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Deal or No Deal (UK game show)

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Deal or No Deal is a gameshow which has been broadcast in the UK on Channel 4 since October 31, 2005. Series 1 ended in January 2006 and Series 2 began one day later. It is presented by Noel Edmonds and normally airs from 4.15pm to 5.00pm on weekdays and early on Saturday evenings in a varying time slot, lasting 45 minutes or sometimes an hour. The weekday show is repeated on Channel 4's digital sister station, More4, at 6.10pm. The prime-time Saturday shows are repeated on More4 on Sunday evenings, again at around 6.00pm.

Contents

Format

This section refers to the current UK format of Deal or No Deal. For the general format of Deal or No Deal see the main Deal or No Deal article.
The prizes range from 1p to £250,000, a record for UK daytime television, with the values written inside 22 sealed red boxes, each identical except for the number on the front. All the boxes are sealed by an independent adjudicator. Neither Noel, the contestant, the banker or the Endemol production team know about what value is written in each box.

The boxes are opened by the 21 contestants awaiting their turn to play (unlike the US version which uses models to open the cases) - these waiting contestants are also regularly spoken to by the host and offer support and advice to the player, so they are familiar to the TV audience by the time they get their turn to play. These players stay on the show until they get their turn to sit on "the most important chair in television" as host Noel Edmonds calls it (or "stool", as Noel sometimes said in earlier editions), and each day's player is selected by the producers, instead of through a quiz as is done in some other versions. Each day a new contestant joins those opening boxes and waiting to play, replacing the person who played the previous day.

Bank offers are made after the fifth box is opened and every third box thereafter. As of June 11, 2006, the show has already paid out to the players in the hotseat £3,154,007.24 in prize money, in 191 editions. This excludes the extra £1,000 that the Banker gave to contestant Gabrielle (April 15 2006) when she said that she was going to donate the winnings to charity.

January 18, 2006 - Episode 67 - marked the first edition of the second series of Deal or No Deal. The second series will contain 230 episodes. The main difference is that once a person has made a deal with the banker, at subsequent (notional) banker's offers, the accepted deal is displayed on screen alongside the current "offer". This gives a clearer picture to the TV audience on whether the contestant has made a good deal. The stand on which the old-fashioned telephone sits is also raised slightly higher. Since February 27 2006, the figures of money displayed inside the boxes have been coloured red or blue corresponding to their position in the money chart. Since the first show after Double Deal week was over, the figures displayed in the boxes have also been pushed forward so they stick out more and form a shadow on the back of the box. They are still coloured in the way they were since show 101.

Special changes

On occasion, certain cosmetic elements of the show have been altered to tie in with certain themes. Each of these events refers to when the episode aired, not when these episodes were filmed:

Filming

Deal or No Deal is filmed in Bristol. Despite appearing to be filmed day by day, the producers of the show actually film three shows per day for two weeks, then have a week off. This was perhaps best demonstrated when Noel asked the audience whether, in the player's position they would 'deal' or 'no deal'. At one contestant's apparent ignorance or misunderstanding of the show's concept, suggesting the player say "Deal" and keep playing; Noel led the audience member from his seat to a fire exit, where he was directed out of the studio by Noel, into a car park - showing that it was night-time when filmed.

Each show will, when filming, usually last longer than 45 minutes; after filming, superfluous parts of the show are cut in order to make it fit into this time frame.

The amount of time between the recording date and the broadcast date has varied. Many of the games broadcast during January 2006 had been recorded less than two weeks previously. But on 2nd June 2006, Noel Edmonds appeared on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on BBC One. Noel revealed that at this current moment in time (June), Deal or No Deal is currently filming for October, five months in advance of broadcast.

During the same show he also joked that there have been 2 people who have won £250,000. He said that these two shows shall not be aired, but the players have been 'paid off' nonetheless. Noel often says the same thing at recordings of Deal or No Deal before saying to the audience, "obviously that's not true but just wait - it'll be on the internet within the hour!"

In June 2006, it was reported [link] that Noel is suffering from Repetitive Strain Injury brought about by his constant picking up and replacing the Banker's phone during recordings of the show. The handset, according to Edmonds, is heavier than it looks. Coming at a time when episodes were being recorded in advance of October screenings, filming was unaffected by Noel's ailment.

Predictable sequences

In early 2006, it was discovered that the distribution of prizes was - for a time - ordered in one of several static sequences which soon became public knowledge. Any person spotting the sequences could determine the contents of every remaining box after a small number of boxes were opened. Had players known of these sequences, they could have guided themselves to the top prize in most circumstances. In fact, there were three instances in which at least two players' games had identical box contents, in that the same figures were in the same number boxes. These were:

Show 71, Ann (23 January 2006) and Show 74, Andrew (26 January 2006)

Show 81, Jim (3 February 2006) and Show 93, Paula R. (17 February 2006)

Show 84, John M. (7 February 2006), Show 88, Daz (11 February 2006) and Show 106, Sam (4 March 2006)

The sequences were due to the random number generator used by the independent adjudicators to load the boxes. This random number generator assigned the same patterns to boxes in various games during January and February 2006. [link] The sequences were first publicly exposed on the website Bother's Bar [link], which offered the right of reply to the producers. This offer was taken up by Series Producer Glenn Hugill, who revealed that the independent adjudicators, unaware of the potential problem they were causing, had been using the pseudorandom number generation function in Microsoft Excel to distribute the values among the boxes, and that it had not been properly seeded. Following the discovery of the patterns, the random number generation system was changed to a "balls in a bag" system (the same method as is used to distribute the boxes among the contestants), though because the show is recorded well in advance, games using Excel-generated sequences continued to air for some time. The last show to be recorded using the Excel-generated sequence method aired on March 7 2006.

A similar discovery was made in 1984 by Michael Larson, a player of the US game show Press Your Luck, and used to amass a record number of winnings. However, none of the contestants on affected Deal or No Deal shows spotted the (admittedly complex) patterns, and as such were not able to profit to any significant degree. That said, in Glenn's statement about the problem, it was revealed that more money was paid out over the course of these shows than the average.

Popularity

The original commission of 66 episodes, 6 times a week, Monday to Saturday was immediately followed by a re-commission of a further 230 episodes in December 2005, based on extremely good audience ratings for the slot - at that time it was averaging 2.5 million viewers since the launch at the end of October 2005.

Ratings for the afternoon shows have recently peaked at around 5 million, making it the most watched daytime TV show in the UK. On most days it has been the highest rating programme on Channel 4 - remarkable given the relatively low-key afternoon timeslot. In addition, up to 300,000 have viewed the More4 repeat showing each day.

Noel Edmonds has recently been reported to be earning up to £3 million to host the show for the next 18 months, making him Britain's highest paid presenter, ahead of Paul O'Grady (£2 million) and Richard and Judy (£1 million), who all present shows that broadcast on Channel 4. Edmonds himself, however, has denied this.[link]

Live audiences

The program has increasingly included its audience of around 150 people in the fabric of the show. Because of the 'underground' feel of the set and the fact that the show is filmed in the round, audiences seem to get dragged into the drama of the game as it unfolds. Afternoon audiences watch one show and evening audiences watch two but are shuffled around and reseated.

Prime time

In January 2006, it was announced that due to the popularity of the show, a special Saturday night prime time series would start in the Spring. The first ever prime time edition aired on March 4 2006 at 7.10pm. This version replaced the regular Saturday edition, and lasts for one hour rather than 45 minutes, with an extra advert break inserted near the end, although for some editions, it actually lasted for 45 minutes due to the programme scheduling. A lot of the audience members have also been included in various games, through Noel asking opinions or even on some occasions asking them to come down from the audience.

Two-year deal for Deal or No Deal

On March 17 2006 [link], Endemol UK announced that Channel 4 has agreed to keep the show running for another two years, extending the already agreed one-year contract. It follows the success of the primetime Saturday night show of up to 5 million viewers (23.6% share of the audience), and the daytime show of up to 4.8 million (38% share). It has consistently been the most watched programme in its slot for all UK channels for both daytime and primetime.

This deal will run from January 2006 to December 2007. Rumours suggest that this contract is worth £3 million [link].

Double Deal Week

In May 2006 [link] it was announced that Deal or No Deal would air twice daily for one week in June, with a special episode on Sunday of that week also. It was also revealed that there would be a "Hall of Fame" feature with past contestants returning to reveal how their life has changed since playing the game, and clips of their game being shown. Double Deal week began on Monday 12th June, showing two shows per day, one normal time of 4.15pm, and a second show at 8.00pm. The Hall Of Fame contestants, who returned for the 8.00pm shows, were:

A further past contestant, Pat M, provided the introduction voiceover for one of the Hall of Fame clips but did not actually reappear on the show.

Awards

Deal or No Deal was named "Daytime Programme of the Year" at the Royal Television Society Awards on March 14 2006. The UK version also won the Rose d'Or award for Best Game Show at the 2006 Lucerne Television Festival. Noel Edmonds was also nominated in the Best Entertainment Performance category at the 2006 BAFTA Television Awards.

UK records & facts

Largest amounts won

The highest payout to date is a UK daytime television record of £120,000, which was a deal accepted by contestant Jennifer Miller on November 18 2005. She was left with the £750 (her own box) and £250,000 when she took the deal. The next biggest winner so far is Gaz on May 2 2006, winning £100,000 (in his own box), followed by Germaine (March 7 2006) and Kirsty (April 4 2006), who both won £75,000. Brenda (February 9 2006) won £57,000, which makes her the next highest, with Mally Welburn (November 22, 2005) winning £54,000. Lee Hartland (December 22, 2005), Sajeela Sarfraz (March 16, 2006), Hilary Collins (April 28, 2006) and David "Buddy" Wilson (July 15, 2006) all won £50,000.

The biggest prize won to date by a player "no dealing" until the end and taking the amount contained in their box is £100,000 by contestant Gaz Hall on May 2 2006. He had £10,000 and £100,000 left after rejecting an offer of £35,000. The payout was all the more remarkable given the weak board Gaz was faced with throughout his game. He took out the £250,000 on the first box, and all the big prize values went quickly, barring the £100,000.

Germaine (on March 7 2006) was the second player (first was Jennifer, third was Kirsty, fourth was Morris) to "no deal" all the way to a two-box end game with the top prize still in play, and the only one of these four to have had the £250,000 in his box. He chose to deal for £75,000, perhaps unsurprisingly since the other box contained only £1.

The two highest sums of money (£100,000 and £250,000) have on one occasion been the two remaining figures at the very end, on December 7 2005 (this can be expected to happen, on average, once every 231 shows). Unfortunately the contestant, Sara, had dealt early - at £31,000 - and would have been offered £175,000 by The Banker (the highest he has ever made, and probably the highest he would ever make). The blow was only slightly lessened by the revealing of £100,000 in her box.

Smallest amounts won

To date, six players have received the lowest possible payout of 1p. On January 3 2006, Nick Bain was left - after taking out eight consecutive red (high value) boxes - with 1p and £100. He said "No Deal" to The Banker's offer of £30, then swapped his £100 box for the 1p box. He had earlier said 'No Deal' to an offer of £9,000.

On March 1, 2006, Trevor Bruce also went home with 1p. He was left with 1p, £250 and, amazingly, the highest figure, £250,000, as his last three boxes. £250,000 was then revealed before he said "No Deal" to the Banker's offer of £99. He declined the chance to swap boxes and then opened his own box, which contained 1p.

On April 14, 2006, Good Friday, contestant Fadil Osman left with 1p when he declined the offer of £7,200 with the 1p and the £35,000 in play, and then further declined a swap. His box, Box 6, contained the 1p. This game was particularly unusual in that the banker, for the first time ever, kept the same offer for three rounds, at £6,100 (and then halved it in the penultimate round to £3,050).

On April 25, 2006, Dave Ellis became the fourth player to walk away with 1p, on the show's 150th edition. He turned down an offer of £10,150 in the third round, before taking out the £50,000 and the £10,000 (at the time the two highest values remaining.) He was left with 1p and £5, No Dealed at £1.50 and opened 1p after declining a swap.

On July 14, 2006, contestant Sally Kettle became the fifth player, and the first female player, to walk away with 1p. She turned down an offer of £18,800, of which she had two chances to accept.

On July 17, 2006 a mere two shows after Sally left with just 1p, Connell walked away with the same amount after declining an offer of £18,004.50. His original box contained £10,000, but he accepted the banker's offer of a swap and exchanged it for 1p.

The other lowest wins are Raj (November 29 2005) and Joan (June 10 2006), both of whom won just 10p, and six contestants have left with £1 - Mike (March 2 2006), Barbara (March 20 2006), Janet (March 31 2006), Gary (May 11 2006), Raj (May 19 2006) and Simone (May 29 2006).

Most money lost

On May 6 2006, contestant Morris Simpson, with the £20,000 and £250,000 values still in play, rejected an offer of £101,000 - his subsequent win of £20,000 marked the largest loss (£81,000) in active play in terms of the difference between the highest offer and eventual sum won. Morris had said numerous times during the game that he had planned "to go all the way", and that he was convinced that the quarter of a million was in his box. The swap was offered to Morris, and had he adopted box 7 (belonging to contestant Max) he would have walked away as the show's first quarter of a millionaire. Nevertheless, Morris's final comment of "no regrets" showed his desire to play the game for the game's sake. This game was also notable for the other contestants paying tribute to Morris' famous rhymes as they opened their boxes.

The most money lost by a contestant who ended up winning a very low amount (less than £1,000) was by Simone on May 29, 2006, she rejected an offer of £25,500 at one stage in the game and eventually left with just £1.

The most money missed out on by a player dealing too early was by Debbie (June 17, 2006) who dealt for £15,000 before eventually revealing £250,000 in her box - a potential gain of £235,000. This may have seemed like a bad deal, but when she dealt, apart from the quarter-million, her only other remaining boxes were four blues, so playing on would have been a major gamble. An even more remarkable feature of Debbie`s game was that at the final round, the two remaining boxes were the 1p and the £250,000.

This record, of course, excludes players who may have been offered the chance to swap their box for one containing the £250,000 had they played on.

Lowest deal and offer

The lowest deal accepted was by contestant Gerry "Geordie" Reynolds on February 1 2006 for the amount of £20, the two remaining boxes being worth 10p (his own box) and £100. He had previously said 'No Deal' to an offer of £5,000. Geordie subsequently revealed in The Sun Newspaper (February 2 2006) that he had spent the night before his game undergoing tests for a suspected heart attack in Bristol Royal Infirmary and had actually collapsed during the recording of the programme the previous day (this was referred to during shows recorded that day, and his place opening the boxes temporarily taken over by the floor manager). The revelation that he played the game following 32 hours without sleep was the subject of considerable debate.

The next lowest deal was made by Jason on May 22, 2006 who accepted an offer of £300 with the last two boxes remaining containing 1p and £750. To complete his extraordinary bad luck, his box contained the £750 so he was never going to join the "1p club" anyway.

The lowest offer made by the Banker was the offer of 21p made to Sally in her 1p game on July 14 2006 with 1p and 50p left. This is the lowest offer even if "hypothetical" offers where the contestant had already dealt are included - only a 1p/10p final pair (which is yet to occur) would be likely to produce a lower one.

The lowest first offer was made to contestant John on February 18 2006 - he received a "joke" offer of £8 due to having insulted the Banker in a previous show. The second lowest was made to Wayne on June 21 2006, when he received an opening offer of £9.99 for similar reasons - his lucky number was 9 and featured strongly in all his offers, including his eventual deal for just £999 (the third-lowest deal in the show's history) after having rejected £19,999. After dealing however, he managed to eliminate the £10,000, the highest amount available at the time, and theoretically beat the banker.

Number of appearances

The contestant who appeared on the most shows ever was Lucy Harrington, who was on 50 shows first appearing on February 1, 2006 replacing contestant Mumtaz. On March 30 2006, after two months of opening boxes, she finally got to play her game. She had two previous contestants, John G and Fin, join her and be seated in the audience. She took out the biggest four amounts within the first three rounds. Very unfortunately, she went on until the end when she opened her own box, which contained £5. She had previously turned down an offer of £2,500 with the £5 and £10,000 left in play. She did, however, receive a mini replica of a Deal or No Deal box, with a "50" on the front, and her name, as a "red number" inside the box. On March 25 2006, she was also selected by contestant Nancy to join her in a luxury spa for two for a weekend. Finally, at a crucial stage of Lucy's game, contestant JT offered to give Lucy £1,000 if she ended up with the £5 and he won more than £1,000 on his game. He went on to win £39,000, and it is believed he kept his promise.

Nobody has come close to Lucy's run, but the next longest running contestants are Karen, Sarah and Raj who all waited until their 33rd show to play (although Sarah and Raj both missed shows through illness during their run).

The contestant who has appeared on the least amount of shows before playing (not counting the original set of contestants when the show started) was contestant Garvan who played on just his 9th show, on January 21 2006. Francesca (May 1 2006) played on her 10th show.

Usually, contestants are on for approximately 15-25 shows (over time, the average will mathematically tend toward 22 shows) - it was initially said that each day's player was selected at random, though the producers have denied ever making this claim, and it may have originated from the Channel 4 press office rather than the producers. The flashing up of names on the board at the start of the show gives the impression of "randomness" but in practice, the order of playing contestants is decided in advance by the production team - there is no particular pattern but recent speculation suggests that the 'bigger' characters are often chosen for the prime time Saturday shows. In addition, the player's family members are often in the audience on their relation's show (though this is not always the case, and several players have had relatives in the audience for other shows but not their own).

Show trivia

On January 2 2006, the day before Nick Bain's 1p win, Irene became the first contestant to take up The Banker's offer of swapping the boxes; this offer is usually (but not always) made once there are just two boxes left in play. Unfortunately she swapped her £250 box for just £5 after saying 'No Deal' to £100. On the show on June 6 2006, contestant Suzanne was offered a swap instead of a deal in the first round, which she accepted. This is the first time a swap has been offered at the beginning of the game in the UK show's history.

The January 6 2006 edition saw contestant Pat become the first contestant to swap the final two boxes and win the higher of the two amounts, in this case £3,000. Her original box contained just £100.

On February 25 2006, the show celebrated its 100th edition. Contestant Anna won £43,000 but dealt two deals too soon. After playing on to see where the money was, she was left with the £1 box and the £250,000 box. She would then have been offered £91,000 - interestingly higher than what Germaine was actually offered in the same situation - and the £250,000 turned out to be in her box all along.

Nancy (March 25 2006) also was left with £1 and £250,000 as her final two boxes, but had previously dealt at £18,500. She would have received an offer of £91,000 as Anna would have, but thankfully only ever had the £1 in her own box.

On April 4, 2006, contestant Kirsty became the first person to go all the way for the top prize still in play. She was left with the £75,000 and the £250,000, before declining the swap from the Banker. Unfortunately she won the lowest of the two amounts, £75,000. Even more remarkably, she had the £75,000, £100,000, and £250,000 as the last three boxes. The £100,000 was taken out before the offer of £125,000 was given - the highest offer in active play.

On May 6 2006, contestant Morris Simpson was the second to go all the way for the top prize. Only with the £20,000 and £250,000 remaining, he declined the swap from the Banker because he believed the number of his box - 16 - was lucky as it was the same number as his birthdate. However, it only contained £20,000.

No contestant has yet accepted one of the first two offers from the Banker. However, 9 players to date (Jenni, Andrew, Beryl, Flash, Johnnie, Lofty, James, Melanie and Lynda) have dealt on the third offer.

The most commonly won amount is £20,000 - As of 13 July, 15 contestants have left with this amount, 12 by dealing and 3 by opening their box containing it. Dealing: Becky (28 November); Andy (30 November); Dave (5 January); Lisa (6 March); Dave (23 March); Pete (11 April); Francesca (1 May); Rich (25 May); Frank (18 June); Shirley (22 June); Linda E (5 July); Lynda B (13 July. No Dealing to the end: Vanessa (2 February); Morris (6 May); Ron (16 June).

The most common final pairing of boxes to remain in play together at the end of a game is £500 and £20,000. Amazingly, although the probability of any pair remaining to the end is 1 in 231, £500 and £20,000 have been the final two five times.

Five of the amounts on the game board have yet to be won by a contestant playing on to the end and opening their box - these are 50p, £50, £100, £750 and of course the top prize, £250,000.

On several occasions a waiting contestant has missed one or more shows through illness, and usually their place has remained empty and their box opened by a neighbouring player until they return. However, on the May 11, 2006 show, absent contestant Raj was replaced by a new contestant James. This led to speculation that he would not return, however the following day Raj's place was empty again and James moved to the slot vacated by the previous day's player (becoming the first player to move positions in the wings). So there was no new player that day. The reason why Raj was replaced on the first show was possibly because another contestant, Sarah, was also off ill and the producers did not want two empty spaces - Raj returned to the show for the game broadcast on May 16. However three unfortunate contestants (Clive, Audrey and Joseph) have left the show without playing their game.

On March 29 2006, contestant Aaron Bell eliminated five blue (low) numbers in the first round. (This was only done once before, during Shell's game, 9 November 2005, though on the show, Noel wrongly stated that Aaron was the first.) This led the Banker to make the highest starting offer the show has ever seen at a massive £15,000. In the second round, he eliminated two more blues (for a record opening sequence of seven) and one red, and was offered the highest amount ever for a second round, £30,000. He 'No Dealed' and went on to win the slightly lower sum of £25,000, dealing after the fourth offer from the Banker. However, his game was even more remarkable given the fact that his box turned out to contain just 50p.

Since March 21 2006 (Matt's game), Noel has had a different symbol on his right hand every day, usually visible while he converses with The Banker. It has been suggested that these are a symbol of Noel's belief in the Cosmic Ordering Service, a spiritual belief that involves requesting a wish from the cosmos in the hope that it will consequently come true. However, in an interview with the TV Times (issue dated 13-19 May 2006), Noel said that this has nothing to do with Cosmic Ordering, and that all will soon be revealed.

As of mid-July 2006 no one has won the quarter of a million, but eight people's boxes have contained it:

The 150th Show (Dave E's game) was broadcast on 25 April 2006. This was highlighted by Noel Edmonds at the start of the show, suggesting it would be a good occasion for the first £250,000 winner - as it happened, it produced the opposite outcome as the contestant joined the "1p club".

On April 29 2006, during Massimo's game, Tom, who held box number four accidentally knocked over his box and it landed on the floor. The seal on the box was released as a consequence of the fall, which revealed the box to have a red number. From the show, it was clear to see the number ended in three zeros, (believed to be £100,000 but it hasn't been confirmed). As a result, the game was stopped while a decision was made on what to do. Eventually it was agreed that the remaining amounts would be shuffled to ensure fair play and the game was allowed to continue. The contestants were given their former box numbers back (eg; Massimo with Box 6, Tom with Box 4, etc.) but with the newly reshuffled amounts inside. The recording of the show was then continued as if nothing had happened so that the incident could have been edited out; however Channel 4 aired this section of the programme anyway. He went on to take a £7,400 deal.

On June 1, 2006, contestant John "Buzz" Busby had the worst opening round in Deal or No Deal history, removing the three highest amounts - £250,000, £100,000 and £75,000 - as well as two other reds, £10,000 and £15,000. This brought an opening offer of £514. (Buzz is a Frank Sinatra fan; 514 relates to the day - 14 May 1998 - which Sinatra died). Despite this start, he recovered to win £9,800. The unwanted feat of an "all-red" opening round has also been achieved by Audrey (December 12), Irene (January 2) and Michael (April 21) - Irene was the only one of these to end up winning a very low amount, further proof that the way a game starts often gives little indication of how it will end up.

The banker normally only offers a box swap to the contestant once they have said no deal to the sixth and final offer. However, on June 6, 2006, he did not make a financial first offer after the first five boxes were opened. Instead, he offered the contestant, Suzanne, with a chance to swap the box. The contestant did swap her box, box 19, for box 3. Box 19 later turned out to contain only £500 and her new box, box 3, contained £3,000. Fortunately, she dealt at £47,000 earlier in the game. This was also the same day that former contestant Morris Simpson who turned down an offer of £101,000 only to win £20,000 (May 6, 2006) appeared on ITV1's Price Is Right, hosted by Joe Pasquale.

On the 200th show, (June 16, 2006), Noel revealed certain statistics about the show. These included trivia such as: contestants whose favourite flavour of crisps are chicken flavour have won on average £22,500, compared to beef which has won an average of only £9,500. Contestants born with the star sign Pisces win on average £31,000.

On June 17, 2006, contestant Debbie (who started by opening 4 blues and one red - a reasonably strong board), had a sudden surge of bad luck when she opened up 8 red numbers in the following 9 boxes. She eventually got to 5-box-point with both the 1p and the £250,000 (among 3 other blues), when she dealt for £15,000. However, when she played on to see if she had dealt at the right time, she found 3 blue sums of money, and became the first person to only have the 1p and £250,000 remaining. After hearing the hypothetical offer of £60,000 her box was opened, containing the £250,000.

on July 5, 2006, contestant Linda became the first person to sell her box for its actual worth. She dealt at £20,000, before being offered £30,000 and then £9,000. Eventually, £20,000 was revealed in her box.

Seasons

Facts

During half way through the second season (July 15, 2006), Noel announced, that Deal or No Deal will be taking a summer break. The final episode before its summer break, will be broadcast on July 22, 2006, with £10,000 up for grabs to viewers. Deal or No Deal should return from their summer break on September 4, 2006.

Also, they will be taking a Christmas break. The final date is not yet confirmed.

Viewers' competition

Viewers are invited to phone in (at premium rate) or via the Channel 4 website (free of charge) where an audience member will select a box from a further three boxes (box 1, box 2 and box 3) and the caller will win the money contained within that box. The boxes usually contain £500, £1,000 or £5,000. On Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, these amounts are doubled. Entries were restricted to 50 per household but since the start of series 2, it has been reduced to 30. On Valentine's Day, a special edition was broadcast; the viewer prizes were £5,000, £10,000 and £20,000. This also saw the start of one of the 22 contestants introducing the competition via a voiceover - it had previously been Alex Lovell, though she continues to read the terms and conditions at the end. Also on Easter Monday, another special edition was broadcast, and like Valentine's Day, the viewer prizes were £5,000, £10,000 and £20,000.

On May 172006 Noel Edmonds promised a special treat on May 18; the treat was an introduction of a "Double Money Thursday", where, like the other "Double Money" days, the viewer prizes were doubled.

The next day, May 18 2006, the viewer prizes were £1,000, £5,000 and £15,000. In this instance, Deal or No Deal paid £15,000 to a viewer at home. This was a record until June 15 2006 during double deal week, when a box containing £30,000 was opened.

On May 20 2006, a Eurovision Special was held, where the boxes were gold with stars on them, and the contestants were dressed up as Eurovision singers. On that day, viewers were able to win £5,000, £10,000 or £30,000, a maximum for the programme. Box 1 was chosen, which only contained £5,000.

During Double Deal Week, the boxes contained £1,000, £2,000 and £10,000. If the £10,000 wasn't found in that show, it would rollover to the next show, which will have £20,000 up for grabs. The highest sum of money on offer would go on to be £30,000, £40,000 etc. until it had been found, in which case it would return to £10,000 again. Currently, the highest viewer-win is £30,000, so we have yet to see a 4, 6, 8 or 9 tag inside a box.

Media image

The Observer interviewed Edmonds in relation to the show on January 29, 2006, quoting Edmonds as saying that his scenes with The Banker bring out his "inner actor". He revealed his passion for the show and his admiration for the individual community spirit within it, as well as his ambition (now fulfilled) that it would eventually hold a Saturday evening prime time slot.

In a review by columnist A. A. Gill the show was described as 'like putting heroin in your TV remote'.

The Banker

Born on May 12th of an unknown year, The Banker is played by "Himself", as stated on the end credits. He has, on occasion, talked to the player via the Bakelite telephone on the contestant's desk. The character was called "The Dealer" in pre-publicity for the show; evidently, the name was changed before recording started (possibly to avoid any connotations of drugs, though the name "Banker" also appears to be used in other countries' versions so the use of "Dealer" here may have simply been a mistake by the Channel 4 Press Office). Channel 4's website referred to him as such though on their listings page until April 12 when after a number of complaints, including an organised campaign by posters to the forum of the website Cook'd and Bomb'd, the text was changed to say The Banker.

The identity of The Banker has not been revealed - one theory is that it is the series producer Glenn Hugill, although he has refused to either confirm or deny this in the past, continuing to refer to The Banker in the third person. However, it is clear that whoever is "playing" The Banker has some considerable improvisational skills, as the offers and Banker's banter frequently respond to something the contestant has done or said during gameplay. Also, when contestants are handed the phone The Banker frequently is able to make them dissolve into hysterics with his unheard chat. This would suggest that Glenn is indeed the public voice of The Banker, as he has had previous acting experience.

The Daily Mirror and Jo Whiley reported on April 3, 2006 that the actual offers made by The Banker were calculated by Glenn and two 'Executives' (believed to be executive producers Richard Osman and Richard Hague) but that Glenn has the final decision.

On March 9, 2006, contestant Paula - a barber - enquired about The Banker's hair, to which Noel replied, "I don't think he has much". Other traits have also been suggested for The Banker, such as the fact that he is a bachelor, he refers to his mother on many occasions, and that, according to many of the contestants, he has a "nice voice, very Oxbridge", the character of The Banker does not necessarily bear any relation to the person "playing" him.

On March 10, 2006, he spoke to a member of the audience, named Shaun, who had been giving his own analysis on the game but made a rather unrealistic prediction of The Banker's next offer. He ridiculed him by making him say out loud "I, Shaun, will never be a banker. £35,000 was a silly thing to say. The Banker is always right!"

On March 23, 2006, contestant Dave Cheeseman mentioned about Chinese New Year. The Banker said that whilst Dave was born in the year of the dog, the banker himself was born in the Chinese year of the dragon. This gives a clue to his age, probably 42 or 54 years old - though the Banker's later reference to almost making the Munich Olympics (1972) as a swimmer suggests the age of the "character" may be 54. Although The Banker's speaking voice has never been heard on-screen, he has been clearly heard laughing several times to date, when Noel has held the telephone within audible distance to his microphone on his shirt. The first time was during the end of the aforementioned Nick Bain's 1p show.

On March 30, 2006, The banker gave contestant Lucy a mini 'Deal or No Deal' box with 50 on the front. This was because it was her 50th show. The mini box also contained her name where the amount usually goes and a poem saying how The Banker wished that she win a penny.

In March 2006, The Guardian described The Banker as 'a cult character in the making and no mistake' and included him in their hotlist. On April 1, 2006, the end credits stated that The Banker's name is Richard Oldman. This however, was an April Fool's Day joke; Richard Oldman can be segmented to 'Rich Hard Old Man'. Alternatively, this could be an in-joke reference to the two executive producers, both called Richard.

On April 13, 2006, the Banker gave an offer of £4,100 to contestant Maxine. She started saying how the Banker was actually quite 'sexy' because he had quick wit and humour, she liked older men, and he was rich ("what more could a woman want"). At that point the phone rang again, and The Banker changed his offer from £4,100 to £6,100, which was a first for Deal or No Deal. Maxine declined the offer and left with £10,000 at the end of the show - the amount in her box.

On April 15, 2006, Holy Saturday, Gabrielle won £1,000. When she revealed that the money was going to charity, the phone rang and The Banker said (three times) that just that once that he would double the winnings to £2,000. This was a Deal or No Deal first, and shows that the Banker has a 'Compassionate Streak', as Noel put it.

On May 6, 2006, The Banker produced another poem, in honour of Morris' fondness for speaking in rhyme when he opened boxes in other people's games, called "Ode to Morris".

On May 12, 2006, The Banker revealed that that day was his birthday, as well as that of the contestant's mother. It is unsure whether May 12th is The Banker's birthday, due to the fact that three shows are filmed per day, so his birthday could be several days - even weeks - before that. That said, Noel's birthday celebrations took place on the show due to be transmitted on that day. The Banker said he was 'full of cakes and fine wine' but had not received any presents.

On May 13, 2006, The Banker jokingly offered contestant Max "2 Weeks of Therapy". He also revealed that "the position of Mrs Banker is currently vacant!"

On May 15, 2006, The Banker said that he would offer double his offer if contestant Simon could guess it correctly. He guessed correctly at £2,800, the same amount that he said a previous contestant, Susie, would get, thus the offer doubled to £5,600.

At some time in the past it was revealed that The Banker enjoyed the Eurovision song contest, this was taken further with the Eurovision-themed show on May 20, 2006.

On May 25, 2006, At the time of the banker's offer, Noel Edmonds questioned the East Wing on what would be the offer given to contestant Rich. When the banker did make the call, he criticised the East Wing and labelled them as "fools" due to the fact that they could not guess his offer. As a result, the offer was £5,146, an offer that seemed impossible to guess.

On May 26, 2006, the banker made a "joke" offer of "£2 and a copy of the rules" to contestant June, due to her apparent confusion at how the game worked. Fortunately, she had dealt earlier at £23,000.

On June 2, 2006, the banker gave a present of a bunch of 22 red roses to contestant Stevie, thanking her for the players' games she destroyed by having high value amounts in her boxes.

On June 6, 2006, the Banker offered contestant Suzanne, instead of a monetary first offer, he offered her a swap, the option to swap her box, after the first 5 boxes, with any other box she had a 'feeling' for. Suzanne accepted the swap, and swapped box 19 for box 3. The Banker did this because he believed she wouldn't walk at the first offer, and he saw her as a kindred spirit, because he used to be a great swimmer (apparently), and Suzanne was an Olympic-class swimmer before retiring to teach young children. The Banker said he was known as 'The Wet Rocket' because at school other children would throw his abacus into the school pond, and he would dive in for it so quickly. She opened Box 19, her original box, in the third round, it contained £500.

On June 12, 2006, Carlton said The Banker "sounds like the Scream man".

On June 16, 2006 (the 200th show), the banker said that he used to be a psychic, as the day's contestant, Ron was a hypnotherapist, and predicted that he was going have the worst round in the show's history. However this prediction was proven wrong as Ron took out three blues in the next three boxes. On the same show, the banker asked to talk to a member of the audience because he was angry with Noel. He spoke to Georgina, who told Ron the offer.

On June 16, 2006, the banker offered contestant Chrissie £8,853, which he claimed was equal to the height of Mount Everest in metres. Chrissie had earlier said that she had climbed 19,500 feet up the mountain. However, the banker's encylopedias clearly aren't that up to date, as the Wikipedia entry for the said mountain reveals that its height is actually 8,848 metres, and that therefore, the banker clearly offered Chrissie £5 too much!

On June 18, 2006, (Fathers Day) Noel asked the Banker whether he had any offspring off his own. The Banker replied by saying he had one estranged son, when asked why he was estranged the Banker said that his son was a charity worker.

On June 23, 2006, during Bianca's game The Banker offered a swap again instead of a monatary first offer, due to the fact that she had box 22 on the table, and it had contained £250,000 the last two times it had been there. She declined the swap. During the second offer the Banker asked to speak to Bianca's mother who was in the audience. They talked for a while and then she put the phone down and said the offer was £10,000. Noel said that she could have made the offer up, so he picked up the phone and 'dialed' the Banker. Noel said "is it true you offered her £50,000!" £10,000 was the offer, and she declined the offer. It was unclear what the Banker's phone number was, but it was presumably just for show. During this show, Noel referred to the banter between Bianca's mother and The Banker by calling her "the potential seventh Mrs Banker", perhaps implying that the Banker has been married six times already. A second wife was mentioned during Debbie's game, though this was presumably as a joke by The Banker, who, through Noel, said: "My second wife was called was Mina. I was mean, and she was meaner!"

UK box values

>
1p
10p
50p
£1
£5
£10
£50
£100
£250
£500
£750

>
£1,000
£3,000
£5,000
£10,000
£15,000
£20,000
£35,000
£50,000
£75,000
£100,000
£250,000


On the show graphics, the values in the left-hand column are displayed against a blue background, and those in the right-hand column against an orange-red background, and are frequently referred to by host and contestants alike as "blue" and "red" amounts respectively. Generally, removal of a "blue amount" is applauded by the audience, while expression of pity is common with the removal of "red amounts".

However, the appearance of the £1000 (the lowest "red amount") is often applauded due to its relatively low value. (Edmonds will often shout "Thousand, that's fine! That's alright!") This, to a lesser extent, sometimes applies also to the two or three lowest red values, which depending on the circumstances, are often called 'honorary blues'.

Catchphrases and presenting style

Each show begins with the introduction: "A quarter of a million pounds. 22 identical sealed boxes. And no questions... except one: Deal or No Deal?"

As well as the obvious "Deal or No Deal?", Edmonds has introduced a variety of sayings and catchphrases, normally hyperbolic, to the show. He has met with varying success and these terms have come and gone. The language used in the show has, however, become an integral part of the gameplay and drama as has Edmonds' dramatic gestures, tone and flamboyant movement around the set and in the audience.

Recently Edmonds has become increasingly bizarre in his on-set behaviour, at times eating fruit, squaring up to contestants inches from their face, sitting off camera and even off stage, massaging contestants to relax them, smelling their shoes, writing on their hands, running around and shouting. His catchphrases and presenting style have now come close to self-parody.

A selection of Noel's catchphrases and quotes are below.

Introductions

Contestant selection

Starting the game

During the game

General advice & observations

The 1p Club

The 1p Club is Noel's name for the group of winners of the lowest possible prize - it currently has six members, excluding any further 1p wins recorded but yet to be broadcast.

Commercial links

Noel usually announces a commercial break in a variety of extremely corny and cheesy ways such as:

Contestant Catchphrases

Criticism

Deal or No Deal has been the subject of criticism from some people as being a classic example of the apparent 'dumbing down' of modern television. The premise of the show has been criticised by some for having no intellectual content whatsoever and some have questioned if it is good that a show in which people simply randomly open 22 boxes to reveal numbers is so popular. Some of the interaction between the contestant in the chair and the contestants in the wings and the contestant in the chair and Noel Edmonds has also been mocked by some. Contestants often talk about 'having a feeling' that a box contains a certain colour in their box or 'getting vibes' off the boxes when in reality it is a game of complete chance and the only influence that any player can have on the game is through their decisions whether or not to accept the Banker's offers. This has recently been satired by the BBC's comedy Dead Ringers.

There has also been criticism of the Banker's tactics and questions asked about the fairness of the game, with offers varying wildly from the surprisingly generous to the frequent offers that are so poor in relation to the state of the game as to virtually force a "no deal". It has been suggested in some forums that a formula-based approach to offers, as some other countries have used, may be preferable.

However, some say there is an element of skill in attempting to manipulate the banker into making higher offers, with the player's relationship with the banker being of great importance. It has been seen that contestants who state a desire to "go all the way", or appear more certain and confident, can attract higher offers. Contestants can attempt to bluff the banker by appearing more confident than they actually are, or by pretending that they intend to go all the way, and will often be rewarded as the banker realises that higher offers must be made if he is to shift the player. But in actual fact, the banker is in exactly the same situation as the player; they both do not know what sums are in the boxes. Therefore they both cannot have any effect on the actual final sum won by the player. Similarly, the player cannot "beat" the banker and the banker cannot "beat" the player because the player's choice of which box to open is equally random to both the player and the banker.

To remove this element from the game and use a formula to determine the amount of money would lend weight to the criticism that the player can exert little influence over the game. It would also remove some of the character from the game, as many offers are based on some detail that is known about the player (for example, the offer of £8,853 to Chrissie which was based on the height of Mount Everest, which she had climbed), on previous games (for example the offers of £5,010 and £10,005 made to Trevor based on the results of the previous games), or other factors. The humour that can be created by such offers, or even the shock or delight at what seems to be an unusually high or low offer, could be argued to be an important element of the game, much of the charm of which rests on its unpredictability.

In addition, while the contents of the box are purely random, to succeed, players seem to need an intelligent approach to balancing the risk, as well as having good luck. But since a player can only play the game once, there is no balancing or judging of risk, as risk can only be stated as an average over a large number of games. It must be remembered that many gameshows throughout television history have relied on varying degrees of luck.

Others have suggested that Channel 4 is verging on Deal or No Deal overkill with the show being aired at least 6 days a week and during 'Double Deal' week twice a day.

Some contestants have had consistent poor offers throughout their game and then turned out to have a low amount in their box, leading to suggestions the Banker actually knows the contents of the boxes - however, statistical evidence lends no support to this theory.

The show has also had other criticism from religious groups, due to Noel apparently being part of a strange cult because of the markings on his wrists that can be seen when he is talking to the banker, and his regular talk of fate. [[Citing sources citation needed]]

Episode history

External links

[http://encycl.opentopia.com/ edit]
Deal or No Deal
Netherlands (original version) | Australia | Philippines | Poland | United Kingdom | United States | Other international versions

 

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