"That gives you the game"

[Wil Ransome]

Is it just me, or do many people notice what strange things Des says just before the conundrum? Player A was 24 points ahead before the numbers game and so could not be caught by player B regardless of the result of the number game. In the event, only player A gets 10 points on the numbers and is now 34 points ahead. Cue Des: "That gives you the game". No it doesn't. I should have thought it was pretty simple to work out before the numbers game whether or not the game was over. When Richard did this sort of thing it was rather endearing. With Des it's just irritating.

Yet today, when the fact that both players got 10 points in the numbers game really did give the winner the game, he said nothing.

[RGoodMan]

I know what you mean, he seems to be persuading them to keep 'battling away' right up until the end, then all of a sudden Des seems to be referring to them as the 'loser' and emphasising how far behind they are, which I don't know, I find a little belittling to the given contestant. I don't think Richard was as 'direct' - I can't recall him saying 'looks like you've lost it' or 'well we know who the winner here is today', he'd just say 'it's not crucial'.

What annoys me more is where he keeps going on about how it's amazing that the loser often gets the conundrum right. I really don't think the score has any affect on who's going to see the conundrum first, Des. It almost sounds like he's trying to match Noel Edmonds' 'curse of the newbie' nonsense, by coming up with something which has no substance or relevance whatsoever.

[Gavin Chipper]

I think when the champion's ahead he should say something like "So it's 37 points for the champ, 13 for the chump."

[Joseph Bolas]

I know what you mean, he seems to be persuading them to keep 'battling away' right up until the end

Surely if you know you've lost, then you still want to get as high a score as possible and just not give up, so maybe Des encourages them to get a high score even though they wont win?

[Chris Corby]

I know what you mean, he seems to be persuading them to keep 'battling away' right up until the end

Surely if you know you've lost, then you still want to get as high a score as possible and just not give up, so maybe Des encourages them to get a high score even though they wont win?

Also, if you are playing a potential octochamp and you know you have lost, getting the 10 points for the conundrum means he/she gets 10 points less in their overall total and might even drop them a place or two in the seedings for the finals - how satisfying would that be?

[Joseph Bolas]

Also, if you are playing a potential octochamp and you know you have lost, getting the 10 points for the conundrum means he/she gets 10 points less in their overall total and might even drop them a place or two in the seedings for the finals - how satisfying would that be?

Also if you get those 10 points in the conundrum, it could stop the champion from getting a century . Theres nothing better than stopping a current champion (who has scored a century in every game they've played so far) from getting a century .

[Karen Pearson]

[quote="Joseph Bolas]
Surely if you know you've lost, then you still want to get as high a score as possible and just not give up, so maybe Des encourages them to get a high score even though they wont win?[/quote]

Surely nobody gives up however low a score they've got. No-one goes on national TV to make a prat of themselves! Both with Des and Richard before him, it has always wound me up when they make comments along the lines of 'You really need to try in this round' as if the person hasn't been trying all along.

[Richard Brittain]

This isn't something I've ever thought about and it doesn't bother me.

[Joseph Bolas]

Surely nobody gives up however low a score they've got. No-one goes on national TV to make a prat of themselves! Both with Des and Richard before him, it has always wound me up when they make comments along the lines of 'You really need to try in this round' as if the person hasn't been trying all along.

Maybe not give up entirely, but confidence will probably be knocked and nerves will kick in thus making you make more mistakes and even missing easy numbers and words, believe me I know .

[Wil Ransome]

I didn't explain myself very clearly. I wasn't talking about the way Des encourages the losing contestant, rather his amazing stupidity in saying "that gives you the game" when it doesn't give him the game: he has already achieved an unassailable lead a round or two earlier. You'd think it was easy enough for him to tell - after all, he only has to subtract the scores and if the difference is greater than 20 before the number game then it's silly if he waits until after the numbers game to tell someone he has no hope.

[Joseph Bolas]

I didn't explain myself very clearly. I wasn't talking about the way Des encourages the losing contestant, rather his amazing stupidity in saying "that gives you the game" when it doesn't give him the game: he has already achieved an unassailable lead a round or two earlier. You'd think it was easy enough for him to tell - after all, he only has to subtract the scores and if the difference is greater than 20 before the number game then it's silly if he waits until after the numbers game to tell someone he has no hope.

My bad, I think I get you now. I didn't think he waited until the 3rd numbers game to say whether someone has won or lost, I thought he normally does it after 1 or 2 of the word rounds, where theres a potential 38 points (18 + 10 + 10) or 56 (18 + 18 + 10 + 10).

[Damian E]

Is it just me, or do many people notice what strange things Des says just before the conundrum?

Indeed, its not just you.

Only the other day, he said "So the scores are 72 points each, so we head for a crucial conundrum - and i'll have a pink plastic spacesuit sandwich with cranberry mayonnaise and a buckminsterfullerene smoothie to go maximised, put your fingers on the buzzers".

Extraordinary.