Round 5

That was brave says Noel

16 - £100,000 Glenn

Oh wow says Noel.

17 - 10p Andrea

21 - £3,000 Mary

Banker time

Look at that board for huge contrasts says Noel. Noel says that Bonita is brave and just a little mad.

Banker's offer:

£12,000

Very good offer.

Bonita turns to her son and says that the £250,000 is still there. Bonita says that the £250,000 is just staring at her.

Bonita says

DEAL

sorry but worst deal I've ever seen. Turns down £16k for a box worth £44k, then accepts £12k for a box worth £50k.

Round 6 - Proveout round

12 - 50p John

19 - £500 Olympia

The Banker calls and says that he would have said the final offer would either be £168, or £68,000

6 - £100 Kirsty

Banker time with £250 and £250,000 remaining

Noel opens Bonita's box 9 and reveals £250

Box 18 with Kim contains the £250,000

Bonita says that no one has ever given her £12,000, but she wishes she just had that little bit more courage to go one more round.

That was a rollercoaster that one.

I'm sorry, but that 5-Box deal was FAR too cautious for anyone to take...were back to where Season 6 started again folks

I'm puzzled by the cautiousness of the uk players vs the american ones. From what I've seen of the american show, players usually don't deal unless offered close to the average, yet most uk players can be bought for around a half, or less.

It's because America has more bravery and more cash to splash about, whereas we just take whatever we can and run like little chickens...makes you wonder whatever happened to the times when we had loads more bravery...

Those figures were only the mean for the boards. Personally I thought the board was worth the same at 8-box as it was at 5-box, in the low teens. I've definitely seen much worse deals than £12k on 4 blues/QM!

To be honest i would have gone at £16k.

Considering how awful the opening rounds were I think Bonita did well to get a 4 figure sum from that game, the only thing she did wrong was not finding the £250k in proveout

The deal itself wasn't so bad, IMO. But the fact that she dealt it after turning down 16k in the previous round was rather... odd. Turning down 16k on that situation is only really justifiable if you're willing to turn down a less generous offer should you find 100k but not 250k, and hoping to keep it to 2-box.

Still, there have been far worse deals. Don't forget, someone once took 7.5k on a 250k/blues 5-box!

Well that's a memorable opening round alright. Five five-figure amounts. On average, this will happen about once every thirteen years of DoND. Offer is a predictable lowball.

Second round, and oh my goodness, we have a massive two-box game at 14-box. Who said eight-box was business end? Comedy with these early offers.

All-blue is sorely needed. Oh, OK, two blues and the £1,000. Even the £750 might be relevant here if the top two go, but for now the mean is actually well up on the starting value. I defy any moderate player to say they wouldn't swap this for the reverse board, though. Especially with an offer of three grand. And references to Charles Ingram.

All-blue! Right. We actually have a classic scenario here, top two and not a lot else at eight-box. Something in the mid-teens for a decision here, I think, and we get it. I think I'd have to take this, but it's perfectly reasonable not to, and she doesn't. Bonita apparently has a plan. It might just pay off.

After that round, we're actually no nearer knowing; four blues and the jackpot probably warrants a stick at £16,000. The Banker is playing this a bit badly in my opinion; he should have stuck or gone up a bit, to make sure of getting her out, knowing that he can still do so for far, far less than the mean here. That, or he's assuming that she'll bite on the all-or-peanuts final five - and she does. The maths from sorlag is partially right, but ignores the contrast of this board, and s/he could have picked many, many worse decisions of this type. £1k Michael, anyone?

Anyway, two blues down, and the producer throws in the hypothetical offer early just in case the next one is the jackpot; gotta throw in something for Noel to spin, eh? No need, the jackpot remains intact, and the player uses the show's loaded definition of 'courage' completely voluntarily, even after her box was revealed to contain just 0.1% of the jackpot.

Regarding sorlag's later comment; the US has a pervasive risk-taking culture, the UK doesn't, and I'd argue that to be one of the biggest trans-Atlantic cultural differences. Goodness knows this show sometimes acts as though that's something to be unhappy with. It's also worth noting that on the US show, Howie Mandel is governed by strict regulations preventing a host from interfering with a game show, regulations that date back to the 1950s quiz show scandals; judging from past interviews, if he wasn't, he'd actually act as a voice of caution, rather than goading players on. Noel is entirely free to interfere with the game, and interfere he does, though he has moderated his act somewhat since the economic bubble started to burst. Swap hosts, and/or regulations, and you'd get an even bigger gap in attitudes.

Does training to be a commercial pilot really take in the region of 250k? Surely the airline companies invest a bit more in their future pilots than this?

This reminds me of how a very early player had a similar ambition - Karen from December 2005 (first show I ever missed as live - it's been a long time since I've seen an episode in full on first transmission now, possibly more than a year).

This site suggests something in the region of £50-60k for the training, and that's consistent with what I vaguely recall looking up in 2005.

US game is different though. Once you get to 8 box in the states, the rounds go 2 boxes to open and then 1 at time, here its 2 lots of 3 box rounds. Bigger risk means the average doesn't have to got anywhere near at.

Might have been my hearing but surely in the intro Noel didn't say Mary won £70k did he?

Decision at 8-box was risky but just about a calculated gamble and the deal at 5-box was sensible. Shame she hit the 25% chance of leaving the £250k undiscovered on the wings to 2-box.