Episode 63, January 13 2006 @ 4:15pm
Player: Arlette - has box 9

"Just one question. Will Friday the 13th affect Deal or No Deal?" Noel talks up the "spooky" nature of yesterday's game with the claim the 1p was on the table, only for the game to go wrong just after it was found!

Arlette certainly starts in strange fashion. She finds a teddy bear in the cupboard under the table, then throws it into the audience? For luck, one presumes... Noel retrieves it, and christens it Noel!

Anyway, serious business. "Got a target in mind?" "£250,000," she says, in about the least Wakeyist manner one can deliver that claim. "Well, let's hope you get it!" says Noel, who must know it ain't gonna happen.

Box 2 - 10p! "That's how to start!"
Box 3 - £100,000! "Oh dear!" says Arlette. Noel points out her target is still in play!
Box 6 - £75,000! "Oh dear oh dear!" says Noel. "Never mind, at least I've got that one," says Arlette, pointing to the £250,000.
Box 10 - £50. "That's better! Now, another blue would be great..."
Box 13 - Noel gives this one far too much of a buildup - £1! Big cheers!

"Well, that's 13 over and out and a teeny-tiny sum in it... no need to fear that one anymore!" The Banker says he hates number 13 and is going to use this offer to "exorcise his demons"!

Banker's offer:

£1,313

NO DEAL, d'oh.

Box 7 - "She's a case, that's a box, let's open it" - £750. Noel says two more blues would make the Banker very nervous...
Box 15 - £15,000. "Fifteen grand in 15! That's spooky!" says Noel, desperately pushing a bad theme for more than it's worth. We call a break after a bit more joking between Arlette and the host:

First adbreak
1p
50p
£5
£10
£100
£250
£500
£1,000
£3,000
£5,000
£10,000
£20,000
£35,000
£50,000
£250,000

Box 5 - with Noel saying Arlette is becoming "a bit feisty - and that may or may not help you!" - £1,000. No real reaction until Noel says "that'll help you"... "a blue would have been great, but that's the next best thing."

The Banker says that round looks OK now, but when the £250,000 goes in the next round she'll wish she still had the £15,000 on the board!

Banker's offer:

£6,000

"You can ask me. If you have to." "What would you like me to ask you?" "Name of the game. The question." NO DEAL is her answer...

Box 8 - £5! "I'd run over there," Arlette says, "but I don't think I could get back!" Laughter.
Box 18 - £10,000. "We can afford that," Noel insists. "It's not what we really want, but we can afford it."
Box 16 - 50p! Big cheers. Arlette's on a roll, and picks another box, but Noel interrupts her... and writes the numbers 1, 2 and 3 on her fingers! The phone interrupts him...

Banker's offer:

£12,300

Arlette is amused by the offer, as is everyone else. Terry points out that there are three more above the offer even if £250,000 goes, and Arlette says that's helpful and decides to NO DEAL.

Arlette goes straight to Terry after that advice...

Box 20 (Terry) - £3,000. "Fine!" Noel says. "Wasn't it, Terry?" "Definitely."
Box 11 - £100! "Now that is definitely fine!" Noel says this is slowly becoming spectacular... and calls a break...

Second adbreak
1p
£10
£250
£500
£5,000
£20,000
£35,000
£50,000
£250,000

Box 4 - £250,000! Arlette did not take that well at all... Noel points out there are still three big sums of money on the board but the Banker senses blood...

Banker's offer:

£4,000

Boos reverberate around the studio, and Terry tells Arlette the offer is 'a joke'. She duly says NO DEAL.

Noel says an all-blue round here would be fantastic...

Box 21 - £5,000. "Not blue but not bad!"
Box 17 - £500!

Squashdown
1p
£10
£250
£20,000
£35,000
£50,000

"Now, let's get rid of the spectre of the 1p, today of all days we do not want that hanging over the game." Arlette goes "1p in 1"...

Box 1 - 1p!! Arlette gives Noel a big hug. "Thank goodness for that!"

The Banker says that with this configuration he cannot take a chance...

Banker's offer:

£17,500

Arlette looks stunned. She starts becoming emotional about missing her family, and talks about what £17,500 can do for her... and very quickly goes on to DEAL!

Arlette mentions her family around the world, having immigrated from Egypt soon after the Second World War... she mentions great-nieces and other relatives in Israel and the US and says she can't wait to see them all... Noel says he is delighted for her, but the game has to be finished first!

Box 19 - £10! "Exactly what we would have wanted if you'd played on - exactly what we didn't want after a Deal."
Box 14 - £20,000. Uncertain reaction... "...well, now what we really don't want to see is £250."
Box 12 - £35,000! "And we don't..."

The Banker says he wouldn't have known what to do here, so he wouldn't have done anything!!

Banker's offer would've been:

£17,500

Noel jokes that after all that emotion over the last offer, it actually didn't matter at all because she could have just taken the same amount later!! Now, though, he "really wants to reveal £250 in this box..."

Box 9 has... £250! Big cheers! "You did exactly the right thing." Box 22 had £50,000, and Noel says not even the curse of Friday 13th can stop our players winning... "what must the Banker do to stop this? And whatever it is, please can he not do it?"

You could have invented the banker's gamble 21 months early there!

I considered it, and I do intend to invent it at some point too, but not in the opening block of 66 recorded episodes (which ends with Gill), and not when there's an existing Happy End and it's blatantly obvious she would never ever take it on, when Lyndsey three days earlier took a similar offer on a similar finish (£500 less with a lower blue) and she looked a far more aggressive player than Arlette did!!!

Great game here!