Aaron won £25,000

The opening credits, Noel giving the standard phrase just like Captain Kirk annoucing his log, finally Edmonds look into the camera, pauses, raises an eyebrow,''...or no deal?'.

Noel asked why was DOND definitely not a game show?
There were no qustions or answers except one.
No points on a scoreboard
No long legged nubile hostes flirting outrageously with the host (at least not on the UK version Noel, have a chat with Howie Mandell - US Version - maybe he will lend you a couple?)

Finally Aaron got the call, he's been there almost as long as Lucy, but with a much lower profile. He is a bookmaker, an online poker player, he understands the odds. He was open to a deal, and he had just made the banker very clear on Aaron's ability to understand what was the right price. It is also clear from his entries on this blog that Aaron understands game playing.

Again a call for noise from the crowd, Aaron turned to the audience and asked for them to be as loud as possible. This was new territory for Aaron, he did not come across as one of life's extroverts, but he explained that during his time on DOND he had come to appreciate the power of positive thought...Jim came to mind, hopefully there would be no repetition of that maddness.

Round one: A different Jim to start, Aaron picked him to steady Jim's nerves, but Aaron seemed without nerves except when addressing the audience - £100. Julia was next on the basis that the top prize would not be in box 22 two days in a row, he was right - £750. To follow John opened box 17 to give £10. This was shaping up nicely. Noel then gave the kiss of death by pointing out how well it was going, but Pat opened box 20 to show the 1p - which just underlines Aaron's comment on Monday's blog (superstitious nonsense). Fadil was last in the round and a historic milestone was finally passed, the first all blue Round One - it was £50. The banker called this his 'unfolding nightmare', and asked to speak to the player. Aaron referred to the banker as 'Sir', always a good move that. The opening offer had to be the highest ever, it turned out to be £6000 higher than any previous opening offer - £15,000. Aaron pretended to think about it but he took milli-seconds to make the calculation - no deal.

Round two: box 3 by Massimo - £500, another blue. Lucy opened 10p, people were beginning to laugh hysterically, including Aaron - seven blues in a row. Aaron brought everyone back to reality 'the next box could be the £250,000 and undo all the good work'. Kirsty was going to be next, but not until after the break. The board now was a massive red column, with 4 blues on the other side. Kirsty on the return opened £10,000. Noel was at least as excited as Aaron should have been. The banker rang and rang before eventually being answered, Noel then taunting him as if there was nothing to fear. The second offer was £30,000, this was a brave new world - Aaron surely had to think. The average was £40,000, so - he asked the crowd 'would any of you deal?'. Noel tackled an impoverished student - 'would you really deal at this point'. Aaron tried to be rational, but the board was puling him, there was no way he was going to deal, even though his girlfriend pointed out that there were only 4 reds above the offer. From yesterday's game we know that Aaron would gamble when a lot of others might 'deal'

Round three. Pat opened box number 12 - £5000, Cathy looked glum, she opened £35,000 - was the game 'starting to slip away' wondered Noel. Gabrielle opened box 15 - it was the £250,000. A bullet between the eyes might have had less effect - Aaron sucked his cheeks - 'I am not going to be winning that then'. But Aaron's eyes hinted at the blow he had just received. The banker offered £12,000, Aaron reckoned that was around half of the average of the boxes left - 'No Deal'.

Round four: 'Lots of noise if its blue' said Aaron, his voice containing a new, nervous tone. Pete opened box 4, we were back to blue - £250 - the audience cheered. Aaron was stronger now, he pointed to Johnnie who opened £5, and Aaron, now acting as if the firing squad had been called off at the last moment, picked Sandra, his voice back to full strength. After the break, Sandra opened £1000 - the board now contained two blues and six reds including £50,000, £75,000 and £100,000 - Aaron showed just how in control he was, he had calculated in a moment that the average was £33,000. It was in fact £32,875.19. The banker stated that he was never going to offer the mean, but he did offer £25,000, the second highest offer of the game. Aaron was clearly thinking about this - he wrote down the next six numbers that he would have picked, stating that he didn't yet know what he was going to do, but this was shaping up to be a deal. He called down his girlfriend - she seemed keener to go on than him. The audience were asked if he should deal, less than ten said yes - 'its not your money' said Aaron. Noel asked the question - and Aaron said 'Deal'. People, including Noel were astonished, this was hardly an historic game?

Round five: James opened £1, Janet's box had £15,000 and Linda revealed £100,000. Aaron was happy, convinced the offer would have gone down, prepared to ignore a higher offer on the grounds that it would have been to rile Aaron. The offer was indeed less - £18,000.

Round six: JT opened £3,000, Gary showed £50,000 and Steve £75,000. He had done it! Aaron was leaping for joy. Two numbers left on the board - £20,000 and 50p. The offer was £6000, he said he would have gone on, but he didn't need to make that decision.

Aaron had dealt at exactly the right time (ignoring the offer at the end of round two), and he had shown that there really is a skill to this game, almost no-one else in the studio felt he should have dealt when he did - but he was absolutely right. And Noel was right afterall, in its own way it had been historic, Aaron had played brilliantly. I suspect that, even though other people have won more, this was the best game we have seen yet.