This afternoon's edition of "Deal or No Deal", the Noel Edmonds vehicle that resurrected his career, was car-crash television.
Fot those not familiar with the game, contestants choose to open boxes numbered 1 to 22 in random order, each of which contains a prize, randomly placed, that range from 1p to £250,000. Each box contains a different prize level, and it's monitored which ones remain unopened.
At various periods in the game, "the banker" (presumably Noel's production assistant) rings Noel to offer the contestant an amount just to end the game there and then - i.e., make an offer to buy the contents of the "final box" to be opened. If the contestant accepts the offer, they carry on opening boxes to see what they would have got - ie would they have got more had they carried on? - but if they refuse all such offers during the game, he or she wins whatever's in the last box opened.
Obviously, this can create some real tension. If the last four boxes are known to contain 1p, £5, £5,000 and £250,000, the likely offer will be about £15,000, and the contestant has to decide whether to carry on, or take the offer at that point.
In this afternoon's, the guy was left with 5 boxes - £500, £750, £50,000, £75,000, and £250,000 - not yet opened.
The banker offered him £35,000. He refused and played on, and opened the £75,000 box.
The offer dropped to £26,000. He refused again and opened the £250,000 box.
The offer dropped to £15,000. The contestant, by now openly crying, desperately decided to carry on again, on the 1 in 3 chance that he might still keep the £50k box to the end. Guess what the next one opened was.
The guy fell to the floor, broke down completely, and I got the impression that they had to curtail the show, he was banging his fists on the floor crying "what have I done? My family ... my family ... what a stupid man!".
It can't be long before someone tops themselves after "losing £35,000" on this format (and imagine the taunting from friends and family you'd have to put up with afterwards). I hope they give contestants counselling after the show.
Fot those not familiar with the game, contestants choose to open boxes numbered 1 to 22 in random order, each of which contains a prize, randomly placed, that range from 1p to £250,000. Each box contains a different prize level, and it's monitored which ones remain unopened.
At various periods in the game, "the banker" (presumably Noel's production assistant) rings Noel to offer the contestant an amount just to end the game there and then - i.e., make an offer to buy the contents of the "final box" to be opened. If the contestant accepts the offer, they carry on opening boxes to see what they would have got - ie would they have got more had they carried on? - but if they refuse all such offers during the game, he or she wins whatever's in the last box opened.
Obviously, this can create some real tension. If the last four boxes are known to contain 1p, £5, £5,000 and £250,000, the likely offer will be about £15,000, and the contestant has to decide whether to carry on, or take the offer at that point.
In this afternoon's, the guy was left with 5 boxes - £500, £750, £50,000, £75,000, and £250,000 - not yet opened.
The banker offered him £35,000. He refused and played on, and opened the £75,000 box.
The offer dropped to £26,000. He refused again and opened the £250,000 box.
The offer dropped to £15,000. The contestant, by now openly crying, desperately decided to carry on again, on the 1 in 3 chance that he might still keep the £50k box to the end. Guess what the next one opened was.
The guy fell to the floor, broke down completely, and I got the impression that they had to curtail the show, he was banging his fists on the floor crying "what have I done? My family ... my family ... what a stupid man!".
It can't be long before someone tops themselves after "losing £35,000" on this format (and imagine the taunting from friends and family you'd have to put up with afterwards). I hope they give contestants counselling after the show.
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