Yes undoubtedly... but seeing as the banker is actually the production team, I'd have thought they'd realise that they're taking it a bit too far now. The banker seems to be getting more and more evil in many ways, and it's only encouraging poor offers to be dealt making the other contestants feel down when it goes wrong, and potentially making the viewers lose interest.

I'm not sure what the purpose is - some of it is mind games and some of it's predicted offers possibly to get the player to go on and/or have a dilemma.
But I don't think anyone has gone on yet at 5 box after hearing a predicted offer guarantee, they've all dealt I think.

Great game today and great result for an entertaining character both on the wings and in his game. The banter was great throughout, and you could tell from the atmosphere in the studio that everyone was willing him on to a big win.

He was a great reader of the game, judging offers more on the strength of the board, rather than necessarily their actual monetary value (that seemed to be a secondary consideration, for once). He assessed the risks correct, and got out when the odds were against him, which is all you can ask really - and he earned a deserved OPW to boot!

Interestingly, he was the newbie the day after Jo's game and had a very similar board to her's at 5-box (she had 1p,50p,£500, £5k, £250k). Arguably, she had a slighter stronger board, and got offered over £2,500 less. I think that just shows how your attitude to the game can pay dividends. The extra £2,500 can make all in the difference in this kind of marginal decision. I also think it helps on these kind of boards if the 5-box offer is your peak offer. Jo had a succession of high offers and £14,500 was a drop from her peak (£17,000), whereas Deano's offers built up gradually and he didn't have any losses to chase. Loss-chasing is the enemy to sound decision-making.

I think it happened once with Shaz last autumn who dealt at an offer in the mid-20s on a blue vs £100k final 2 and had the blue in her box. Bizarrely though, the banker phoned up during the final round (i.e. after she'd no dealt) to make the offer guarantee.

ha ha, true!!