Anyway…
Today is 18 years since the airing of Irene’s show - you know, that depressing trainwreck that was obscured by Nick’s famous 1p win the following day…well, ‘day’, didn’t they record three shows a day at that time? So it may well have been the same afternoon!
I don’t know much about Irene or where life took her after Deal or No Deal, but I do know some details of her game - it was obliterated from the first box and never properly recovered…£250,000 went first, swiftly followed by £50,000, then £10,000 to remove what would’ve been a healthy backup, and finally £35,000 and £75,000. Glenn was in generous mood - he offered £1,700.
An all-blue second round nudged the offer up to £2,400 but the £20,000 going in round three was a colossal hit in the circumstances, and £2,000 only was the tariff under consideration at 11-box.
Irene chose to go on, and found the penny, the tenner, and £5,000, the latter quite alright as the business end of the game approached. The £100,000 remained on the board, replete with £15,000 for backup and £3,000 for insurance, and a much-improved offer from the banker surely ensued. For reasons known only to himself, however, Mr Hugill instead opted to insult Irene.
He said he’d pay her £4,700.
It was well-pitched, of that there could be no doubt - far enough above the insurance figure that it had to be considered seriously - but it certainly didn’t reflect the trajectory the game had taken since that awful start. Irene went on, probably correct statistically to do so, but soon regretted it. First went the £100,000, then £750, and then of course the £15,000. As Noel would later say in another show - that’s it, it’s over.
£800 was offered and declined; there followed the removal of the two highest amounts left, £3,000 and £500, in quick succession, and lastly with £50 disappearing the ordeal was almost over.
So said Glenn, ‘£100’ - so said Irene, ‘No Deal’, the swap was offered and the swap was accepted, box 17 left the table and box 15 replaced it, and Noel opened that box to reveal five pounds.
To paraphrase Ol’ Blue Eyes, though, the worst was yet to come…
_________________ 81st member of the Pat M fan club. Still flying the flag for the class of '06...
Like Tom Hanks and his football on that island in 'Cast Away', it looks like it's just me and the bots here now. But that's alright, we're having a grand old time. Aren't we, Wilson? WILSOOOON?!
A few of us who were once part of the furniture, once stalwarts of the grand and extravagant, exuberant and thriving forum, have receded back into the walls, still faintly visible, still here as poignant, reminding relics of an era gone by; but most of us have vanished, forever immersed in the mists of time.
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