The British are Better Than Us: Record Breaking “Deal or No Deal”
It takes a game like yesterday’s Deal or No Deal to remind us what a great format it is. It’s forgotten after you see the constant rerun cycle available on cable of the US version, where the show devolved into a three ring circus. But games like yesterday’s remind you that few shows provide the tension and excitement of Deal. It also reminds me that anyone who says that the American version is better than the British version is either purposely being contrary (which isn’t a big shock for certain people) or they’re just flat out ignorant of what the show has to offer. On the surface it’s a very dumb game. Injecting the show with special themes, risky offers, a Banker with personality, and fantastic and relatable contestants makes Deal or No Deal stand as one of the best shows around.
This is the Banker’s Birthday week and it’s Cowboys and Indians. The usual flow of the game, by this point, forces the contestant to go three boxes before receiving an offer. However, the contestant won the right to go one box at a time, plus she won a holiday. Look at that board. Will she be the third £250,000 winner in the show’s long history? Take a look. Trust me, this is a moment game show fans won’t forget for a while. I know I won’t. Be sure to comment and let us know what you think.
Video courtesy Channel 4 and Endemol
Is that the first time anyone’s swapped at the end on any version of the show, I wonder?
Wow. :)
Swaps are quite commonly offered by the Banker if there is a large amount in play, but this was the first big big money swap of its kind.
Swaps are normally offered on versions of the show where people pick their box/case at random before the show, it is obviously far less necessary on versions where the contestant gets a free choice at the beginning.
I don’t know if there’s been other jackpot wins through swapping, although I think there was one in Mexico, and I’d be surprised if there wasn’t one in France or Italy.
The banker can offer a swap at the end any time he likes, but they do have a rule in play on UK DonD that is the top value (250,000 quid) is still in play it’s a forced swap available. Of the 3 quarter million winners, the other two kept their boxes and did not swap.
I know the other two winners of the UK version didn’t swap, and I know the option is available to virtually everyone who makes it to the end. I want to know if someone has swapped at the end on OTHER versions. (Apart from US or English Canada, because I know it never happened on those ones, either.)
Maybe I’m confused by this conversation (and I get confused easily), but The Switch (as it was called here) was always available in the U.S. version. ALWAYS. Every single time (except the syndicated version. They had the Switch option at the beginning). Some people actually did Switch before the end on the primetime version, so it’s essentially the same. Certainly, of course, no one on the U.S. version ever had the $1,000,000 and switched or etc.
This was an AMAZING moment!
Whoa, January 21 is my birthday! What lucky numbers I have! :D Congrats to her for a big win!
This will be cliched, but for any “Deal” fan having the two top monies at the end in play…it’s the stuff dreams are made of.
That was compelling television. And to see the boxes fall the way they did… I was yelling at my monitor “PLAY ON!”, having seen so many American contestants chicken out despite the numbers being in their favor.
I’d wager that Suzanne doesn’t think of Friday the 13th as unlucky anymore (and yes, I know it wasn’t taped on Friday the 13th, go with me on this)… :)
If the NBC/syndicated version of DoND had treated the players and the game with the level of respect that Channel 4, Endemol, and (most importantly) Noel Edmonds do, we’d still be watching new episodes. However, respect is one thing that American television is incapable of, sadly.
I guess, in the end, that’s why the British are better than us. Their game shows feature real people acting real. Our game shows feature stupid people acting stupid (J! being the exception that tests the rule).
I agree with you 100% on that point Rob. NBC should have left things alone and if they have, our version of deal would have lasted alot longer than it did!!!!
I honestly think our version was doomed from the beginning. When NBC gave the cases to models for more than a minute, they took out the one thing that made most versions without the audience quiz interesting (the personality), and tried to replace it with endless screaming.
I was literally shaking during the final reveal, Noel Emmonds the master of suspense. and after watching this I compared to it the $750,000 win on the US version when the contestant had that and $1 million left and to me it wasn’t nearly as exciting as this even though ti was being played for bigger money.
LOL @ Laura’s wanted poster :)
I was in tears watching a game show. That’s compelling television.
I never thought I would see the perfect game scenario but it happened. The perfect game does happen. The last time someone won the big one on DOND Australia it happened the same way with the top two cases being left in play and she didn’t swap at the end.
I was stunned to see this woman swap cases at the very end. She had nerves of steel to do that. And to win the big one was perhaps one of the greatest moments I think ive ever seen on a TV show ever, not just a game show.
The thing about UK Deal that I love is that there is real humanity here. It is of course all about the money but to think 250K tax free (as all UK game shows offer tax free cash prizes I believe) and a vacation to Florida…..you cannot help but smile.