To extend on the previous topic (What do you consider to be a bad offer?) I figured I'd make a club out of those who took an undeniably bad offer (no offense to these people personally). All of these people dealt sums less than 25% of the average or less than half the average on a very stable board

Definite Members

£700 Rosie: Deservingly has the tittle of WORST DEAL EVER by dealing 10% of the average on a 4 blues/£35,000 5 box. Anyone with an ounce of brains would've either gone on or demanded a higher offer, but instead Rosie firmly stuck by her "something is better than nothing" strategy, refusing to abandon it even when the "something" was almost nothing and there was still a life-changing £35,000 still to play for. She missed out on the STINGIEST final offer on a £35,000-high finish in the show's history (£3,500 on 1p/£35,000) and an INSANELY easy £35,000 thanks to refusing to go past 5 box on any configuration.

£3,100 Beryl: The founding member of this club by dealing 13% of the average on a 7 blues/£1k/£3k/£15k/£250k 11 box. She holds the record (which has stood for over 7 years) as the lowest dealer with the £250,000 still in play. She missed out on £12,500 at 8 box and £15,000 from her box thanks to her early and overly-cautious departure.

£1,000 Michael: He dealt 8% of the average (the lowest percentage ever dealt excluding comedy deals) with the £100,000 and 7 blues in play, after declining £9,191 at 11 box with £35k, £50k and £100k and 8 blues in play. Odds were he would keep the £100,000 one more round and at least get a half decent offer plus he claimed he was a gambler . He missed out on offers of £9,000 and £30,000 due to his untimely exit, and was very close to making it the worst deal on international deal or no deal history (in terms of percentages).

£3,000 David: He dealt 26% of the average on a £100/£500/£3,000/£20,000/£35,000 5 box. He had horrible offers throughout his thanks to his indecisiveness (he was offered £15,000 on an 11 box with the Top 7 in play, for Pete's sake ) and dealt this pitiful sum even though he was guaranteed £100 and had a 70% chance of considerably more. He even had a chance to correct this mistake by being offered the Banker's Gamble on a £100/£35,000 finish but he declined that as well, with his only explanation being "this experience was worth a lot more than any money I could've won." It was by far the most deserved Outright Player Loss in the history of the show.

£8,000 Sherilyn: She dealt 18% of the average at 11 box WITH THE TOP 4 STILL IN PLAY . She even said at the beginning of the show that her target was £35,000, but yet she still dealt a pitiful sum of money for the board just because she "feared going home with a blue." It's people like her who make me think some people go on the show nowadays with the intent of dealing the third offer regardless of the state of the board.

£20,000 Wilf: Dealt 40% of the average on a 3 blues (including the 1p)/£1k/TOP 7 11 box. He was clearly one of those people who would deal any amount over £20,000 regardless of the state of the board. He missed on a VERY easily earned £35,000 8 box offer due to his early Deal and possibly more through extra offers as it was a special week with an easy twist and he kept the £250,000 to 3 box.

£24,000 Michael: Normally people who Deal a sum like this can't possibly join this club as it is understandably too much to risk, but not with the board he had. He dealt 47% of the average (again, a percentage not eligible for this club under normal circumstances) on an ALL RED 5 BOX where he was GUARANTEED £10,000 (the board was £10k/£20k/£50k/£75k/£100k) and he only had one box to open. Everyone was telling him the banker was being mean for the board, but he dealt solely because "he couldn't take anymore." He missed out on one the easiest £50,000 wins in the history of the show because of his deal.

£1,250 Rosie: Dealt this offer (12% of the average) on a 4 blues/£50k 5 box where the Banker allowed her to go 1 box at a time. She already declined £7,000 on a 5 blues/£15k/£50k/£75k 8 box and she performed her T-rex impression in order to get the one box at a time offer. However, she still dealt this pitiful offer solely because she "didn't want to leave with a blue." If she had that mentality, she definitely should have dealt at 8 box. She very deserving missed out on offers of £5,500 and £10,000 thank's to a poorly timed Deal of the £1k Michael magnitude.

£15,000 Geoff: Dealt 29% of the average on a 4 blues/£35k/£50k/£75k/£250k 8 box despite already declining that same sum at 14 and 11 box and having a good rounds that strengthened the board thereafter. Geoff mainly dealt because, according to his wife, £15,000 was the sum his son wanted him to win. If that was the case, he should have dealt the 2nd offer, but no, he felt as though it was too early and it was better to get to the ADP and Deal £15,000+ then no matter how much stronger the board got. He very deservingly missed out on a £68,000 prove-out offer and £250,000 in his box thanks to his VERY poorly calculated departure.

£950 Dave: The first 3 figure deal in the history of the show with 1 of the Power 5 still in play. Faced with a 5 box of 10p/50p/£10/£500/£35,000 he dealt 13% of the average as "it's better than a low blue." If he wanted to take the cautious route, he should have dealt £4,000 on his 5 blues/£3k/£35k/£50k 8 box or £6,000 on his 6 blues/3k/20k/35k/50k/75k 11 box.

£8,000 Katie Chipchase: Dealt 17% of the average on a 5 blues/£50k/£75k/£250k. She missed out on the £250,000 thanks to her fear of the 1 in 56 chance of wiping out the top 3 and held the title for 8 months as the show's biggest monetary loser (deservingly unlike £7,950 Pete and £8,000 Rob).

£10,000 Zara: Dealt 20% of the average (£9,000, got the additional grand from a post-game twist) on a 3 blues/£1k/£5k/£10k/£100k/£250k 8 box solely because it was close to her £10,000 target. She then ended up squandering one of the EASIEST £250,000 wins ever (even H2005 said he possibly would've won the £250k in her game).

£999 Reuben: Dealt 21% of the average on a 1p/10p/£500/£3,000/£20,000 5 box just because "it would take a long time for him to save that." If he didn't want to leave with a low blue that much he should have dealt his reasonably generous 11 box offer. Even if he hit the £20,000, he still had 2 good backups compared to the offer (£500 and £3,000) and there only a 10% chance of knocking out all three.

£6,000 Tia: Dealt 17% of the average on a £50/£250/£500/£750/£1k/£5k/£15k/£250k 8 box and VERY deservingly became the show's biggest loser/squanderer ever because of it. She and her boyfriend clearly couldn't read the board as they feared a large possibility of leaving with nothing if the offer was declined but that was very improbable as the high blues meant she would at least get a half-decent offer on a blue/£5k or £15k finish and even if she didn't keep a red she had blues of significant value to fall back on.

£2,600 Adam: Dealt 19% of the average (£2,500) on a 5 blues/£10k/£20k/£75k 8 box. To date he holds the record for the least generous set of live play offers in Deal history, and deservingly so. At 11 box, he admitted that he planned to Deal any significant 3rd offer, which made it abundantly clear to the Banker that he could be bought VERY cheaply. At 8 box there clearly was another round in it, as only hitting the £75,000 and a back-up (a 20% chance) would've saw the offer decrease even in the worst of times, and he could have raised the offer to five figures if he had an all-blue round. Despite this, the only thing he could focus on was the 1 in 56 chance of total disaster, which forced him to Deal. He missed out on a 5 box offer £4,750 (which easily could of been £7,000 had he showed bolder intent like Fatima did a year later on the same board) thanks to his refusal to play the game. In fact, his game was so poor that the Banker offered him an extra £100 at the end if he performed a silly dance (which of course he accepted ).

£3,000 Zoe: Dealt 45% of the average on a £10/£3k/£5k/£10k/£15k 5 box. With 4 amounts above the offer, a 60% of being guaranteed AT LEAST the offer, a worst case scenario of an offer around £1,000, and her ambition of a big family holiday requiring more than this to fulfill, there was ABSOLUTELY no justification to taking this offer.

£5,000 Colin: Dealt 15% of the average on a 4 blues/£1k/£5k/£10k/£250k 8 box. With 3 amounts at and above the offer, a guarantee of £14k just for keeping the £250k another round and 3 reds to fall back on if it went, it was obviously worth AT LEAST one more round. Thanks to his refusal to play any remotely risky board, he missed out on offers of £14,000 and £88,000. To put the cherry on top, £250,000 was in his box, which VERY deservedly made him the lowest seller of the jackpot.

£7,000 Arthur: Dealt 31% of the average and 64% of the Fair Deal on a 4 blues/£1k/£3k/£10k/£20k/£35k/£75k/£100k 11 box. Considering even the worst possible round would see the offer fall to £2,000 at worst, he already declined a more generous £11,000 a round earlier, and it was a VERY poor offer for the board, he really had no valid excuse to Deal. Thanks to his non-timing, he missed out on offers of £14,000 (which he would've gotten after just 1 more good round) and £26,000 and £100,000 in his box. (Note: I do not give concessions just because the player served in the military.)

£8,000 Ricky and Keri: Dealt 20% of the average and 61% of the Fair Deal on a 7 blues/£15k/£75k/£100k/£250k 11 box. Not only was that the least generous offer of their game, but they also only had a 10% chance of the next offer going down significantly (odds of losing the £250k along with another Power 5). Also, the offer was so poor that after an average round the offer legitimately nearly doubled to £15,000! Sadly, they were too blinded by the 7 blues to even consider going on.

Possible Members:

£9,000 Smithy: Dealt 26% of the average on a 4 blues/£3k/£5k/£10k/£35k/£75k/£250k 11 box "just because I wanted to." Again, he's one of those people who make you wonder whether some people come to the show with the mindset that "I'm dealing any significant 3rd offer as i'm not a gambler" regardless of the fairness of the offer and the state of the board.

£10,021 Fran: Dealt 22% of the average on a 3 blues/£5k/£10k/£20k/£75k/£250k 8 box despite admitting that the offer wouldn't fulfill her ambitions.

Enter your input on other possible members. BTW, certain people such as £27,500 Steven and £22,500 Richard will not join this list as they made only slightly cautious deals which were unfairly punished.

What about £22.5k Richard? He's the most obvious one!

EDIT: Didn't read the end... Ignore this.

£9,000 Smithy - Dealt at the third offer for the reason of "Because I wanted to."

£20,000 Wilf - Had all of the Power 5 intact at 11-box and several other reds backing it up and went and dealt.

£44,000 Glenn - Had an ALL-RED 5-box and it would've been one of the EASIEST £250k wins ever!

Definitely adding Smithy, though I need more conformation from others about Wilf and I'm definitely NOT adding Glenn. Again, I'm not looking for somewhat cautious deals for over half the average on a very high stakes board; I'm looking for extremely cautious and statistically horrible deals.

Dealing because you want to is a perfectly reasonable reason to deal, IMO.

I wouldn't call any of these decisions 'horrible'; 'highly questionable' is the term I'd prefer.

If you want a poor deal, I could contribute Fran from March 2011, who dealt £10,021.

Or poor old Geoff from November that year, who dealt £15,000 and a games console after his wife accidentally revealed £15,000 was what his son wanted him to win.

I'm not saying these decisions are "horrible" in the sense that they were brainless idiots for dealing these sums. Those sums clearly meant a lot to those people and thus they dealt them. I'm just saying that in the sense of playing the game and statistics that these were horrible deals.

In respect to your game suggestions, I'll add Fran and Geoff to the possible horrible deals list.

Another possible addition that came to mind while I was looking through the DE archive: Zara from last October, who dealt £9,000 at 8-box, and had the Jackpot in her box, though she got an extra £1,000 afterwards to make up her target.

£22,500 on that board? Just slightly cautious?

No.

Just... no.

Though Richard is awesome.

£17,500 Lance. That was one of the few deals that made me stare at the screen absolutely convinced the commentator mistyped what had happened. In retrospect £17,500 is a nice amount of money, but it wasn't a fair offer for a board of 3 blues/£5k/£35k/£50k/£100k/£250k. (Not that it was to be believed, but after a round of blue/£35k/£100k the banker would've offered £25,000... so even after what would've been a not-so-good round, the offer would've gone up.)

Edit: I was curious and saw this was two months after Richard's deal. Re-reading posts from those days makes me appreciate where the forum is nowadays. Not even the worst offender nowadays can match up to the nonsense posted back then.

I'm surprised no one ever talks about Ronnie (late 2009 i think he was) who dealt at £16,000 at 11-box with all the power-5 still in play. And his proveouts unfolded somewhat similar to Richard's!

^^ 29/11/09.

What about Donna who dealt at 21k?

Donna's was only awful with hindsight. £21k with the top two, 2 low reds and 4 blues is by no means terrible, and I'd have dealt it if it hadn't been implied that over £50k would be offered at 5-box subject to missing the top two, I'd have deal it.

I'd like to add: Brian dealing £2k on a £15k/1p final pair (even though the 1p was in his box), and Ann's refusal to take the banker's gamble with £1,000 on a £10k/£50 last pair.

Do turning down banker's gambles count for this?

I'd say both of those have a strong case for being fair decisions. That is, haha, with the issue once more of valuing the slightly lower sums of money.

To the extent that I, too, would probably deal £2,000 (dreadful offer thought it clearly was), to save myself from leaving with a penny. That's sensible in my mind regardless of the higher amount left - ruling out the possibility of winning 1p surely must come first.
Declining the BG when you've got £1,000...I can understand that too. £50 is still a lot of money to me, so I'd be inclined to accept the BG personally, but I can understand why someone might value £1,000 highly.

I've gone full circle in my 7 years, from rubbing shoulders with Wakey to drinking with greeny...not that greeny would drink, of course....

Why does everyone remember £8,000 Katie's surname? XD

Anyway, since Richard is not on the list, I can't take it seriously.

Also, Josh.
I would never take a 14-box deal, but some people seem to be alright with it. But that's when it's a really good offer. His offer wasn't even good. The deal was horrible because it was much too early.

How about Kris - 28th December 2012 - who dealt at eight box, £20,000 with ONE blue remaining... ( 1p ) though thankfully he had it in his box.

One poor deal long-since forgotten by most - Terri way back in May 2006 dealt 3.8k on a £750/15k finish. It wasn't the deal itself that was bad - in its own right it would have only been slightly cautious. It was the no-deals that preceded it that made the decision perplexing - turning down 20k on a 5 blues/15k/top 8-box, and 10k on a 3 blues/15k/100k 5-box.

That was not a bad decision by any means, even if the offer was a bit low.

If you want a statistically poor decision, I'd add Margaret from last January, who dealt £8,000 at 11-box.

Another one that hasn't been mentioned yet: Meena from September 2008, who dealt £3,500? at 11-box.

This thread might best be titled "Deals that make you go WHAT?!?", I reckon...

That broader title would encapsulate a Deal that was far from horrible but didn't make sense in the context of the prior decisions - Kath from April 2007, fresh from three 11-box Deals in five games (none of them an OPW, all of them producing a guilt trip - this was 2007, remember), Dealt £10,000 on a bizarre £1k/£3k/£5k/£10k/£50k five-box. Nothing wrong with that either way, and she converted it into an OPW...

...except she'd turned down £8,888 on a £50k-high 11-box with a mean of barely £9,500.

One I'd forgotten about that was high-stakes but statistically questionable - £22,150 for Tony in January 2011 with the top four at 8-box. Also notable for something I've often wondered about happening, but which I'd forgotten actually did happen before - a 5-box undeal offer! That was (at least consistently) rejected too (with three blues, £50k, and £250k, but also the promise of 4- and 3-box offers).