[Fitzgerald]

>It would be kind of interesting to play the game deaf and blind (i.e.
>without knowing which boxes you've picked) and base your decisions only on
>the banker's offer. Don't think you'd do much worse.

You wouldn't do any worse at all, since everything else in the game is
entirely random.

As the banker's offer is _always_ considerably less than the average of
the amounts remaining, it's by definition a poor offer and, if you were
playing for anything else other than money, you'd always reject it.

The only consideration therefore is a personal one. How much of your
own money (ie the banker's offer) are you prepared to gamble even at
favourable odds? If you were offered odds of 2 to 1 on the toss of a
coin, how much would you personally be prepared to stake? If you're
very rich, you'd stake perhaps £100K. If you're not, you might not even
risk a fiver. What the show feeds on therefore is how poor and
desperate the contestants are. The poorer they are, the lower the offer
they will accept, and it relies on establishing that level. Hence (I
bet) the contestants have been screened to reject the rich ones. At
least it seems clear they have been screened to reject anyone of any
intelligence, which usually correlates pretty well with wealth but is
rather easier to judge. by (Norman Wells)