Howie's son in the audience reminds him he can't afford to go home with nothing...

James is 19 years old; so therefore the offer will be £19,000 if Howie goes on and finds another blue!

Noel reminds him he really is playing for nothing...

Howie says NO DEAL!

Howie keeps box 17 to the end...

Box 16 - Kiran - 50p

Time for the Banker!

I feel a big DEAL coming on!

Howie rushes to the lads to be congratulated (Kiran, Marley and Darren), then followed by James who has now come down to the table!

The Banker isn't entirely sure how this decision is going to go...but the offer is, indeed...

£19,000

Howie, after deliberation with his son...DEALS!

But Howie had the £50,000 in box 18; Angela reveals the 10p in his original box 17...

The Banker rings and wants to give Howie a gift; a t-shirt, which has on it, you guessed it - "TOUGH LUCK HOWIE, YOU GET NOTHING!"

Second time in a row should have believed more in the box. Someone should have reminded him what he had yesterday, £75k which means more than likely he would have gone for it.

But, still a good win, just shame not a banker spanking.

I'll tune in to +1 at 5.10 and fill in the intro to the game accordingly

A BIG thanks to Davey for stepping in at no notice and covering the commentary today Really appreciate that

Nice job, Davey

Just wish the game would match your support to the forum...

And then someone else should have reminded him that what he had yesterday has ABSOLUTELY NO BEARING WHATSOEVER on what he'd have brought to the table today.

He may have undersold the box (cue crucifiction from usual suspects) but really to have got £19k from a game where most of the reds disappeared early is no mean feat. It certainly wasn't a poor offer either. Probably a shame he didn't knock out the box he swapped away sooner, although he'd have ended up with a blue/50k finish anyway.

Plus, if he hadn't been offered that first-round swap, assuming he'd have had the same finish, Noel probably would've done the hypo-swap anyway, given he does seem to have a fondness for them...

Haha yes, now we're all petrified he'll do it again!

Brilliant comment there KB, I agree too still though, £19,000 isn't to be sniffed at, and nobody here would have gambled for the £50,000 so fair does!

SPOILER: today's game won't be as ridiculous as yesterday's farcical ending.

OK, it's Howie, maybe it will be. I still find it hysterical that the player called Howie is a self-confessed gambler, and those of you familiar with the American version - a different type of farce to ours - will know why.

Anyway, if you're going to hit three of the Power 5 in the opening round, at least make sure none of them are the jackpot. This is set up for an early Deal if the banker-producer wants it, which presumably he doesn't. There we go, opening swap. Incidentally, let the history books state that I would not take this swap, as my opening swap would always be for, erm, the Box 17 that is now on the table. I see it as tantamount to choosing my box; I would actually want an opening swap offer with 17 not on the table...

Second round is much improved, but Howie is yet to take out any of the bottom eight, which may be of importance given that the banker-producer has chosen Howie as the recipient of every twist going on the wings, let alone here. Three grand as the first cash offer isn't going to even be considered.

And if you're going to leave seven of the bottom eight to halfway, at least make sure the one you take out is the 1p. Two-box game at 11-box; are we going to get a genuinely interesting 11-box decision? *laughing* no.

See, that's why you make tempting offers as a producer on that sort of board. If it collapses in round 4, you have no game left at the 'business end'. Oh god, the ADP is actually a cue for an even more ridiculously low offer.

Well, we at least have something like a game at five-box; four blues and £50k. Are we going to get an interesting offer, like, say, four grand? Barely two. Move along.

Hello? Oh, OK, he's resetting the blues to zero. Now that's a gamble, because he could leave an utterly irrelevant final four, and that would be dreadful television. Five grand at four-box, and I might be gone, but only because I'm uncertain as to the future offers. One more, maybe; one more it is; there goes the highest remaining blue, and the twist is now utterly immaterial. It's £50k/nada/nada, and ten grand's enough for me. Enough for Howie? Not if a Banker guarantee has anything to do with it! The guarantee almost sways me, but seeing as it'd still be marginal, I wouldn't let him have the satisfaction of changing the decision, frankly.

Unorthodox, keeping the original box to the end, and it's been criticised before... but not today it won't be, because he's got the nineteen grand! Assuming he's not about to take one of the most questionable gambles in DoND history... which indeed he isn't. Oh and that's the reason for the twist. How did I forget?

A sensational opening swap made it all possible; whether he left the original box to the end or not was utterly immaterial from the squashdown onwards. £19,000 is an astonishing result from that position.

Personally I think he should have got shot of box 17 earlier as it hung over his game to the end and why even swap if it was as significant as box 18? Though Howie did well to get his offers up to 19k and I doubt he would have box flipped, but by default he would have had to leave a different box to the end, and it could have been a red...possibly even Geoff's 250k.

I always maintain that if you take the opening round swap you must get rid of your rejected box in the next round, otherwise the Banker will hold it over you.

In Howie's case though he had so much bad luck it was almost immaterial. I can't be the only one who was convinced that was going to be an unavoidable train wreck and to claw back up to £19,000 from those earlier offers was a victory in itself.

Plus of course, don't forget he already had £200 before he even started

Well I thought that was a great result considering the board he had earlier on, he had to take several risks of going home with nothing at all and to miss the mine as it were! Really pleased the catchphrase of him winning nothing didn't come true becuase I thought he was a great contestant!

(And for all the people saying it's a diaster, well he picked 10p and random before playing, and turned it into 19 grand. That is GOOD!!)

And also pleased they didn't have the nerve to try the "PJ" twist again where the player left a final pair with one of each power 5 where the player didn;t open the swapped away box till the end. I think the reaction on here after PJ's game plus no phone-in box to bail them out would have put them off it!

Well, I've calmed down a bit after yesterday's swap debacle, and today was indeed a fantastic recovery from the lack of reds he had at an early stage in the game, it seemed doomed to disaster. Having rather disowned the whole notion of the swap yesterday, I have to admit I do find the opening swap quite intriguing, if only to see when they will open their discarded box and how that will affect the game.

Personally, I don't think it's a good policy to leave to the end, as you may well get the swap again because of it (a-la PJ), and that just gives an unnecessary complication. Thankfully, Howie had a guarantee, which was borderline to go for with a 66% chance of nearly doubling your money against 33% of nothing, I think personally I'd have wanted slightly better odds on that risk/reward, so I'd be taking £10k.

Anyway, great contestant and brilliant comeback, one of the few games this season that's had a bit of tension, but that can all change as soon(ish) it's...

Even more hysterical is the fact that (according to Noel's intro, misquoted by Davey) Howie's actual name is David Howell. Although why I find that amusing I know not.

Well a less-infurating game than yesterday's wasn't going to be too difficult and in the end we got a great game to watch.

With an EV of £12,666.67 at 3-box, it was a marginal call to turn down £10k but given the run of safe deals we had last week, I can't begrudge a player taking a non-stupid one today.