A few days ago was the 19th anniversary of Lisa's game.

Lisa has box 1 on this Monday afternoon. She's a keen gambler. She doesn't know whether to select her favourite numbers first or leave them until later; 19 and 11, for the year 1911 presumably or someone's birthday, she doesn't bother specifying, will remain unopened until further notice.

The first round is very sedate; nobody cracks any jokes, nobody has anything interesting to say - or anything at all to say, come to think of it. £20,000 goes, £75,000, then £5,000, with a few blues. Noel asks Marcus about his hangover. Marcus replies that he was still drinking yesterday. The Banker phones. He offers £3,000.
Lisa says it's quite a good offer. She says No Deal.

Round 2. £100,000 disappears, then £10,000. Noel says a few words. Lisa says a few words. We may as well be playing billiards at this point, because the monotony level is off the chart...
Noel looks at the camera and wonders whether the next box will be an 'ooh' or an 'ahh'. Will it be an ooh, or an ahh? Apparently, we'll have to come back after the break, to see whether it'll be our favourite noise. No, I'm not following this either.
We come back from the break, and the final box is £100. Lisa goes to select Candice, but Noel reminds her of the fact that this round is three boxes, all of which she's chosen. Candice looks concerned for her welfare, and also rather puzzled. Nobody in the studio seems happy to be there. The atmosphere is flatter than the current heartrate of my great-great-great-great-grandfather.

The Banker phones, and offers £1,200. Noel asks Lisa if she wishes to deal or not. She does not.
Round 3.
10p, £35,000 and £5 leave the board. There's some discussion between Noel and the Banker, of a strange and bewildering nature. Noel puts the phone down and reveals that the Banker has offered £9,000.
I think Lisa asks a few people for advice here - Germaine, Lucy, and one or two others - but I can't be sure I've remembered that correctly. Either way, she declines the offer.

In the next round, £750, £500, and £3,000 depart, and the board now appears strong - not that you'd know it, because Paintworks might as well be a mortuary.
The Banker calls, but requests more time from Noel, ostensibly to work out whether Lisa is a genuine gambler or just bluffing. He can't read her poker face. Can't read her, can't read her, no, he can't read her poker face.
He calls back, tells Noel that it appears she is for real - and his offer is £20,000.

At this point, Lisa displays the faintest flicker of expression upon that poker face; whether this is an indication of her satisfaction with the offer, or simply of a grim, silent battle against flatulence, it is impossible to tell.
She deliberates for a while.
She asks for the question, and responds DEAL.

The next three boxes are £15,000, £50,000, and £1,000. Lisa covers her ears, but the offer would've been - in an almost identical situation to that faced by Trevor - £44,000. Of course, it wouldn't have been that high in reality. Lisa appears to grimace, but again, this may or may not have been related to the game of Deal or No Deal which is in progress.

The final three boxes reveal 1p, £250, and £250,000 - the last three amounts which were in play in Trevor's game, coincidentally, and had she played to this stage of the game, Lisa, too, would have suffered the agony of finding the jackpot in her last box.
Anyway, the offer would have been £20. Lisa asks Noel what she dealt at - '£20,000?' 'Yep.'
There's £1 in her box, and that's the end of the game.

Anyway, I think that paint is just about dry now, so I'm off to watch the grass grow...

16 years ago was the day of Irishman Dermot Bergin

At this point, the misery of 2008 was long gone, and the show was currently on a MAJOR upswing, with characters everywhere (not just one in particular )
and things were about to get even better with the milestone 1000th show just weeks away, and of course, another major milestone just a couple of days away......

Dermot seemed rather nervous as he played his game using a banal-sounding "countdown" system, picking his boxes from 22 to 1, thus being reflected in the theme of his offers.

The first half of the game went along quite nicely, but by 8-box, it'd crashed to a £250k one-box game.....Dermot survived the fifth round with the big carrot in play, and was faced with the decision of taking £15,432.10, or risking the lot on a one-box game, and after an AGONISING decision......Dermot barely managed to utter the words "No deal"!

With much anticipation in the air, Noel began hyping up one of the biggest finishes in the history of the show......Dermot's first choice was Lisa......with everyone poised, Lisa nervously lifted the lid......BANG! SEE YA LATER! £250k gone in the first box!

Lisa sobbed after the reveal and it took a team effort from Dermot and a certain forum member to console her......Could Dermot rescue £5,000 from the game, now that it was his best hope?? Nope, £5k gone next, and the whole studio sat in stunned silence as big dreams were dashed and Dermot was left with pennies......

A final twist of the knife from the banker as he laughed down the phone, before Dermot ploughed on and went away with a single solitary quid.....Even though Dermot kept assuring everyone "don't worry about it, it was my decision", I still think he regretted not dealing at 5-box, as he was likely influenced by Claire's £35k box win a day early, and the (at the time) record run of red wins we just had.....

19 years to the day since "Mad" Sarah. No idea what she won, but her style of madness looks so, so benign now that compared to the off-meds that came along later, she looks prim and proper.

Besides, two little ducks is a basic bingo call? I should know. I have worked some terrible, terrible jobs.

Playing that same week were Flash, sadly not alive anymore, but was a frequent online commenter on the show. Had a Reddit AMA about it.

Saj won £50k that week. I watched her show in full and was engrossed by it. But still wasn't *needing* to watch every day.

Gent James played on Paddy's Day, the only time they themed a show around it? His game is very funny to watch again... he wasn't a character at all, he was a very self admitting boring British man. Hahah. Noel earned his money carrying that one.

17 years ago today......Showaddywaddy became cool again

19 years ago, Sarah who everyone remembers because of a certain forum member simping over her, won £6,000

18 years ago (which is now closer to 1990 then it is to today ) the "wakey era" was running on it's last fumes, and Janine had an £8k OPW

17 years ago, things were quickly petering out after Betty's game and Jimbo dealt at £10k but could've had £100,000. If memory serves, Jimbo's girlfriend in the audience was quite teary-eyed at the end, feeling like she'd influenced his decision.

16 years ago, some guy called Liam dressed in clown getup won £60,000 in a very convoluted game full of weird twists and turns, only to become the umpteen-billionth male £250k squanderer

15 years ago, De (who I keep getting mixed up with Rosie, who replaced her) won 1p, taking the club into it's 30's

14 years ago, Ron recovered to a £15k box win after a £425k nightmare round earlier in the game.

Rich played 13 years ago, and Karen played 12 years ago, but by mid-2012, things were starting to become a blur

A certain forum member born on 4 March 1989?

Tbf mate, he had good taste. I kinda see the obsession now ahah.

My lips shall remain forever sealed