I still cant get my head around why people bother asking lucy her opinion quite late on in the game her opinion is always rubbish.

I cant wait till her game, she will probably deal at the first offer because anything seems a 'life changing' amount of money to her.

Because her replies just make you go

Well Lucy gave Sarah the perfect game the other day with her advice.

Lucy gives sensible but predictable advice. However she told Patrick to deal at £15,500 ...even though he had £100,000 in his box. I think she means well and is obviously a nice person, she just wants to see people do well and not walk away disappointed.

I reckon she'll be quite a gambler when she goes on, and the Banker will find it hard to read her. I think she will win quite a lot of money.

I think Lucy's advice is pretty good - how was she to know that Patrick had £100,000? He could have had 1p. (Or whatever was left at that point.) I think it's good to get some perspective and realise that £15,000 etc. is still a huge amount of money, and I'd far rather be in, say, Patrick's position than John G's - missing out on thousands of pounds must be frustrating, but it's much better to still leave with a good sum rather than risking it all and getting practically nothing.

Also, she's obviously been there for aaages, and will have got attached to the other contestants - if one of my friends were playing, I'd definitely want them to deal as I'd hate for them to end up doing badly.

really she is just a voice of reason...she always gives the sensible and obvious advice. and often it turns out to be effective. at the end of the day, patrick's deal was sensible. he coulda had anything at all in his box

Patrick was cautious, but it wasn't an unjustifiable deal by any means. It was good psychology from the Banker, sending the offer fractionally up after the quarter-million went.

Lucy doesn't pretend to be the statistician - her 'odds don't work like that, it's random' comment was one of the funniest I've ever heard - but she keeps players' feet on the ground. She provides a dose of reality to the game, almost.

i always find that the glass is half empty with lucy though

One has to be careful not to confuse pessimism with realism. Its a fine balance, and Lucy sometimes gets it right and sometimes gets it wrong, but, regardless of the situation, I think its important to keep the contestant's feet on the ground, so they can make a fully considered and informed decision. Lucy is good at this.