Stephen Mulhern in disbelief as Deal or No Deal contestant loses £100,000 prize

Deal or No Deal viewers were left on the edge of their seats this afternoon as one contestant narrowly missed out on taking home £100,000, with host Stephen Mulhern speaking out

23:07, 13 Jan 2026Updated 23:07, 13 Jan 2026

Stephen Mulhern has spoken out about today’s Deal or No Deal episode(Image: )

Stephen Mulhern has spoken out after a hugely “tense” episode of Deal or No Deal, which saw one contestant narrowly lose out on winning £100,000. Today’s episode saw contestant Sonia play for the chance to take home big money, receiving offers from the Banker as she picked red boxes to open.

While Sonia opened all the cheaper blue boxes and had just £10,000, £5,000 and £100,000 left on the board, she chose to take the Banker’s offer of £22,670 to end the game.

Looking at what she could have ended up with, she opened her box to find that she would have won £100,000 if she had stayed in the game until the end.

Sonia looked emotional after it was revealed that she had £100,000 in her box(Image: )

After the episode, host Stephen took to X, revealing that he still “can’t believe” that Sonia missed out on the jackpot prize. “I can’t believe it! The £100k box reached the table AGAIN today,” he said.

“And our player didn’t take it! The tension was off the scale.”

He added: “Is this the series where someone finally lands the jackpot? Find out on the BRAND NEW episodes of Deal or No Deal, every weekday, 4pm on @ITV & @ITVX !”

Fans also commented online about the episode, saying that they felt “gutted” for Sonia after fumbling the £100,000. “Still a huge amount to win, but yikes missing out on the £100k – gutted for her #DealOrNoDeal,” one viewer wrote.

Another said: “Wow! Sonia played an incredible gams….but she went against her gut feeling!! £52,670 at the 2 box stage. £100,000 in her box #DealOrNoDeal.” A third wrote: “Who would have thought opening a couple of shoe boxes would be so dramatic! #DealOrNoDeal.”