Noel recaps yesterday's game - 'a classic case of a good Deal that was just the one too soon' - and says that he hopes that today's player gets their timing absolutely spot on. 'Let's get a perfect game to provide some post-Christmas cheer!' And so we begin...

Episode 49, December 27 2005 @ 5:15pm
Player: Andy - has box 20

Andy's a self-employed plumber, and his friend is into numerology. Noel hopes that this makes a difference in the game! He brings a photo of his three children to the game.

The first round begins... with Noel saying he hopes it's as good as yesterday's game where the 10p and 1p went right at the start! 'I'll try my best!' replies Andy!

Box 3 (Alan) - £50. 'Near enough perfect'.
Box 18 (Arlette) - £5! 'Even better! Again, a great start to the opening round!'
Box 6 (Michael) - £20,000. 'Whoops!' says Andy. Noel says it could be a lot worse.
Box 11 (Jenni) - £1,000. 'More like it... we can definitely let that one go.'
Box 16 (Nick) - 50p! Warm applause. Noel says this won't make the Banker happy, and Andy says that's a good thing...

The Banker says that if it weren't for that 'impestuous' remark...

Banker's offer would've been:

£6,000

Instead...

Banker's offer:

£600

Gasps from the crowd, and an obvious NO DEAL

Edit: this is where my creative license really starts coming in!

Noel says we now have a proper fight with the Banker and we really want Andy to win it... and recalls the last Andy who picked a fight with the Banker and won!

Box 5 (Gill) - £50,000! 'Precisely what we didn't want!' Andy points out the biggie's still there.
Box 19 (Irene) - £100. 'That's better - much better!'

Noel calls the break hyping up the 'Banker battle'!

Box 13 (Pat) - £75,000! Big gasps from the audience. Andy says he is not happy with that round one bit. The Banker says he's delighted with it - so much so, the offer's gone up!

Banker's offer:

£1,500

Andy doesn't need much time to say NO DEAL

Box 1 (Robbie) - £100. Noel points out that if the top two remain at the end of this round the Banker will have to 'stop mucking around'!
Box 22 (Lyndsey) - 10p! Big cheers. Noel points out he can't take both out, 'but what we really want to see is 10p being followed by 1p for the second game in a row'.
Box 7 (Jenna) - £750! It's not, but that's the all-blue. 'This game is turning well and truly in your favour!'

The Banker says he really does have to take Andy seriously, and he remembers the last Andy he lost to...

Banker's offer:

£15,000

Draws quite a few cheers. Andy calls upon his wife, who says it's worth going on another round. Which he does. NO DEAL. 'Let's keep on swinging!' says Noel.

Box 17 (Julie) - £250,000! Gasps of horror. 'Our top prize remains resolutely unclaimed.'

Andy considers the newbie Liz, Noel mentions their tendency to have big numbers, Andy says 14 is on his list, but says his plan probably needs changing anyway now the £250,000's gone!

Box 10 (Gerry) - £1! 'What a brilliant decision!' says Noel... who leads into the break expressing the prospect that the momentum is right back with him and he could win £100,000...

Box 15 (Dave) - £250! Big cheers. 'Not many blues left are there?' There sure aren't...

Eight-box
1p
£10
£3,000
£5,000
£10,000
£15,000
£35,000
£100,000

The Banker is very relieved at the £250,000 going, but with this many reds has to continue to take Andy seriously...

Banker's offer:

£11,000

Andy's wife says No Deal. Terry says it's a good solid position. Andy indeed says NO DEAL

Box 21 (Max) - £10! 'All you need now is take out that 1p and you're going away with three grand!'
Box 9 (Louise) £35,000!

Squashdown
1p
£3,000
£5,000
£10,000
£15,000
£100,000

Noel says we really need the 1p, but so long as this isn't £100,000 we can keep believing...

Box 4 (Terry) - £10,000. Andy flinches as he thought it was £100,000... 'Ten thousand! We're fine!'

The Banker says he isn't quite sure how influential the 1p is at this stage... and points out nobody has ever won it!

Banker's offer:

£16,000

Andy gives this a good think. He says he doesn't want to win 1p, and Noel points out that if he Deals he can't win £100,000 either... but he would still win £16,000 which is 'chunky money'... Terry says the important thing is that you can't go away with nothing because you're guaranteed to have a red at the end...

Andy thinks about the remaining numbers and wonders if they're lucky or not...

Andy still seems unsure right to the end but eventually DEALS. He says he wasn't convinced enough about his numbers and thought one of them had £100,000. 'Well we're about to find out aren't we?'

Box 2 (?) - £15,000. An uncertain reaction. 'There's your best safety net, it's now all about finding the £100,000.'
Box 14 (Liz) - 'he turned away from you earlier, now prove he was right to do that!' - £5,000. 'Well...'
Box 12 (?) - £100,000! 'Brilliant! The perfect Deal at the perfect time!'

Banker's offer:

£1,200

Noel wonders if Andy is not only the second Andy to fight the Banker and win, but also the second person to sell the 1p box at the perfect time after Audrey...

Box 20 had 1p! 'What an incredible Deal!' Box 8 had £3,000. Andy says he's chuffed and can really help the family with that.

Woo! But why is it called the alternate reality series?

It's because it's taking real games, but doing them again - different amounts in each box, different outcomes, and the players react differently as a result. This will probably be really obvious when we get to Nick and Jenni!

And great game

This is brilliant!!! (Even though I have no recollection of what Andy was like as I've never seen his game and can't remember him from the repeats they showed way back, but thios looks rather similar to his real game...)

I'd love to see a few more "remaining values" left before 8-box though!