I'm not sure what Stephen would have done on a more volatile board, but he turned down some hugely generous offers on a stable one, and was rewarded with a storming run near the end.

I have absolutely no idea what I'd have done today but I wouldn't have Wakeyed it. Most likely an 11-box Deal, but I'm not entirely sure... looks like one to watch on Catchup though.

Great game today with a very stable board and a contestant who wanted to make full use of it. Strange thought to win £35k when it was the lowest amount left at 3-box felt a slight anti-climax, but only just a little!

I knew his game was going to be good from his time on the wings and he'd attract great offers, but given the board, were perfectly understandable to turn down, though I'd have definitely taken £35k at 5-box as you could still win a blue but with limited upside potential (you couldn't even triple your money). I'd think I'd have only been disappointed with £100k in the box and another red left backing it up at 2-box. Weird how yet again someone did the "wrong" thing on an all-power 5 finish though, especially when carrie dealt on that pair and had the £50k!

And the moment with Gra needs You-tubing, it was legendary!

Interesting trivia - I love how Noel put across Kirsty's £125k no-deal as if it was one of the most shock no-deals ever and she "recovered" to win £75k. She recovered to win the lowest possible amount to go home with at the time of the no-deal then.

And odd to see Nagib in the audience (unless I mistook him for someone else) when everyone else who was on at the same time as him was there for Chris' game...very odd.

Well done Stephen, exactly what we needed after yesterday!

I'll comment more later when hopefully I'll have a Reading ticket...

Thought Stephen might have played the 1000th show, but a much needed win
after the disappointment of yesterday. A more entertaining way to win £35,000
than had he dealt at 5 box. It's funny how people seem more disappointed when
the gold box goes than when a higher value red is picked.

Prediction: Show 999: Gold box=£50,0000
Show 1000 Gold box=£250,000

There were certainly arguments for dealing at 11 box, 8 box or 5 box today but the board was so stable, it was a perfectly acceptable gambling situation today.

Noel being lifted up and that kiss were brilliant comedy moments but unlike the games last week, the gameplay complemented the banter.

cracker game! the kiss, and dirk's war dance taunt to the banker

I think 1 reason is I would love to win 45k out of my box! Probably the only time it would ever happen!

Stephen lifting Noel up was certainly better than him having to be hugged by Deano in similar circumstances!

That kiss has gotta be in the Best of Season 4!

We can forget yesterday's travesty of a game now after this big win. It's exactly what we needed.

Congrats to Stephen, and enjoy the money !

That was a great game, winning one of the power of five is always good news. The best part was Stephen lifting Noel.
Always the bit with Gra made me chuckle a bit, it almost looked as if Gra was completely shy to do the 1p kiss and suddenly streamed in like a rocket when doing it.

What an absolutely Memorable Game. What a guy!

Yesterday it went horribly wrong, today it went horribly wrong....FOR THE BANKER

Notice how he was not bothered when it wasn't £35k, good on him, he had the correct board to go to the end.

Bring on 999 and then........

A memorable game for all the right reasons today - great comedy banter and a fairly stable board throughout, with the momentum being retained by holding the £45k until 8-box. Great moments with the 1p kiss and Stephen picking up Noel (good job he didn't drop him! )

Such a contrast to yesterday, but that's what the game can produce, and it's great to have a power 5 win close to the 1000th show - let's hope it continues tomorrow. It seems inevitable now that the gold amount will be 50k, but you never know!

Superb game, the perfect comeback after yesterday's trainwreck.

Had high expectations of Stephen from his time on the wings and he did not disappoint.

One of those great games where the board is stable enough to urge on all but the most cautious of players, Think i might have bottled it at 5 box myself but having said that on those final two boxes playing to the end seemed more of a no-brainer - to my reckoning while £50,000 or even £42,000 is a not insignificant amount £35,000 is in itself enough of a 'life changing' amount to make the 'worst case scenario' a perfectly acceptable one. (Mind you it fit had been a £35k/ £100k final pair that would have been a different matter)

A bona fide classic game and no mistake

Great game today and my favourite so far out of the 1000th week countdown specials.

With such a strong steady board, and despite the loss of the £250k earlier on, the offers still remained constantly high, and whilst it wasn't a perfect result you can hardly complain when you are guaranteed a minimum of £35,000 regardless. In fact even though Stephen unfortunately lost the £100,000 right at the end of the game it still didn't feel like a terrible loss as it was backed up with £35k (Stephen's previous offer) and 50k. A rare situation to be in when you are guaranteed to win a Power 5 amount.

The game also had some great (and highly random) comedy moments such as Noel being bench pressed and one of the best 1p kisses of all time.

Great game today. Who were the contestants that did the intro bit? I recognised Gerriant and I think one was Di Please, but I can't remember the third.

Ok, a run-down of the answers to yesterday's teaser. I asked a) to name the different coloured boxes that have been used, b) the box number that had come to the table the most out of 1,2,3,6,12 and 19 c) the amount of times a box amount has appeared 3 consecutive times on the table.

Box specialist Greeny had no trouble with the box colours (I've added the occasions):


...but that was fairly easy admittedly. The answer to part b, slightly more challenging, was box 6, the most visited number to the table, which Greeny again correctly identified. To my records, it has appeared 59 times. Interestingly though, box 6 hasn't appeared on the pound table for 64 shows at time of writing, box 12 is the front-runner this season. Overall it has appeared over 50 times.

Part c was the toughie to recall. Greeny was quite right in that 3 identical box numbers in a row at the table has occurred 3 times (with 9's, 4's and 12's, those last two in the past week or so the first in Dec 2006), but in terms of amounts, this has occurred 4 times:

Shows 324-326 with £20k
Shows 477-479 with £1k
Shows 675-677 again with £20k
Shows 919-921 with 10p (although in terms of recording, it appeared in 4 consecutive shows with show 915 before xmas stars)

Ok, today's teaser... will probably be tomorrow now!

Just a random pointless observation, but I quite liked this camera angle they used at this point giving a wide view of the studio from above the game board. I don't ever recall seeing this angle before though. I wasn't even aware that there was a camera above the game board like that.

Great game one of the best

I agree with you, they should edit angles like this into the show more often. Nice view of the studio this way.