TV: Deal or No Deal

At 16:15, Deal or No Deal?

Deal.



Since November (only a couple of months behind everyone else, not bad for me) I've been getting my fix of Endemol's new hit show Deal or No Deal. If you haven't tuned in yet, it's like watching a game of poker. The rules seem simple but there are far deeper elements at play than just choosing boxes and trying to avoid revealing the big numbers. It has the same elements of luck and strategy as poker, plus you're up against another player who is trying to break you.

I didn't believe that last part when I first started watching the show - the unseen banker who offers you sums of money over a telephone is surely choosing the sums based on risk analysis? But in the episodes from the middle of January it has become clear that he thinks he can buy some players out more cheaply than others, while forcing gamblers to play on and lose everything with unexpected low offers. Witness Robbie being wowed by an opening offer of £7,000+, completely blowing his poker face by making out that was a big deal, and never getting the kind of high offer he should have in later rounds. He managed to turn the strongest board the game has ever seen into just £5,500 by showing weakness. I'd love to sit down at a poker table with him.

Matt Chapman is available to write TV reviews.