Noel opens box 5 and reveals £3,000

Box 4 with Freddie contains the £250

Well if the 1st offer had been a little lower, that would have been an OPW but in the end it's a feel-good ending OBW.

Odd game - the 55 minute running time in the schedules suggested something special and whilst the £100k was in play, there was hope. Either way, the final decision was justifiable and although close to the mean, when a game is that bad and £250 is guaranteed, can't really blame her for going for it.

Well, at least she got a consolation for her troubles, but once again, a Gambler gets an almost unlucky game

I presume you are basing her being a gambler on her time on the wings because there other than the final decision, there wasn't an offer to test even the likes of Beryl today.

I missed today's game, but it sounds like it had the most depressing first two thirds ever. In fact, it was a lot like £5 Irene's start from way back in 2005, only even worse. She even had a similar final five.

But it was good that she managed to get £3,000 out of a game like that. The only way she could've gotten more was to take the first offer, so for all intents and purposes it's basically an OPW.

I loved the way the other contestants all rushed out to congratulate her when that £3,000 box was opened as if she'd won the £250k or even one of the power 5!

But I guess it must have felt like one after that bad luck!

I though it was due to finish 10 mins later than it did, so I thought we could have a Gaz-like recovery to £100k so was stunned when it went, and so thought we must have been in for a twist, such as one to open, though what the point of that would be on such a rubbish board was beyond me! REally glad there wasn't an all-or-nothing gamble too!

It seemed like there were a lot of previews for upcoming C4 shows between DOND and the next show which would account for the 10 minutes between DOND ending and the C4 news starting.

Ultra-brief recap again, as there's not a lot to say about this one again - when there's a game worth talking about more, I'll talk about it more.

Ugly game, all expectations destroyed very early on, but three grand at the end of it after the one financial decision of the game was a small-stakes gamble gone right. When your big decision is on a £3k-high final two you know your luck's out.

The other thing which I couldn't stop laughing at was the cheering of the £500 and £750 being opened in the round from 8-box - very good safety nets on the board, and the £750 was indeed the second-highest amount after the £10k had gone!!! (the cheering was almost like like the banker's power 5 going in the openeing round! )

Yes, not much to work with today, and that must be one of the quickest paths to a one-box game ever, as Charmaine had knocked out the 6 sums around £100k before the first break! Pretty sorry tale when £1,400 is the biggest decision - rational mind to me says take it as £3k is not twice as good as the offer for me, however given that to get to that stage your board will have crashed, I'm more likely to think 'what the heck' by then and no-deal. Anyway, such a shame she didn't have anything to work with, and I thought it was going to be a really good game as it was scheduled for 55 minutes!

I wonder if a contestant's name also beginning in C and ending in E will play tomorrow...

awww that was an unlucky game but a lovely ending

Wow. I don't even think Jason's game was as much of a downer as today's. Then again, Jason seemed more able to cope with the game falling apart while the Banker was delighting in making people cry today.

At least she managed to salvage a modestwin out of an otherwise accursed game. The No Deal at the end was a bit surprising, but I guess the Three Digit Rule played into that decision.

Shush...

Not a nice game at all, you can always recover from the first round so I think it's fair to say it was that second round which knocked the stuffing out of the game...and from then on the only way it was going to be even marginally great was if the £100,000 at least made it to 8-box...even that didn't happen sadly!

£3,000 was a great consolation though!

Felt sorry for Charmaine. She never had a chance to win anything big. Though the game did have an uplifting finish with her winning 3 grand. Glad she has at least something handy to take away.

Contestants taking the swap on a 2 box game is proving very powerful at the moment.

So there completes a mixed bag week of -

2 players showing great bravery and winning 50k
2 players winning 22 + 23k but left wondering what might have been
and 2 players leaving with very little suffering poor luck early on.

Yeah was a pretty brutal game she had. Was starting to think she wouldn't be able to buy a sandwich for her mum let alone a sandwich shop. Little bit of luck at the end there. Some players with the same type of game may have been inclined to either deal or swap so a good job she resisted either of those urges.

Things just didn't get started for Charmaine. Even the chance of a Gaz-style recovery didn't happen. At least £3,000 is a decent consolation, though players would perhaps prefer losing on a £3k - £250k finish than winning on a £100 - £3k one, having at the opportunity at least of winning big money.

She took it as well as she could in the circumstances, even with the banker being unusually evil by his standards. The show was effectively a game of random luck due to the poor offers, and the last one wasn't going to tax the brain too hard. To recover to £3,000 was an effort, but it shows how the game can turn, and thankfully it did this time!

Enjoy the £3,000, Charmaine!

Edit: Just scrapped an unrelated bit of this message. Realise a bit more research needs to be done.

Not a lot you can say about that. A very unlucky game. Still all things considered Charmaine did well to get £3,000 - what Emma would have called smile money at least. In a game that peaked at £3,500 that's a good result

And is that the smallest ever win to warrant a pitch invasion?