Am I the only one who's getting fed up of this? I have no trouble with the laughter once he's won the game (the player's either definitely crashed, or definitely undersold their box). But laughing whenever the player has one nightmare round, and there's still decent money to play for like today? Sorry, I'm fed up of that. As we saw today and with Rosie, it can backfire as much as it can, and he'll still do it.

Is it time to retire the down-the-phone laughter now?

I say it's time to retire this Banker all together and get a new one. I REALLY hope that is one of the changes coming in 2014, though it probably won't be.

The intention is to paint the banker as this evil, maniacal foe who loves any and all misery brought forth to the player. We are supposed to hate his guts. That way, when players do claim victory over him, it feels that much sweeter.

Personally I think they should get a new box 16.

Box 16 really looks a state these days. It's a disgrace!

Exactly...it's a theatrical thing. Glenn probably doesn't actually feel any hatred or contempt for any of the players, but he's got to be portrayed as the enemy because it'll attract a few more viewers and add some suspense and/or fake emotion to the show. No-one really ever claims 'victory' over anyone else, it's a façade, but one thing I've learnt in the last few months is this: Everyone wants to be right. If they pick a box, it has to have 1p in it because they must be right. If they turn down a generous 2-box offer on a fragile board, it's that urge to be proven right, because they 'know' they've got the larger sum in their box. And so it goes on, of course.

So the player wants to claim victory over Glenn (continued '06 reference there for the eagle-eyed among us... ). The viewer gets caught up in the hype created by Noel and the player, and everyone else, and it makes for good viewing, but the laughing from the Banker is just another theatrical special effect, I think. I'm saying, I don't think it's done in any seriousness, but rather just to add to the emotion of the show.

In some international versions of Deal, the Banker is quite the opposite of one most of us are familiar with. Instead of taunting the players, laughing at them, offering cheesy nibbles, or explaining things, the Banker just simply makes offers, and that's all.

On Le Banquier, the titular Banquier can be seen on-set as a shadowy figure in a skybox above the set, a la the U.S. version. When he makes his phone calls, he just tells the hostess, Julie Snyder, what the offer is. Nothing more, nothing less. He just gets straight to the point.

While I have no qualms about a "voiceless" Banker, it's nice to see some versions of the game play up the Banker's character. It's done very well here, and also on Affari Tuoi, Italy's Deal, where the Banker is called La Dotoressa (The Doctor).

However, some might argue that the Banker banter on the UK version might detract from the gameplay. I can definitely see the argument there, as the Banker can sometimes spend several minutes talking about certain things.

The producers of Le Banquier might've noticed that before they went on the air, and as a result, their Banker doesn't really say or do that much in the game. And this is ironic, because the Quebec version's title, literally translated, is "The Banker." You'd think that this would give them more fodder to develop a character for their Banker, but instead, the onus is placed on the contestants and their interests. As a result, Le Banquier does a number of themed shows.

If you take out the character of the Banker from the UK version, basically what you have is a very bare-bones format. Sure, Edmonds can provide some sort of humour or drama along the way, but it's more fun if he plays the straight man to the rather chatty Banker.

If I were the banker, I'd laugh after any round where the top two amounts in play are taken out. It doesn't matter whether the player is still capable of a spanking; it's more of a means of psychological warfare, to reinforce the idea that their game is falling apart, that they must exit the game before it gets any worse.

If I were the Banker, I would just call the host and make offers. I'd only offer an insult or something funny if it were relevant and necessary. Obviously, my goal would be to get the player to sell their box or case for as little money as possible, but I wouldn't make a spectacle of myself doing so.

Well if I was the Banker, I'd play mind games, but not to the OTT extent that the UK Banker is. Apart from making the current offer, I'd mainly tell contestants what the next offer would be if they have a good/bad round if appropriate for the situation (i.e. in Chelsey's game, I'd tell her that the final offer could be as little as £2,000 or as much as £52,000 in an attempt to make the relative disaster chance more real to her).