James won £32,000

Its half past four, its Friday night, and its ..Deal Or No Deal! (Terrible flashes of Michel Aspel speeding through time from CrackerJack to fishnet stockings).

Its St Patrick's Day, they produced green boxes for the occasion, they reminded me of the way Google change their logo for such occasions. And tonight it was none other than 007 himself - James - who had to take the walk of fame. Almost to underline the non-randomness of the player selection, James is Irish!

James has deliberatly kept his cards very close to his chest since first appearing on the show, claiming that he had only spoken 23 words in total. Not only had he kept conversation to a minimum, but he was always dressed in suit/blazer and tie, again revealing very little of the personality beneath. Now I think this is the right tactic, but the art is to give the banker no information without annoying him, and perhaps having the newspaper to read was a step too far, time would tell.

Round one: 50p, then box 22 (which they all call the 'ducks' since Sarah's game),1p, then 10p, this was building up to a very strong opening round. But the fourth box was £20,000, and the fifth box was worse - £75,000. James tried to read his newspaper but the banker chatted to Noel until James started to take notice, biting his lip already. The offer was £7000 very high for this stage in the game; surprisingly James made to ask the contestants what they thought, but then stopped and said 'No Deal'.

Round two: £500, £5000 and then they took a break. Box 13 was opened on the return to reveal £100. James gives the impression of being a complete gentleman, and this was confirmed by the women. This actually led to some interesting insights about what the contestants get up to in the hotel - the previous evening some of the younger men had performed a 'half-monty' for the others, which was described with a tone of regret (i.e. only 'half') by Alison. When we finally got back to the game, the banker offered £14,000, which was an excellent second offer, but James glanced at the board and without any hint of nerves, said 'No Deal'.

Round three: £10,000, £250 from Barbara's box (a hint of a freeson between those two?) and then the new contestant - Gary - revealed £1 to deliver a briliant board. James sat quietly, arms folded, his voice never rising above a murmur. The banker now offered £21,000 (consistent in rising by £7000 with each offer). James asked for some advice - Aaron reckoned that the board was very strong and he should go on. James said 'No Deal'.

Round four: £250,000 straight away! James as calm as ever, looked across to Aaron and selected him for the next box, as if to say 'get me out of this', and Aaron did, revealing £10. The ad break broke up the flow, and gave time for reflection, it felt as if this might be the beginning of the decline. But confidence was restored when Steve produced the £5 on the return. James now had 6 reds against 2 blues, Lucy had no idea what the banker might offer despite this being her 39th show. The offer was now £9000, a massive drop, 'labouring under a multitude of disarranged ideas' according to James, who added 'No Deal'.

Round five: James looked across the wings, not a bead of sweat, and then selected £750 with a nod of his head, £1000 followed but the facade was cracking, he positively shouted out Jim's name, the game was finally getting to James, even to James. The final box of the round was the final blue - £50. The banker phoned shortly after and Noel tried to build up the moment, but his face broke into a smile - '£32,000'. James had recovered his position, after hitting £21,000 he had then lost £12,000, but now he had pulled that back (and then some). Would he continue?

'I am not a gambler' said James, he was giving the impression of folding at this point. Aaron's advice was 'if you go for glory, you have a reasonable fallback position', not a strong endorsement for continuing. Noel asked the question, and immediately it was obvious James was going to deal because this was the first time he took his time before answering - 'Deal'.

Round six: £15,000, £3000 and at this point it was clear the banker had won - James had dealt at least one round too early. The offer would have been £67,000; James did look as if this made him unhappy, and to make it worse Noel was about to reveal £100,000 in James' box. James won £32,000 but there have been many previous winners of much less who have been much happier! This was an extremely controlled man at work... good for him!