We've had £500,000 on offer, the Banker giving some "gifts" away, Noel and his money boxes, people singing carol's and even a glimpse of the Banker and all sorts of fun and games. But did you like all these extra bits or would you of prefered just standard DOND with none of the gimmicky stuff.

Personally I enjoyed the christmas episodes a lot and despite the fact they were filmed around November it came across really christmassey? and fun and I enjoyed all the little fun interludes they had with the Banker and everyone and all the silly bits such as the stockings and carol singing during the credits. Of course they do stuff like that all the time but they seemed to go all out for christmas and I really enjoyed the shows.

The Christmas shows were great.

I have mixed feelings about the Christmas shows. Some of the stuff was a bit tacky I thought, like when Rachel and Noel went outside, what was the point in that?

And the hotel stuff was just crap, and also replacing 1p with PEANUTS was a naff idea in my opinion. The 4 shows really overshadowed the arrival of the new contestants as well. I hope next year they don't bother with Deal or No Deal over Christmas and just have a break like they did last year. It was just too much for me.

However I did like the montage at the end of Danny's game, that was good.

They were good, but they should have involved the 500K for both shows on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, and perhaps introduced more elements that would enable the other contestants to win prizes beyond Noel dishing out a few fifty quid bundles for people coming up with good advice.

the only thing i didnt know..was in dannys game, how did the banker "know" that noel was going to comment about dannys hair etc and then how did the banker "plant" the present for noel? which was a bit odd that he already had the hair present for noel..if u get me!

Mmm... I wondered that too... but I think the banker knew that Noel was going to comment on Danny's hair, as Noel does often comment on people's hair when it's a bit whacky.

Maybe it had been there since Show 1, ready for the day when someone would comment on Noel's hair...

I liked Wrighty's game, it was a fantastic OPW.

Danny's was also a good game as well, but he could have won up to £35,000.

Only big downside was that the 500k went pretty early in both specials.

I enjoyed them, but they didn't need so many gimicks.

For me, the following felt as though they worked well:
+ £500,000 worked well, surprisingly.
+ 'Bankers Crackers' (They should've made more of these, as such, only two got pulled but they should have introduced them earlier and carried them on.)
+ Development of Banker's character, e.g. presents

These things felt as thought they were too gimicky:
- Noel's money boxes
- Presents under the Tree
- Peanuts.

£500k - an interesting addition and could've resulted in some huge offers later on in the game. Just as well it did go early in both games, because if those huge offers had been no dealed, the following offers would've been tiny in comparison. Although it did allow Wrighty and Danny to have good games and get a combined £44,000 out of it!

The extra gifts - Rachel's weekend in Paris and £1,000, and Danny's £10,000 and of course, the Banker's underwear... mmm... quite amusing and nice.

Noel's £50 boxes - Mmm, a bit pointless, although it did make Noel look like Father Christmas which is of course a good thing!

1p and peanuts - slightly pointless.

Noel walking out of the studio with Rachel - why?

The banker VT at the end of Wrighty's game - brilliant and funny!

The montage at the end of Danny's game - a bit depressing and slightly odd to show it at the end of such a jolly game.

The stockings - an amusing addition.

The T-shirts - quite funny.

Carol singing - helped to get the contestants and crew into the Christmassy spirit when they were filming in November!

Banker crackers - very funny, shame they didn't appear more in the games.

£500k - Bleurgh, hate it. Thrilled that it went early both times...the opening offers were bad enough.

Extra gifts - I would normally hate them, but at least they provided a sort of happy ending to Rachel's game. Although why did she get £1k when Danny got £10k? Not fair...

Peanuts - Naff.

Banker crackers - Couldn't really care less.

£50 boxes - Not really bothered.

Montages - The Banker one was OK, but the one at the end of Danny's game just seemed a bit weird to me.

So basically...I hate all the gimmicks. Just give me ONE show each day, with maybe some decorations and costumes and things, but other than that I like everthing to stay as it is. All the added bits were either naff, irritating, or completely pointless.

Oh and I forgot to mention the fact it was on twice on Christmas Day and twice on Boxing Day - I think it was quite good actually, but should only be done at Christmas and at the anniversary... not for a whole week like last June.

I enjoyed the Chrismas and Boxing day shows, i really enjoyed Dannys game, he was really funny, so that was very enjoyable to see, and when he opened that presant box, and seen that there was £10,000 his reaction was well sweet, especially when he hugged Noel at the end.

A more in depth review:

£500k - Worked very well I think. A good way to try and get a big win.

1, 2, 3 mini boxes - I think these also worked as well, as it gave Rachel a bit of a happy ending by getting an extra £1,000 and a trip.

Peanuts - I don't see the point.

Crackers - Good idea, but should have been used more.

£50 boxes - Didn't like this one bit.

Montages - I didn't see the first one unfortunately, but the second one was great! But also kinda pointless.

As it happened, the £500000 turned out to be a bit of an irrelevance, just because it was wiped out so early. Given the inflated first offers for both Danny and Wrighty, it's pretty conceivable that had they kept it in play til the third offer and had a reasonable board as back up, the offer could have well been around the 40k mark, which would have been enough for most people to take it and run. For that reason alone, I hope we don't see the 500k for a while...

As for the shows themselves, I felt more than a little sorry for Rachael as the gimmicks just seemed to overshadow her game - the actual playing of the game appeared to be a bit of a sideshow.

And two games on any given day is a bad idea - I still have nightmares about Double Deal week...

That's true...although as her actual game was so dire, I think that's quite a good thing. It did annoy me when Noel kept saying "We had two GREAT shows on Christmas Day, two GREAT shows on Boxing Day", though...it was as if he'd already forgotten what had happened in her game!

I thought the xmas games were ok, I agree with most people, the bankers crackers should have been used more. Maybe they were like real crackers and you just keep getting the same things in them all the time so they didnt wanna risk getting the same message ha ha

I wasnt too keen ont he £50 boxes cause people were trying to be clever and people just tried to get money for themselves by giving advise which anyone could have gave really.....

they were all great. 110%

£500k - An exciting addition that was different. Shame it went quite early both times though.

The extra gifts - Interesting and added another dimension...

Noel's £50 boxes - Nothing against them.

1p and peanuts - Something different and a nice change.

Noel walking out of the studio with Rachel - I haven't seen that bit

The banker VT at the end of Wrighty's game - Didn't give much away but was interesting.

The montage at the end of Danny's game - Good although I would have probably made it differently.

The stockings - I can't remember what happened with these.

The T-shirts - GOod.

Carol singing - A bit cheesey but entertaining nevertheless.