Welcome to donduk. A refuge for those who enjoy Deal or No Deal, the hit Channel 4 gameshow hosted by Noel Edmonds. The award winning gameshow Deal or No Deal has become a big hit for Channel 4 and marks a sensational return to our screens of Noel Edmonds.

Deal or No Deal is enjoyed my millions of viewers daily, where the contestants battle with The Banker to try and win a jackpot of £250,000. Here at donduk you will find full daily reports of each show, as well Deal or No Deal news and specials. Deal or No Deal although initially appearing very simple in format of just opening a few boxes for the chance to win some big money prizes, actually has some potentially complex decisions to be made at points throughout the show, the contestants occasionally try complex or simple gameplay in an attempt to give them an edge in beating the Banker.

Friday, April 07, 2006

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. ;-)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

For the sake of £5,000 I think she did the right thing. The odds were in her favour, but it could still have gone horribly wrong, as it has so many times.

Anonymous said...

Hi there this is Helen from DOND. Thank you for your comments especially the ones aboutlooking like Julia Roberts, ha ha!

Having watched the game Friday, I was surprised at myself for dealing when I did because I still had the big numbers there. To anyone else I would have said play on.

However, just before I spoke to the banker I felt a huge surge in my chest and knew I had to stop. I fully felt like all the blood in my body went cold and knew that NO MATTER WHAT OFFER I was going to stop that round.

Like you said after you deal you can't really know which boxes your going to pick but I really did try, and avoided Gabrielle on purpose because I thought she had a high number and I would have kept her.

Like I had said 22 was going to be a significant number in my game, I hadn't realised it would be what i walked away with. By the way it was my 22nd show and I was married on the 22nd of December.

I hope you continue to enjoy DOND. Take care xxx Helen

Gillean said...

Thank you, Helen.

Anonymous said...

dear author,
do you not think that this is all a bit sad? i cant help but feel for your family as authoring this blog coupled with your time-consuming job must mean that they are being neglected. dont get me wrong, i enjoy this blog as much as the next person (although perhaps in a slightly different way) just a thought.....

Gillean said...

Hi Anon

Thank you for the concern, but actually the opposite is true. My children are my biggest critics, they read this avidly, and we discuss it by telephone frequently as my job keeps me away from home for extended periods - just like most IT consultants. DOND is an excellent mechanism for bringing the family together - everyone can have an opinion, and even my youngest can answer the questions. I am intrigued as to what your 'different way' of enjoying DOND is, unless you are Helen?

Anonymous said...

firstly respect for showing/answering my comment. still a bit worried that u need dond to bring your family together. call me old-fashioned but whatever happened to love an all that. anyway great page! i'm off now to carry on pretending i'm above dond obsessives