Another questionable No Deal immediately punished.

Some people are crying!

That was the tipping point in this game. Will he cut his losses now at…

BANKER'S OFFER

£1,500

Ooh, they’ve brought back a later-used track

He NO DEALS

Round 7

Ruby 22 - £5,000

£5 and £10 remain

lol, less than the lowest amount offered

BANKER'S OFFER

£4

It’s a NO DEAL

He has £5 in Box 1!

Everyone’s crying, he thanks them all as the show comes to an uncomfortable end

Other than the joke -£250 offered one time, I don't think the Banker has ever offered lower than what's left on the board.

I totally get why he turned down the £12,600 if he really wanted to chase the 75k (or a big offer with it in play at 3-box or 2-box) but turning down the £1,500 consolation get-out when the top remaining prize was less than half what he turned down was pure madness. Sorry to say it.

Now THAT was Deal in its purest, cruelest most…DEAL like form since this series began and I’ve enjoyed it up to now.

I was so invested. Brad was a great contestant and if the boxes had been kinder he’d have won 100k. What a guy.

Unfortunately I don't think Stephen Mulhern captured how tense and important the latter part of this game was, especially given Brad's situation and what he wanted the money for (for example he asked Carol about her "donkey" nickname at the opening of the critical first box after Brad no-dealt the 5th offer - that didn't sit right at that point).

This proves what I originally suspected about Mulhern hosting, i.e. he's not suited to all types of DoND games because his default presenting mode is too light-hearted (look at Britain's Got More Talent, In For A Penny, Catchphrase, etc. - all of which he's good at but they don't exactly have tense parts).

Noel Edmonds' TV background obviously wasn't exactly serious stuff (Blobby!), but even right from DoND's early days he was able to switch the tension on and off as required. This is something Mulhern may develop I suppose, but it feels like he only has one mode at the moment.

Totally agree H2005. Noel always showed compassion. Steven has yet to learn this. Brad's show was a real tear jerker and I so wanted him to win the £75.

Hi Lynne, loved your game, I hope life is treating you well, cant believe your game was over 15 years ago! Just a DOND fan speaking your game was fantastic!

Brad was an excellent contestant, really gutted when people who deserve to win big doesn't. Brad is an inspiration to us all, what a fantastic player, hope he still manages to achieve what he wants!

Stephen doesn't have enough experience dealing with tension or sensitive stuff, like Noel can. He is great at the light hearted and banter moments, but not as good when it comes to the more serious side of things. I dont think its because hes a bad person, but lack of experience

See that’s funny because I think Stephen is getting better and better every show. Noel would have given some prolonged monologue about regrets and positivity while I thought Stephen dealt with Brad very well throughout. Nothing wrong with keeping it light. The tension was palpable anyway.

One thing that Stephen perhaps needs to learn is he doesn't need to say "Hello" twice to the Banker every single time he picks up the phone

It was another Katie situation really, where the player has firmly decided even before they've arrived at the studio that they are GO ALL THE WAY no matter what, to the extent if the Banker had offered £75,001 it would have probably been a No Deal!

What a gut punch of a show. My own dad (since passed on) had MND and it's a horrible condition, more painful in Brad's case because of how young he is. I so badly wanted him to deal 12.6k so when he went on and lost it all it was just... not nice viewing.

Hoping tomorrow's player fares much better.

❌❗️

This episode should not have been allowed to air.

Tough watch in the last 5 minutes or so, however the first game in the new era that was genuinely tense. Really, really wanted Brad to get a good result and was urging him to take the 5 box offer, but alas, not to be.

I don't think he'll have too many regrets though. Best of luck to him.

What a vintage week for shout-at-the-telly fans!

And credit the casting team for managing to find contestants who've made such a variety of decisions, as well as being varied in other ways, and still got on with each other very well by the looks of things. That is not an easy thing to do in the context of 2020s Britain! They've apparently been rewarded with a budget saving this week as the only risks that have been rewarded are the ones that weren't taken...

It's a complicated game if you think about it enough and a very simple one if you choose to lock in on one very specific way of playing it. One of those is the one Brad seemed to bring to the table here, and when it works it works spectacularly. Unfortunately for him, this wasn't a time it worked!

If you'd been on the production team then we'd have probably only seen about one game so far this series then

As many as that?!