Helen won £22,000

Friday, the penultimate day in the mis-named Beat the Banker Week (the banker has won three days out of four). Just before today's DOND got going, Countdown Des announced that they are going to stop their Saturday show, hmmmm?

Noel makes the opening blurb sound fresh - the man is a legend. Sadly today's chosen one was Helen, the gorgeous Helen, a mixture of Julia Roberts and Kate Baxendale. Even more sadly she was married...to Aussie Jake, a man who apparently based his appearance on the Russian DJ Dimitry. The previous night had a dreamt of an amount of money, so she wrote this down. Helen looked out at all the people she was leaving and started to cry - Noel pointed out that it was the camraderie which made this show so different.

Round one: Box 4 opened by Michael, a £10 start. Hilary next with box 9 - £100, Number James in box 12 had £3000 (Helen's spoonerism) , Dave E was hungover for some reason, he opened box 17 to reveal £1, and finally Pete produced £750. Helen is a supply teacher for primary schools and a waitress in the Wilsden area . She also seemed to be a party animal - a member of the Wilsden Massive. She explained Dave E's hangover; they celebrate or commiserate with each player in the hotel at night (Noel has not attended any of these events...yet) and it seems impossible to go to bed early. I wonder how long its going to be before Endemol decide to do a documentary? The offer was £9300, possibly the second highest opening offer.

Round two: Box 16 from Gary gave £15,000. Helen went for comedy 'Hello darling' she said to Julia, in the tone of Barbara Windsor, 'do you think JT has a big one?'. Julia responded in kind, 'I don't think he has actually', but Helen then went for John who provided 50p. Helen looked to Claire with box 11, but after the break she changed her mind and went for a very nervous Morris - today's new guy - who opened £35,000. The power 4 were still in play. Six blues against eight reds, Helen expressionless in anticipation of the banker's call. The offer was £6100, a drop of £3200. She didn't even think about it - 'No Deal'. Helen took out her lucky crystal for a rub - explaining that she was a believer in psychic abilities.

Round three: Linda opened box 6 containing £5000. Cathy back to being miserable (hungover?) opened box 5 - 1p, and finally Dave opened box 3 for £5 - a strong round. The banker kept them waiting, perhaps he was struggling with his calculator. The board contained 4 blues against 7 reds - and the offer was £15,000. 'I haven't lost my nerve' said Helen very confidently, 'No Deal'.

Round four: Fadil (Faddy to his friends) - £10,000. Helen chose Pat M because she made her laugh so Pat M started to explain something about the pevious amounts in her box. Mecifully Helen didn't want to know, she just wanted Pat to open box 20 - it was £50. Maxine had box 13 and after the break she opened it to reveal £50,000. The banker phoned and started chatting her up, something along the lines of 'if he ever had a daughter he hoped it would be someone like her', clearly not a man of biology as he would have to wait for at least 25 years. Noel got the phone - 'did you want a son like me?' The offer was £22,000, the audience gasped but Helen didn't flinch. She called down Aussie Jake for a chat in her best teacher's voice. Nothing was really said but Jake stood by her as she took the question, telegraphing her decision - she said 'Deal'. Disappointing this - it looked as if she played it too safe and throwing her arms in the air in triumph left me with the impression that she would never have taken a risk - good for primary school teaching, bad for DOND.

Round five: Richard had £250, and then Julia with box 1 opened the big one - £250,000, so Helen's timing was pretty good. She needed one more big red - Pat opened £20,000. Two blues against £100,000, £75,000 and £1000. The banker would have offered £27,000, and she would have accepted that. (Well yeah, 'cause she already accepted £22,000). But using hindsight her thinking seemed sound enough, she had dealt one round early, the extra stress would only have made her an additional £5000.

Round six: JT opened box 22, £500, Helen's hands on her chin, she went to Claire in box 11 - £100,000. Massimo in box 7 opened 10p - 'damn' said Helen. 'It felt right to stop', said Helen justifying her decision. The banker offered the same amount as before - £27,000. Aagin, if she was still in play, she would have gone through another round of stress for no gain. Noel opened Helen's box to reveal £1000, Gabrielle had the £75,000. She had beaten the banker.

Generally I have a problem with what might have happened: boxes selected after dealing may well not be the same as if he/she had not dealt - different emotions are in the head of the player. And in the case of Helen, as gorgeous as she is, she had the opportunity and the freedom to continue and she chickened out - very frustrating. How can it be that someone wins £22,000 and you are left thinking 'she could have done better'. In fact I thought that more than once during the show. ;-)