Coincidence, eh?

Yes.

Did you notice the box Greg brought the tiara back in was a Christmas Star box

Does that mean the end of the Christmas Star shows

That was some game, but thankfully with the right result and one bum-smacked Banker after what at one point looked like another train wreck in the making after such a good start.

I can't recall seeing Doreen's game but for those who did, it must have felt like a case of De Ja-Vu.

Enjoy the money, Elaine.

Maybe this sets a new precedent. All future players should start bringing tiaras with them from now on.

Phil.

Yes, I did notice that. I spotted a few 'Star' boxes lingering about when I was down there...

And I don't think there are any Christmas Star shows this year. They haven't advertised for any nominations, and someone who was in the audience made a post last month saying that Noel confirmed there's no Star shows this Christmas.

Elaine seemed very shocked to be picked considering this was her 26th show, much longer than everyone else! Watching the game though it did seem less surprising, judging by her reaction to finding a blue!

The sort of 8-box board she had is often a difficult call, at least to begin with, with it being a one-box game where any decent offer is worth considering but you've only got to miss one box in the next round and you might get an even better 5-box offer! That said, I was surprised the banker went up as much as he did there, and I sure don't blame Elaine for dealing it!

Ok, I'm struggling a bit to work out which planet the banker is on at the moment with the offers - and he even returned the Tiara in one piece, so where's his ruthlessness gone?!

When £10k was the initial offer, I was thinking it was a good offer for the board and I probably would've taken it, £15k was pretty much a cast-iron deal for most people, and £20k was ludicrously generous, and frankly she'd have been mad to turn it down (even if the next offer would be a Doreen-style offer for keeping the 250k, I doubt I'd risk it!). He must've had a soft spot for Elaine!

Put this game together with the AMO £4,000, and the birthday twists that almost certainly stopped the player winning a blue, and it's been a strange period of banker behaviour...

It's very rare to get as generous an offer at 8 box with £250,000 and no other amount above 5K. Doreen 27/2/09 rejected 20K with a similar board to deal at 50K at 5 box. If Elaine had no dealt and left £250,000 in play for 5 box I suspect the banker would have made a sizeable offer (in return for the tiara) but not quite as high as 50K!

Really odd game. I wasn't actually sure at times which way I wanted the result to go.

Don't get me wrong, I liked Elaine, a bit shrill but she seemed an essentially good person, then that 8 box offer completely threw me. Given the status of the board i wouldn't have expected more than £5k at the very most, and with the Banker's proviso that she sacrifice her grandaughter's tiara I couldn't decide if he wanted her to take it or was goading her into going to the end.

Then he doubled the offer and under any normal circumstances with that board i'd have said take it without the slightest hesitation, but still he wanted the tiara and for that reason alone i was thinking no deal, for starters the tiara wasn't hers to sell. (okay it was cheep plastic tack but it was also the prized possession of a 4 y.o. girl)

But she did and at that point i admit i was half hoping the big one would be in her box just as punishment for valuing her grandaughter's possessions so lightly but in the end we got an OPW - and an excessively generous one for the board i think - and the Banker didn't even destroy the tiara, I feel cheated.
So was Elaine trusting the Banker to not destroy the tiara or did she blatently sell it regardless?

I couldn;t help thinking back to Laura's game too - would the Banker have returned Harold unharmed if she had taken him up on his offer?

I feel a bit like that too. Elaine didn't seem like a Doreen!

Honestly, I thought Elaine was brilliant and a bit of a nutcase, and would hated to have seen her have a trainwreck, I half think the banker was playing mindgames into goading on her on with a very dangerous board, and was quite pleased she didn't fall for it. Maybe that's the reason I always applaud people who don't take anything with them!

I do think she'd have had a Doreen-like 5-box offer too if the big one had stayed till 5-box so it wasn't a complete definite deal, but I bet he'd have offered £50k plus the tiara there and done something similar.

This generosity such as offering Gary a £1k gain or a £3,250 loss, Roli getting an extra offer for the sake if it, Roy's "pick 8 candles and I'll multiply your winnigs by 7" stuff, and now this, believe you me I think it's way better than forced blue wins which I despise, but it is a big kick in the face for recent players like Aurora, Michelle, Marie and Martin who were basically all forced to win their blues!

I found it a pretty repulsive sort of show really. Akin to one of those Japanese game shows where humiliation is heaped upon contestants and good taste goes out of the window.

How much will you sell your Grandchildren's possesions for? Honestly.

i thought the tiara was going to be in bits whats up with the banker recently hes turning into a bit of a softie isint he???????£20,0000 eh what a good result ,

Not sure what has happened to the banker lately. Doubling the offer from £10k to £20k seemed a bit unnecessary. £10k might well have been enough today, £15k probably would have too.

Wonder if Endemol have a surplus in their prize money budget lately.

Has the Banker pulled that trick before? Bought an object/ lucky charm from the player with the threat to destroy it, then given it back undamaged? I did get a strange feeling of deja vu at the end

I do recall one player giving him a money tree before her game then winning a blue and getting it back with the message "You need it more than i do"

I think the money tree player was Matty?

I think Michelle from Oct 2008 gave the banker a lucky stone which was initially (supposedly) returned to her in pieces, then returned fully intact after her game. Emma from April 2008 had a magic wand which she sold to the banker after she waved it and took out the bottom 5 in consecutive boxes - it was returned to her at the end. Like Elaine, both players got OPWs.

Thanks Brick, both of those ring a bell. Was it really Matty with the money tree? He really did need it more than the Banker