I thought Francis was a really nice bloke, and it's such a shame that his game suffered from a collapse halfway through. It looked like he was going to win a huge amount at one point, but unfortunately it wasn't meant to be.

The £5,000 deal was a bit cautious with a guarantee of considerably more if he avoided the £75k, but I can see why he wanted to avoid winning a blue, especially in this era of unlucky games.

I also thought he coped well when he spoke about his daughter's death - a lot of players probably would've started crying, which always makes for uncomfortable viewing.

Enjoy the £5,000, Francis!

Maybe we should just be thankful there wasn't another totally uncalled for hypo swap at the end!

That's one thing I was relieved about, no Hypo-Swap for a third time

Another day, another game, another one-post summary.

And another Noel! "Sometimes the first offer is the highest", apparently. Not very often, but he's right, and a million miles away from his utter wrongness last time around. The opening round is reasonable, leaning above average; one big hit is to be expected, and he used it up right away. Much the same can be said about the offer, but we move on.

And that's a cracking round 2, and the board is now unequivocally looking rather good. The offer is utterly naff, going up by two grand after taking out less than that in three boxes. Another hit at the start of round 3, but the only other bit of remotely bad news is that we've lost the oranges. Two other blocks of three remain below on that side of the board, including the top three, and the old Noel is back, inciting every male contestant between now and Hallowe'en to be reckless as long as the jackpot is on the board. Modest offers like this one won't do Noel's cause any harm; losing the jackpot at the start of the fourth round is just karma for Noel, although not for Francis.

A ten-box break? What? That's just wrong. Crumbs he's lost the top two in the fallback block, and £7,500 is now the game's first serious offer. It's easy to chase the game when you've had three higher offers and you still have three higher boxes, though, and Francis duly does.

Oh and there goes the £100,000. He's done all his damage at the start of the rounds hasn't he? £75k and four blues, then. Noel describes it as "serious gambling territory" - I've no idea whether that's an incitement to play on or not. Offering a third of the mean, that's a minor incitement to play on. Offering a 40% chance of more than quintupling the offer, that's a major incitement to play on, bordering on offensive. Francis isn't having any of it on a board this dangerous, and deals - a decision that is mathematically questionable at best, but is worth it for shutting Noel up.

Oh god, of all the blues to leave. Needless to say I'd deal this, even though I'd be strongly wondering if the swap was nailed on. I probably wouldn't have been offered it, though...

Really liked Francis both on the wings and today, he had a cool calmness about him that I really liked, without being at all the other way (i.e. cocky).

I really did think he was going to win big at halfway, but the 4th and 5th rounds were pretty devastating to the point where he more or less had to deal if he didn't want to leave with nothing. At least the banker gave him an OK-ish exit, even though the reward was good for an all-blue round, I think it was sensible and he gave the board a go while it was good and dealt only when it was a one box game, and the amounts he believed in were gone. I guess after the banker makes a promise of a 2-box offer thet's way in excess of the deal, he can't really go for the banker's gamble!

Why is everyone so bloody bothered about hypo swaps?

If they swap in the proveout, they're playing the game honestly. Why do we have first offers? They're just as pointless as hypo swaps, but no-one complains about them. :/

Too bad the pound comes to the table YET AGAIN (Rico must be LOVING these times...) - a nasty crash, and a deal made in order to avoid a complete crash...and yet it didn't happen, yet again bad timing...

He was great on the show though! Big boots to be filled

I really liked Francis and wanted him to do well. Shame the game didn't work out.

Thought he was really unlucky, the offer at 5 box wasn't brilliant (I would have been holding out for double that personally) but in a one box game it was understandable that he felt he couldn't go on, Of course the deep personal significance he kelt laying on box 14 it felt almost inevitable the big money would be hidden in there and i think if he'd held out another three boxes a swap would have been inevitable (as in the Banker saying, no deal and i will guarantee a swap)

It depends on the circumstances of the hypo-swap. If a player has £250k and 10p left and the offer would have been something that wasn't a joke offer, the hypo-swap is pointless because only a tiny % of people would no deal the offer to be able to get the swap in active play.

Anyway, the banker is always trying to buy the box on the table, not a box that is still on the wings.

Back to today's game - can't blame Francis for not wanting to take away a blue but for once, the predicted offer was helpful and for me, worth the risk.

Hypo swaps don't bother me too much, but I often wonder if a player would be brave enough to swap in active play, especially in a power 5/blue finish. I don't think I would be. I liked Frances' game today, it was just a shame he didn't find the £75k in the final round.

what a cool calm guy awww he wasnt a gambeling man at all dont think he would have took a bg gamble maybe if he had box 14 on the table then he might have gone for it but he got£5000 pound which is a nice amount to take home good luck francis

Francis was a great contestant on the wings, it's a shame he didn't win a bit more, as looked promising at one stage, but it was understandable in this era of games that he didn't want to go away with a blue. With the guarantee, though, I think most people on here would've gone on. It was looking a decent board at the halfway stage, but devastating 4th and 5th rounds ripped apart the game sadly. Still, £5k is not a bad consolation.