Deal or No Deal (Australian game show)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Deal or No Deal | |
|---|---|
 The logo for Deal or No Deal Australia |
|
| Genre | Game show |
| Picture format | 16:9 |
| Running time | 30 minutes per episode (inc. commercials) |
| Creator(s) | Endemol |
| Starring | Andrew O'Keefe |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Original channel |  Seven Network |
| Original run | 2003–present |
| No. of episodes | 576 (As of September 1, 2006) |
| Official website | |
Deal or No Deal is a game show which airs in Australia on the Seven Network. It was the first international version of the gameshow, with the exception of the original Dutch version. In 2006 Deal or No Deal several changes were made to entice viewers in response to Nine's new afternoon game show Bert's Family Feud hosted by Bert Newton. The maximum potential prize increased to 2 million dollars a week, with the new "Double or nothing" feature. There is a Deal or No Deal board game made by Crown and Andrews.
Contents |
[edit] Format
- This section refers to the current Australian format of Deal or No Deal. For the general format of Deal or No Deal see Deal or No Deal Format.
The show begins in a studio with six groups of 25 people sitting in stands. One group is then randomly selected, plus one additional person from the remaining groups. The 26 contestants are then asked three multiple choice questions. The quickest contestant to answer correctly is then selected to play out the remainder of the show. The contestant is shown twenty-six numbered briefcases held by identical models (similar to other versions; with dresses and wigs), each containing a hidden amount of money (see Briefcase values). The contestant selects one of the briefcases to be placed at the front, and the other briefcases are distributed to the other 25 contestants from the quiz who move onto the 'podium'.
The contestant then chooses a numbered case to be opened. The podium player holding the case guesses the amount that they have in their briefcase, winning $500 if their guess is proved correct upon opening the briefcase. This process is repeated, and is only interrupted when, at increasingly regular intervals, a "Bank Offer" is made. The major contestant now has to decide between a "Deal", where the bank's offer is accepted, or "No Deal" where the offer is rejected and play continues. The Bank Offers are based on, but not equivalent to, the arithmetic mean of the remaining briefcases. That is, if there are mainly large valued briefcases remaining, then there is a high chance that the contestant's briefcase is valuable, and so the Bank Offer will be generous. Conversely, if the player has been less fortunate and opened the more valuable briefcases, then the Bank Offer will be low.
If at any stage the player chooses to "Deal" the game is still played out to enable any correct guesses to be made (with the $500 being awarded to the respective contestant) and to find out if the player chose the right time to "Deal". If the player continues to the end without making a "Deal", the game ends with their own briefcase being opened and the amount in that briefcase being won.
The Australian version of Deal or No Deal has a number of special features to make the show entertaining:
- Double or Nothing: Double or Nothing is offered to the contestant after taking their deal(unless a Chance or a Supercase is offered at the end of the show). Contestants may gamble all or part of their money, either winning or losing whatever they risk. For example, a contestant takes a deal of $37,000. When they are offered Double or Nothing, they are allowed to risk any amount up to, and including, their $37,000. The contestant wishes to gamble $7,000. In the situation that "Double" is revealed. they win $44,000. In the situation that "Nothing" is revealed. they win $30,000. The new element has added the chance of a contestant walking away empty handed, as they can gamble all their money and end up with "Nothing" appearing. In the previous seasons, the least the contestant could walk away with was $0.50 (the lowest amount on the board). On June 23, 2006, a new Double or Nothing was featured, where two small suitcases (labeled I and II) were offered to the contestant; one had the word "Double" inside, the other had "Nothing". The contestant then chose one case. If "Double" was revealed, the contestant won the money he/she risked, as in previous episodes. If "Nothing" was revealed, the contestant lost the amount he/she gambled for, as in previous episodes.
- Megaguess: At random intervals in the game, the Bank will offer a Megaguess. If the next podium player correctly guesses the value in their briefcase they will win $2,000, $5,000 or $10,000 as opposed to the regular $500 value.
- Chance: A Chance is an opportunity for the contestant to exchange the deal they took during the game for whatever is in their briefcase. It happens rarely, and only when the two remaining unknown case values are an extremely small and extremely high amount. For example, the contestant takes a deal of $8,000, but is offered a Chance with the remaining unopened briefcases being $500 and $50,000. If the contestant takes the Chance, they win either $500 or $50,000, depending on which value is in their selected case. If they don't take the Chance, they keep their $8,000 deal.
- Supercase: Occasionally at the end of the program a Supercase is brought out. Contestants have the opportunity to either keep the deal they made or take whatever value is hidden in the Supercase. The supercase contains one of the following values: 50c, $500, $1,000, $2,000, $10,000, $20,000, CAR, $50,000. In the event that the Supercase appears at the end of a program, the contestant is not presented with the Double or Nothing offer.Supercases appear in most episodes when contestants take a deal of approximately $10,000 when there are at least five cases left on the board, and rarely appear in any other circumstances. This means that the Supercase offers a 50/50 chance at bettering or equalling the $10,000 deal. If contestants take a $10,000 deal with fewer than four cases left on the board, Supercases are rare because there is not generally time left in the show to run it.
- Double Deal Fridays: Home viewers are invited to ring a phone number charged at AU$0.55 and register their details. Every Friday, a home viewer was randomly selected to win the same prize as the studio contestant each Friday. The host of the show, Andrew O'Keefe, has mentioned that Double Deal Fridays receive over 100,000 calls each week. The last Double Deal Friday occurred on August 4, 2006.
- Daily Prize: One of the briefcases (except for the CAR, $100,000 or $200,000 cases) contain gold coloured dollar signs around the cash value inside the case. The person who was holding the case (be them podium player or contestant) receive the Daily Prize of $500. The daily prize was first featured in 2006 in a special Saint Patrick's Day themed episode.
[edit] Trivia
So far, the top prize of $200,000 has only been given away once to Dean Cartecchini on June 17, 2004 after saying "No Deal" to $102,500 with the chance of walking away with only $5 or the $200,000. Luckily, Dean had the big one in his briefcase (#12).
When the minimum prize was $0.50c, it was received twice in the show's history; to John DeLaine in 2004 (he later appeared on the Unluckiest Player's show, where he won $70,000 through a Supercase), and to Travis Ross on July 7, 2005. When the "Double or Nothing" feature was introduced and made "Nothing" the lowest possible amount, it was won six episodes later, on February 7, 2006, by Peter Popas. He said "no deal" all the way through to his $2 briefcase, then gambled the $2 and "NOTHING" was revealed in the double or nothing case - he was then handed a giant comedy cheque with the word "NOTHING" written on it. Incidentally, there were no podium winners either on that episode, and the daily prize was dropped for the 2006 season, meaning that the show did not have to pay any money at all. The nothing cheque was also brought out on March 22, 2006 when Andrew Vein said "no deal" all the way through to his $150 briefcase, then gambled the lot and "NOTHING" was revealed in the case.
Undoubtedly the unluckiest man to ever enter the "Deal-o-Drome" was a man who admitted at the beginning of the show to being "the unluckiest man he knew." He then proceeded to knock out the $200,000, $100,000, $75,000 and $50,000 cases consecutively, in that order, with his first four selections. The bank offered him 10c, 20% of the lowest case on the board. The odds of this occurring are 1:358800, and it would statistically take around 1800 years for it to happen again. The 10c was the lowest bank offer ever on Deal or No Deal.
The highest bank offer when no offer has been accepted yet, occurred on 25 August 2006, when the contestant was offered $125,000, with the $75,000 and the $200,000 remaining in play. However, the contestant said "No Deal" to the offer, and in the end he won the $75,000.
The highest bank offer ever on the Australian show was where a young woman took a $15,000 deal early in the show and the final offer was $140,000. She ended up having $75,000 in her case. This was the show's greatest misfortune.
The CAR has so far, won at least four times. First on March 4, 2005, a Peugeot 307, after it being offered to the contestant. Because the car was won on "Double Deal Friday" (see above), the home viewer received $30,000 in cash instead. Because the car has only been won twice, it was added to the Supercase for a better chance of winning it (see above). After that the CAR was a Renault Mégane, which was won on December 23, 2005 (this date is from the repeat series). On February 23, 2006, Russian born boxer Kostya Tszyu had 2 cases left, $5000 & the CAR ($32,990), at which point he was offered a deal of $12,000. He said "no deal", and opened up his suitcase, revealing the CAR, and winning the Peugeot 307, and $30,000 for his home viewer. On 10 August 2006, the car was offered to the contestant with five cases left in play, two of them were the car and $200,000. She said "Deal" to the offer. In the end, she found out that her case only contained $2.
Contestants winning the car are given the keys, as well as a giant comedy cheque with the word "RENAULT" on it. From the 2006 season onwards, the cheque simply reads "CAR".
Over the years, the anonymous banker has been personified as the faceless, evil and miserly "Walter P. Smythe" by host Andrew O'Keefe. The name Walter P. Smythe is signed on all of the giant comedy cheques. O'Keefe also constantly refers to the Deal or No Deal studio as the "Deal-o-Drome."
[edit] Briefcase values
All values are in Australian Dollars.
[edit] 2003
| Value | |
|---|---|
| 5c | $1,000 |
| 25c | $2,500 |
| 50c | $5,000 |
| 75c | $7,500 |
| $1 | $10,000 |
| $5 | $25,000 |
| $10 | $50,000 |
| $25 | $75,000 |
| $50 | $100,000 |
| $75 | $250,000 |
| $100 | $500,000 |
| $250 | $1,000,000 |
| $500 | $2,000,000 |
[edit] 2004
| Value | |
|---|---|
| 50c | $1,000 |
| $1 | $1,500 |
| $2 | $2,000 |
| $5 | $3,000 |
| $10 | $5,000 |
| $25 | $7,500 |
| $50 | $10,000 |
| $75 | $15,000 |
| $100 | $25,000 |
| $150 | $50,000 |
| $250 | $75,000 |
| $500 | $100,000 |
| $750 | $200,000 |
[edit] 2005
| Value | |
|---|---|
| 50c | $1,000 |
| $1 | $1,500 |
| $2 | $2,000 |
| $5 | $3,000 |
| $10 | $5,000 |
| $25 | $7,500 |
| $50 | $10,000 |
| $75 | $15,000 |
| $100 | CAR |
| $150 | $50,000 |
| $250 | $75,000 |
| $500 | $100,000 |
| $750 | $200,000 |
- (CAR valued at approx $33,000)
[edit] 2006
| Value | |
|---|---|
| 50c | $1,000 |
| $1 | $2,000 |
| $2 | $3,000 |
| $5 | $4,000 |
| $10 | $5,000 |
| $20 | $10,000 |
| $50 | $15,000 |
| $100 | $20,000 |
| $150 | CAR |
| $200 | $50,000 |
| $250 | $75,000 |
| $500 | $100,000 |
| $750 | $200,000 |
- (CAR (Peugeot 307) valued at approx $30,000)
NOTE: AU$200,000 = ~US$148,000 = ~€117,000 = ~£80,000
[edit] Evolution of the show
[edit] 2003
The first incarnation of Deal or No Deal originally debuted in late 2003 as an hour-long program. Screening on Sunday night, it indirectly competed with the Nine Network's Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? by offering a maximum prize of $2,000,000.
In order to fill the longer timeslot, the initial stages of the game were significantly longer than in the current half hour format. This included an interview with the man who supposedly placed the values into each briefcase, assuring that selection were indeed random.
Instead of randomly selecting a block of 25 people, the members of the eight blocks collectively competed against each other in a short quiz to determine which group would get selected. Also, rather than choosing the sole fastest contestant in the individual question round, the two fastest contestants were chosen to compete head to head in answering one final question before the eventual victor proceeds to the main game.
Another difference to the current version is the amount of money awarded to podium players for a correct guess. In the original format the amount of money received depended on how many cases had already been opened. The reasoning behind this is that a correct guess when only a few cases are opened is rarer to achieve than when only a few cases remain.
Although somewhat successful, this incarnation of the show only lasted for one season. However, several hour-long special episodes of the show (such as "Unluckiest Players" - the return of the contestants who have won the least amount of money) have aired in prime time.
The highest prize money won from this show was $515,000. This is the highest prize money ever won in Australia's Deal or No Deal, and this record will never be broken, as the current version's maximum potential prize is only $400,000.
[edit] 2004
In 2004 Deal or No Deal was shortened to a half-hour format and moved to weeknights at 5:30pm, directly competing against the Nine Network's The Price Is Right. Due to the increased number of episodes airing (5 per week over the course of the year rather than 1 per week) the maximum cash prize was lowered from $2,000,000 to $200,000 and the number of blocks reduced from eight to six (200 potential contestants to 150). Deal or No Deal received high ratings in its newly revised format. Shortly after the popularity of Deal or No Deal began to rise, The Price Is Right altered its showcase round to a similar format, where contestants were forced to choose between cash incentives or the showcase periodically as the prices were lit up. Despite this Deal or No Deal continued to grow in popularity, and is believed to be a factor involved in the ratings resurgance of Seven News (which follows directly after Deal or No Deal).
[edit] 2005
There were only a few minor tweaks in 2005 compared to the 2004 version. These included the colouring of on-screen graphics, with higher values being coloured blue, red and green, the $25,000 case value was replaced with a car valued at approximately $30,000. The Daily Prize, which was previously a normal prize, such as a home theatre system, a DVD set or a digital camera, was replaced with $500, although later in 2005 prizes such as mp3 players and portable DVD players were also given away and the audience cry of boo-yeah when Case #26 (colloquially known as the "Boo-Yah Bag") was selected was abandoned.
[edit] 2006
Changes made to the 2006 format:
- The interior of the cases all featured their "board" colour instead of only the green amounts
- A new "Double or Nothing" feature was introduced, where the contestant will be offered to gamble all or part of their money, either doubling or losing whatever they offer. Subsequently, it has been advertised that the show potentially offers winnings of $2,000,000 a week ($400,000 an episode), but this would only occur if the contestant has $200,000 in their case and chooses to gamble all their money.
- Briefcase values have been slightly altered (see above).
- Megaguesses are now offered $2,000, $5,000 and $10,000 amounts. The $10,000 is only offered once per game (several times a friend or relative on the last case is offered the $10,000 megaguess), the $5,000 is usually offered in the middle of the game, and the $2,000 is only offered as the final guess in the game.
- Correct guesses on the podium have been halved to $500.
- The daily prize has been featured at least twice. One on March 17 on a special Saint Patrick's Day themed episode, another on the Mother's Day special on May 12.
- The cry of boo-yeah is back.
- The "oooohhh" sound is sometimes shouted out by the audience when a player selects briefcase 13 to be opened.
These changes made in 2006 are to entice viewers to watch the show against the Nine Network's new game show, Bert's Family Feud.
[edit] Dancing with the Deals
Dancing with the Deals was Deal or No Deal's first attempt at a celebrity special series (and was highly successful). Celebrities that were featured came from the entertainment show Dancing With the Stars. The series was broadcast from February 13 - February 24, 2006. The celebrities featured were:
Week 1:
Week 2:
In the lead up to the 5th series of Dancing With the Stars Seven again plan to run a series of celebrity specials under the Dancing with the Deals moniker. The celebrities featured were as follows:
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Deal or No Deal Official Site
- Southern Star Productions - Deal or No Deal
- Deal or No Deal Flash Game
