Yesterday's game was one of the more entertaining that we've had recently.
A good bit of banter with Noel, interaction with the other players, backchat to the banker.
And hardly a single OTT shout!
And a good deal at the time, like he said he'd prefer to deal one too early rather than one too late.
SteveW | 06.27.06 - 10:22 am | #

As I was walking home just now, I saw a van with a license plate ending in "OPW". Perhaps that's a sign that today's game will go especially well for whoever's playing...

(Or perhaps not.)
Anonymous | 06.27.06 - 4:12 pm | #

Oops, that was me. Didn't mean to appear anonymous.
Daniel | 06.27.06 - 4:13 pm | #

Noel's experimenting where to put the Big Pause. Today it was between the 'or' and 'no' of 'Deal or No Deal'.
Billy | 06.27.06 - 4:20 pm | #

Noel says that the show's like a night at the opera or a day at the races. I can't tell whether that makes him a Queen fan, a Marx Brothers fan, or both.

It's Melanie! With the Booyeah Box!
Billy | 06.27.06 - 4:22 pm | #

And...it's...just...me. Ok.

For the second show in a row, four blues are followed by a low red, just missing out on our third all-blue round. Although £10k classifies as a low mid-red, really.
Billy | 06.27.06 - 4:29 pm | #

I'm here as well. . but not in a position to do commentary.

Where has everyone been lately?
SamH | 06.27.06 - 4:30 pm | #

Doing real world stuff. Get us and our lives.

That was a rather disturbing phone call.
NJ | Homepage | 06.27.06 - 4:31 pm | #

Doing real world stuff. Get us and our lives.

That was a rather disturbing phone call.
NJ | Homepage | 06.27.06 - 4:31 pm | #

It's like that week in December that was pretty empty too. Not particularly hot outside, though.

The first five boxes were £250, £50, £10, £1, and £10,000. First offer £9,100, No Dealt.
Billy | 06.27.06 - 4:32 pm | #

£3,000.

Better increase the detail...Box 3 (Lance) £5.

Break.
Billy | 06.27.06 - 4:35 pm | #

Stats at first break:
Mean: £36,823.37
Median: £5,000
Absolute Balance: 23
Significant Balance: 11/15, 4
FD: £16,518.73
Volatility: 0.83

Wow. That's the first time I've done that. All hail the Stat-o-matic!
Billy | 06.27.06 - 4:38 pm | #

Sorry NJ, I was just curious. . .

Offer 2:

£15,500

What Ryan won yesterday.
SamH | 06.27.06 - 4:41 pm | #

Keep at it Billy, I know solo commentary is hard but its possible.
NJ | Homepage | 06.27.06 - 4:41 pm | #

Buddy reveals £75,000. Melanie goes on how it's fine, and her two "bad boys" are still there (£100k and £250k)

Mean: £34,096.47
Median: £3,000
Absolute Balance: 14
Significant Balance: 9/14, 2
FD: £13,958.02
Volatility: 1.10

Offer 2: £15,500
What Ryan dealt at yesterday. "Thank you, but No Deal"
Billy | 06.27.06 - 4:41 pm | #

Well I can't speak for everyone else but I just haven't been able to get to a TV for DOND. Whenever I have I've had to use the computer for something else.
NJ | Homepage | 06.27.06 - 4:42 pm | #

Box 6 (Alan): 50p
Big hole in the blues.

Box 18 (Chris): 10p
Bigger hole in the blues.

Spooky Box 17 (Debbie): 1p
WAY-HEY-HEY! You can't do better than that!
Billy | 06.27.06 - 4:43 pm | #

WOW,

The lowest value is £250 already? at the 3rd offer. (Deal of 11) This board is looking like one of the best since Aaron. And I think he had lost the 250k by this point as well.

Maybe only 2nd to Brenda?
SamH | 06.27.06 - 4:44 pm | #

Mean: £43,395.45
Median: £15,000
Absolute Balance: 44
Significant Balance: 9/11, 8
FD: £22,578.98
Volatility: 1.10

--Offer 3---
£30,000
Billy | 06.27.06 - 4:45 pm | #

And it's a very quick Deal! Same as Pennie.
Billy | 06.27.06 - 4:46 pm | #

A supreme board like that and she's thrown it. Deal.
NJ | Homepage | 06.27.06 - 4:46 pm | #

Noel asks the audience to stand up if that surprised them. Virtually all do.
Billy | 06.27.06 - 4:46 pm | #

This could be a horrific proveout. On a board with a 3/8 split and rather low volatility that was almost undoubtedly a bad deal.
NJ | Homepage | 06.27.06 - 4:47 pm | #

Offer 3

£30,000

Wow. There are gasps as she wants the question quickly.

She Deals? with 20 minutes to go? I can't believe that.

The whole audience stand up in answer to the 'did that surprise you' question.

Still the right decision IMO.
SamH | 06.27.06 - 4:47 pm | #

Noel goes to a break before we see what she could have won.

Stats at second break:
Exactly the same. Well, that was easy.
Billy | 06.27.06 - 4:49 pm | #

She's happy with 30k and didn't fancy the gamble, so I'd say it's a good deal.
johnnyyen | 06.27.06 - 4:49 pm | #

Makes a nice change imo when somebody knows they are there for a certain amount and even when things are going so fantastically they don't get carried away. Still, I can't see this being an OPW...
LR | 06.27.06 - 4:50 pm | #

Don't forget James's game...and his Deal was less than half of Melanie's.
Daniel | 06.27.06 - 4:52 pm | #

Amounts left:
£100
£500
£750

£1,000
£5,000
£15,000
£20,000
£35,000
£50,000
£100,000
£250,000
Billy | 06.27.06 - 4:53 pm | #

And also if she pulled out the 250k she would be playing catch up.
johnnyyen | 06.27.06 - 4:54 pm | #

Box 8 (Amy): £750
Yet another blue.

Box 11 (Roy): £250,000
On his 11th show!

Box 4 (Ashok): £20,000
Still gets applause.
Billy | 06.27.06 - 4:55 pm | #

Mean: £25,825
Median: £10,000
Absolute Balance: 28
Significant Balance: 5/8, 4
FD: £15,131.65
Volatility: 0.94

Hypo Offer 4:
--£14,000--
Billy | 06.27.06 - 4:56 pm | #

£14k, KP will approve of that.

And this OPW is currently very, very possible.
NJ | Homepage | 06.27.06 - 4:57 pm | #

This is brilliant, now the 100k goes, followed by the 15k.
SamH | 06.27.06 - 4:57 pm | #

She dis make the right deal after all.
johnnyyen | 06.27.06 - 4:57 pm | #

Box 15 (Mark): £100,000
Blimey, she's actually pulling this off!

Box 12 (Sue): £15,000
Still a red.

Box 1 (John): £35,000
Only £50k remains after £5k.
Billy | 06.27.06 - 4:57 pm | #

Mean: £11,320
Median: £1,000
Absolute Balance: 6
Significant Balance: 1/5, 0
FD: £5,135.18
Volatility: 7.58

Offer 5:
--£4,000--
Billy | 06.27.06 - 4:58 pm | #

Needs £50k to finish the OPW, AND SHE GETS IT!!
NJ | Homepage | 06.27.06 - 4:59 pm | #

Box 19 (Pierre): £5,000
Wouldn't have been good.

Box 21 (Linda): £50,000
OPW! ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!
Billy | 06.27.06 - 4:59 pm | #

And it's another game like James' with me being completely wrong. Which I'm glad about
LR | 06.27.06 - 4:59 pm | #

OPW out of absolutely nowhere!

Final showdown of £100 vs £1,000
NJ | Homepage | 06.27.06 - 4:59 pm | #

And she has £100 in her box.

The _lowest_ amount left at the deal of 11.
SamH | 06.27.06 - 5:01 pm | #

And she only had £100. Huzzah!
LR | 06.27.06 - 5:01 pm | #

Box 14 (Vic): £500
Doesn't matter now.

£100 v £1,000

Mean: £550
Median: £550
Absolute Balance: -3
Significant Balance: 0/1, -1
FD: £433.11
Volatility: 10

Offer 6:
--£400--

She'd still have gone on. And won...

Box 22:
£100. Absolutely incredible game. And I'm exhausted.

Box 20 (Sally):
£1,000
Billy | 06.27.06 - 5:01 pm | #

Lorraine Jackson in Warwickshire wins £500 in box 2.

More hip-hip-hoorays for Melanie.
Billy | 06.27.06 - 5:04 pm | #

Fantastic - best proveout ever.

Box value: £100
Peak offer: £30,000
Amount won: £30,000
Result: OPW
Daniel | 06.27.06 - 5:08 pm | #

Thanks very much chaps, much appreciated.
Brig Bother | Homepage | 06.27.06 - 5:21 pm | #

With any luck, when I've got days off in future and on Saturdays I'll be able to fill in gaps now that people in the UK can watch streaming C4 online.

It's the FUTURE.
Brig Bother | Homepage | 06.27.06 - 5:24 pm | #

News from Holland.

Talpa have announced they will now produce a weekdaily version of Miljoenenjacht. The title will be called "Deal or No Deal".

The new version will debut on 21st August at 8pm.

what is still uncertain.

-The top prize,
-Number of players,
-Linda DeMol hosting,
-Whether its going to be based the other weekdaily versions (France, here etc...).
Travis P | 06.27.06 - 5:24 pm | #

Should have guessed the English title would be used.

Weeknights at 8pm? That's about the timeslot of the Franco-Italian shows isn't it?

I sincerely hope it's more like the German version, where they have an hour to play TWO €250,000 20-case games (Dutch offer format minus round one) AND a quiz bit, AND THE OFFERS USE THE DUTCH FORMULA.

Speaking of which... best show in weeks today, watched it in the comfort of the lounge with a widescreen telly and... the offers made sense and it was a positive game! Forget the way the boxes went, we need more games with positive endings like that. Though we don't want every game ending at deal-of-11, natch. Less risk-averse players would have pushed it anyway.

Yes, I approved of the £14k offer, that made sense and I was thinking 'that would be a real toughie' at the time. Though having looked at the stats it was a fairly clear No Deal.

I spent half the game not properly enjoying it, thinking the offers were down to Box 22 having £250,000. Then it went, then came the rest of that perfect proveout, and this conspiracy theorist just shut up... no, he didn't shut up, he shouted and screamed at every big red. Best show in ages, maybe of all time.
KP | 06.27.06 - 5:40 pm | #

> Though we don't want every game ending at deal-of-11, natch.

Therein lies your problem. If the Banker makes sensible offers, the players will deal and unfortunately that's just dull. After the generousity of the last fortnight (amount of games that have gone to the box in the last 12 games: precisely zero), I'm almost wishing the Bastard Banker would come back and mix it up for a bit.

I'm overjoyed for the players. But I think the show is less interesting as a result.
Brig Bother | Homepage | 06.27.06 - 6:43 pm | #

While pleased for the contestant I think this was poor play by the Banker, just as much as his "useless" offers are on other occasions.

The instant "deal" suggests he completely misread her and probably could have got rid of her a lot cheaper. From an entertainment point of view I think the only time a cast-iron deal offer is justified is when they have taken a big gamble to reach an all-or-peanuts final two and as the viewer you just don't want to see them forced on and end up with next to nothing.

The first £250,000 winner looks a long way off right now!
JH | 06.27.06 - 7:19 pm | #

I think the only time a cast-iron deal offer is justified is when they have taken a big gamble to reach an all-or-peanuts final two and as the viewer you just don't want to see them forced on and end up with next to nothing.

I think this is very reasonable.
Brig Bother | Homepage | 06.27.06 - 8:45 pm | #

13 250
10 50
7 10
9 1
2 10,000
Offer 9,100 No Deal
5 3,000
3 5
16 75,000
Offer 15,500 No Deal
6 50p
18 10p
17 1p
Offer 30,000 Deal
8 750
11 250,000
4 20,000
Offer 14,000
15 100,000
12 15,000
1 35,000
Offer 4,000
19 5,000
21 50,000
14 500
Offer 400
22 100 - her box
20 1,000
SteveW | 06.27.06 - 8:47 pm | #

Sorry formatting went - wrong - (first number is box obviously)
SteveW | 06.27.06 - 8:48 pm | #

Dangit. Missed that one. Was busy sleeping (I have an... Um... Excentric sleep pattern. Went to bed at between half midday and half one today)
Gizensha | Homepage | 06.27.06 - 9:37 pm | #

Thanks for the commentary, Billy. As some people here know, my absence is due to the fact that I'm currently swanning about in the USA.

It looks like two exciting games I've missed so far then. How irritating.
Mister Al | 06.28.06 - 1:10 pm | #