"Deal or No Deal"-Classic or Dud

the australian version fucking rocks but clearly wouldn't if andrew o'keefe wasn't the host. much like wheel of fortune w/ baby john or, for the americans, the price is right and bob barker (he calls his hands 'paddies'! so cute!). andrew is johnny o'keefe's grandson dontchya know. It also appears to have become THE gay game show, with gay couples doubleteaming (ahem) to at least win the 10,000 case guess if the rest falls apart, which only adds to the entertainment.

The US version made the crucial mistakes of 1)not having audiences members open the cases - they have the models do that instead thus eliminating the whole guess whats in your case and win $10,000 factor 2)the banker isnt just an idea but posed as a actual person high up in a darkened galss walled room in the studio 3)howie mandel is boring as fuck 4)contestants are encouraged to get way too excited in the early part of the game which sees them squealing and screaming after the first case opening. What I do like about the american version is that they seat the contestants family on the side of the stage to 'help' them make the deal or no deal decisions which ends up fantastically passive-aggressive, rather than helpful, in most cases. like, 'well, I would take the deal but i guess its up to you. Its a lot of money but dont let ME influence you'. Nice fuck-with-the-contestant's-head technique.

And yeah, guessing which case to open next is totally random but doesnt weighing up the odds of increasing your money which the next random choice next to taking the offered deal involve some degree of skill?

my next door neighbour when i was about 4 years old used to do that every week and she eventually (about 10 years later) won.

The group hugging and mutual well-wishing intigated by Edmonds is amusing, also the people who maintain they have strategies in what is essentially a game of luck (I realise there is a bit of skill in working out odds, but not enough for a "strategy" as such, especially the ones that come on with it all worked out on bits of paper, then end up chucking them away when they lose all the big numbers on the first picks).

I once saw him let a contestant speak to "the banker" on the phone. This confused me.

For maximum amusement, you should read the thread on digitalspy where everyone has their favourite contestant and they post in real time as the game is progressing. It's like the ILX Big Brother threads, but with nothing to really talk about.

-- terry lennox. (...), January 13th, 2006 8:49 AM. (gareth) (later) (link)

SAME HERE. And I'd be all like, "Well, my wife was born on the first. Let's go with Suitcase One! .... .... Okay, I've got two sisters, LET'S GO WITH CASE TWO!, etc."

classic FOR ressurecting the carer of Noel Edmonds television genius and being really watchable like

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/motoring/images/qpod_large.jpg

he sniped some dude with an AWP.

But then again any gameshow that isn't based on general knowledge is good with me. also playing with odds is fun. and also watching people crumbling in the struggle between their own confidence in odds and the need to not appear a coward.

It was to let us know if it was 'officially' a white Christmas. White Christmas bets at the time were based on whether or not it snowed on the Post Office Tower.

I had a Multicoloured Swap Shop Scarf when I was a lad.
http://www.martinwhale.co.uk/saturdaymornings.co.uk/images/archive/archive-swapscarf.jpg

it's sort of classic for about an episode and a half, at which point it settles into a deathly tedium. i think i've watched some kind of televisual history - the contestants' boxes have contained £100,000 FOR TWO DAYS RUNNING - but, you know, i still wouldn't rush back. until the next time i find myself lying on a sofa with my insides turned inside-out, anyway.

noel edmonds is less of a twat than i recall - although he's still very much a twat. don't get me wrong there. he kept "lovably" and "amusingly" taking the piss out of an old irish woman, and a fat old woman with large breasts. way to go, noel, you helmet.

http://www.99express.com/flash/deal-no-deal.htm

but the WEIRD CONTESTANTS!!! THEY ALL HAVE MENTAL PROBLEMS! WHY THIS SHOW ESPECIALLY ATTRACT THEM??? Is it because each week they show up they get fed this oil, dr who style, which make them really corny and all like "aww you're the best" to each other??? people aren't like this on weakest link! not on millionaire! not on catchphrase!

classic if only for harry hills' lampooning of the banker bits.

Contestant: "I'll pick Mike"
Noel: "Mike, number 14 please!"
Mike: "No, don't pick me.. I have a sense this is a big amount!"
Contestant: "OK, number 8"

...

(Later, box 14 is seen to contain £5)

It doesn't get any dud-er than that.

Regardless, it rulz

Is "The Banker" really Mr Blobby?

GORGEOUS FACE. FANTASTIC EXPRESSION.

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1926143,00.html

I had no idea Noel Edmonds was some sort of mystical guru. I want to read his book now. He has absolutley no time whatsoever for anyone who has so much as the tiniest little shred of a negative thought.

The Michael Lush elephant in his sitting room obviously remains intact.

I'm becoming less obsessed with the telly programme now. I don't think anything's going to beat that bloke mentioned upthread that was offered £100k+ and knocked it back.

Except when greedy bastards go home with 1p. That's always good.

*the trick is to deal when you lose a life, you then get a try again back again. You can deal and bank the offer when it's looking precarious then start again and add your next deal onto what you've already got already, and so on until you pass whatever target is set at the top. Then you just play like they do on the telly (with less whooping and hand-holding, unless you are drunk) and deal whenever you see fit.

What a load of mystical mumbo-jumbo, Ailsa.

I wonder if my local library has Positively Happy. I need to get pozzed up, and if Noel's the man to do it, then so be it.

Amazing, isn't it, that two Swap Shop presenters have their own quiz games in pubs.

"You wouldn't catch me doing half the things we get our Whirly Wheelers to have a go at" Edmonds confided.

A surprisingly negative standpoint for Noel, which may have had a bearing on subsequent events.

This woman on Channel 4 right now is having rotten luck. I wanted to say she was rubbish, but it's just luck. I keep forgetting that, sometimes, with all the positive thoughts and systems and shit.

except the game immediately turned to crap and he looked like Nostradamus by the end.

Unless he'd seen the repeat first!

Jon Ronson really is a brilliant writer.

Also, why not pop over to the Deal Or No Deal forum. These people make Lost fans look balanced. Example sig:

http://www.game-point.net/misc/joeyfc.png

I was out of the country for most of this year, and everytime I talked to my mom over the phone, she managed to mention Deal or No Deal and how it was her favorite show and she had to watch it.

I finally caught the show for the first time around September, and was astonished that there is almost no skill involved. It's basically a drawn out version of watching the roulette wheel spin.

Has this show been cancelled yet? I haven't been watching much tv lately.

Yeah, I saw one of those and laughed when I saw how popular they were. What's the point? When there's no actual risk involved, won't you just end up saying 'no deal' the entire time?

For those who didn't see it, the winning box was identified by a woman who could feel it in her water, or something like that.

I don't think there were any ethnically challenged people in the Bullseye audience.

I thought that (and all the other negative things) BUT NOW I THINK IT'S GREAT and I marvel at Noel's ability to ask the question without cracking up.

-- Tape Store (theducttapeme...) (webmail), Today 4:34 AM. (later) (link)

I wondered this.

The version of this I played over Christmas involved more than one player at a time (e.g. five in our case)...

At each point you get to say "Deal or no" secretly, and get to keep what you dealt on your scorecard. My Mum dealt early, got £5,000, Dawn and I dealt next round and got £9,400, Amber went next after the big one went and got £3,000, Alice went right to the end and had boxes of £500 and/or £10,000, refused the deal and ended up with the £500.

Then you could have another game and after five or so complete rounds, you add up yr dealings and go "wahay I won and that!!"

except we all quit after one game.

or you could fill them with drugs/rolex watches

"La de daah La de daah La de daah La de daah La de daah La de daah bom pom poooommmmm!"

http://lucyfanclub.s4.bizhat.com/

http://www.mediaweek.com.au/images/potw/712/andrew_okeefe.jpg