I was renowned for getting straight off the coach and into the pub, but on the odd occasion, I would get of the coach and walk into Asda with the winner and all my thoughts were just, "I hope I have to come here after my show....".

As always, I shall give no hint as to whether I had to take a shopping trip after my game........

It can't be soon though! 10 games time?

Gosh that was emotional watching that for the first time!! I was sooo tense it shows on my face, far too much huffing and puffing!!

Great game with loads of atmosphere and support from the players, think it shows how close we were as a group and how wel all wanted each other to do well

I soo wanted him to do well and know how much he needed the money i couldn't bare the thought of him going away with a blue!

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and it's easy to say he shouldn't have dealt when he did, i wouldn't have done but then i've lost out on so many of those times when it's ended with a blue so he had guts to deal when he did.

Alf would have dealt at 69k so the swap would never have happened....

Well done sweetheart, fantastic game and i love you to bits x x

Amazing how those wigs transformed people - I mean, who'd have realised that Del was actually a Louie Walsh lookalike until he got that new hairdo?! And didn't little Doreen look cute? Great game, exciting, touching and sweet. Just sorry that the ending wasn't even happier!

Aww, bless you Mel, you did look really nervous throughout the whole game, but at least he ended up with a very good sum of money out of it.

I really enjoyed it, and I love the theme going on the Dream Factory, and I thought Alfonso was a great guy, and very happy he got 20k (and Mel) from the show!

Guess what the asda i work in also has a mcdonalds

Well I'm sorry to say this but I was actually a bit disappointed with that. I thought from his wing behaviour that he was a big gambler and dealing before "playing the necklace" was a bit of an anti-climax. It felt like the Halloween game (Chris's) where the player dealt at 8-box and therefore eliminating the whole twist. I even thought with the necklace in play that the £20k offer he dealt wasn't particularly good for the board either, not with the £35k backing up the big two. Then again i can talk, I'd have gone on but dealt for less!

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh, I would have been far happier had the £250k not been in his birthday number and there was also no hypo-swap (when it was blatantly obvious anyone apart to someone who doesn't need £69k would have dealt) so the swap was just pointless. (KP, they carried out the hypo swap when it went away from the table in Martyne's game so it does occur both ways!!)

And it was loads more dodgy than the sort of golden boards people were dealing £20k on in the summer (and proclaiming they were gamblers....yes that means you Harvey)........

I just knew it was staying until 2-box though when the banker made the prediction at 5-box....surely it would have been edited out if it hadn't?

Still he's won a sum he's really happy with and of course Melissa gets whatever bonus the necklace was worth (sorry I forgot becuase I was so mesmorised by the costumes at the start of the show!!)

I'm sure it was a lot more tense in the studio than it was on TV!

Probably a bit of psychology to get better offers. I don't blame him for that. It's part of the game. I think we could have seen a gamble at lower money, but when the amount is right, he did the right thing for himself. He didn't feel the need to live up to the expectations of a gambler, he got out at the right time for him.

i think you've put that perfectly Dan, he is a gambler and wanted to go on but needed 20k and you can be swept along in terms of making good tv and going on but he did what was right for him and what would make his life easier and better.

x

That's cool guys - I'm guessing it was an awful lot different when you were there than just from watching it on TV. I could understand why he dealt but just as a viewer I wanted to see him go on!

Thankyou so much Alphonso....amd Mel, for a great game full of emotion!

Without a doubt one of the most entertaining shows on DOND for a very long time.

The combination of the costumes, the humour, the tension that the box opening created, and of course the love interest really made it well worth watching!

Alfonso full credit to you, I don't think you should have any regrets, the proveout was almost perfect,
and £20,000 was not to be dismissed lightly.

The offers were generous as would be expected for someone with genuine gambling credentials.

I was expecting the necklace might have been used later in the show, but as it turned out it was used
at the perfect time.

One of the most enjoyable shows for a very long time.

Well done Alfonso on 20K!

Amen!

Great game again today. Like others, loving the costumes, set and theme music variations.

Luckily, I have the view that hypothetical swaps should be ignored for game classification (and especially in cases where there is a big red/small blue finish where 99.9% of players would deal any non-joke offer) so I saw it as Alfonso selling a £10 box for £20k and doing a deal on a marginal decision that went the wrong way.

I know people disagree with my view about the hypothetical swap but I would never swap at the end of the game.

Another enjoyable show. When I first saw Noel and his introduction I couldn't wait to see what everyone else was dressed like, and well you all look um...groovy

As with the Halloween week shows, the whole Love Week theme is great with the all the costumes, set design, etc. So well done to all the people behind the scenes who put the work into creating the 60's theme.

I would have liked to have seen Alfonso play on and use the necklace in live play situation instead, but as it turned out it was a wise deal (well of course £69,000 would have been better, but then that offer was 6 boxes away). Plus from reading some of the comments, like Melissa's, that £20,000 obviously was/is going to help Alfonso out. So it was seemingly a deal that was right for Alfonso at the time.

Okay, buddy, that was totally uncalled for. You don't hear me badmouthing you. If you want to discuss this further, contact me via PM. I didn't join this forum to be insulted. But if it's an insult war you want, bear in mind that you started it, and not me.

Hiya you lot!

Well - Alfonso and Mel - what a fantastic game! I KNEW you pair were up to something (you know - romantically speaking) - it's been obvious from the beginning that there was something between you.

I was watching Mel and as she knows him better than us viewers, and she was really wanting him to take the 20K - well, that amount would obviously make a massive difference to him, so was chuffed to bits when he dealt.

I was'nt dissapointed when it turned out he could have had the 250K - I was just waiting for the marriage proposal at the end!

Only joking Alfonso - thrilled you came away with a great amount of money, and more importantly, the "icing on the cake"! And how ery brave you were to talk about your past health issues - hopefully will make more men have more awareness of this awful disease, well done you.

All the very best to both of you in the future.

Mand xx

Didn't mean it to quite come out in that way, Mark. You're not stupid, you just judge games in hindsight. And you didn't even get the chance to judge this one before you saw my comment, so I apologise.

Back to the game - entertainment outside of the game, actual game sees a safe but not stupid Deal turn ugly but not before producing a configuration where the player would likely have dealt for less. Right deal for him, and I'd rather see this than a blue win.

what a lovely post Mand, thank you! I thought he was fab and i hope men go away and think about what alf said and check themselves....

Men.....CHECK YOUR BALLS! and i can say that as i'm a nurse!!


xx

Tis true - the unedited version of the Christmas Star show I went to see, involved the guy talking about men needing to check their balls a lot more often...shame it never made the final show... but at least it did today!