But I do the pictures cookie_monster...

HAPPY MAXINE DAY!

I am sorry Banker I won't do it again, I promise

I liked Maxine and seeing her get that £10k at the end having just taken out the £100k was a big relief. If she'd avoided the £100k I still reckon she'd have still won £10k as she'd probably have gambled the last offer, but it would have been a let down!

Fadil was a complete legend and I was absolutely gutted to see him win 1p. It was the first 1p game I saw in full, it was a great comedy episode with contributions from Pat M and "deckchair" John! I have to admit I would have won 1p on that game as well (as indeed I would have on most of them), £7,200 was a crap offer and the banker deserved top be punished for it. At the time, as I hadn't been watching long as thought it was actually decent as Steve had got offered £200 less but with £750 instead of the 1p a couple of weeks back!

I think he might have only come across as reckless due to the apparent lack of time he spent making his decision - as soon as Noel said the offer he was all "ASK ME THE QUESTION"!!! His wife was one of the best partners I've seen on the show too - "To hell with the money!"

But if he'd turned down £17k, it would have been a different story!

And Noel's speech when opening the box didn't half sound stupid when he reveleaed 1p (which we couldn't see)

It's ok, I was only joking!

We already discussed his game yesterday but today is Fadil Day - the third member of the 1p club.

While he never saw any really significant offers (by today's standards at least) it takes some courage to no-deal any offer on a final pair of 1p and £35,000 - even a pretty insulting one like he got. One of the first to really stand up to the Banker for the crap offers he was usually giving at the time, unfortunately it didn't pay off for him but others followed his example and won the big money.

IT'S GABRIELLE DAY!!!! Gabrielle was an absolute *beep* legend...one of the best contestants ever. Her game was pretty rubbish, though...her highest offer was £6,500, with five boxes left...she kept the £50k to the last three but, like Maxine's game, it all went wrong with the 20th box and she was left with £50 and £1,000. She decided to swap (eventually...it looked like Noel talked her into it a bit ) and got the £1k (like all Black Widows she brought a *beep* amount to the table), then revealed that she'd only been on the show to raise money for charity, causing the Banker to ring back and double her money. Aw that was one of the nicest moments ever...she seemed really touched.

"I didn't say 7 was a lucky number, I said I was a seventh child, and seventh children are regarded as being lucky...don't listen to that one, OK? Don't know who told me that, probably someone who didn't like me!"

Gabrielle was a legend.

HAPPY FADIL DAY!



HAPPY GABRIELLE DAY!

After not watching since Lucy's game (for no reason, I just kept forgetting and then didn't), I watched Gabrielle's game. I dont think I watched any more until like...December though.

Julia Day today! She had a bit of an odd game really...she lost the £250,000 in the first round (I remember everyone being really amazed that she was still offered £6,000, as that was a really generous offer with the £250k gone in those days!), and the £35k, £75k and £100k in the next two rounds, but then had two all-blue rounds and ended up with only the fourth all-red final five! She turned down £15k and got to a final three of £15k, £20k and £50k, but yet again the 20th box killed it when Pat M took out the £50k. She then turned down a rare 100% of the mean offer before deciding to swap for Box 10 because a psychic told her it would be an important number in her life...and winning the £15,000. At the time it was one of the worst swaps ever but it was still pretty inconsequential; all it really did was deny her an OPW!

HAPPY JULIA DAY!

happy julia day

John Day today! This was quite a big "turnaround" week actually...John took out the £250k and £100k before the first break, receiving pretty low offers for the first three rounds, but then held on to £10k, £15k, £50k and £75k to get a fourth offer of £11,000. He no dealt and took out £15k and two blues before dealing for £18,000...sadly that turned out to be the complete wrong decision, as he ended up with a final two of £10k and £75k, an unbelievable hypothetical offer of £40k, and had £75k in his box. (Spookily, Di Please, who played six months ago today - can't believe it's been that long! - also sold a £75k box for £18k. )

Not the best result but this was a really entertaining game...John used the famous "Dave Woollin" system of going in numerical order but keeping his lucky numbers to the end, and got the audience and contestants to do a Mexican wave after every "No Deal". He's also famous for the "deckchair" shirts he wore on the wings and the radio shows he did for fans and contestants before his game! And this game had two of the best quotes ever:

Dot: Do you want me to open the box?
Noel: Yes please...unless you've got something better to do?
Dot: No, not really.

John: Say something to cheer me up, Noel.
Noel: You prat!

I remember practically shouting at the TV for him to deal the £18k - he'd get offered something like £25k with that last five now - how times have changed!

Even when the £75k was revealed in his box I thought "Well never mind, he's still won a very good amount". No I hadn't quite got it back then....

I think John was the first to get the "Terminator" nickname as well, though he didn't really have that long a run of large amounts!

I remember the radio show though, that was great, still have an mp3 recording of that I think - shame he wasn't allowed to do another one because of licensing problems.

HAPPY JOHN DAY!

It’s “Far from dim!” Linda day today! Linda had a pretty crap first round taking out 3 of the power 5 (£75,000, £35,000 and the £100,000) which left her with an opening offer of £321. She no dealt. The next 3 rounds were much better and the Banker had to increase his offer because she still had the £50,000 and £250,000 left on the board. Her fourth offer of £10,500 was the highest yet. With 4 blues and 4 reds left she no dealt and went on to have an all blue round taking out the 1p in the first box of that round! Her fifth offer was £24,000 which she dealt and in the proveout round she had an all red round taking out the £250,000! With only £1 and £50,000 left, her proveout offer dropped down to £15,500 and her deal was shaping up to be a “Far from dim!” one! But unfortunately Noel opened her box to reveal £50,000.

Linda is most famous for her “Far from dim!” quote!

Noel: AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOURRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAHHH
Linda: What? What’s the matter? Why?
Noel: If he thinks you’re dim, you’re making the situation worse!
Linda: I am far from dim!

Haha, I love the way she says “Why?” like she’s asking a question and is genuinely worried about Noel’s health!

HAPPY LINDA DAY!

HURRAH FOR LINDA!!! She's far from dim!

No update for today yet I've noticed! Today is £29,999 Gary day - he "beat the Banker twice" after saying his target was £30,000 then at the end of the game revealing it was actually only £15,000! Although he could have had £90,000 if he'd gone one round further, so technically the Banker was the winner.

Another one who gave up his job to go on the show, he did a bit better than James from December 2005 though!

Gary day today! At the start of his game, Gary mentioned that his target was £30,000. In his first round he took out 2 of the power 5 (£35,000 and £75,000) 2 blues and the £3,000. His first offer was £7,000. He no dealt and went on to take out the £100,000 in the next round, so the Banker dropped his offer down to £3,000. Again, he no dealt and amazingly went on to have two all blue rounds which raised the offer back up again to £15,000, his highest offer yet and half of his target. With the £250,000 the £50,000 and the £20,000 still remaining, he carried on. The first box he opened in the next round was the £20,000 which wasn’t good but the last box he opened contained the 1p. The Banker had to go up in fear of Gary having the £250,000 in his box, so he offered £29,999, £1 short of his target! At this point Richard reached into his pocket and pulled out a £1 coin and offered to give it to Gary to make the deal up! He decided to deal at £29,999. In his proveout round he took out the £50,000, £1,000 and the £10,000 which unfortunately wasn’t enough for the Banker to go down. With the £5,000 and £250,000 left the Banker offered £90,000. Thankfully though, he only had £5,000 in his box.

At the end, Noel read out what Gary had written in the book, it read:

"I need 15k but I want to be the first to beat the banker twice in one game!"

I don’t know if it’s just a sheer coincidence or what, but you now have the chance to vote to see Gary’s game again on channel four as a classic (to be shown on Saturday 5th May 2007) http://www.channel4.com/money/ontv/deal ... l/poll.jsp

HAPPY GARY DAY!

Today is Michael the florist day. He had a terrible start, an all-red first round and didn't even get a four-figure offer until round 3, but somehow turned it into a £10,000 OPW. It was to be followed by quite a painful run of games over the next week though...