The studio erupts as Noel and Julie embrace, and the wings start chanting "Ju-lie, Ju-lie!" again!

Arann pipes up: "Julie, I take it back, well done!"

Box 12, now with David, contains the £5.

"Wow! That is so gonna change my life!"

"He thought he'd got you there, but the swap got you the money! This has been amazing!"

"You've just seen one of the all-time classic games!" says Noel, as he closes the show.

Quoth the continuity man: "You've just been watching Swap Shop!"

OK, so after finally watching that all the way through for the first time, I find myself thinking the same thing I did after Cheryl's game: yes, I understand why some may not have liked that game, but I thought that was great!

I didn't find Julie annoying in the slightest. A bit loud, yes, but not overly arrogant or cocky; that was just her trying to keep a positive atmosphere. And it worked, as the studio remained mostly upbeat throughout. Not as upbeat as it was in Cheryl's game, but that was more that Cheryl was just so relaxed and shook off every setback so comfortably that everyone just went along with it. And it was kinda the same here: everyone got behind Julie's positive attitude and it paid off!

I do agree, though, that she did kinda bring the final offer on herself with her comment at 5-box, but I didn't have any real problem with it. It would've been interesting to see how she'd have reacted to, say, a stick, or the circa £19,000 offer I'd have probably made, but we shall never know for sure. Also, she just seemed so convinced Box 7 had the £75,000 that I suspect she may well have gone for it anyway, so the swap just helped her along.

So, do I understand why this game got the initial reaction it did? Yes. Do I think it deserved? Honestly, no. This was a great game that deserved a lot better than it's got over the years. Maybe not one of the all-time classic games, as Noel said, but definitely right up there very close to them!

Congrats Julie, hope you spent the money wisely!

OK, no commentary next week, as I'll be busy writing UC stuff on my blog, so back in two weeks' time with the game I was going to do today but decided to save for next time. Until then, sayonara!

This is it. The swap itself might have looked bad, but from an entertainment perspective the main thing we lost from it was how she'd have reacted to an actual 2-box decision. Glenn sacrified a "regular" big moment to try and produce an irregular one, and while the latter certainly was memorable - it's why this thread exists - I'm not sure it was worth it when the regular decision, especially with the very context that set this up, was already interesting enough. We might have talked about this in overwhelmingly positive terms if she'd won £75,000 after turning down £19,000 based on a belief in the box on the *wings*!

As you mentioned, though, the banter in this game has aged much worse than the game itself. That was true in 2019, and that's amplified in 2020, where weight stigma is being weaponised by influential figures to argue that the worst pandemic in a century is no big deal.

That was a bit of a slip of the tongue BTW; what I meant was a return to the £12.5k offer from 8-box. Which would, admittedly, have been a bit low on that final two. Mind you, given the Banker's track record of 'punishing' players who could be perceived to have disrespecting the money...