Michael won £10,000

Friday - and Noel finds yet another way to say those immortal opening words. As predicted today's chosen one was Michael. Was Michael's mother back stage at a Barry Manilow concert 9 months before he was born? You get the idea. A lot of Michael's friends were in the audience and he very sensibly showed a photograph of his flower shop; he got free advertising to 5 million people and the chance to win £250,000 - he had already won.

Round one: box two by Sarah - £50,000. Raj next with box 17 - £3000. Dave E opened box 20 - £20,000. ('welcome to the game', said Noel, surely by mistake, Dave has been there for ages). Gaz box 13 - £35,000. Max, box 12 - £5000. This was historic, an all red first round. The offer was £950. 'No deal' shouted Michael.

Round two: Massimo had box 11 and felt positive, 'I sincerely hope this stems your tide', making a pun on the flower shop theme (there were a lot of these). But the tide was not stemmed, Michaels sixth red in a row was £100,000. 'Are you the kamikaze king of DOND?' asked Noel. Could Dave W bring a smile back to people's faces, he hadn't for quite a while. He opened box 3 - 1p. Michael cheered for Britain, and when he settled down he went for Francesca with box 4. 'Daffodeal or No Deal', said Noel after the break, he was getting worse. Francesca opened her box - 10p. After a series of botanical puns that seemed to go on and on, Noel finally returned to Michael and offered him EVEN LESS than the previous offer - £600. Michael didn't even consider it for a moment.

Round three: Morris box 8, of course he couldn't resist a... poem (for want of a better word) - £500. Sandy opened 19 - £15,000, a sole clapper in the audience. Dot's box was calling at Michael, she opened box 16 - 50p. This was better…finally. Richard advised 'be positive, you have survived 3 rounds with the £75,000 and £250,000 still in play'. Michael then went on to talk complete nonsense about boxes talking to him, as in talking to plants (well on this royal day, I suppose Prince Charles needed a mention). Michael was offered £5000 - surely this was not worth consideration - Michael agreed, forcefully telling Noel to ask him the question - 'No Deal'.

Round four: the board now showed seven blues against four reds. James next with box 10, £10,000. Simon, slightly less serious than yesterday, box 9 - £5. Emma B, box 15. after kissing the box she opened it to reveal £750. An all blue round, the board now evenly split four blues against four reds. The bankers ofer was £10,000, Noel suggested he should wrinkle his nose at this amount, but the board only had two numbers higher than the offer. The contestants were asked, all but three said 'No deal', one of them said 'can of peas'. Michael seemed shaky, the banker was reaching through to Michael's threshold. 'No deal'.

Round five: Susie was next, box 6 - £100. Finally the tension was building. Patrick, box 18. Patrick had earlier predicted that he had £1 in his box, and when he opened it, he did indeed have £1. As Noel said 'that was spooky'. Michael rocking now, he went for Hilary and box 7 - £75,000. Noel announced that this had become a one box game. But the banker had a good inkling now about the amounts of money Michael could fold at, he stuck, the offer was £10,000. Michael was shocked, the audience gasped, but it was Michael's reaction to the previous offer that did it. Massimo and Clare clearly felt that he should continue, I suspect that they knew enough personal information about Michael to make that call, yesterday Massimo's advice was the complete opposite. Michael was forced to think, he was wrestling with the possibility of winning £250,000 against a drop to £10. His mind went round in circles and even as he said 'Deal', it was clear that he wasn't sure.

I didn't see who opened Box 14 - £50. Clare, box 20 - £250,000 - Michael lept of his seat, the audience cheered, but Noel remained strangely quiet, perhaps he felt Michael should have continued. Pat M finished the round with box 22 - £10. The offer would have been £400. Michael only had £1000 in his box, and Richard opened box 1 to show the £250.

It was pretty clear from discussions during round five that £10,000 was not going to be a life changing amount for Michael, and yet he dealt. Of course he did pull up the £250,000 during the following round but there is no guarantee that he would have chosen that box if he had not dealt when he did. I think Noel was disappointed, the audience certainly were, and the tension that was building nicely evaporated at the moment he took the money. So not really a frustrating game, just not satisfying.