Noel says he wonders what it takes to be an Olympian, and Noel says Emma's given us the answer - you need to have that extra bit of courage!

Banker phones

Banker's offer:

SWAP

Emma says NO SWAP

Noel opens Emma's box 14 and reveals £50

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Robbed!

Emma thanks Noel...

12 - Rachel - £75,000

Emma says that's the way the cookie crumbles, and Noel says the dream didn't work out here, but it could in 2012...

I actually wondered if this would be a 75K win because the 2nd break was a bit early.
Even so the 26K no deal was still a bit of a surprise and it's a shame it didn't work out but nice to see an unlikely gamble for a change.

There are three possible conclusions here.

1. There is more funding in Paralympic sport than I realised. Hugely unlikely, or Emma wouldn't have been on the show in the first place, and certainly wouldn't have mentioned the wheelchair.
2. The host's false correlation between 'courage' and Wakeyism had an undue influence on a contestant who undeniably has courage, and she felt the need to prove it with fiscal recklessness - and that £26,000 No Deal was fiscally reckless, right up with the most ill-advised No Deals I've ever seen. Possible, especially as it's a constant drip-drip of pressure which Emma would've been exposed to for a long time on the wings, but unlikely; Noel specifically cautioned Emma at five-box, let's not forget.
3. Top sportspeople have a win-at-all-costs attitude that I and perhaps most people find impossible to understand, and Emma extended this to Wakeyistic play on the show. This seems the most likely, but 2. almost certainly reinforces it.

Any other player, and I'd be doing the anti-Wakeyist 'self-inflicted trainwreck, LOLOL' line. With Emma, I think a lot more explanation is required.

One thing you do get when a Wakeyist gets a half-decent board is drama. And so even if you despised the financial decision and your abiding interest was to see the blue in the box instead of the £75,000, it was tense television. Unfortunately, if you get enough players like this, the cost of the tense finishes is absolutely zero tension in the first 35 minutes.

Really wanted Emma to take £26,000

Very courageous though, well played Emma and all the nbest for 2012

Even I was very surprised when she no dealt £26,000 but on the pus side it made the show very different to other shows and it might have paid off this time but unfortunately it didn't, never mind. It was her decision and I try to respect every single decision that a player makes.
I'll look out for her at London 2012. All the best and hope she brings back another Gold Medal.

Well that was certainly dramatic!

One thing I will say about that is I'm nowhere near as upset about that as I would be if she'd won a blue through the banker being a (insert 4 letter word here). If she'd had a joke 5-box offer then hit the £75k third box in the next round, or been offered a swap-only at 2-box like seems to happen on £75k/blue finishes sometimes, then I'd have felt sick. This way I'm disappointed but at least she made proper gambles in getting there. And also she said quite early on she wanted to go all the way - and she did! Really liked her as well, she seemed ok about winning the blue so no problem. I was praying she'd deal the £26,000 though, I hope she didn't feel the need to gamble it becuase she didn't want to look a b*ullsh*tter, or to defeat "old faithful" either. But I doubt it.

Good comedy about the 1p too - Dan having it was quite funny, but Noel (the contestant) or Pauline or Spike would have been much funnier!

And to pre-empt to reply to what I think Mad Mark is going to say - nobody who has the ability to win Paralymic gold medals is a Banana Sandwich. Thank you.

I think KP's points are very well put. It would have been a wonderful feel good show had Emma had the £75k in her box and the decision at 2 box for me was a insta-deal but Emma was one of those players that it's very hard to criticise.

The one thing I hope is that we don't get the banker tomorrow doing the same thing he did with Andrew and offering money for Emma tomorrow along with the player's offers.

Is it me or have we have quite a few £75k/peanuts gambles go wrong (excluding PJ's for obvious reasons) - I know we've had a couple go right (again excluding the swap and the virtual swap offers that gave us £75k wins)

Of course, this may have been the point - that Emma was chosen with the full expectation she would play to the end, and that it would be impossible to criticise her and by implication Wakeyism even if, as happened, she won a blue through highly questionable risk-taking. Yes, that does have the hint of a conspiracy, but the show has been heavily loaded towards financial risk-taking in the past, and although it has swung away from that now, public opinion towards financial risk-taking has swung a lot more violently.

At least we got a heck of a talking point out of today's game.

An exciting and amusing game.

The humour surrounding the 1p kiss was a nice way of lightening the mood in what was otherwise quite a tense game, The kiss itself was a great moment (Am i right in thinking that music was piped into the studio and not dubbed over afterwards?) and also Kerry's comment immediately after was a brilliant coda "I love you Emma I hate you Dan"

As for the game play i have no criticism of Emma's choices though personally i would have bitten the banker's hand off to get that last £26k, for me that was too good too turn down

I think KP is probably right in that being a sportsperson may have been influential in Emma's decision to go all the way. I don't really think that Noel or anyone else can really influence a player to do something that isn't in their nature, certainly not a strong minded person like Emma clearly was anyway.

And unlike some players who steamroller to the end she did at least seem to consider and weigh up the offers - shame it didn't work out for her but clearly she had no regrets

Greetings to you all,

I'm Emma's friend and archery coach, who was in the audience.

I'm very proud of Emma and I'm glad she stayed true to herself. All her friends and family are very proud of her.
I must remark on one persons comments on here and state that not every Paralympian has Emma's courage to do what she did. Athletes can't really be taught what Emma has- she was born with the ability to succeed. Emma was very humble in defeat. Emma is a true ambassador of disabled sport.

Unfortunately the Paralympians are very much under funded and most rely on family and friends to reach their true potential. The Paralympians bring more golds home than their fellow Olympians who are very well funded. It was only after Emma won her first gold in 2000 that she managed to fight for the right for funding, which is not much in comparison to that of an Olympian. Emma wanted to win enough to be able to share a dream with her friends as many of them have not be as lucky as her.

I'm very glad you all enjoyed her game. Unfortunately for Emma she found it quite sad as her Nan passed away not long after filming. Her Nan was her greatest supporter.

Emma has also been on Countdown and won 3 games. Her nan cherished the teapot for many years.

I hope Emma's show has inspired other disabled and ablebodied people in their lives.

Rachael

Thanks for that, very interesting perspective!

Confirmed what I thought about the very poor funding situation. Yes, she has a particular approach that she took to this as well. Perhaps not all sportspeople, able-bodied or otherwise, have the same approach; perhaps many of those who do would have a different attitude when it comes to a game of financial risk. Emma didn't, and the way the boxes went threw that into the starkest possible contrast, especially given the offer generosity.

Either way, there's no doubt she showed up in an excellent light... indeed my unease is that her undoubted positive attributes get wrongly tied up inexorably with having 'the courage to go all the way' and people take risks that are categorically wrong for their personality and situation, although I've wondered this several times and the last time it really happened was before the recession. Good luck to Emma for the future.

Colossal Epic Faiure. There is no other way to express it.
James, the game was a failure, not the person.
Next, please...

It was certainly a horrendous ending. But what a fine line between success and failure - in this, just as in top-level sport.

Said line was crossed in what shuld have been an easy deal. I assume she was chasing the money, but we all know what often happens when people try to do that. Yep, you guessed it - failure. This trainwreck could have - and really should have - been avoided. I hate to say it, but this kind of ending has been the result of many a (now cancelled) US primetime version episode. The last thing I want is for you guys to have to put up with the rubbish we had to endure for the better part of 4 years or whereabouts with our version. So please, let's end the Banana Sandwich now and get some real games with big winners. Games like these do not make for good telly, and are downright painful to watch, especially when they happen to good people like Emmma.
Thank you.

-Mark D.
Founder & President,
The Anti-Failure League & The Campaign for Better Television

Lousy decision but no Daimonesque glee at the result from me.
She didn't have an utter disregard for the money throughout the game like he did.

Being disabled/blind/deaf etc is (and should be) no bar to criticising a DOND contestant.



Didn't NBC bin an episode because the contestant "only" won $50k? People still watch our version regardless of the amount of low wins.

Hey James1978, I thought I did a good job at kissing Noel, most people have said that I played a blinder with him