Really sad that he didn't win more, but a surprisingly
uplifting game despite the bad luck!
Glad he didn't win the fiver at least.
Ken was a great contestant.

Welldone Ken, I'm sorry that it wasn't a brilliant game in terms of money but you should feel honoured to be the first person to win the £750! Welldone you were a great contestant and you gave us an entertaining game!

Very entertaining game indeed. Well done on £750 - I didn't think Ken would win even that much after round 1.

Thanks Ken!

welldone ken, second worst start ever, but you actually beat the banker in some respects - the last offer before you won £750 was less than what you won! wow, there were only 3 offers higher, so i suppose it wasnt that bad to win £750!

Poor Ken, I wish it had been more

But, its still the first £750 winner!

Well done Ken, you're the first person to win £750!

Well done on winning £750 Ken!

Sorry folks, but I have one or two corrections to make.


In terms of money removed from the board there have been seven worse opening rounds.


Raj did have the worst final eight so far, but Ken only ranks fifth in that list.

Hi all, from Club de Oura Praia here on the southern coast of Portugal. I´ve taped the games this week to watch when I return next Sunday. Weather has been iffy here, but it´s been nice and warm.

I´m surprised to see Ken play today, but there aren´t many long runners so an early one was due. I hope you enjoy the rest of this week´s shows and I may come on later in the week, but if not, I´ll be back next Sunday.

Shame he didn't win more, but good to see him get something worthwhile after a terrible start, and he was clearly just there to play the game. And had the honour of founding a new club as well!

It was a bit of an illustration of why DOND wouldn't really have worked as a low-budget show on the BBC or in the pre-Millionaire era though - when there's nothing more than £10k left the offers won't be significant enough for most people to do anything but no-deal to the end, which might please some people like Wakey and Aaron but for the rest of us it would get a bit crap and predictable after a while!

Well done Ken you kept smiling throughout the game

I knew it wasn't the 2nd worst ever start, but I didn't realise it was actually only the 8th worst first round

I didn't get to see, but it sounded a very sad game. £750 isnt an awful sum of money to go away with anyway. 12 games = 4 days = £187.50 a day. Working on a game taking 2 hours to film thats £31.25 an hour.

Oh dear, poor Ken, what a terrible game!

However, some positives: he gets to start a new club, so will be memorable for that, and £750 is at least weekend away money, so better than a poke in the eye with a pointed stick.

And also the fact that he had a bad board throughout, and accordingly low offers mean that he won't have gone home thinking "God, I turned down £xx,xxx and lost it" - his highest offer was only £3,000, which you wouldn't be too bothered about unless a couple of grand would make a big difference to you, I suppose as a retired company director, it wouldn't have to him - which was evident by his positive attitude!

He was never one box away from a big offer either (i.e. 1p Trevor).

Funny, that game didn't even come close to being as painful as Lisa's.

And Ken might actually be "Bill" in the article - the big win could be tomorrow or Wednesday, I really hope it's Jeff!

I know of one person there who wins 70,000 pounds due to a spoiler I got from someone.

Yes, that's now two people who have spoiled that piece of information in this thread.

Could we please keep spoilers in spoiler threads? I know you didn't give the name of the guy (if it is a guy) who does, but it's still a spoiler.

Gutted Ken! Wanted you to win enough to have your trip to Jamaica.

You deserved so much more!

Poor Ken very unlucky. £750 is better than £5.

What a truly awful game... but well done Ken for taking it so well... you're a great fellow, enjoy the £750. Like you suggested, go to Sidmouth with your wife and have a good weekend!

Haha, I noticed Jeff's "Break a leg" phrase was drowned out by all the cheering during the quickie round!

Not sure about that actually, I think expectations have a lot to do with it. In this format, a modest win of a grand or two, while not a disaster, is seen as a pretty poor result, in the context of what can be won. As a result, most people won't have any qualms about no-dealing as they won't feel too bad losing it. However, in a BBC/90s format, if, for instance, 10k or 20k is the top prize, a a few grand would actually be a good win! Most of the offers would be in hundreds and not thousands!

Urgh, what a *beep* game. Ken was a great character who should have won a lot but the big money was just never there...I think his game's broken the record for "lowest maximum amount possible", if that makes sense, "beating" Tracey's peak offer of £3,600. (Alan had the lowest peak offer, £2,500, but he could have won £5k if he'd taken his own box.)

But hurrah for founding the £750 club!!! Have all the blue amounts been won now, then, or is there one more to go?