Did Max say beforehand that she wanted Box 11?

Either way, the mere hint of a swap opens up "you could have won £50,000, you coward" possibilities for Noel to spin regardless of what's on the table. That's what I hate about the hypo swap (probably all I hate about it, to be honest).

Bloody hell. Is that the first time the big money has been hypo-swapped away at two-box all season?

She was banging on about 11 at the three box stage saying 11 is a significant number to her life and wondered whether it was telling her to keep it at the final two or get rid of it quickly. She decided to choose 16 instead. Which is why The Banker rang up offering the swap to her if she really wanted 11.

Now that's more like it! Well done Max for a great recovery and a perfectly played game!

so does anyone else at least partly agree with me that if the Scrooge twist had been played out then the banker would have been extremely worried at seeing the £50k in her box and the 5 box offer would have been pitched higher than £2k. The actual offer would have been very tricky to pitch though as if it was too high it would have given her the indication of the contents. I think it would have meant the 2 box offer would have been closer to £23k though.

Someone tell me I'm not mad at thinking the players should want the banker to look in the box as it means someone other than the IA knows the contents. I sure it works in their favour if they have a big red value. If they have a blue then thats when they lose out to the offers, but if they got to 2 box with a blue and a red, the 5 box offer would strongly indicate they should swap at the end?

As for the slingshot stunt. It shows it's possible but getting it in either 2/4 shots is very difficult and will be surprised if anyone gets it this week. Surprised this hasn't been invented for a game on Minute to Win It.

The problem is you using a piece of equipment to determine your fate where with Birthday Week the contestants had the strength in their arms to throw the cans into the mouth.

I don't think I've seen someone show as much emotion as Rosie BEFORE opening their box. Took her a while to compose herself there.

Good result for Max there. I have no doubts in my mind that she would have indeed swapped for Box 11 and thus I'm happy with the OPW. Nice game.

So why did the banker not get to look inside her box then? I missed that one.

Hitch who played in November hypo-swapped £75k for £50 after dealing at 5-box.

The banker only looks in the box if the player takes 2 shots with the caterpault, not 4.

The contestant can only advance 1 box at a time with the 2-shot option (the 4-shot option is just for a holiday prize).

Also, Denise from early in the season hypo-swapped £50,000 for a smaller amount, and Shaun from November hypo-swapped £20,000 for a blue.

The first of 2011, it seems... anyone with any more recent examples than November?

OH DEAR... OH DEAR...

Nice one Greeny, I'd forgotten about Denise's. Shaun's was a bit of an odd one as he'd already won the game by that point by dealing £22k at 5-box - a more pedantic hypo-swap than usual, perhaps!

Back to Max's game - I didn't get home in time to see it but will have to have a watch later. Some similarities with Tony's game in that the downward spiral was in full flow at 5-box (although both players may have still been in live play by that point anyway), the difference being that Max had a power 5 in her box so managed to escape with a decent sum.

I dislike hypo-swaps for the same reason as KP but if the player puts a lot of emphasis on one box on the wings then goes on to say they'd probably swap for it (and I should point out that not every player that singles out a box would swap), then hey, it's their own ending they're fiddling. Luckily for Max, it worked out. Enjoy the money.

This weeks gimmick seems a little pointless.

Low money game = no point taking the 2 shots option. May as well take 4 shots and at least try and bag a holiday consolation prize.

High money game = don't want to risk banker seeing in the box and all the mind games it entails.

Should just make it 4 shots = holiday + 1 box + banker look in box. Player has option of whether to go for it or not. I'm pretty sure all would and it'd actually have an effect on the game. As it is we're just watching players try to win a holiday which is a bit boring.

I certainly wouldn't! I guess they want to make sure everyone plays with their catapult

I wonder how much they actually tested how possible it was to hit the bin from the catapult because it seems difficult (although the camera angles for the shots have been less that perfect - either keep the camera steady behind the player or in the bin but they seem to switch mid-shot).

For me, I'd just be playing this game as a regular game this week as I'd never take the 2-shot twist and I normally treat offers where the banker knows what's in my box as offers where the banker doesn't know as you're not second guessing if he is bluffing.

A great game. Max was a very personable player, a little headstrong maybe and that very nearly backfired on her at 8 box, but when the odds were against her she held her nerve and took a sensible deal.

With regards to the hypo swap I've probably said this before but i don't have a problem with it provided it doesn't come out of nowhere. In this case the offer of a swap was made while Max was still contemplating the offer and her 'faith' in box 11 was firmly established so i think there was full transparancy there.

Actually for once I completely agree with you!

I would have seen it as the offer would be dealable if the banker saw a blue and rubbish if he saw the £50k. There would be no "entertainment value" whatsoever if he saw a blue, offered £NO_DEAL and she took out the red first box, they want to produce exciting endings in a special week surely.

So you'd have banked (ahem) on the banker-producer playing to lose? Four years ago I'm sure he would have done. Now, with the show known to be suffering in budget, and a £250k win having happened not long ago to exacerbate that, I'd be inclined to think the opposite...

I don't really know but the last time I can remember the banker seeing in the box on a similar board was Pommy's game, and I was shouting at her to deal, when she didn't I just had to leave the room as I couldn't bear to see her leave with nowt.

And I also picked it right on Freddie's game that season too - I was urging him to swap! (The banker indiciated that he didn't want Freddie to win what he saw, so with him offering £15k at 5-box I was pretty sure he hadn't seen that).