So much for you promising to NEVER post on this site again. Your signature doesn't make sense either, "retired since July 2009", yet you came out of retirement twice in a month.

By the way, this forum is not dedicated to Lets Make a Deal.

Oh and Mark, stop laughing at people's misfortune. I think it's in really bad taste. On another day she could have won massive money, and that's what you want to see right?

I wouldn't call it laughing, per se. I just tell it like it is. It's called being brutally honest. I like to point out the many flaws in the games and players themselves. And before you say it, yes, I have my flaws too. We all do, in fact.

This player was doomed from the start. The 20K offer screamed "Deal Me!", but she chose to let greed take over, and we all know what happens when someone does that. They become like a US contestant, and rightfully get Zonked. Yes, I know, that's a term from another show that involves making deals, but I think it's kind of appropriate here, because it really reflects the situation. What, you were expecting Box 23? Dream on.

And about the retirement thing, I agree, it was a bit of a misnomer. I used to post here every day, but now I've relegated myself to "Guest Commentator" status. I'll pop in once every few millenia or something to chime in where I see fit.

Well watching the show on 4OD with the clock yelled distaster as soon as she no dealt at 5 box. I really felt for Pommy as she seemed such a lovely person but I have a stable job and I'd have taken £20k without a doubt (ignoring the banker's mind games as I normally do) so it was a huge gamble for her to take and sadly the odds were against her.

Post-game thoughts - a definite case for getting the banker to guarantee the 2-box offer if the £250k stayed in play today - if only to try and gleen more information about whether the £250k was really in the box.

What a sad game!
Pommy came across as a really lovely person and I was yelling at her to take the £20k with the board she had left.
Hope you have better luck with love Pommy, this show should have done you no harm there.

That was a hard game to watch in places. Pommy was unlucky from the start, a couple of times it looked like she might be about to turn it around but she never quite managed it.
Had a feeling she was doomed when she found the Scrooge rather than the Santa. Hard to tell though if she fell for the Bankers mind games or if she genuinely felt she could keep the £250k in play till the end. As Simon says it would have prudent for her to have fished a little and seen what the Banker would be likely to offer at 2 box

I liked Pommy, she came across as bubbly and vivacious and it's a shame she didn't have better luck, Still at least she has a day as a penguin at the zoo , that's a consolation prize i suppose

The penguin feeding sounds like a bit of a naff prize but looking at the website that the rest of the experience prizes came from (although it's a different wildlike park), it's about £150.

http://www.exhilaration.co.uk/experienc ... guins_405/

While I'm not Mad Mark, I'm going to say that this was a deeply questionable gamble in her circumstances - I wouldn't have taken it on even in my much better circumstances, because I remembered David's game two months ago when there was an even more inflated offer (£40k - yes there were significant backups, but nothing in the Power 5!) with £250k on the table, and I figured that the Banker would be trying to goad me into No Dealing.

Of course, I'm sufficiently wary of that sort of thing that the easiest way to goad me into a Deal is to try and goad me into a No Deal.

In honesty, I'm almost tempted to say this one's on Noel's conscience, and the 'almost' is because Pommy won't have seen David's game... or would she? Would Endemol have shown that one to past players deliberately? I know they show the pilgrims the big Wakeyist wins before they enter the studio, but I don't know what they show the contestants if anything.

Reading through this thread made me think of David's game too, and how a lot of people gave him a hard time for not seemingly realising the high offer meant 250k WAS in the box...

The way I see it, when the banker looks in your box, the best course of action is to pretend that he never did so in the first place. On occasions where the banker has looked in the box, the amount of times he's lied and the amount of times he's told the truth are roughly the same, so I'd simply treat the offer with respect to the board and forget about the banker knowing what's in the box.

As it stood, 20k was basically a cast-iron deal for me. There was a 60% chance of taking out the 250k, and there's no way I'd take a 60% chance of losing all of it, even with the prospect of a huge reward. 20k is a huge sum of money for most people (in particular, it would help me out a lot in the future, what with university fees, saving for a car etc.), and a lot to lose out on. I'd rather take 20k and find out 250k was in my box than turn it down and win a blue any day.

Still, it was her choice, and she didn't take it too badly like some contestants do, so I respect that. There's nothing wrong with gambling if you're prepared to lose what you turn down; whether or not Pommy was prepared for that I don't know. It's only when someone turns down a large amount of money, only to win a blue and break down that I think the decision to gamble was a bad one. Though it seems that nobody makes the right decision on a 5-box board of 250k + not much else. People that take the money, like Flo, end up either having it in their box or leaving it in the final two, whereas those who take the risk, like Pommy, almost always find it and lose everything.

Thank you for all your comments i'm sure as you all watch the game often you will know it is NOT greed it is wanting to live the dream and when the dream has been taken away it is hard to deal with so before any of you comment that it was greed that drove me you don't know me to make that comment and don't know my life. thanks to everyone that has watched and i really do appreciate all your comments i just wanted to point out it is not greed it is wanting the dream

Thanks thats very sweet of you
xxx

Thanks so much
xxx

Hope you don't take some of the comments too personally, Pommy. I might not have done what you did but I really wanted your gamble to pay off.

Have you had your day with the penguins yet, Pommy?

Pommy

I would say that the worst thing you did was lose sense of priorities while on the show. That is incredibly easy to do, and Noel actively encourages it on far too many occasions (although I didn't actually watch this episode on the telly, let alone in the studio, so can't judge if this was an example of that or not).

I don't think "greed" is the right criticism. "Idealistic" or "easily-led" would probably be more accurate criticisms than "greedy", and far less damaging.

PS: This criticism is nothing compared to what you'd have got if you sold the £250k for £20k, especially if you'd played two years ago.

Noel was one of those! In the show after David's, Noel literally banged his fists on the pound table and said David missed the chance of a lifetime because it was so obvious the £250k was in his box.

I don't really think the banker can ever be trusted with regards to what he's seen in a box.

I think that Pommy would have gone on regardless of what the banker said. Though you do have a point about being unable to trust the banker; that's why I say it's worth pretending that he never looked in the box in the first place.

To be honest I find the "stupid reckless gambler deserves to win nowt" posts and the "stupid greedy over-cautious 3rd round dealer idiot who has no intention of playing the game and deserves to have the £250k/£100k/biggest amount left in play in their box to rub their noses in it" both as bad as each other.

There are many different approaches to the game, any of which are as valid as each other!

I just wish people like Flo and Pommy, both of whom I really liked, could have had each other's games!

Personalit triats are a different thing altogether, but if I like the contestant then I want their decisions to pay off regardless of whether it's what I would have done!

Agree with your last point James. Yes, I'd have taken the £20k like a shot but as a viewer, tense finales like that are what you want to see (although ones where the 5 box round starts 5 minutes before the end of the show kind of kill the tension).