Who can win £250,000?

It strikes me that the essence of DOND is keeping a cool head as the stakes get higher. Aaron dealt at exactly the right time, Lucy didn't, neither did Janet, Jim was somewhere in between. Of course right and wrong are only available in hindsight, and I don't think a rational thinker will win the big one.

There is something in the human psyche that really hooks in to the process of waiting until the last moment. All good war films must contain a scene where the hero has to wait until he sees "the whites' of their eyes": Guy Gibson holding on to his bomb in The Dam Busters, Michael Caine in Zulu, Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. No guts no glory.

Nearly all of the contestants we see on DOND cannot help but become emotional as they progress through the board. The amounts of money are just too great for them to block out their dreams, and watching people chase their dreams is very compelling. I think the best TV is when we see players compromise on their ambitions. Sam was a great example of this; the money she was offered bought a lot of dreams and yet the board promised much more - watching her let go of a life she could just about touch was riveting.

Aaron was different, it didn't matter what was going on around him he was still able to work out the odds. What would it have taken for Aaron to keep going? At the end of round five the best one can have are all of the power five still in play, the offer would probably be between £75k and £100k. Would Aaron have said 'No Deal' in those circumstances? Would you? You have to consider that during round six the top three could go, which would mean a loss of around £40,000, even if only the top two go, you will be losing money - a cool head is surely not going to risk those odds.

So at one extreme we have a robot functioning no matter what, and at the other an idealist, a fantasist; one will stop early and the other will probably lose if they don't compromise.

Its going to take a very interesting personality to win DOND's £250,000.

Kipling's IF comes to mind: (full poem is here)

...
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
....
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
....