David's offer of £30k today, with 2 boxes left when there was still £100k on the board, would make it appear that the producers are desperate for a big money win on the show. Though it was a risk (and he played it safe in the end - or rather his lucky bit of metal did!) I think the banker is giving trap offers like that to try and get players to take the risk, in the hope of a big win sooner or later. I'm sure they would love a £250k winner, or at least another win in 6 figures (to go with Jennifer's, which was ages ago now). Does anyone agree with me on this point?

They are gagging for someone to win the £250k. The £100k isn't so important. In general the offers have been getting lower [in similar situations] though, partly to encourage risk-taking. I can't imagine Jennifer getting offered £120,000 today...

You're right bushy, Jennifer's offer was very high, and can be put down to the show being in its early stages. Germaine's £75k offer in a similar situation (£250k and a blue left) was more realistic. What it needs is for someone to get to the last two with £250k still in play, but with a substantial back up to fall back on. For instance, if Germaine had kept in the £35k in til the end (that was the last box he picked off before the round of 2 boxes), I think he might have gone on. By offering low, the banker is sowing a seed of doubt in the contestant's mind, which could cause them to play on, with spectacular results (one way or the other) guaranteed!

I reckon that the Banker's job is to make the decision to Deal or to No Deal as difficult for the player as possible. The fact that David today had to trust his lucky bit of metal because he couldn't make the decision himself showed that the £30,000 offer was absolutely spot on in that regard.

It would certainly give them fantastic publicity, I wonder if they could keep it under wraps until the show was aired though...

If/When it is won, someone is bound to let it slip somewhere along the line, either from the audience/contestants/crew that the jackpot has been won.

I don't understand why they are so desperate for a big win? It's more fun if we believe that the quarter of a million is yet to be won, that's what makes it so interesting and addictive. It's not just about the money either, we as the viewers really do get a sense of the contestants and that's what I love about it.

True, but it has to be won sometime. I just hope the information isn't leaked when it does - I want to be in full suspense when it actually happens.

Personally, I can't believe that there was even a decision to be made at £30,000, but evidently there was.

Germaine's offer was fair; I'd have taken it, quite a few wouldn't. Jennifer's was a no-brainer and if it happened now her offer would have been in five figures.

Don't forget though that the Australian version has only given away its $200,000 jackpot once, and that to someone who turned down $102,500 with a backup value of...

wait for it...

$5.

If someone won £250,000 I'd expect it to be leaked. At the very least the date of the show (from which the winner could be worked out).

After all, what good would the publicity be post-show?

I think the chances of it happening are quite small though. Someone either needs to be an insane gambler, or end with £100,000 and £250,000.

I wouldn't mind knowing if there's going to be a £250,000 winner, as long as I didn't know who and when it would be! Detailed spoilers do make it less enjoyable and there's more chance of stumbling across them with all the forums around now, there's one current player that I do know how their game ends up which is a shame but I'm still looking forward to watching it.

Where would the show go after the £250k was won though? It's still got plenty of mileage left in it just because every game is different, and the best shows are not always the ones where the largest amounts are won. But I wonder if they will do "double jackpot" specials or anything like that, maybe even offer a million on a Saturday night or special occasion?

This is something I've wondered too. Would a £250k win be a jump-the-shark moment, as it were? I'm not sure; the French version (upon which the UK version is based) has had several jackpot wins and is still thriving, and the Australian version is also still going strong despite a jackpot win there. On the other hand, I think there's more of an emphasis on the top prize here, not least because of the big gap to the next highest value (and the fact that it's an order of magnitude higher than anything ever seen on daytime TV before).

I'd laugh if, amidst all this talk of spoilers, someone wins the £250k tomorrow... especially as the last ten minutes are up against Millionaire

Well, although the true enjoyment of the show comes from the characters it has on it, I guess the media publicity (sadly) will always come from the money won :/

You won't see "Comedy Contestant Leaves Audience in Stitches", but you will see "Noel Show Contestant Wins £250,000".

Which I assume is why they'd love a big win.

Whats the most someone has gambled and lost by no-dealing on the last 2 boxes at the end of a game? (either in our version or the foreign ones)... I don't think our version of the show has had particularly big gambles at that stage of the game. I think Vanessa was the biggest gambler from memory, but hers paid off and I seem to remember she got a pretty bad last offer so it was a reasonable punt.

I think you are absolutely right. I remember saying that I had half hoped for a lower offer in order to carry on but my offer of 20K was pitched just right. It was certainly a figure that I had to think very, very carefully about and would have felt 10 times worse to have carried on and lost, as opposed to going home with more.The banker does indeed make it hard but that's the name of the game! That's why it is such a great show

Dunno about foreign versions but out of the 117 games broadcast so far just 19 players have No Dealed all offers and taken their box (possibly after a swap). The biggest 'loser' at that stage was Fin who rejected £15k and took £10k.

Interestingly, of the five players in that situation who had a red vs. blue final two, all five ended up taking the red amount.

Absolutely! Make the players suffer for their money!!

If the producers are desperate to find the first £250,000 winner then we should be likely to see some more casualties first like Trevor, who was offered suprisingly less than £10,000 with 5 boxes remaining when the £250,000 was still in play, and ended up winning just 1p, enticed to go on until the bitter end because of the ungenerous offer from the banker. Low offers from the banker is the only way I can see someone eventually winning £250,000 barring the exceptional circumstances of someone not having dealt with 2 boxes remaining and the £250,000 and a high number, surely at least £50,000, in play. With the success of the show, you'd have thought that they can afford to give away the big one now!

if there are lots of big money wins, viewers will think there has got to be a 250k winner soon