Nicola's game today.

Noel says the contestants have wit, charm, personality... but are lacking in bravely. He goes through how £100k, £250k and £250k have been squandered in the past week. He says cuddly games like yesterday's don't give huge payouts...

Nicola looks gorgeous today

Oh, a game that starts with Noel using the word 'squander' at least 4 times in his introduction, and no mention of the fact that Derek actually got the most money possible out of his game yesterday...

Nicola has box 11.

Noel carries her box to the table as she is walking using a crutch.

Nicola Wooky was diagnosed with MS... and she now works in a supportive role, ensuring that disabled people have the rights they're entitled to... she says she gets on with life despite her disability, and she's a very positive person. Noel says she's an inspiration.

She talks about how she asks the universe for many things... and believes that's why she's on the show, as she asked to be on DOND... as she asked for an alternative way to make some money. She shows some pics of her parents, her boyfriend and her nephew... her Mum is in the audience with her. She says she wants some security - some money in the bank, and would like to get married in Thailand and put a down payment on a bungalow if she wins really big...

Here we go...

Nicola says it looks very different from the crazy chair

1 - Alex - £75,000

2 - Matt - £10,000

Noel thought she was going for 3 but she's not Noel guesses she's going for 4 now!! She's leaving 3 and 4...

5 - Gemma - 1p

6 - Andy - £50

She's leaving 7, 8 and 9

10 - Sheila - £100

Time for the banker...

Noel asks Nicola what's to be fond of the banker and the banker phones. Noel answers and tells the banker to wait a moment, and hangs up! Nicola says the banker's a teddy bear at his heart... Noel starts to get worried that the banker won't phone back, but he does ring... and he says "The Teddy Bear here" when he answers He says he's like an old tatty sponge soaking up all of Nicola's love...

Banker's offer

£8,500

Nicola says it's a respectful offer

She NO DEALS

She has box 11, and she's leaving 12...

13 - Dave - £15,000

She says that's ok... she can live with that

She had her DOND audition on 14 February 2007, so is leaving 14...

15 - Matty - £750

Noel calls Steve evil because of how he opened his box too soon in Derek's game... Nicola then jokes about how he kicked Nicola's crutch away and Noel says Steve's evil

Break time

I wonder if they'll pay the rights to play the Old Spice theme when Steve is chosen? The theme which was commonly used in Only Fools and Horses to describe Damien.

We're back

16 - Shaz - £5

Banker time...

The banker makes more jokes about "evil" Steve and he claims that Margaret asked to get Steve breakfast, and he repeatedly punched her in the face

Banker's offer

£12,500

Noel says that sum going in her bank account would be nice, and we mustn't forget that - she says that's a year's wage for her but it's only the second round

Nicola NO DEALS

She's leaving 18 and 19...

20 - Sarah - £1

Nicola chooses newbie David who is a vicar. Noel says he won't do anything nasty when he opens his box because he's a man of the cloth

21 - newbie David - £20,000

Nicola's leaving 22... and 3...

4 - Jean - £500

Banker time...

Noel says Nicola has more lipstick than the cosmetic counter at Harrod's...

Noel jokes about how every game will be "Not in front of the vicar".

The vicar is the vicar in Duckinfield... and the banker talks about an inappropriate Spoonerism... which would be *beep*

Banker's offer

£19,000

She says it's a serious offer and Noel says it's a year and a half salary for her now, but her Mum says it's a good offer but she has such a strong board. There are shouts of "keep going".

Nicola NO DEALS

This is starting to look very promising

8 - Mark - £5,000

14 - Ruth - 10p

17 - Ken - Noel tells Ken to freeze and calls a break

Wow-looks good. 26k here we come?!

I suspect £26,000 will be rolled in next if she advoids the top four remaining amounts.

I can feel a £26k offer on its way...

EDIT: Oh, look - three of us posted the same thought at the same time! Do we think the Banker might be a bit predictable?

Where's Sarah B

I think she'll turn it down

We're back and the audience are chanting and have lots of energy

17 - Ken - £1,000

Banker time...

Noel says this is the highlight of the week for him, as there is so much support for Nicola, and everyone wants her to do really well... well everyone except the banker!!!

Banker's offer

£26,000

Yawn.

Please 'no deal', be brave, oh no, mum coming down.

See, to play with the contestant, the Banker could offer a touch more than £26k, and that would be interesting to watch...

The thoughtful music plays... Shaz says it's Nicola's game... others say it's Nicola's time to break the banker's "old faithful" offer. Nicola brings her Mum down to sit at the crazy chair with her... and she says she thinks there's one more in it...

Nicola NO DEALS

18 - Margaret - £50,000

7 - Joy - £250

12 - Caron - £10

Banker time...

Board now:

50p

£3k
£35k
£100k
£250k

Yes! Well done, bravery rewarded for a change.

Please be more than £35k...

But will it be rewarded with a good 40k plus offer?

Nicola says it'd be a dream to have £100k and £250k left at the end... Noel says the banker has to come up with something more special than Old Faithful now... the banker speaks to Nicola's Mum. She keeps saying "You'd have to ask her"... the banker starts shouting and Nicola tells the banker not to shout at her mother

Noel says the banker asked her Mum if Nicola would deal for £33k... or £34k or... £35k...

Banker's offer

£44,000

GO Nicola !!!!! Woow !!!!

The offer here should really be £50k plus, but I wouldn't blame her for dealing.

Would test the nerve of all but the boldest (or richest)

Nicola says she needs help now in deciding, and most of the contestants say she should deal. However, a few say if it was them, they'd no deal. Noel says Laura is still the only winner of £250k, and she had the courage to decline £45,000

Nicola DEALS

She says she asked the universe to put £250k in 22...

19 - Laura - £100,000

3 - George - £35,000

9 - Steve - £3,000

Banker time...

Board now:

50p

£250k

Noel says if only the "no deal" voice in Nicola's head had won...

Banker's offer would've been

£88,000

Oh dear. Hopefully not again.

Nicola says she would've swapped for box 22

Noel opens Nicola's box 11 and reveals £250,000

3 times within a week!!!!

Cheers and boos... as people get confused and realise she'd have swapped

Phil has box 22 and that has 50p to complete the game

Nicola says her life is sorted for the next few years

Jeez, 250k at the table AGAIN

That's truly incredible, 3 times in a week, and 11 joins 9 and 22 on having the 250k 3 times.

Well, I don't blame her for taking £44k - you could see how much it meant to her. Yes, she missed out on an £88k offer, which was quite believable actually (given this week's proveouts), but she would have swapped for box 22 had she turned that down.

That means in the past week, over £850,000 has been on the table!!! Surely this must be a record?

Perhaps not another average game, but another £250,000 box sold

What a game. I watched the show because I heard a spoiler about it and I'm glad I did.

Nicola seemed like a lovely person, and while £44,000 was a cautious deal, it was still £44,000, and she couldn't be blamed for taking it. Unfortunately, the £88,000 lie at the end ruined the game a bit. Given how cautious Nicola had come across at the earlier offers, it wouldn't have surprised me to see a stick in all honesty, especially after taking out all of the back-ups!

Still, it's the biggest win of the year so far, and while you didn't play the best game, it was certainly a good one, so well done Nicola and enjoy the £44,000!

Mark, Ken, George, and Margaret all seem quite good, and David, Steve and Joy seem to be legends. I may even watch their games.

Oh well. Glad she said she would have swapped. Offer was a bit low at 44k but it was inevitable she would take it given the drop if it all went wrong.

When will this version see its next QM winner? Do we need a Quarter Million Pound Mission on this version? I surely hope not. 44K is the biggest win in several weeks though, which is a nice thought. But still, it would be nice to see someone go home with the big one again.

I wouldn't consider the 88k to be a total lie, when we saw £96,000 earlier this week with a £1 backup.

I know it doesn't affect the odds at all but it wouldn't suprise me if we had another 250k box drought and no winners till sometime next year...

No, no, no, please, God, no...

lathebault, I don't think there'll be any £250k winners for a while either, at least not until season 4.

Endemol/Channel 4 won't do that here due to the regular contestant format and with it being daytime. As I stated earlier this week, it takes time for the next person to win the top prize. It took the Aussies three years (on a five shows a week schedule) to create another $200,000 winner.

Wouldn't surprise me either. As recent games have shown it's not enough to have strong boards with the 250k and good back up. So long as there is so much as 1 blue left contestants generally won't not take a risk once the offers become life changing amounts. The only way to get a 250k winner is for the banker to give derisory offers that force the player on....or to get a mad gambler who'll risk anything.

Even though it was a disappointing deal, we really needed at least a biggish win as such, very well done!

Which is why £29,999 Gary's game sounds *beep*. He had an all red final five with the 250k in play and dealt what strikes me a pretty *beep* offer.



If he gives derisory offers they are just manafacturing the win which didn't give the correct feeling that a 250k win should give... if Khanny won the £250,000 by means of proper mad gambling then it would be the best thing ever...

I think Khanny was the only proper gambler we've had, turning down 'decent but not massive' offers for the board even though they are big sums. Proper gamblers are people who will gamble the higher sums if they are rubbish for the board or even decent for the board. I wouldn't class turning down 12k on an average strength 5 box board gambling wheras turning down 44k on a stable and golden 5 box board would be gambling I think.

It's gambling 12,000 pounds minus the lowest remaining box.

Glad she got that far, don't blame her for going no further (replace £35k with a blue and £44k is an instant Deal in my book; as it is, I'm likely going on, but with more than one eye on a two-box Deal in the Bunney/Jennifer mould), can blame Noel for bringing the show back to early 2007, providing the Banker with room for an £88,000 proveout lie (incredibly, not even the worst such of the week) when a stick (heck, an Undeal offer) would have been quite viable.

Great person wins life-changing money. Who could ask for more? Oh.

A good game there, with some good banter on the wings. The highest payout of the year so far, and some of the contestants are really shining through - such as Sarah, Shaz, Mark, Steve, Ken and even the newbie vicar David.

Unbelievable that the £250k was on the table yet again - that won't do much for Noel and his opening spiel tomorrow. Still, today's show was a good one with a nice payout.

And the gamblers here should be pleased that she no dealt the fourth offer of £26k - she looked as though she was seriously considering the second offer, and the only reason she no dealt is because it was "only at the end of the second round". So to play on as far as she did is commendable, in my book!

That was just the game we needed! It wasn't so bad that 250k came to the table, because she won a huge sum of money. I probably would've gone on because of the 35k backup, but 88k was a definite deal, and you'd have to be crazy to turn it down, regardless of what's in your box.

The swap was clearly hypothetical I think she'd beaten the banker because she would've swapped the box for 50p so techically it was on the table but if Noel had taken that box away from the table and replaced with 50p she did beat the banker. Well Done Nicola on 44k

Sarah you told me it was 42k you lied

She said deal when the £250,000 was infront of her hence she sold that box containing £250,000. The deal didn't involve box 22 hence it was a OBW as she sold the £250,000.

Basically the banker bought box 11 not box 22.

OMG!

It's come to the table again?!

This is unbeliveble!

Jeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzz Calm down she would have swapped anyway why are congratulating the lovely Nicola on the highest win this year? Look at Claire she would have swapped for a 100k and 500 was on the table the audience groaned

Ooops sorry Clive I knew it was something like that

Yes, it's an OBW. (But one that she won't care much about, methinks!)

Do you consider Bunney (who did the reverse) an OBW or an OPW?

OPW as he sold the £20,000.

Well done, I thought you were going to call it an OBW because he 'would' have won £250,000

What does OBW and OPW mean I'm very confused

I like it that Noel no longer does the hypothetical swap anymore, even when someone would have swapped, since they have sols the box they brought to the table, so it's easier to get the true result, with no complications of a post-deal swap.

Outright
Banker
Win

Outright
Player
Win

I really hated it yesterday when Noel kept saying Steve ruined the game and how he might do it again it was really annoying Ireland thinks your a pratt Noel

Thanks Travis

Absolutely not. Bunney would have won £250,000 and Nicola would have won 50p but they were both OPW and OBW respectively because of the contents of the boxes they held when they said DEAL.

Thats right Bunney would have swapped and won 250k and Nicola had 250k on the table but would have won 50p If she swapped so technically it was a OPW for Nic and a OBW for Bunney

Except Nicola wouldn't be a OPW anyway, because of the £88k offer.

No because when Bunney said deal, he dealt with the £20,000 on the table so he sold the £20,000 box to the banker for £110,000 was it? Therefore the banker made a loss on the box and it was an outright player win. The opposite for Nichola.

The Banker's objective is to sell the box which the contestant is holding at the time of the offer. As Noel states from time to time "he wants to sell this box for £X,XXX

Therefore with today he bought a £250,000 box for £44,000.

Oh god, not the stupid hypo swap argument.

What I thought was interesting was that they didn't carry out the hypo swap when the 250k would have gone away from the table, and did in Nev and Bunney's games when the 250k would have come to the table...

But then again they DID do it in Tina's game when she would have swapped the 100k away for a blue!

Anyway, you knew it was all genuine becuase she said at 3 stages of the game that 22 was the box she wanted, so if she had Wakeyed it, she'd have got 50p. And I was over the moon for her, if that's such a crime! Lovely, warming lady wins life-changing amount. She was really happy even when the 250k was revealed in her own box too, unlike Tracy when the 10p was revealed in her own original box...I was going to say 2Who cares" but I'd be shot down in flames!!

I do think that whoever mentioned about even on great boards with back-up, 1 reamining tiny amount does seriously worry the players - that was a great point. While any peanuts value is still on the board, it's winable even if there are 4 reds with it. You never know what the banker can get up to at 2-box, witness games like PJ's or even Loraine's when there was a swap-only offer in proveout! I can't blame anyone at all though, it's just human nature. 44k is absolutely life-changing for the majority of us, and only a select few wouldn't be completely gutted to get offered it, turn it down then win 50p. I sometimes wish they'd change the board structure so there were less peanuts sums - I mean if everyone took their box, over a third would win £100 or less!

Then we'd see more gambles, and people like lathebault would be far happier!!

But well done Nicola on a fab game, enjoy the money, you really deserved it!!

Pedantry. Buy surely?

But the box was at random she took a ball out of a bag then she just got a random box and she wanted 22 on the table. James I agree she really deserved it Best win this year

Amazing. The £250,000 is like a bus, you wait ages for one to come along and then suddenly they all turn up one after another.

I, along with lost of other people, had this feeling that the Banker would offer the dreaded £26k at 8-box and with 4 of the power 5 in play I think the offer should of been over £30,000 at least, at least that way it wouldn't have been so predictable. I don't mind £26k being offered if it's right for the board, but I feel that the Banker just uses that offer now regardless of the strength of the board, just in the hope they will deal as it's the 'old faithful'.

Who was actually the first person to deal £26,000 and when did it start to become recognized as the Banker's trump card?

Anyway I thought Nicola played a good game and had a very positive attitude. I'm glad she didn't take £26k and at least took a gamble to 5-box, where she was rewarded with a good offer of £44,000. It works out at just under 4 years wages for her and as she said at the end that money is going to make her life easier.

I did find it amusing that people didn't quite know how to react when £250k was revealed. Should we cheer or should we groan?

Now that'll be Jenni from 4th January 2006 had 50,000 in her box I think thats why the banker likes it so much

Jenni was the first but I think Phil and Leanne both dealing 26k in successive games and missing out on all power 5 finishes was when it got set in stone, so much so that he went for the hat-trick with Bunney, thankfully it didn't work.

And look at his game fall apart as he continued to NO DEAL. You missed out Lynne also.

Well done Nicola. A very enjoyable show. Hope you enjoy the money.

I think I'd find any offer over £40000 incredibly difficult to turn down as well, irrespective of what was left on the board at the time. Thought Nicola was lovely and the fact that the cash will change her life makes the show just as entertaining (for me) as someone trying to pull off a massive gamble. Well played Nicola!

But Lynne's paid off. If Lynn dealt £22,000 and had £75,000 she would have lost £53,000 whereas Khanny lost £45,000.

Khanny was unlucky for that to have happened to him and he still walked with a £5,000 consolation. It's not always going to go wrong which is the problem nowadays. You might have a 10% chance of disaster at 5 box if you carry on, not 100% like the likes of Shaz suggest.

It was certainly around January 2007 as Jonathan (Bunney) rejected the offer and turned out to be the right move.

What did i say about 2008 that i felt great things were to begin and i felt it in my water ,you,v seen nothing yet mark my words.

The 250k will be won again when we geta gambler actually come out carrying the box with it in or when they are ready or feel its time for someone to win it like Laura they will just phone through a derisory offer to push them on to win it. Thats the only 2 ways its gonna happen.

Nicola was very brave to turn down old faithful. I know that she was a gambler and if it wasnt for her illness she would have gone all the way but then would have swapped and gave the quarter mill away anyway ! I think she did great and it was a very entertaining game. If I wasnt part of it I would of been very happy sat at home watching. Well done Nic xxx

Wow - another £250K and for once no guilt trip from Noel.

Oh for just one gambler this week and we may not have had a QM winner but we'd have had a few hugh wins. Once again, can't blame her for dealing what to her was an amount she couldn't afford to lose.

I think your waters boiling Pat

Wow..it came to the table again...thats 3 times in 4 days..heck..

Another brilliant game though, a really enjoyable one with an awesome player, a nice win and some decent wing banter and good characters.

Thank you everyone for your kind comments - I must admit I was nervous about looking in this forum after my game in case you all slated me for my deal.......
I have just watched my game myself and from my own armchair I am shouting 'No Deal, Carry On!' at myself at 5 box, even though I know the outcome lol! I am sure you can appreciate that it is very different when you are sitting in the crazy chair, and the money offered by the banker becomes very very real to you, whilst you are aware the money still on the board is still only hypothetical. It was such a tough decision for me to make - I can't tell you how badly I wanted to go on. In the end it came down to the fact that I could live with not winning £250,000 but I couldn't live with throwing away £44,000 and going home with a blue. Since filming deal or no deal I have had to give up my job for health reasons so the 44k is going to be a huge help to me and provide some much needed security and I am chuffed to bits

Sorry I couldn't go all the way in my game peeps, but as you saw that is no bad thing because it would have been 50p

nicola x

Well done on an awesome game Nicola. And i hope things go well for you in the future..

Overall Nicola you could've had 88k in your bank account I wouldn't mind that much money in my BA

chuffed to bits that your chuffed to bits hun mwah

It was an excellent game. While £44,000 wasn't that good an offer for the board, and it should have been over £50,000 (in my opinion anyway), £44,000 is a huge amount of money and I think it would be difficult for almost anyone to no deal, regardless of the strength of the board.

Well done on your £44,000.

And Lewis she turned down 'ol faithful' thats why I like her

Lovely Nicola, well done again on your game. I get really nervous watching the games of those who were there when i played my game. Great game and I'm so thrilled you got a fab amount of money. Look after yourself & keep in touch xx

[quote="SrWilson
The 250k will be won again when we geta gambler actually come out carrying the box with it in or when they are ready or feel its time for someone to win it like Laura they will just phone through a derisory offer to push them on to win it. Thats the only 2 ways its gonna happen.[/quote]

Methinks if westwing Matty had the run of boxes today he could well have gone on to 250K. However a fantastic game today, and well done Nicola on the 44k.

is anyone else getting really b***dy annoyed at that 26k popping up all over the place, especially inappropriately as it has been all week, its really bugging me!!! brilliant game though-i do think the 88k was a bit ridiculous considering laura was only offered 45k when she had the two reds at the end...what is going on with that?!

the blue chants were 'banned'(rightly so) how's about banning the utterly boring 26k....?

The thing about £26k is that it's a very clever offer for both targetists and gamblers. Most people's targets seem to be around about the £20,000 mark. £26k is significantly more than that, so targetists will deal. If it's offered to a gambler, it's an insentive to go that extra deal to try to get £30k or more. Anyway, Nicola's game. Bl**dy fantastic! She seemed like a really nice girl and totally deserved it. I wish she'd gone one more round to get £88k, but thank God she didn't go to the end and swapped!

£250,000 on the table AGAIN! Starting to make up for lost time now - 3 times in 4 shows!

Anyway, another excellent game, I can understand why she took the £44k, although I'd have been expecting £50k or more out of that (how much did Jeff did offered with a similar board - something like £64k? - and he contemplated no-dealing!), but it was a good result and it was best win of the year so far, so no complaints!

At least saying she would've swapped softened the blow of revealing the £250k (and spared us the guilt trip from Noel), it is an OBW as she's selling the box on the table from the start obviously, but we're not going to worry about that, that was a great win!

Glad you posted and braved the gauntlet of gamblers, Nicola!

Looking at it as an analyst, you had at that point:

20% chance of a six-figure offer - 10% of the top two and £175k probably, 10% chance of £35k/£250k and that would probably have been £110k or so
20% chance of... who honestly knows what it would really have been at two-box with £3k or 50p along with the biggie, but I'd guess at £62k as per Justin's game (especially as he'd used £26k on you earlier)
10% chance of just over £60k from a £35k/£100k final two - again I'll guess £62k
20% chance of... probably £26k again with £3k or 50p paired with £100k
20% chance of maybe £10k, and perhaps not even that, with £3k or 50p paired with £35k
10% chance of an absolutely calamitous 50p/£3k finish, offer probably £1,044 (and it'd have been one of the three biggest gamble-induced collapses in the show's history)

Do the maths, and your expected average final offer is... about £54,000. Not a massive gap between that and the offer, compared to the mean of £77,600.10 at that point, and I think it's safe to say the first £44,000 means a lot more to you than a 'bonus' £44,000 on top of that would. In which case I think you made a completely reasonable decision, and No Dealing - while entirely sound on paper, and I think I may have gone for it myself - would have been at least mildly ill-conceived in your circumstances.

You pointed out the pressure of it suddenly being real; did you feel, by contrast, pressure from Noel and/or the audience to play on?

Because they were wanting the 250k to be won so they offered her a derisory offer to push her on to open her box.

Dear Sweet Nicola,

Know that you are in my prayers nightly now since this revelation. Please take care and enjoy the little bit of comfort the "Tax Free" 44K will give you!

All the best from the US!

Wow, I've been waiting for Thursday's game all week as it was my birthday! Woohoo, 44k win!!! Thank you & well done Nicola, you gorgeous gorgeous person!

biggest win of 2008 but it's a shame she didn't go on tio 2 box with that board

Clive your water will be more than boiling over when you see that 2008 is going to see the games of all games and you wait till you come to Brighton you may not go home the same person.yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I think the banker needs a refurbishment of the brain sooner than later mind you he was kind to me but im not a rectum creeper

Well done Nicola i know you could have ed the banker but £44.000 was a good sum hope you enjoy every penny

Just watched it. Nicola so glad you won that money and sorry to hear you aren't working, and if you are reading this i was looking forward to your game, and always thought Noel had a soft spot for you, now I know why, all that universe talk.

How great is it to see a Vicar on DOND, Vicars Rock