Anyone remember Richard from about 3 years ago ? This is a worse deal than he did...he took £22k with the top 6 still in play.

Yep, and I think he had the £100k in his box.

Remember that game very well.

I just checked and Richard had the top 6, with £5k, £3k, £100, £1 and 10p, when he dealt £22k. Wilf has the top 6 with £15k, £1k, £100, 10p and 1p, and he just dealt £20k.

So Wilf's board was slightly stronger and he received a slightly worse offer than Richard - both in monetary and generosity terms.

Is Noel right that Wilf's board is currently the strongest there has ever been (as of 9-box)?

We're back

Noel says there was an amazing reaction to that decision, and Noel asks the pilgrims if they think he has made a mistake, and nearly everyone thinks Wilf has. The banker calls and tells Wilf not to listen to them as he was right to deal. Noel says that we won't find out what all the twists are now as Wilf has dealt.

Round 4 - Proveout round

14 - 10p Harry

Oh dear me says Noel. Noel says that this is the most powerful board they have ever had at this stage.

21 - £35,000 Toby

10 - £20,000 Matt

Banker time

We would have been happy with that in live play says Noel, and most people would dream of this board at this stage.

Banker's offer would've been:

£35,000

Reply to Davids post above re strong boards

Probably not as did someone not have the power 5 and £750 left at 6 box...think it was Aug 2007 just before the battle of the sexes shows

Round 5 - Proveout round

22 - £100,000 Yvonne

8 - £75,000 Suzanne

18 - £100 Dean

Banker time

Round 6 - Proveout round

9 - £15,000 Irene

15 - £50,000 Dom

This isn't going to end up with the Corrine climax is it asks Noel

7 - £250,000 George

Banker time with 1p and £1,000 remaining

Noel opens Wilf's box 12 and reveals £1,000

Box 4 with Elaine contains the 1p

Noel reveals that Wilf wrote £22,000 in his book as the amount he had a dream about.

Agreed. It was too strong a board. Worth at least one more round.

I'd like to have seen what the banker would've offered with 1p and 250k in play, but last time I saw that, the banker didn't offer anything!

Brenda from February 2006 and Daniel from August 2007 both had amazingly strong boards - comparable to Wilf's at that stage.

I think Sheran (Mar 2007) had a board of similar strength too.

Oh, apparently not; she had a strong block of reds and received an above-the-mean offer at 11-box, but didn't actually have the £250k. Her surprisingly high offer makes Wilf's offer look ridiculously stingy!

Oh good heavens! This was cautious play at the extreme, that was a wasted opportunity for sure...

Blind targetist gets dream board. Nuff said really.

First player ever to deal two rounds before the ADP - can we have a second-offer Deal some day? And can it make more mathematical sense than this one?

I can't remember the last time reading "DEAL" on a forum commentary shocked me this much - I assumed he'd go on even if it was for completely the wrong reasons!!

Wonder how insultingly low the 11- and 8-box offers will be for the rest of the week now...

Only four things I will say about this game:

(1) Big, big surprise that Wilf played - it was just his 18th show, and I thought he'd be the perfect contestant for Thursday (well, until 4:38).

(2) I honestly thought a deal like Richard's would never happen again...

(3) No surprise at all that the 5-box twist was eschewed.

(4) It's a pretty awful start to this special week - except, of course, for the person this special week is dedicated to...