Dot won £3100

Wednesday again, middle of the week already. Noel was wearing a shirt that defied description, needless to say he should never ever giving anyone a bad time about dress sense. He made an interesting observation - '4 members of the 1p club, all male, does that say something?'.

Today it was Dot's turn. Smartly dressed she walked elegantly to the front, a woman of quiet charm. Dorothy Hargreaves, a widow from Birmingham, with four children and nine grandchildren. She considered herself to be lucky as she had got to the point where she was sitting in the hot seat. She needed money,a 20 year old car had to be replaced. Noel tried to find out which model of car she wanted but Dot had no preference, 'as long as it goes, and doesn't need an MOT for three years'. She also wanted new flooring. The total cost of her ambitions gave us, and more importantly the banker, a clear idea of her 'walking money'. This was shaping up to be a deal-early game, would Dot surprise us?

Round one: Patricia, box 18 - £750. Francesca box 5 - 10p. Dot was clapping. Noel said she didn't have to, it was her game, but Dot wanted to clap, and so that was decided. Lofty was next with box 7 - £1000. Tan to follow, he opened box 14 - £50,000. Noel noted 'our first set back'. Emma B, very fetching in bright yellow, opened box 11 - £10,000. Dot was very cool - 'well, the box decides, I don't'. The banker delivered a series of compliments, but Dot was not fooled, she was staying firmly on the ground. He offered £6700, enough to buy a car. Dot said 'I am not a gambler', but then she said 'I have to play a bit, I have to take some chances'. It was like watching the Superman film where Christopher Reeves became evil.

Round two: Max started this round with box 1 - £250. Tom, the new guy, competing with Lofty for height, opened box 12 - £15,000. Dot chose Sandy in box 3 to follow the break - £500. The casting of Dot was inspired, the dialogue between her and Noel revealed a very stylish and lovely woman and a royalist too. 'What would you say to the Queen?' asked Noel. 'You don't speak to the Queen unless she speaks to you', replied Dot. The offer was £12,000. What would she do now, this was easily enough money to cover all of her aims. 'But then I wouldn't have played the game...it would be nice to get some new dresses', said Dot, clearly swayed by the numbers still out there. The board and the game were sucking her in, the contestants were split, some such as Tan thought she could deal at this point, and still enjoy the game.

Round three: Sarah, gorgeous Sarah, worried about Dot, opened box 15 - £250,000. The tension was already there, people felt like they were steeling candy from a baby, that they were witnessing the mugging of a very dear old lady. Hilary, box 13 - 50p. A careful cheer from the audience but one more box to go. Dot looked around the wings and picked out Susie, box 21 - £100,000. This all felt very uncomfortable now, Noel biting his nails as he returned to Dot. The offer was £3800. 'Oh my God', exclaimed Dot, suddenly realising that she had given away over £8000. 'Why didn't I take the money?', she rued, referring to the earlier offer. Dot was down, Noel was quiet trying to find the words to explain what the show was doing to this woman. 'Do it for the Queen', shouted out one of the contestants, and she laughed, sparking out of the shock momentarily. 'No deal', she said chasing the £12,000. The audience were encouraged to cheer, but people didn't want to see Dot hurt.

Round four: Raj, box 16 - £5. A genuine cheer, the first since the £250,000 appeared, the audience were beginning to relax. Dot went to Gaz who was sure she was 'on a role', he opened box 17 - £75,000 - more silence. This was hard to watch, only the £35,000 of the power five was still in the game. After the break Pat M opened box 2 to reveal £5000. 'You are not a gambler, and unfortunately the board now requires a gambler's nerve', said Noel capturing the dilema beautifully. The offer was £2500, Dot's face indicating that she expected such an amount, but that it was a terrible loss. Patrick shouted out to fill the void, he suggested that she could do it, referring to Gary's game where they went through six blues in a row. Others joined in to give advice but Dot quietly cut through - 'ask me the question' - 'No Deal'.

Round five: Dot's voice was flat, she went for box 6 and Emma D - £20,000. Richard opened box 22 praying for a blue, and he got one - £10. Contestants were all holding hands by this point, the audience were silent. Dot chose Simon's box 19 - £3000 - the £35,000 was the only red left in play. Just like yesterday, the player was facing four blues against a single red, but this was a lovely old lady, not Dave's seasoned gambler. Dot was quiet, like a mouse in shock. Noel was applying first aid, 'at the end of every sentence there is a dot, and we haven't got to the end of the sentence yet'. The offer was now £3100. Noel immediately pushed for Dot to deal, no-one wanted her to walk home with 1p. Simon thought it was a good offer considering the board. She asked for the question, and managed to say 'Deal'. I got the feeling that if she said 'No Deal', Endemol would simply re-record until she changed her mind. What a relief.

Round six: But Dot was still quiet, cold, shut down - presumably running through, not what might have been, but what she had given away. Noel pulled her back to the now, she selected poet Morris with box 9 - £100. Then Massimo. It needed to be the red, but in box 4 he only had £50. The crowd went quiet again, a dawning realisation that they could be complicit in stopping Dot from winning a lot more money. Finally box 10 from smiler - 1p - when he needed blues he had the big reds, and now that he had to deliver the big red, he gave the worst possible result. Dot, if she had been allowed to go on, would now have been offered £14,100. This was just appalling; like accidentally stabbing to death your favourite pet, realising that the poor thing is not dead afterall, ressucitating it, and then crushing it under a steam rolller.

Noel opened her box - it was £1, Patrick had £35,000 in box 8. At the end of the game, the realisation that she had actually won over £3000 was finally beginning to sink in - Dot was warming up again, and returning to her happy old self - thank God. I didn't see the audience leave the studio, but I bet they felt guilty. What a rollercoaster of a game this is, I didn't realise that throwing Christians to the lions could be so entertaining...anyone got a fiddle?