More like one of the Banker's tactics, rather than luck, even though the luck was thrown away in the 2 previous games.

Kerry wanted it and she got it, just like £100k Betty!

She was indeed, I think it's the most generous banker's gamble / all or nothing to ever be offered. I remember Ann last year was offered the gamble on a blue vs £10k finish after dealing at £1k... and of course Alice's gamble on 1p vs £250k was extremely generous after she'd dealt at £17,500.

But Kerry's one was surely the most generous of them all (in percentage terms), as it was an effective banker's gamble on a £0 vs £15,000 finish after she'd dealt at just £900!!!

May I ask why endemol is keen to reward cowardice? I would have enjoyed the game far more if she'd squandered £14,100.

If I was Jehad, I'd be mightily offended right now.

I'm really pleased for Kerry there, but I have to say that I hope the 'all or nothing' gamble doesn't appear again anytime soon.

The ultimate ridiculous Banker play, throwing away £15,000 and probably about 15,000 viewers for the sake of making sure the game ended on a happy note.

Without that, incidentally, am I right in saying it would have been the worst Deal as a percentage of the box value for anything other than the quarter-million?

It was one mistake after another. Taking £900 with a 40% chance of £6,000 was highly questionable even to an anti-Wakeyist like me; the Banker offering £900 on a 0/£15,000 finish was stupid; the claims it was unique was stupid; the claims this was exciting were stupid.

There's only one reason this could possibly have been done, and that was to spin a Wakeyist 'bravery is rewarded' line. Even that highly questionable spin was executed badly, because the inflated two-box offer had a 100% chance of doing a decent job of that especially if WakeyNoel came out to play, a £15,000 'squander' would have fitted the script (alexandercbrown, by far the most reasoned of the risk-taking forumers now that Power5 appears to have left, confirms as much) and a £0 win from a 'new' gamble was going to be a bad ending that would've damaged the Wakeyist spin. (Conversely, a £6k offer and the blue in the box carried no such risk.)

In discussion earlier in the week I mused that the show seems trapped between trying to maintain a pre-recession warped attitude to financial risk and being 'Noel's Recession Presents', a show of handouts and sob stories. This is the perfect example, and if I were in StatsMan's position, with four more recordings to see in two days, I'd only be doing so out of a grim sociologist's duty* to see an example of how society is adapting to the recession.

* despite having never actually studied sociology, save for one university unit on social policy which could have been called a politics unit just as easily. My background is in politics, economics, psychology and mathematics, in that order.

Oh whoops, I knew I forgot someone, my fault

On another note, I would think the "All or nothing Gamble" won't be back for a long time

Aww I was sooooo happy for her. Was a DOND twist that could have gone tit's up and it worked out for her brilliantly. Well done Kerry, loved this game and so glad the money will help you and your family so much. Enjoy Gracelands!

At last, someone who agrees!

Yeah you and me killerbees! I like happy endings and this really was a GREAT happy one!

I'm surprised the banker didn't stick to his word and have a proveout offer of £6000
but really pleased it worked out for Kerry.

If the banker's gamble had gone wrong it would have made agonizing viewing!



Well done Kerry on £15,000

Ok yes, it was utter madness on the banker's part to offer that ludicrously generous gamble, and I was a bit taken aback in the studio when it was offered as he had clearly stated he would be offering £6,000, but that element of shock made for an unbearable finish to an already emotionally-charged edition of the show.

By the time she took that £900 (and that decision did take a lot longer than it appeared), she looked emotionally defeated and basically there was little chance of her taking another gamble, however generous it was.

When the gamble came round, she was in quite a state, thinking of it purely as a 50% chance of nothing rather than the EV of the gamble. The banker was preying on her clouded mindset at that stage. She had put a lot on emphasis on not wanting to go away with nothing. It was only through strong advice and support from the pilgrims that upped her positivity and confidence levels to go for it.

That box opening was horrendously drawn out, and I think virtually every pilgrim was dreading it was going to be the blue and we were going to be partly responsible for her leaving with nothing. So when it was the red, the whole studio erupted in total relief!

The feeling was that the whole game had scraped around in the low offers, and this was just going to be a disastrous end to a disastrous game, and £15k was such a leap from anything she had been offered! Sure, it was an outrageous gimmick, but it was brilliant (and torturous) to be in the studio for that one, it's a pity that the editing gave away there would be some kind of twist at the end with 15 minutes left at 5-box...

It's not quite the same - Tony and Daimon's was using the eggs, and was not part of the actual game, and Lee's was either nothing, or adding £500 to the £10 in his box.

Oh, and KP, to you it may not have been exciting, but to many viewers, that ending was considerably more exciting than seeing her win £900 when she had £15,000 in her box. The show is created for entertainment, and for many (including myself), it was entertaining.

Phew, thank-god for that finish. Well done Kerry.

Well said

Well it certainly wasn't dull, painful at times as Kerry was clearly getting distraught, and it would have been horrible if it had gone wrong, but it was a really sweet ending given how much Kerry said she needed the money and had made it so personal!

If that would have gone wrong, I really, really woud not have liked that show. To be honest, towards the end it was a little uneasy watching to say the least.

Greeny, you have a valid point there. At the end of the day, Endemol doesn't give a s*hit what some economist, mathimatical anaylist or any TV critic has said. TV programmes are produced to entertain the viewers. Many critics slagged off the Britian's Got Talent auditions show earlier this year, it didn't stop having ITV picking up at least 10 million each week.

When I last looked, the show is STILL appearing in Channel 4's top 30. Even when BB is on at the moment. The ratings haven't dramatically dropped to force all the shows outside the top 30. Even when Andy Murray was on yesterday, all the other channels taken a dent but DoND was the second highest in the timeslot.

15:00-17:00 - Wimbledon: 4.5m (46%)
16:35 - Blue Peter: 157,000 (1%)
16:00 - Midsomer Murders: 800,000 (7%)
16:15 - Deal or No Deal: 1.2m (12%) [+1: 159,000]

Countdown is the major concern at the moment.
15:25 - Countdown: 500,000 (6%) [+1: 41,000]

With the All or Nothing Gamble. Since we did have the editing team to produce the graphic, which probably means it's likely it will be used again. I suspect they will use that on when the deals are a low value like today and not thousands. They'll probably use that for The Banker's Gamble.

Yeah but we know what Noel's memory is like these days. Since he is 60 and cannot remember 1,000 odd game results.

Ha, I love all the games that KP detests.

I thought that was really dramatic - I always have a huge soft spot for the giggly, bubbly, manic emotional women and Kerry was certainly one of those!

It was a pretty undramatic trainwreck until we got to the squashdown where I thought she'd have got a really attractive offer if she'd hit a blue just before 5-box and had both £75k and £15k still there, and immediately I thought £900 was derisory for me, but for someone who seemed desperate to go home with something of value, it was well-pitched, and so was the all-or-nothing gamble. I was dreading what would have happened if Noel had opened the box on the table and we saw a flash of blue....

I think the thing that was in it for the banker was the fact that he thought he may get the £15,000 box for under a grand, with TWO chances of making it happen (with Kerry so scared of going home with nothing)!

I agree with those two don't want this to happen regularly. As a one-off unexpected shock for an emotionally fragile player it was great. It won't be for anyone, and I hope more people don't end up taking more deals like the £900 in the expectancy that the highest amount may still be available on an all-or-nothing gamble, but I supect not as it was so player-specific.

It was a totally different situation to the others where the players have won nothing. Lee's was a disaster anyway even before the gamble was invented and had nothing to lose, and Daimon was a hardened gambler who could easily take the knocks on the chin.

Anyway, I'm so happy for her she got the £15k! Fantastic! (