Awww, what a lovely game. OK, it wasn't an OPW, but I'm sure Betty's happy. Well done!

A new record is made!

Betty got the highest-lowest offer in her game. Like the lowest peak offer, except the other way round, with getting £16,500 and nothing lower.

She beats Bunney who got £16,000 and nothing lower.

Well done Betty!

I must admit I'm not sure how I feel about today's episode.

The revelation that Betty was Aileen's mum came as a bit of a shock - "Aileengate" . I feel like Endemol has cheated the viewing audience and other potential would-be contestants by choosing two such closely related people from the same family for the show. There are 80000+ people out there who want to get on the show and it just seems a bit of a swizz that Aileen and Betty both got on the show, albiet one year apart, when so many others are in the queue. I suppose there is nothing in the rules about it, and if it means that 50 shows Lucy can come back on as her own twin sister I'll have no objections at all (!!! ), but I do hope other contestants significant others and family members aren't going to get fast-tracked on the show. I can live with it this once, but I don't want to discover in the News of the World at some later date that the Deal or No Deal contestant process is rigged and that those of us who sent in a form never stood a chance against former contestants family and friends.

It was nice to see Aileen again for sure, but not like this. I felt cheated and conned somehow. It took a bit of the shine off of the game for me. I'm probably in a minority here though, but it's a sad world indeed if we all agreed on the same things.

In closing then, just to show that there are no real hard feelings on my part, can I just say well done Betty on your £20K. It was generally enjoyable to watch, and at the end of the day that's all that matters!

Get over it. It's complete coincidence. Over 400 other contestants and none are related, I think that says something.

Awww well done Betty!!
Hope you made yourself very happy (and someone at home) what a fantastic and unusual show!

Well done Betty!!!

Some of us were speculating in the chatroom early in Betty's run on the wings, about whose mum she might be (as it was revealed by Cocky Bill I think), and we all thought it must have been someone on about the same time as bell who had a trainwreck, and we thought the most likely ones were £500 Lindsay and £100 John, but completely wrong! I'd forgotten how pretty Aileen was actually - the picture of her in the Behind The Scenes book doesn't do justice at all!

Anyway - good to see the offers back to a "don't know what to do for me" level (too many for me have been easy deals), someone not chasing losses after a bad round - she had the same chance as ending up with 2 blues and a 75k/35k finish, and she didn't miss out on too much!

Well done Betty, another strong game, and wow on the first 5 boxes and all blue round!

lol Joanne x

I hope Kestrel understand me posting this, I had an e-mail from Aileen this morning and she asked me to clarify Bettys position for her below is a quotation from that e-mail.

Can you clarify to the site that mum applied and told them her daughter was en ex contestant. This seemed to go unnoticed, she was asked to audition, where she told them again about me. And when finally being asked to be a contestant, she told them again. There was a lot of questions by now as to whether she would be used, but they decided that it would be nice as a one off. There will never be anymore family connections used, and mum was definately was not "Fast tracked" as someone put it.
She was a contestant becuse she is a really lovely lady, asI think most people saw.

Thank's for posting this Suez and set the record straight. I'm not for a minute supposing that Aileen or Betty set out to defraud Endemol. Betty was clearly worried enough to tell them, even if they weren't listening or taking notes, and when they found out, Endemol were concerned enough to worry about whether she should play or not despite having been told countless times, which kind of that validates my original point in a way. I don't want to sound jealous, nasty or evil here. I liked Aileen. I liked Betty. I just couldn't help wondering aloud about the implications of this.

Noel has taken to saying in many many shows now that a contestant only sits in the chair once - "there are no second chances". If one assumes that there is a really bizarre alternate universe out there where Dan4389 marries Sarah or Adam marries Steph or The Banker marries Marcus or even I marry 50 shows Lucy (!!!!) and then we all get on the show with our partners in the audience, then that means the former contestants really are getting some kind of second chance with our winnings. What really is to stop say Geordie's lass going on the show and trying to improve upon his £20 win ? I wouldn't have thought they'd let married partners go on the show at all, and they must have had concerns about other close relationships like Mother/Son or Brother/Sister, and the question of where you draw the line. I don't think even Endemol themselves are sure on that one.

With a Husband/Wife, the winnings are (presumabely) going into the same bank account, so that is probably a moral no-no as the former contestant in the audience really is getting a "second chance" at life-changing money. Betty and Aileen have their own sperate lives and are presumably going to do different things with the money, though surely Betty benefitted a little from Aileen's £8K win last year, and Aileen will benefit from Betty's £20K win in return - even if only a 1/5 share as one of five children!! If I won anything on the show, I'd be treating my mum straight away, and if my mum won, she'd treat me, and I can't be alone on that score! However, we were both of the (clearly mistaken) opinion that Endemol wouldn't allow both of us on the show, so although I applied, my mum didn't as she didn't think it was worth her while and she'd be wasting her time as both of us might be blanked out of the application process.

No apparently it IS worth her while, I might have need of another appplication form!!

Have a spare form if you need one

sorry Mickey if I put a damneron mums show, it wasn't meant that way. Endemol hav since mums application re done the application forms to stipulate that no previous contestants family, can apply to the show now. Betty was just incrediblylucky, as are we to have her as our mum.
Hope I haven't upset too many apple carts.
xxx

You and your mum both rocked

Another great game. Is March 2007 shaping up to be a contender to rival March 2006? (lights touch paper and retreats to a safe distance... )

No apologies necessary Aileen.

I always wondered myself about what would happen if two people from the same family or same address applied to be on the show. I have my own life, my sister has her own life and house. Assuming we both applied to be on the show and passed the selection process, then you are now saying that would be forbidden under the new rules. How do you define close family? If I had a cousin or an aunt who had been on the show for example and then got the call myself, does that mean they wouldn't have me (assuming that I told them! ) Oh hell. Who cares? Let everybody on! Let previous contestants on twice! It's only a TV quiz show!

Interesting coincidence...both Aileen and Betty filmed their games on the 16th January, Aileen in 2006 and Betty in 2007! Presuming it was a coincidence, anyway.

Very interesting game indeed! With Matchplay, Aileen's return, the £50 to the mums and the all-blue round (very ironic that the day after Nan takes out the five highest reds, Betty takes out the five highest blues) it was certainly unique. Pity she didn't go one more round, I can't think of many power 5 final twos in active play (Kirsty, Lance, Doug...any others?), but it's still a great sum to win, and the fact that Betty's lowest offer was higher than any of Aileen's certainly shows the difference in Banker behaviour over the last year. Well done on your £20k, Betty!

That was a very interesting game - and whilst I already knew that Betty was Aileen's mum (as I believe it had been hinted at already on the forum), it was still nice to see Aileen back in the studio. I also liked the pink boxes - I think pink boxes make the red / blue values of money inside them stand out even more when they are opened - maybe they should be a permanent feature! The pictures of the player's mums on their name badges was also a nice twist.

It is also rather ironic, as Billy said, that the day after "Nan" on the Comic Relief / Catherine Tate DOND sketch takes out all the power 5 in her first round, Betty in real DOND takes out the five highest blues! Imagine if she'd done the opposite and taken out the five highest reds like "Nan" did - would she have dealt at the first offer too?

It was good to see Betty joining the "All-blue first round club", and the fact the banker didn't make his opening offer unnecessarily huge suggests he isn't getting too carried away with his huge offers these days - I wouldn't have been surprised to see at least £20k as an opening offer in Betty's game, judging by how the banker's been recently - and as Billy said, the banker's offers can be seen to be higher than this time a year ago when you compare Betty's game to Aileen's directly!

The coincidence that Betty and Aileen both filmed their games on 16th January (2007 and 2006, respectively) is rather odd - and it also shows how far in advance they are with recording now, as Aileen's game was shown in February (2006), and Betty's in March (2007).

It's a shame that Betty dealt at the wrong time, I'd have probably dealt at one of the earlier higher offers, but £20,000 is a nice sum of money to win and she goes into a growing club of people who have won this sum, either by going to the end and revealing it in their box, or dealing at it!

Well done Betty and enjoy the money!