Deal or No Deal: 2014 Highlights

Happy New Year all! For my first post of the New Year, I'm going to break from my UC analysis and go back to the blog's origins, with my first Deal or No Deal post since March 2013.

I'll be honest: I haven't been watching Deal much in the past months. Since I began my internship in early September, I've only watched it at weekends and on days off. And since weekend shows were abandoned shortly after this, I've only been watching on days off. My interest in the show had been fading for months anyway, so not watching the show and relying on the excellent commentaries on the forum has been much easier, even if it does mean spending ages waiting for 4OD to load just so I can catalog the player's full names for my archive.

Two new twists have been introduced since the start of last year. The first is the infamous Box 23, which, post game, gives the player a chance to buy it with their winnings, and offers one of the following options: DOUBLE, +£10,000, MONEY BACK, HALF or NOTHING.

The other, more recent addition, is the Offer Button; this is a special feature where, if the player can correctly predict their first offer (10% leeway is allowed), they are allowed to force the Banker to make an offer with one press. It is only allowed to be used once, and no leeway is allowed for accidental use.

Needless to say, both these twists have provoked mixed feelings among, what's left of, the show's fandom. Many on both the forum and on Digital Spy have expressed dissatisfaction with both twists, especially Box 23 and it's ability to bail out blue winners with the +£10,000 option, and even worse when it's upped to +£20,000 for theme weeks.

The Offer Button has been welcomed more, with most of its criticism coming from the Banker's tendency to lowball the first offer to make predicting much harder. Speaking of which, the Banker's offers have had an intriguing year, starting off pretty statistically poor and getting gradually better over the year.

Despite the fandom splitting nature of the alterations, the show has still provided many a memorable moment over the year; here's a quick selection of 2014 Deal highlights:

• 01/01 - Joey: The first game where Box 23 was in play. On the grounds that it wouldn't have one of the bad options in it on its first game, he risked his £10,900 winnings on it, and got an extra £10,000 for his troubles! What a false dawn that would prove to be for the new box.
• 10/01 - Lily: A somewhat forgotten big money win of £40,000, not to mention it being the first Power 5 win of the year.
• 21/01 - Tash: The first blue win to be rescued by +£10,000 from Box 23. And Deal was never the same again.
• 30/01 - Peter: Young lad from Glasgow wins a blue from his box, loses it to Box 23 and takes it horribly, forcing Noel to end the show early. Reports suggest his relatives were not impressed and felt he had been lured into going for it.
• 12/02 - Roop: Wins £250,000! And could've doubled it if he'd had sufficient (ie reckless) courage to risk it on Box 23!
• 20/02 - Dave: Wins 1p. Buys Box 23. Half a penny!
• 25/02 - Stephen: A non canon twist results in a guarantee of an extra £1,000 on every offer, which would've led to an interesting offer on a final two where £1,000 was the highest sum left! Fortunately, he had already bowed out with £9,500.
• 10/03 - Pat: Has the Dream finish in LIVE play! Deals offer of £170,000. Breaks an eight and a third year old record!
• 19/03 - Tendai: Turns down £35,000; wins half a penny!
• 23/03 - Gill: The Banker underestimates a very determined player, who goes on to win £75,000 from her box. Eventually. Noel opens her box to find it empty! The independent adjudicator has to be called on to confirm what has happened!
• 18/04 - Earl: Excellent play by player and Banker nets a well earned £65,000. (Later that night, Lucy Beale is murdered)
• 25/05 - Rosie: After a month of average games, a win of £46,000 comes up out of nowhere!
• 04/06 - Peter: The biggest ever purchase of Box 23: £12,200. And an extra £10,000! Fandom is well and truely split.
• 26/06 - Isabelle: She went to watch the show being recorded, and went home four weeks later with £35,000! It's a long story.
• 07/07 - Stan: Sets out that he's going all the way early on, does so, and wins £50,000!
• 13/07 - Dan: One of the show's biggest fans battles his way to a well earned £10,000.
• 25/07 - Gary: A computer error in Glasgow results in this game being shown to millions of people at the Commonwealth Games stadium!
• 18/08 - Laura: Young girl feels obliged to go all the way after setting her stall out early on, and wins £50,000 as a result!
• 22/08 - Jackie: A well earned deal of £37,500.
• 24/08 - Steve: An equally well earned deal of £40,000.
• 03/09 - Jack: One of the show's most marmite players of all time gets a very ordinary £7,000 Banker Spanking, and totally splits the online fandom!
• 17/09 - Arthur: Old chap and war veteran deals £7,000 at the third offer! Thankfully, it doesn't set the Banker off on a stingy offer spree.
• 19/09 - Helen: A somewhat cautious fourth offer deal of £5,000 leaves everyone expecting Box 23 to be declined; it isn't, and she doubled it!
• 29/09 - Ross: The first game involving the Offer Button. He fails to earn it, but still wins £18,000.
• 01/10 - Julie: First player to earn the use of the Offer Button. She wins £13,000.
• 10/10 - Aaron: Good use of the Offer Button nets a well earned £32,000.
• 16/10 - Carly: Something goes wrong with the Channel 4 broadcast department, and the games end up overrunning by nearly 10 minutes!
• 21/10 - Iris: A well judged press of the Offer Button nets £45,000.
• 31/10 - Bill: A mega money board and good Offer Button usage nets a mighty £80,000!

To be honest, I haven't followed the show as much as I used to since Bill's game, but there have still been good wins for players Pam (£40,000), Ross (£35,000), Sophie (£34,000) and Lisa (£30,014).

That's pretty much all you need to know about Deal in 2014. I'll still watch the show when I have a day off, and if they bring back the weekend shows. But it won't occupy as much of my time as it used to. And I won't be regularly talking about it here again for a while.

I'll be back with a summary of the second week of Christmas UC once the final airs in Scotland tomorrow.