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The United States version of Deal or No Deal, hosted by actor-comedian Howie Mandel, premiered on December 19, 2005 on NBC and ran during the following four consecutive nights. The grand prize was $1 million. The show was then brought back for another week in February 2006 with a special escalating jackpot before beginning a multi-weekly permanent run in March 2006. The show was taped during its first season at Sunset-Gower Studios in Los Angeles. The early episodes were taped at CBS Television City in Hollywood. The show has aired Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with reruns on CNBC on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. In Fall 2006, the show will move to Mondays at 8:00pm ET and Thursdays at 9:00pm ET.

The original pilot was produced for ABC in early 2004 with Briton Patrick Kielty as host and a $2.5 million top prize, but ABC chose not to pick up the program. A trailer for this version can be seen on YouTube.

Gameplay

Unlike many international versions of the show, the briefcases in the U.S. gallery are not distributed to audience members. Before the game, a third party randomly places the possible winnings in the cases, which are distributed to 26 models who reveal the contents during the game. No one, including the host, knows what amounts are in the cases.

After picking his/her case, the contestant then selects 6 of the remaining 25 cases, revealed one at a time. This is followed by a "phone call" by "The Banker", a mysterious figure shown only in silhouette. He purportedly sits in a skybox (situated between the two audience sections) and makes an offer, via telephone to Mandel (his voice is never heard) to buy the contestant's case based on the mean of the cash amounts still in play and the player's psychology. (Mandel will also occasionally relay supposed insults from the Banker to the player). Mandel then asks the title question: "Deal or No Deal?".

If the contestant accepts the "Deal", the game ends, and the contents of the case that s/he chose at the beginning of the game are then revealed along with the whereabouts of the top remaining prizes. Should the contestant refuse the offer (by stating "No deal!"), they must choose five of the remaining cases to eliminate from consideration. The Banker makes another offer, and play continues as before. The Banker's offer may be higher or lower than the previous offer (if a top prize is eliminated, generally the offer decreases; conversely, if lower amounts are eliminated the offer increases significantly). The contestant can simply close the cover to imply "No Deal" without actually saying the phrase.

Subsequent rounds have the contestant withdrawing four, three, then two cases from play; should the contestant continue to decline The Banker's offer after this point, they then eliminate one case each time (with an intervening offer from The Banker) until two cases are left. If the player rejects the final offer, they receive whatever cash amount is contained inside the case that they originally chose. Earlier shows gave the contestant a chance to switch their case with the one remaining in the gallery, but this offer has not been made in the more recent shows.

Each contestant has several supporters (usually three), who sit in a special section just off stage during his/her game. As the field of briefcases dwindles, one or more of the supporters are asked to consult with the contestant and help him/her make a decision. These exchanges have become emotional, particularly when very high and very small amounts remained and The Banker offers a large cash buyout; on at least one occasion, the contestant's daughters called, pleading (successfully) with her to take The Banker's deal. The contestant's supporters are typically revealed on the second Bank deal.

Lucky Case game

During its first week on the air, there was a $10,000 home viewer giveaway, wherein home viewers were invited to send a text message stating what they thought was the "Lucky Case." Entries to the contest were also accepted via the NBC website. A correct answer placed that viewer in that night's drawing for the $10,000 prize.

The Lucky Case game was altered for the 2nd week-long special, and the format carried over to the regular series. Instead of using the preexisting cases from the contestant's game, it uses a separate set of six gold-plated cases, as held by the show's models. Also, statistics are displayed before some commercial breaks showing the distribution of votes for each case. There are three different winners of the Lucky Case game each night -- one for the Eastern/Central time zone broadcast, and one each in the Mountain and Pacific time zones. Each time zone has its own separate winning case number as well, so as to prevent a scenario where viewers on the East Coast could inform the West Coast of the winning case. Only viewers in the Continental United States are allowed to play the Lucky Case game. In Arizona during Daylight Saving Time months (when most of the state does not turn the clocks ahead with the rest of the nation), viewers have to call one hour before the show airs.

On two two-hour episodes that aired on April 3, and May 15, 2006, the Lucky Case game was worth $20,000. Also, on May 22, 2006, in addition to one $10,000 winner, 200 other winners would receive the Deal or No Deal board game.

Case values

$.01
$1
$5
$10
$25
$50
$75
$100
$200
$300
$400
$500
$750
$1,000
$5,000
$10,000
$25,000
$50,000
$75,000
$100,000
$200,000
$300,000
$400,000
$500,000
$750,000
$1,000,000

For the second week of shows, from February 27, 2006, to March 3, 2006, the top values (i.e., those above $100,000) increased from night to night as shown below; also, as something of a joke, the lowest value was increased on March 3, 2006, to $.03. As a result of the increased potential payouts, the offers from the Banker increased while those higher values remained in play. (Note: Amounts did not increase for carryover contestants; the new values took effect for the first new contestant in each game.) Higher amounts were also in play for the June 5 season finale, and those are also listed below.

Date 6th-highest 5th-highest 4th-highest 3rd-highest 2nd-highest Highest
Monday, February 27, 2006 $200,000 $300,000 $400,000 $500,000 $750,000 $1,000,000
Tuesday, February 28, 2006 $200,000 $300,000 $400,000 $500,000 $1,000,000 $1,500,000
Wednesday, March 1, 2006 $200,000 $300,000 $400,000 $500,000 $1,000,000 $2,000,000
Thursday, March 2, 2006 $250,000 $400,000 $500,000 $750,000 $1,000,000 $2,500,000
Friday, March 3, 2006 $250,000 $400,000 $500,000 $750,000 $1,000,000 $3,000,000
Monday, June 5, 2006 (*the season finale) $250,000 $500,000 $750,000 $1,000,000 $2,500,000 $5,000,000

Records and statistics

  • Highest potential bank offer (Specials): $1,000,000 (March 1 2006, after accepting $407,000, top case was $2 million)
  • Highest potential bank offer: $660,000 (April 10 2006, after accepting $211,000)
  • Highest bank offer: $464,000 (April 24 2006) (Accepted)
  • Lowest bank offer: $2 (February 28 2006) (Declined)
  • Highest bank offer turned down: $357,000 (April 26 2006)
  • Most money won (Deal): $464,000 (April 24 2006)
  • Most money won (No Deal): $75,000 (December 23 2005)
  • Least money won (Deal): $8 (March 24 2006)
  • Least money won (No Deal): $5 (February 28 2006)
  • Average winning: $TBD over TBD games.
  • Best deal: 1,900,000 times case amount ($0.01 for $19,000, March 10 2006)
  • Best deal by dollars: $406,925 more than the case amount ($407,000 for $75, March 1 2006)
  • Worst deal by the percentages: Just over 1/5 (21.5%) of the case amount ($215,000 for $1,000,000, April 26 2006)
  • Worst deal by dollars: $785,000 less than the case amount ($215,000 for $1,000,000, April 26 2006)
  • Offers with the same amount twice in a row: 2
  • Deals with a prize attached: 5
  • Prizes with no deals attached: 2
    • May 5, 2006: Anca Toderic received a puppy, after learning that her boyfriend refused to buy her one.
    • June 5, 2006: Casey Bell, a big fan of Celine Dion, won a trip to see Celine in concert in Las Vegas, awarded by Celine herself.
  • Cases most commonly selected by the contestant: Pilar Lastra's case 8, Katie Cleary's case 11 and Jenelle Bronwyn Moreno's case 17 (4 times each).
  • Cases never selected by the contestant: Claudia Jordan's case 1, Anya Monzikova's case 10, and Donna Feldman's case 22.
  • Amount most commonly in a contestant's case: $5 (5 times)
  • Huge amounts ($100,000 or higher) most commonly in a contestant's case: $200,000 and $400,000 (4 times each).
  • Case most commonly holding the lowest prize (usually 1 cent): Lindsay Schoenweis' case 4 (7 times).
  • Cases that have never contained the lowest prize: Katie Cleary's case 11 and Kim Estrada's case 16.
  • Case most commonly holding the top prize: Anya Monzikova's case 10 (5 times).
  • Cases that have never contained the top prize: Lindsay Schoenweis' case 4, Ursula Mayes' case 5, Alike Boggan's case 18, Aubrie Lemon's case 23, and Lindsay Clubine's case 26.
The potential bank offer records were split, since it is impossible for bank offers to exceed $1,000,000 on the regular series.
  • The first person to select a case with a huge amount ($100,000 or more) was Horston Bowen on March 20, 2006, who picked case number 3 with $400,000. (He did not win the case, however, he sold it for $221,000.)
  • The first person to select the million dollar case was Lakissa Bright on April 26, 2006. (She did not win the case, Jenelle Bronwyn Moreno's case 17, however, because she sold it for $215,000.)
  • The first person to select the one cent case was Eric Paulson on March 10, 2006. (He did not win the case, Kristen Brockman (who took over for Tameka Jacobs)'s case 21, however, because he sold it for $19,000.)
  • As of June 5 2006, no one has selected the $100 case.

Scheduling and ratings

Early ratings for the show were extremely encouraging. In all five of its initial outings in December 2005, Deal or No Deal won its time slot in overall ratings and the 18-49 demographic, which advertisers deem a core demographic for television shows' success or failure. Ratings have remained consistently high in 2006 despite difficult competition, particularly American Idol.

The show appeared again on NBC each night February 27 through March 3 at 8:00PM EST with the top prize (and some of the higher-valued cases other than the top prize) escalating until the prize reached $3 million (and the lowest-valued case going up to $.03). As of March 6 the show settled into regular time slots at 8:00PM EST Mondays and Fridays, with the top prize returning to its original $1 million. Wednesday episodes have also been added at 8:00PM EST due to the show's consistent ratings success. In something of a ratings coup, the April 3 episode of the show, a two-hour special, outrated the NCAA basketball tournament final in head-to-head competition. During both of the two-hour specials, the second hour scored even higher ratings than the first. Since it became a regular series, Deal or No Deal has constantly placed within the 20 most popular programs on television, at times attaining the top 10. The June 5th season finale marked a series-high rating for the program, bringing in over 18 million viewers and a strong 5.5 share in the 18-49 demographic. The episode was easily the highest-rated show on any network for the week of June 5 through June 11, outdistancing the number-two show, Crime Scene Investigation, by almost six million viewers. The finale experienced similar success in Canada, with 1.5 million viewers tuning in. [http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/artslife/story.html?id=4120ffc2-60cb-43c8-b3a7-e4757328a81d&k=90240 (However, it should be noted that and virtually all other fall TV series had completed their seasons two weeks earlier and were either in reruns or pre-empted by this point.)

When the show returns in September of 2006, new episodes will air Mondays at 8:00 and Thursdays at 9:00 - the latter time slot being perhaps the most competitive in US television, as Deal will face two series that regularly place in the weekly top ten, CBS's CSI: and ABC's Grey's Anatomy.

Deal or No Deal's success was a factor in NBC's decision to program another Endemol game show. 1 vs. 100 will be launched on NBC, possibly in a mid-season run during the fall 2006 broadcast season; casting calls are already in process as of June 7, 2006. Endemol has also succeeded in selling other game show formats to ABC and Fox, and will continue with the Big Brother franchise on CBS in the summer of 2006.

Cable

NBC's sister business network, CNBC, aired episodes of the premiere week of Deal or No Deal starting on December 26, 2005, scoring above-average ratings for the network. The show has been blacked out in Canada on that station due to programming rights issues in that country, and Canadian viewers were shown CNBC World programming instead. The show began to rerun again on CNBC during the week of February 6 until June 9th. CNBC also programmed the second week-long series of the show but the sequence started two shows behind the airings on NBC (i.e., while the March 1 edition of the show on NBC aired with the top prize augmented to $2 million, the first airing on CNBC started with the first show at its baseline $1 million). CNBC will begin re-airing repeats of Deal once again in September 2006.

Specific episodes

Miss USA edition

A special edition featuring twenty-five Miss USA 2006 delegates and Miss USA 2005 Chelsea Cooley aired on April 12th on NBC at 8PM/7PM Central. It was originally scheduled for April 14th with no episode on the 12th. The delegates replaced the 26 current models for the entire episode.

The delegates involved are:

Haleigh Stidham (AL), Kimberly Forsyth (AR), Tamiko Nash (CA), Ashlee Greenwell (DE), Cristin Duren (FL), Catherine Warren (IL), Bridget Bobel (IN), Tara Conner (KY), Christina Cuenca (LA), Katee Stearns (ME), Tiffany Kelly (MA), Danelle Gay (MI), Kristi Capel (MO), Lauren Scyphers (NV), Jessica Boyington (NJ), Onawa Lacy (NM), Samantha Holvey (NC), Kimberly Krueger (ND), Allison Machado (OR), Tanya Lehman (PA), Leeann Tingley (RI), Lacie Lybrand (SC), Soben Huon (UT), Amber Copley (VA), Jessica Wedge (WV).

The contestant, Brian Kennedy, a professional clown, proposed to his girlfriend on the air before mutually agreeing to reject a $160,000 deal. Howie posed the question to his girlfriend (while also getting down on one knee) as "Deal or No Deal?", and when she accepted, the screen humorously read "DEAL: ENGAGED". He eliminated $300,000 for an offer of $148,000, rejected that, then eliminated $200 and ultimately accepted the $301,000 offer. His next selection would have been $1,000,000, and there was $25 in his case, with $50 and $400,000 remaining in the gallery. In addition, the banker was so intimidated near the end of play, that he put on a clown's nose in respect of the contestant.

Deal's production company, Endemol USA, had also featured Miss USA delegates each year on the company's previous hit show for NBC, Fear Factor.

Models

The following is a list of the current models who carry the briefcases on the US version of Deal or No Deal, in alphabetical order as seen on the show's end credits. While some models hold the same numbered case each week, a few of the models hold a different case number each game.

Odds and probability

When a contestant is presented with the original 26 cases, he or she has a 3.85% (1 in 26) chance of selecting a case containing any of the available dollar amounts. (Compare this to the standard American roulette wheel, where selecting any of the available 38 numbers offers casino players just 2.63% (1 in 38) of selecting a winning number.)

If the contestant were allowed to open this case immediately, theoretically it would contain $750 or less half the time (13 of 26 cases) and $1,000 or more half the time (13 of 26 cases); the median ("typical") case value is $875. However, because of the very large top prizes, the mean ("average") value of that case is $131,477.54. If every contestant refused every deal (eventually being able to open their initial choice), the gameshow would expect to pay out approximately $130,000 per contestant on average. However, most of the gameshow's payouts would be concentrated in a few big winners -- and most contestants would leave with very disappointing earnings.

  • Once the contestant has revealed six cases, he or she has a 5% (1 in 20) chance of the case containing any of the remaining available amounts. The mean and median expected contents of the initial case change accordingly.
  • After the contestant has revealed five more cases, s/he has a 6.67% (1 in 15) chance of the case containing any of the remaining available amounts.
  • After the contestant has revealed four more cases, he or she has a 9.1% (1 in 11) chance of the case containing any of the remaining available amounts.
  • After the contestant has revealed three more cases, he or she has a 12.5% (1 in 8) chance of the case containing any of the remaining available amounts.
  • After the contestant has revealed two more cases, he or she has a 16.7% (1 in 6) chance of the case containing any of the remaining available amounts.
  • The contestant's odds of his or her selected case containing a specific value will continue to increase (20% – 1 in 5; 25% – 1 in 4; 33% – 1 in 3) until just two cases (the first selected case and the last case held by a model) remain. At this point, the odds of winning either amount is 50% (1 in 2), regardless of whether the player switches the cases or not.

Trivia

  • During the first week, once a contestant accepts the deal, the game was played through to determine potential future bank offers, still phoned in as usual. Starting on the second week, the potential offers are displayed immediately, without any significant interaction from the Banker, making the post-deal play-through much quicker. Also, the potential offers are generally not displayed if they would be significantly less than the offer that was accepted, and the rest of the play-through is not shown once it is assumed that the player made a good deal. Whether or not it actually occurs and is edited is unknown. Bad deals (or what may turn out to be one), however, are usually played out in their entirety.

  • During play in the second week-long special, a contestant accidentally knocked the phone onto the floor, breaking off the battery cover. Mandel joked about it and went to commercial break; when the show resumed, the phone was fixed with a rather unnecessary amount of black tape (On the March 31, 2006 episode, a contestant broke the box that covers the deal button, bringing the black tape back to the show).

  • A commercial for the second week-long special illustrated a first-person simulation of what it's like to be a contestant on Deal or No Deal. Scenes included the scoreboard, the models, the family members in the audience, and Howie Mandel. However, the commercial contained some continuity errors. For instance, the scoreboard showed that a number of boxes had been opened already, but all 26 models were still on stage. Also, the bank offer shown was too large for the amounts of money left in play.

  • Howie Mandel created his own bit of terminology: a landmine, which refers to a single high value of money amidst several low values. Contestants who wind up in that situation are told that opening the high value case is "hitting a landmine." Whenever the contestant was in a situation where they only had to open one case, but two similar high amounts remained ($200,000 and $300,000 for example), Howie would often say they have a "safety net" should they continue on and knock out one of the high amounts.

  • Whenever the offer was $100,000 or higher, it was displayed along with some drumming in the background to add drama. The drumming would often be more dramatic if the offer is over $200,000, however, recent episodes have often played the wrong sound effect for the offer. The $100,000+ drumming is a 'thumping' sound, while the $200,000+ drumming is more of a "gonging" sound. In addition, the music changed when it came decision time for the contestant to add even more suspense.

  • For the first 13 episodes, Peter Abbay played the role of the mysterious banker. Presumably, he still does, but he is no longer in the end credits.

  • The show's announcer is Joe Cipriano. He also is the regular voice-over at NBC's rival, the Fox Network, and other TV networks.

  • Originally, Mandel opted not to host Deal Or No Deal, but his wife Terry talked him into hosting the show.

  • Leyla Milani, the model behind case #13, is a personal friend of Howie Mandel's. They both grew up in the same North York, Ontario neighborhood and went to the same high school (albeit a quarter-century apart).

  • A "Deal or No Deal" electronic game was released in June. This game was revealed on the April 24 episode, where the contestant and each member of the audience received a copy. A DVD game is also available. *

  • A syndicated version is currently being planned, which may debut in the Fall of 2007 or 2008; most likely 2007.

  • This may be the first international version where games "carry over" between episodes. Recently, the Philippine version also has such games.

  • On April 4, 2006, the syndicated TV newsmagazine Inside Edition did a behind-the-scenes report on Deal 's models. The report, done by the show's reporter Jim Moret, showed how the models were all becoming glamourous at the same time, using hair and make-up, and putting on the emerald green dresses they had trouble squeezing into. Another syndicated newsmagazine, Entertainment Tonight, profiled Deal's models on May 4, 2006, and during the month of May, each of the models co-hosted Extra 's "Deal of the Day" segment with Extra co-host Mark McGrath.

  • Bonnie-Jill Laflin appeared as a model during the show's first week, but did not return for the February tapings; instead, she opted to join other entertainers visiting troops in Iraq. Laflin has not been on the show since.

  • Besides the titular question, there are other notable catch-phrases from the show:
    • "Ladies, please."--Cue for the models to enter the stage
    • "Open the case."--To the chosen model; with accompanying hand gesture.
    • "...And the bank offer would've been..."--Used when playing out the string after a Deal has already been accepted.
    • "You made a great deal!" -- To any contestant who took a deal for higher than the amount in their case, even if they had missed out on higher deals. In other situations, Mandel says "You made...not the best deal" or something similar.

External links

2000s TV shows in the United States | Deal or No Deal | NBC network shows | NBC Universal Television shows

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Deal or No Deal (US game show)".

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