Er....wow.

Well it wasn't bad news, Noel. Cretin!

Noel says we've only been in this situation twice before. Alex starts crying and she says she feels such an idiot!

The banker says Corinne got £88,000 on the same final 2, as she'd shown so much bravery, respect and determination.

Banker's offer:

£88,000

Alex says she literally can't believe this, and she wants to go on because she wants £250,000! Alex asks Noel what he'd do, and he says he simply can't answer that question.

Alex says

DEAL

Thank God for that.

Alex has 1p in her box 2.

Box 10 with Debs contains the £250,000

Noel says Alex wasn't destined to be #3 of the £250,000 club, she was destined to be #33 of the 1p club!

Alex talks about the difference the money will make to her future.

Fantastic! Icing on the cake and prevents any, 'should have been braver' nonsense.

Wow, incredible game! And the biggest winner on DOND since Alice, believe it or not. On top of that, it's (by a huge margin) the greatest sale of a box in terms of % of its contents (8,800,000 times its actual value!)

Should hopefully dispel any fears of season 6 being a 'cursed' season...

OMG!!!!! What an AMAAAAAAAZING game!!! I was on the edge of my seat there, screecahing and wooping at the telly!!!! Gawd only knows what the neighbours thought was going on! FANTASTIC DOND at it's absolute finest! WOOOOOO 88,000 pounds WOW WEE!!!!! Congratulations Alex you were sooo brave and played an incredible game!

Highest win of the year, and this season probably...well done Alex on the big win and the fantastic Banker Spanking!

Incredible game and the best thing apart from her £88,000 win is the fact no one saw it coming and I regularly read the spoiler forum.

HALLELUJAH!!!

Finally, we had an awesome game from start to finish, and the same offer that Corrine declined was dealt this time around, this MUST be game of the month!

Wow. That must be a contender for game of the year. The first game that I've actually watched throughout without tuning out doing other things for many months.

And that last offer, I thought the banker would have offered less than £88,000 after what she said before. Turns out even he couldn't handle what was happening! Largest win for 18 months, too.

Had me on the edge of my seat for most of the last 15 minutes, almost as emotional as the guys watching! Must have been fantastic to have been there.

Well, this has renewed my interest in the show. Wonder what effect this game will have on the remaining players, including Steve and Bryan. Still no £100k+ win since Lauren in December 2008, but the portent is there!

Great game Alex, hope the £88,000 does a lot for you!

I just remembered, £33k Julie's record for biggest profit made for a 1p Box has been totally smashed!!!

You beat me to it. Julie Walton's previous record of selling a 1p box for £33,000 has definitely been destroyed. It might have taken 4 & 1/2 years but it's now set a new high.

One-post recap. I heard non-specific rumours of a classic; Spoiler or No Spoiler?

It's not a spoiler to suggest that the introduction has a slight pro-gambling spin; it usually does. At least it was only slight, and favoured the player. I half-expected a guilt-trip for her selling the £50k...

OK, we have a market trader (Endemol contestant tickbox #104), who has fought childhood disability (Endemol contestant tickbox #35). No surprise whatsoever she was cast, but how's she going to play the game?

With a sense of fun, it seems, judging by her pre-game remark. Good for her. The first box is ominous; it gets progressively better from there, and it's near enough average all told. The opening offer is a bit better than that, already around the FD, and with the second round being all-blue, the Banker is left with nowhere to go but into the fringes of dealable territory if he wants to be taken seriously.

Crikey, I was expecting to say 'Oh.' after that. But he actually does. Wouldn't take a huge amount more to tempt me here. Alex is already seeking advice; she recognises this game is serious already.

Good third round, and a £20k+ third offer is now inevitable - only just, mind. The banker "doesn't know how to stop Alex", and that offer certainly won't. A board that reminds me strikingly of the player before Lance - Matt, I believe his name. He was offered about £30k in this spot, and I might have taken that, but not this.

Full marks to Noel for letting the contestant act in her own way, and to h2005 for his correct use of the cedilla in the commentary. The two lowest remaining reds go; that's fine, we have five of the top six. More to the point, we have the adbreak called at 16:34, so there really isn't much point in watching the next ten minutes, as this game is going to the end. Note to Channel 4; once you move to hour-long shows, how about straddling contestants? That way, not only will big games like this not feel rushed early doors (and by implication telegraphed as huge from about 14-box), but you won't have to drag out quick games to an hour (or goad players to the end to ensure there are no quick games).

And that's the best possible all-red round. Four of the Power 5 against four blues is about as exciting as this game can get; I'd have expected the Banker to throw his recurring motif into the ring here, but he goes two grand short, and with Noel openly encouraging the chase for the jackpot, it's obvious what's going to happen here.

Blue... £50k we can take... £35k we can take, we've seen £31k offered on a blue/blue/blue/£75k/£250k back on the last day of season 2 if memory serves, and I'd expect that to be at least approached here.

Oh OK, we have a twist in the offers. £29,000 is well-pitched; Bryan has made a tactical mistake by admitting he'd Deal there, but neither decision here is stupid for Alex. I am in a position where I can gamble this; whether I'd be inclined to is another matter, but I think I would. Oh god Alex is inspired by Corinne. I'm not sure who is more scared at this point; the Banker, or me.

Oh of course, 1p is still on the board. And of course we get the Corinne finish. And the Corinne offer. And very nearly the Corinne decision. Thank goodness Noel finally kept his trap shut!

An absolutely spectacular win, and a certain forum member has been utterly silenced... but this is tinged with mildly sad memories for me today, because I had a hand in that Julie record (her eight-box No Deal was assisted by Geordie quoting statistical advice I had initially provided him with, and Geordie has said before to me that I changed her life, which is one of the most humbling things anyone has ever said to me, not least because it's a half-truth at most).

So, with one of the best results of all time, no questions except one; how will the rest react to that?

I don't mean to wee on any fires here, but by reading this something has struck me (note that I didn't watch it because I was out at Uni): isn't there supposed to be a hypothetical swap on a 2 box with 1p and/or 250k, even post-dealing?

That said, £88,000 is a brilliant win, whatever way you slice it.

Amzing and emotional game... Just when i was beginning to lose interest Ive fallen in love with deal or no deal all over again

That must be the largest win since Alice unless I'm very much mistaken?

I bet the repeat of this is the last one shown in the Summer 2011 HOF shows. Fantastic, though god she didn't half scare me!!