Yes he is.

That was just horrible

I had actually read the spoilers of this game, and thought it almost impossible that Howard could have won £1, becuase most winners of pocket change either take a very risky gamble (John G, Fadil, Simone) or get rubbish offers all the way through and are more or less forced into taking heir box (Geordie, 1p Trevor, Mike). I didn't have Howard down as a mad gambler, and I also didn't see him getting crap offers either due to his, ahem, relationship with the banker!

It was just a train wreck after the first offer (which would have tempted me, but I felt I just couldn't have dealt).

And to top it all off, there were two possibilities at the end when he could have been a legend: the first 50p winner or the lowest dealer. And he got neither. I would have definitaely dealt if 50p had been won before!

I think that makes the 1p club and £1 club level with 8 members each. Odd that there's so many, but none of 50p!

Poor Geordie's frustration continues!

Poor Howard. Apart from the first round, that was a bit of a Lisa-esque game (i.e. destroy the board as much as you can). To have the lowest 2 amounts on the board after the first round still there right at the end is pretty unlucky.

Even Noel's shirt was tragic - as if a group of toddlers at playschool had been let loose on it with their crayons...

I suppose there is no harm now in revealing what was printed in "The Guardian" two weeks ago in an article on DonD. Some of the names were changed to protect the people that hadn't played, hence a mad dash to discover who "Edward" was. As the days have gone on and the rest of the article became true, it became increasingly obvious that the unlucky player refered to the article was Howard. Here is part of that article recreated for posterity:-

But then Noel says there's something else. There's another reason why he still believes. He says that after 300 shows he now knows - practically every time - how someone's going to do before they've opened a single box.

There's a silence.

"How?" I ask.

Noel pauses. "How deep can I go here?" he says.

Then he says, "Take Edward. Edward, I'm really not sure about. I've got a funny feeling it may go horribly wrong for Edward."

Noel says he knows this just by the way Edward walks, by his aura. You can tell winners by the way they walk, and Edward doesn't walk this way. Yesterday, another contestant, Mark, told me that Edward needed a big win more than anyone here: "Edward's got nothing," Mark said. "Literally nothing. He's completely skint."

I know something Edward doesn't know. I've seen the call sheet. Edward's game is going to start in a couple of hours.

And then the recording begins, and - as I knew he would be - Edward is picked. This is Edward who is penniless, Edward who needs it more than anyone, Edward who, Noel has psychically predicted, will have a terrible game because he doesn't have the aura of a winner.

Two hours later, and the contestants are crying. Nalini blames it on the fire alarms. "We're all so tired," she says. "If we haven't got the energy, how can we give off positive vibes? That's why Edward opened all the wrong boxes."

Whatever; Noel was right. Edward walks away with just £1.

The Guardian describes "Edward" as penniless. I notice that when he was introduced, Noel normally says what each player does for a living, and on this occasion it was either edited out of the show, or more likely, "Edward" doesn't have a job at the moment and is indeed "skint" like the article suggests. That makes it all the sadder as I'm sure if he had ever received a decent offer (aside from ther highly inflated first round one at £18K) he would probably have dealt. He didn't strike me as a mad gambler, merely an ordinary joe who needed the money. Sadly "Edward's" luck wasn't with him yesterday. There have been plenty of games where the player would have been better off to take the first offer and get the hell out of the studio, but I don't think anyone is ever going to, and the banker knows that - he knows that the players at least want to be seen to give entertainment value and won't even usually consider dealing until round three.

Howard did at least get the £250 bonus from the birthday show which at least is a reasonably useful sum of money and a weeks wages for some people. I must admit though when it got to 50p/£1 and the 75p offer I either wanted him to deal at 75p to crack Geordie's lowest ever deal offer or become the first member of the 50p club as by then the result didn't really make much difference. There is no such prestige in becoming the eighth member of the £1 club!

Poor Howard. That was sad.

Certainly makes sense why Gaz was encouraging Howard to deal for sums like £3,000 and £1,500 - most people would gamble in those situations but obviously Gaz knew that even that sort of money would make a big difference to Howard!

I just noticed, the thread title says 03/10 >_> Wrong month lol.

Yeah, the 3/10/06 was Mark P's game!

How can Noel know who's going to go away with nothing? It's all totally random at the end of the day.

:'(

He set quite a few records with the first offer at least,
I don't think 1 single offer has even been more than 4 times another, let alone the 1st one!
And I think the sum of all the other offers was less than the 1st offer alone!

Reading that Newspaper Article makes it even worse.. .

sorry to have to prove someone wrong YET AGAIN, but geodie took £20.So he wasnt more or less forced into taking his box at all.What with Fad's offers all the way through, i am not surprised he gambled - even the last offer, £7,200, was pretty much crap. Mike - didnt take a very risky gamble at all.£5,200 his highest offer, it ws sure from the very moment he arrived on the showthat he would turn down any offer like that. 1p trevor - i agree with you there james.He does fall into that category, definitely.Simone - not too sure.£15,500 was 10k less than her 5th offer, so im not surprised she no dealt really.But then i am one of only two people on the forum who would only deal if the offer was £250,000.01.


sorry, RANT OVER

Poor Howard - silly but he has been on my mind.

Other contestants look disappointed when the win £12 000 - like Kelly today and that makes me irritated.


He seemed a nice sort and I am surprised Noel said what he did in the article as it seems a bit unfair. Maybe Howard wasn't louder than life like Lisa for example. She was the life and soul yet still went away with a small amount. At the end of the day it is only a game and lady luck was not shining on Howard that day - there is nothing personal about it. All the other contestants seemed to speak highly of him when he opened a box.

Some days you win and somedays you lose.

I think he should have been given a grand from Noel himself just for his classic first box opening.

I met Howard when I was there with Dad (Jeff-Break a Leg!) he was such a nice bloke. I do feel for him

James

With Geordie I said "more or less" becuase I'm sure anyone else with that final pair and offer would have just no-dealt, but Geordie's circumstances were different.

Mike falls into the "forced to the end through crap offers" bracket, not the "risky gamble" bracket, none of his offers were even worth considering!

And Simone did take a risky gamble at the 5-box stage I feel, there was a 30% chance of being left with two sums of pocket change, £25.5k is an awful lot to risk on those odds!

Horrible game to watch. We seemed to have a bit of a break from all-round nasty games, but from Lisa onwards, there seem to have been several.

Unlucky, Howard.