Such a pity, he had as much courage as Laura did yesterday so he didn't deserve just £10, I have a feeling he'd have dealt earlier if he had had meaningful offers from the beginning. This is one game the banker ruined and any persons thinking of watching it after hearing the 250k had been won will have probably been put off!

That's very true! I don't think Craig had courage, he was stupid. Someone like Laura who would not have been expected to go all the way had courage because she took a big gamble, in hope of winning £250,000. Craig was stupid, if he had declined £15,000 he should have at least taken £7,500. Enjoy £10 Craig, you deserve it.

If Laura had courage because she took a big gamble, in hope of winning £250,000 then surely Craig had courage because he took a big gamble, in hope of winning £20,000.

Ooh, today's game has certainly got people talking! We could nickname it Swapgate.

To be fair, after the £250k win yesterday, Endemol needed to keep people interested in the show, so the fact that it's got everyone talking is exactly what they wanted. Craig said himself in yesterday's game that he'd never deal with the £250k still there, so really, The Banker could have offered anything and he'd have still not taken them (unless they were massively high offers). I suppose what I do find worrying is the Banker saying that had he kept the £250k in play then he'd have kept offering swaps to the end...that would definitely not have been fair.

A shame about the £10 win, it'd have been nice to keep the lucky streak going with another OPW. But still a memorable game!

I thought the first three offers being swaps was absolutely stupid. What's the point? The first three offers may normally get no dealt, but they help you to see how the banker respects (or doesn't respect) the player. Today, there was none of that, I really couldn't get into the game because of that very reason.

And I agree with you, Kay, I'd imagine that the first ever £250k win show would bring in a lot of viewers... if I'd never seen DOND before, and only watched today because of yesterday's win (as I'm sure many people did), I'd have been totally confused and definitely put off.

Craig - well done for sticking through, and keeping a level head through what was a very stupid game in terms of the banker's tactics. It's a shame that you didn't win the £20k...

Well said, H! (For once. ) I didn't really enjoy that game at all...the swaps just felt ridiculous to me and I hope it's something we never see again. That said, the financial offers that there were were all very generous, and I'd definitely have gone at the £15k. Still, bad luck Craig.

Yes, the swaps were a bit silly, I would have gone at £15k as well. Bad luck Craig.

Agreed the swaps ruined the game.I'd of also gone at a 15k.

See, I think that those three swap offers told us exactly how the Banker was going to treat Craig. So from your perspective they did the job exactly!

And I don't think it was the wrong tactic to use for Craig at all. I'd have been really unhappy if it'd have been any other player but since Craig was never going to do anything else other than go to the end no matter what (borne out by the fact that he rejected some very generous offers later in the game) it provided a nice chance for the Banker to play up the mean persona without affecting the outcome of the game at all.

That's not the case because Laura had a very low offer (well, low by the board standards. Give me £45,000 on a plate anyday! ), so a gamble was possibly the wisest thing to do, as £3,000 is still alot of money. A gamble of £15,000 over that board? It was a fantastic offer and needed to be thought about. Yes he did gamble, but he went to the end recklessly, making him £10 better off. If that's how his tactics were went to do for him, then well done Craig. But he didn't want £10, so in yo' face!

i was saying dont pick phil as he seems to have high numbers

arrr not good game, and he was emotinal made him cute

Didn't enjoy that at all. At the third swap offer I was shouting profanities! I thought we were going to have the most unfair game since Geordie's, but then up comes a wonderful offer of £15k on a board that didn't warrant it! The £7,500 offer at the final showdown was also very good, I'd have expected something in the region of £5k! We all knew Craig was going to go to the end anyway, and once he'd declined 3 swaps he was never going to swap at the end, so I now think it was fair, he just pushed his luck too far on a very unstable board.

I think after today the contestants will be a lot more guarded in what they say, and for that reason I'm worried for Stuart, I like him but think he's setting himself up for trouble!

I would have taken the £15k without a second thought. Even if I'd had the £20k at the end I still would have though it wasn't worth having to gamble it against £10 in order to win more money!

I wonder what would have happened if he'd taken one of the early swaps and the £250k had remained in play?

Wakey would have won £250k today, offers or no offers!

Not the best of games..both for result and the offers. The Swap thing was a bit stupid. Poor Craig..!

Today's show showed which way the show is going now: The Quest For The Quarter-Million, Episode II.

This is the beginning of the end for Deal or No Deal.

Argh.... I didn't like todays game at all, swap, swap, swap a bit stupid from the banker and it would have been worse if the 250k stayed in play as he would have been offer swap still. I think I would definatly dealt at 15k. But hard luck Craig!

I was expecting the swap at the end which might have resulted in some more timely advice from Sarah!

That was all a bit odd.

I'm wondering if the Banker would have employed those tactics for Craig even if we hadn't had a 250k winner yesterday. It's as if they're trying to keep the game fresh and interesting yet, ultimately, trying way too hard and not realising that keeping it simple is the reason that so many of us are hooked on the show. On the basis that most of us didn't know what the hell was going on today, as Kay mentioned, any new viewers tuning in after yesterday's publicity would have been well and truly flummoxed.

I think that might be termed a bit of a PR 'own goal'

It was fairly stupid, in fact it could be considered a flaw of the show...

...Noel often reminds players it is THEIR game and they should not base their game on another players game, but then the banker can't stop thinking about yesterdays game and bases Craig's offers around it which is slightly unfair. Fair enough Craig wanted to go all the way, but don't most contestants say this (I believe the £250,000 is sitting in front of me etc) as a means of positivity?

P.S. Could anybody upload the first 10 minutes of todays show to YouTube? My bus home got delayed and I wanted to see the introduction and first banker conversation

I'd say the banker offered the swaps because he ran out of money to give to Craig after Laura's win.

Seriously today's show was fairly stupid for a few reasons. Three swaps in a row, turning down a generous 15k, and turning down 7,500. Would've been nice to see back to back big money shows, but we can't have it all.

I've just realised - maybe all the production crew were drunk / hungover after celebrating the £250k win on the previous filming day and previous day on TV... maybe that's why Craig's show was so bizarre.