Ooh, the Banker placing the pressure on him to take a chance but Des isn't swayed, he's got fifty grand, he's had a few minutes to think about how fifty grand will change his life, and he's not going to put any of it on the line.

Arguable either way, but you cannot realistically argue with a win that big. And the hypo-swap denies the guilt trip! Given that the Banker was doing that job just when Noel wasn't, you have to say that's karma from the boxes right there.

If that's an OBW, I want a few more!!

And it's another Banker Spanking! Shows how much I know

Great game and hope he enjoys the £50k!

Yep, an OPW thanks to the Post-deal Swap

Can't blame him for taking £50,000, enjoy it, Des

We usually discount the swap making this an OBW, but you couldn't ask for a happier OBW... the Banker certainly isn't going to feel like a winner after that one!

I thought that was a very good game, and congrats to Des on the banker spanking. I myself was convinced that he might be the first male £250,000 winner, and I thought he was going to decline the £50,000 after Terry gave him his opinion. I also thought he was going to take the Banker's Gamble too, especially since the minimum he could go away with was £20,000. I thought he was quite an unpredictable player.

But congrats to Des on winning £50,000. Great game.

Season 5 rocks! Especially when you consider the corresponding game to this one is season 4 was Nikki Tucker!

Great game that was. Des was unpredictable to read for me, he seemed open to the right deal but willing to go for it if the offers weren't enough, and obviously the banker felt the need to go huge at 5-box to stop him, and also I really wasn't sure whether he'd take the banker's gamble or not, so the show was full of tension. There were three possible banker's gambles from 5-box too, apart from the one he had, there was £250k with either of the blues too! I predicted the 5-box way too low, I thought it would be the £35k which had just gone!

Also loads of comedy too, the newbie's box opening was the best one I'd ever seen, plus Des getting Shaun's name wrong, even though I thought the stuff with Karen made me want to hide behind a cushion slightly.

But now we've had 6 wins of £29k or more in the last 10 games!!! (And the players are geenrally making the best of their luck as well, such as Gail yesterday). How good is this?

What did you think about todays show?

Well, I thought it was excellent, not that that question was directed at me. Some great comedy at the beginning and an intriguing configuration towards the end, with most of the middle amounts removed from the board. £50k was more than I was expecting, but not necessarily a cast iron deal. I would've taken it though, with 2 blues on the board still offering the faint possibility (10%) of a catastrophic collapse, and no guarantee of a much bigger offer keeping blue/250k in play.

As soon as he dealt, I thought about the possibility of a BG with 20k/ 100k, just because it would be a perfect offer for that final 2, and i'm not sure what I'd have done there. £20k being the mode win of players and above the average might've tempted me to throw caution to the wind, but on the other hand, £50k is about twice as useful to me as £20k - £100k is a tempting 6-figure lure though (is £100k twice as useful to me as £50k is another question I need to pose - probably nearly is the hesitant answer, but my curve would be slightly steeper from £20k to £50k, I think) .

It would depend very much on audience reaction and contestant advice, as in my own mind I'm unsure which decision I would regret more there!

thank you statty. do you think he would of offered less if it was in the middle of the season. So do you think he only offered that high as it was so soon in the season?

Was i the only one not expecting the Bankers Gamble?

My thought was that we might see one on a Blue/£100k finish but £20k seemed too high a safety net for me. Oh well shows what i know

Great game though, and a very satisfying result, regardless of the proveout. Some nice humour in there too, i don't think anyone's going to forget Newbie Jason in a hurry and just what is that strange effect Noel seems to have on Ellen.

Me, too. The benchmark at 53% of the mean was suggesting just shy of £40k, and I'd most likely take that saving me any difficult BG decision.

I was thinking of the banker's gamble on a £250k/blue finish but not the £100k/£20k finish.

Well it only took 2 episodes for me to disagree with Noel's analysis that today's game was an OPW but when you win £50k, who cares?

In the eyes of the show as it was broadcast, it looks like it Des beat the banker, even though it was due to the hypothetical swap. And assuming he was telling the truth about the swap, then it's a fact that he would never have won more than £50,000 from that game.

Technically, he sold a £100,000 box for £50,000 so the banker beat him, but if Noel mentioned that then it'd somewhat put a damper on proceedings! So I expect Noel will be saying how tomorrow's game could be the 3rd "banker spanking" in a row. Although if you go by Noel's logic, and if you ignore the summer break, we've already had 3 in a row due to Calum's game!

I think my 'corridor of uncertainty' in the five-box configuration would be between £40k and £45k - the only way I'd turn down £50k there would be if I was guaranteed nearly the mean on a blue/red showdown. Would the 10% chance scare me? Of course it would, but 10% chances don't scare me nearly as much as 30% chances!

Missed the end of today's show but it seemed a good result all round.

The first part seemed to be all about opening your box as quickly as possible (think Jerry won that), promptly followed by Jason nearly not getting his open at all!!

Have to agree that the stuff with Karen in the audience was just cringeworthy.

I don't blame Des for taking the 50k at 5-box, during season 4 hardly anyone got more than 30k with a board like that (indeed, replace the 20k with 15k and you've got Lisa's last 5!). Let's hope this good run continues!

yes it was alain. think he got a kiss off her in the end.
i thought someone had stumbled with a box before??

Overall, that was a great game. Some great comedy moments mixed in with a fair amount of tension.

I don't blame him for dealing the £50,000 or declining the BG. I'd have dealt then taken it myself..

The only thing that slightly bothered me was the hypo-swap. In my eyes, you never truly win with it. You either have what happened today (seen as a spanking despite £100k being in the original box therefore Banker victory) or you get the player missing out on more money but actually beating the Banker nonetheless.

Anyway, season 5 has started amazingly. £66,000 in 2 shows! I hope it continues.

I think the previous occasions have all been problems with pulling the seal off (Howard being a famous example) rather than lifting the lid. That said, Mary dropped the lid during Carrie's game, but that was before the camera zoomed in.

Yeah, many people have had trouble pulling off the seal. This is the first time I recall someone lifting up the entire box.

Can someone post Jasons box opening on youtube i have to see it, i was working yesterday.