 or £41,000 but, even so, I respect her decision- it's her money after all- and thought she was entertaining and the game was quite pleasant. Noel's behaviour was peculiar and I'd have oddly preferred him to be in full-on wakey guilt trip mode than the mode he was in because his indecisiveness about her decision and his whole demeanour was rather strange.

Anywho, congratulations on £16,500 Sarah and congratulations on 599 shows worth of top entertainment (I count tomorrow as the official show 600 considering we've never seen Amanda's game).