Deal or No Deal (US game show)

This article is about the American primetime version on NBC. For the American daily syndicated version, see Deal or No Deal (U.S. syndicated game show). For other national versions, see Deal or No Deal.
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Deal or No Deal

Deal or No Deal logo.
Format Game show
Created by John de Mol
Presented by Howie Mandel
Starring The Models
The Banker
Narrated by Joe Cipriano
Country of origin  United States
No. of seasons 4
No. of episodes 197
Production
Executive producer(s) Scott St. John
Endemol
Running time 44 minutes (without commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel NBC
Picture format 480i (SDTV)
Original run December 19, 2005 – May 18, 2009
External links
Official website

Deal or No Deal is the American version of the international game show of Dutch origin of the same name. The show was hosted by Howie Mandel, and premiered on December 19, 2005 on National Broadcasting Company (NBC). The hour-long show typically aired at least twice a week during its run, and included special longer or theme episodes. The show started its fourth season on August 25, 2008 after NBC's coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. A daily syndicated half-hour version of the show debuted on September 8, 2008.

The game is primarily unchanged from the international format, and is based on a contestant selecting one briefcase of 26, each containing a cash value from $.01 to $1,000,000. Over the course of the game, the contestant eliminates the other cases in the game, periodically being presented with a "deal" from The Banker to take a cash amount to quit the game. Should the contestant refuse every deal, they win the value of the case selected at the start. Special variations of the game, including a "Million Dollar Mission" introduced in the third season, have also been used, as well as a tie-in with a viewer "Lucky Case Game".

The show has been a success for NBC, typically averaging from 10-16 million viewers each episode in the first season, although the subsequent seasons only averaged about 5-9 million viewers each episode. It has led to the creation of tie-in board, card, and video games, as well as a syndicated series played for smaller dollar amounts.

The show went on hiatus in early 2009, and its Friday night timeslot was replaced with Mandel's other series Howie Do It.[1] It was announced on the show's official site that Deal or No Deal would return with new episodes on Monday, May 4. These remaining four were taped from April to May 2009, and aired on three consecutive Mondays, May 4, May 11, and the final two on May 18.

Reruns of Deal or No Deal from NBC are now on GSN.

Contents

Format

Deal or No Deal is played by one contestant at a time. Prior to each game, 26 dollar amounts ranging from $.01 to $1,000,000, though occasionally special increased boards may be used, are distributed by a third party among 26 briefcases, the values unknown by any other entity. The cases are presented to the contestant by the Deal or No Deal models. The contestant selects one case which is then placed on a podium.

Through a series of rounds, the contestant is asked to select a number of the other cases still in play; each case is opened and the value revealed before it is taken out of play, and a large electronic board is used to track which dollar amounts still remain in the game. After completing the selection of cases for that round, the Banker, a silhouette figure lit only dimly from behind in a box overlooking the stage, will call down to the host using a phone on the podium. The host will then tell the player of the Banker's "deal": a cash value that depends on the values of the cases remaining in play, in exchange for leaving the game. Although the Banker will talk to the host and occasionally the contestant, and is said to calculate the offers, the producers actually calculate the offers.

The host opens a Plexiglas case on the podium containing a button; if the player accepts the deal, he or she presses the button to end the game and win the amount of the deal, otherwise, he or she closes the case and declares "No Deal", requiring the player to continue into the next round.

Each round progressively removes fewer cases from the game; the first round begins with six cases to be removed, the second round with five, and subsequently until the final rounds requiring removing one case at a time. In early rounds, the Banker's offers typically represent a small percentage of the average value of all the remaining cases. From round to round, that percentage generally increases, sometimes exceeding 100% toward the end of the game. Should the player refuse the final offer, with the selected case and one other case left in play, the player is given the opportunity to swap cases, value unseen, and win whatever case they end up keeping at that point. This offer, and its mention when delivering the final offer, is often unaired on television; only three contestants have ever swapped cases, and none in active play. All of them, interestingly enough, would swap for one of the two highest amounts.

If the player takes one of the first eight offers, the host usually encourages the player to play through to the end to see what would have happened, unless time runs short, when the remaining cases are opened all at once. If the game is still in progress when airtime ends, the game carries over, though this was a much rarer occurrence in the second half of the show's run. During the first two seasons, there were even two instances of the revealing of a selected case carried over to the next episode.

After the second round, family and friends of the contestant are usually introduced and are allowed to contribute advice and encouragement to the contestant, including which case to pick next and whether to accept a deal or not. Often, special guest stars are present in the audience, typically related to the contestant's interests or background; for example, Celine Dion appeared and supported a player who was a big fan, while another show featured Big Bird assisting a player who had a childhood fear of the character.

An show typically only features the play of one contestant, but on occasion, contestants that do not finish their game continue into the next show. Several shows have been themed based on the contestant's background, a holiday, or other situation; for example, all the cases were replaced by trash cans when the contestant was a garbage man, and one episode was considered "Ladies' Night", as the regular models were replaced with male firefighters from the Los Angeles and San Diego Fire Departments. In some cases, the Banker will also offer a "special" prize, including both valuable prizes such as vehicles or "dream packages" customized for the contestant as well as gag gifts such as a supply of cotton swabs or donuts, with the offer, and may require an additional stipulation for the deal; in one instance, an additional cash prize was attached to the deal if the contestant would cut off his beard (which he ultimately accepted).

Case values

$0.01
$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


Game formats

Format Manufacturer / Developer
Arcade Game[2] Innovative Concepts in Entertainment, Inc. (ICE)
Board Game[3] Pressman Toy Corporation
Card Game[4] Cardinal Games
DVD Game[5] Imagination Games
Game Boy Advance[6] DSI Games
Handheld Electronic Game[7] i-Toys
Nintendo DS[8] DSI Games
PC Game[9] Cat Daddy Games
PC Game[10] Cat Daddy Games
Plug & Play TV Game[11] Jakks Pacific
Tabletop Electronic Game[12] i-Toys
Talking Pass'n Play Game[13] i-Toys
Video Slot Machine[14] Atronic

Scratch-Off Lottery Tickets

At least twenty-nine states have or had some kind of Deal or No Deal scratch-off ticket (with the top prize determined by each lottery) to the grand prize winner. Non-winning tickets may be used to enter a sweepstakes for a variety of prizes, including a chance to be on the game show. These states include Arizona,[15] Colorado,[16] Connecticut,[17] Delaware,[18] Idaho,[19] Illinois,[20] Indiana,[21] Iowa,[22] Kansas,[23] Maryland,[24] Michigan,[25] Minnesota,[26] Missouri,[27] New Jersey,[28] New Mexico,[29] New York,[30] Ohio,[31] Oregon,[32] Pennsylvania,[33] Rhode Island,[34] South Carolina,[35] South Dakota,[36] Tennessee,[37] Texas,[38] Vermont,[39] Virginia,[40] Washington,[41] West Virginia[42] and Wisconsin[43]

Scheduling and ratings

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Deal or No Deal on NBC.

Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps. All times mentioned are in the Eastern and Pacific time zones.

Season One (2005-2006)

TV Season Timeslot Rank[44] Viewers
(in millions)[44]
2005-2006 Monday 8:00 p.m. #13 15.8
Wednesday 8:00 p.m. #21 14.4
Friday 8:00 p.m. #32 11.6

Early ratings for the show were extremely encouraging. According to Zap2it, "all five shows [during the week beginning 12/19/05 and ending 12/25/05 finished in the top 15 among total viewers, peaking with 14.1 million people watching the Wednesday, 12/21/05 installment. For the week, Deal or No Deal averaged about 12.7 million viewers and a solid 4.3 rating in the adults 18-49."[45]

The show appeared again on NBC each night 2/27/06 through 3/3/06 at 8:00 PM ET/PT 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 3/6/06, the show settled into regular time slots at 8:00 PM Mondays and Fridays, with the top prize returning to its original $1 million. Wednesday episodes were added at 8:00 PM due to the show's consistent ratings success. In something of a ratings coup, the 4/3/06 episode of the show, a two-hour special, out performed the NCAA basketball tournament final in a head-to-head competition. During both of the two-hour shows, the second hour scored even higher ratings than the first.

Since it became a regular series, Deal or No Deal consistently placed within the 20 most popular programs on television, at times attaining the top 10. The 6/5/06 two-hour season finale, which featured Celine Dion via satellite, 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 6/5/06 through 6/11/06, outdistancing the number-two show, a repeat episode of CSI, by almost six million viewers. The finale experienced similar success in Canada, with 1.5 million viewers tuning in.[46][47] (However, CSI 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.)

Season Two (2006-2007)

TV Season Timeslot Rank[48] Viewers
(in millions)[48]
2006-2007 Monday 8:00 p.m. #14 14.9
Friday 8:00 p.m. #33 11.4
Wed/Thu/Sun 8:00 p.m. #41 10.3

The show returned with new episodes in September 2006, airing on Mondays and Fridays at 8:00 pm and Thursdays at 9:00 pm — the latter time slot being perhaps the most competitive in U.S. television, as Deal or No Deal faced a pair of big hit series in the The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) program, CSI, and The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) program, Grey's Anatomy.

Deal's Thursday time slot had initially been intended for Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip when NBC announced its fall schedule. However, the need to protect the new series against stiff ratings competition caused repercussions throughout the network's primetime grid, including a move on May 25[49] of Deal from its announced Friday time slot to Thursdays. The drama Crossing Jordan, which had been planned for a mid-season run, was to be brought into the Friday lineup in what would have been Deal 's second weekly time slot. However, after Deal or No Deal completed airing special episodes in that time slot to success, NBC moved Crossing Jordan back to midseason and used Deal on Fridays as well to help launch a sister series, 1 vs. 100.

The show premiered with a two-hour edition on 9/18/06, and one-hour episodes that each aired on 9/19/06, 9/21/06 and 9/22/06. The show used a $21 million prize pot over the first week to kick off Season Two of the game, coupled with the at-home Lucky Case Game for $1 million. During the season premiere week in 2006, the main game had maximum amounts start at $1 million, and increased $1 million for each game, up to $6 million.[50]

According to final Nielsen ratings for the week of 9/18/06 to 9/24/06, the second-season premiere episode of Deal or No Deal on Monday, 9/18/06 with Matty Sollena was the 11th most-watched network prime time show in total audience and NBC's most-watched program in total audience. The Friday episode of the show also did well in the ratings and won its time slot against the other networks. The Tuesday and Thursday episodes suffered from tough competition: Dancing with the Stars, Grey's Anatomy and CSI.[51]

The success of Deal or No Deal was a factor in NBC's decision to program another Endemol game, 1 vs. 100, which premiered on 10/13/06 and assumed Deal's Friday night time slot on 10/27/06. Meanwhile, NBC announced the Thursday episodes would end with the 11/8/06 episode, to be replaced by sitcoms Scrubs and 30 Rock. Through all these changes, the Monday night edition of Deal continued to win its timeslot by a large margin. On Monday, 10/30/06, for instance, Deal won its time slot with a 10.3 household rating and 16 percent share, easily outdistancing second-place Prison Break at 5.6/8. During the November sweeps period, the ratings for Deal or No Deal on Thursday grew slightly despite heavy competition in the timeslot. NBC moved the second weekly episode of Deal or No Deal to Wednesday at 9 p.m. as of January 2007, and also added a few episodes at 7:00 p.m. Sundays in hopes of giving a boost to its new post-football lineup. NBC announced on 2/16/07 that the second airing would move from Wednesdays to Sundays at 9 p.m. (Eastern/Pacific) starting 3/4/07.

In March, the Monday Deal fell to second place in the time slot, behind the debuting fourth edition of ABC's Dancing with the Stars, the first edition of that show to include a Monday episode.

Season Three (2007-2008)

Following a season-premiere episode on Monday, Deal vacated its stable Monday night home in a last-second decision by NBC to give the timeslot to a drama series, Chuck, for which it had high hopes. (This move contradicted earlier statements from the network that it planned to exclusively use unscripted programming in the 8 PM hour.) Deal moved to a Wednesday/Friday schedule, pushing 1 vs. 100 to midseason. Both airings tended to win their timeslot in total viewers, with the Friday edition also winning in Adults 18-49 and the Wednesday edition placing second in that demographic behind ABC's Pushing Daisies. In another surprising move, NBC replaced the Wednesday airings for five weeks with a short-run reality series, Phenomenon, starting in late October. The new series' initial ratings were lower than what Deal was delivering.

Due to the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike, Deal's Friday edition moved back to Monday in January 2008, at least temporarily replacing Chuck. The Friday time slot was filled by the returning 1 vs.100 for seven episodes. 1 vs. 100 has taken another hiatus as of February 22, 2008, and has been replaced in the same time slot by the game show Amnesia, which premiered after 1 vs. 100 on February 22, 2008.

Season Four (2008-2009)

The fourth season began on August 25, 2008. Howie Mandel has stated that there will be at least one millionaire. The beginning of the fourth season also marked the return of an audience competition; the new "Beat the Banker" game brought back the interactivity from past seasons. Contestants can win $10,000 per show.[52]

The first-ever $1,000,000 prize was awarded to Jessica Robinson during the episode airing September 1, 2008. She was playing during the Million-Dollar Mission, with five $1,000,000 cases. She turned down a final bank offer of $561,000 and decided to keep her case, number 4, to win the $1,000,000.

After Robinson won, the "Million-Dollar Mission" restarted with two $1,000,000 cases on the board, and played until the second $1,000,000 prize was awarded to Tomorrow Rodriguez during the episode airing October 29, 2008, with nine $1,000,000 cases on the board. Her highest offer was $677,000, with three of the four cases still in play at the time holding $1,000,000. By eliminating the $300 case, which was in case number 15, she automatically won the top prize with fewer than nine offers having been made.

As of the October 24, 2008 episode, Coleen Fowler became the 250th contestant in the show's history, including contestants in unaired games.

Deal or No Deal aired its 200th-episode celebration on November 3 with a series of four speed-round games with four different contestants; however, NBC aired this episode out of order, and in reality only 186 episodes had aired at this point.[citation needed]

Six contestants between November 7 - December 29 had a chance to play for $2,000,000. Unlike "Double Deal" episodes, only the $750,000 and $1,000,000 were changed, to $1,000,000 and $2,000,000. Only one contestant, Ashley Otte, would choose this higher top prize; she sold her tray (as for Thanksgiving Day, the cases were changed to trays) for $260,000, and her final hypothetical offer was $1,100,000.

For unexplained reasons the last game in this run (January 2), contained a carryover contestant, Diane Jorgenson. After four months, Season Four continued on May 4 with the remainder of the game, taped separately from the first half. The reasons why this episode was not chosen to finish the previous run are also unknown.

The 273rd and final contestant for Season Four, aired as part of the 2-hour "de facto" series finale the previous night, eliminated all of the values on the right side of the board in 19 picks, received no offers higher than $22,000, and with $300 as the highest prize remaining, sold her $5 case for $100.

Cable

NBC's sister business network, CNBC (The Consumer News and Business Channel), aired episodes of the premiere week of Deal or No Deal starting on 12/26/05, 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 2/6/06 until 6/9/06. CNBC also programmed the second week-long series of the show but the sequence started two shows behind the airings on NBC.

For Season Two, following a marathon of its premiere week, CNBC announced that Deal or No Deal re-airings would be back on Saturday nights starting 10/14/06, at 8:00 pm, 11:00 pm, and 3:00 am Eastern. In addition, Deal reruns aired on CNBC every Tuesday and Wednesday at 8:00 pm, 11:00 pm, and 1:00 am. Currently, the reruns air Tuesday and Thursday nights at 9:00 pm and Saturday nights at 8:00 and 11:00 pm. The reruns are not necessarily repeats of the most-recent episodes—many of these episodes are selected at random, and may have been previously seen several months after its initial broadcast.

In Canada, TVtropolis also airs the series, starting with the February 2006 premiere week of episodes. The five-episode run of Canadian shows were also aired on TVtropolis in August 2007.

Reruns are currently airing on The Game Show Network (GSN)[53]

Production notes

The original pilot was produced for ABC in early 2004 with British TV personality Patrick Kielty as host and a $2.5 million top prize. It was announced that the show would premiere in March 2004, but ABC decided against airing the series.

Season One was taped at Sunset-Gower Studios in Los Angeles; however, early episodes were taped at CBS Television City in Hollywood. Seasons two through four were taped at The Culver Studios. The syndicated season two will be taped at the Sonalysts Studio in Waterford, Connecticut.

Daily version

Main article: Deal or No Deal (U.S. syndicated game show)

A daily half-hour syndicated version debuted on September 8, 2008, with Howie Mandel as host.[54]

The syndicated version has a top prize of $500,000, hidden in one of the 22 cases held by contestants.[55]

The first episode premiered on September 8, 2008.

Originally, Arsenio Hall was supposed to host and even taped the pilot, but when the show premiered, Mandel appeared as host.

Special versions

  • NBC and Endemol had produced a Spanish-language version which debuted 10/8/06 on their Telemundo Spanish language channel. Titled Vas o No Vas ("Go or No Go"), this version was hosted by Héctor Sandarti, who also hosted the Mexican version of the same name for Televisa. The top prize was $250,000.[56] The episode that aired on 11/5/06 saw a contestant win $180,500 and a Ford F-150 for a total of over $200,000, an all-time record for an American-based Spanish-language game show. However, this version was not as successful as the English version — in May 2007, Telemundo announced its cancellation.
  • After the conclusion of Super Bowl XLI on 2/4/07 Global in Canada, Deal or No Deal Canada, a special Canadian version of Deal or No Deal, would debut. This version of the show, taped 1/23/07 to 1/25/07 in Toronto, features Howie, a Toronto native, as host. The series ran for five hour-long episodes.[57] Applications for auditioning were very similar to the NBC version, except that no videos are required.[58] The $400,000 was removed and had a Toonie ($2) put on the left side. Since Howie started filming again in Canada for Howie Do It, rumors have been spreading that Deal or No Deal Canada may be returning as a real Canadian series and even a syndicated Canadian version.
  • Also in Canada, TVA has produced a French-Canadian version of Deal or No Deal called Le Banquier, named after the mysterious figure that contestants must make deals with to obtain as much money as possible. The show, which is practically the same as the US version, has 26 cases with a $500,000 top prize, although there was one game where it was increased to $750,000. The only difference is that the models on the top row (cases 21-26) are men.
  • All US and Canadian editions are produced by Endemol USA, with the US and Canadian English versions both using Scott St. John as Executive Producer and R. Brian DiPirro as Director.

Hiatus

  • In January 2009 the prime-time version was put on hiatus and reruns are now shown on CNBC. TVTropolis stopped showing the prime time and syndicated versions and Mandel has now been working more on his new Canadian-American made show Howie Do It. As previously mentioned, the network version has now been cancelled. However, NBC is putting out casting calls for a new season.

Episodes

Season Four (2008-2009)

As was stated, games have a tendency to be themed around the contestant depending on their info. Howie has stated that they do this "to make the contestant feel comfortable" (and has happened since early in Season Two), however critics have cited an over-reliance by the show on contestant-based "theme" shows.

Date Theme Brief Description
1/1/09 New Year's Day Two-hour special with two side-games to go along with the main game. One side-game had a $10,000 bonus. Nine of the 13 smallest-amount cases had a plaque reading "Happy New Year!" The player would win the bonus by opening all nine "Happy New Year!" cases before the game was over for a chance to walk out of the game with $1,010,000. The other side-game involved a surprise 2009 case, which was a 2009 Ford Flex (valued at $45,190), for the contestant who said "No Deal" until the end. Only the second player of the show Tunde Oyeneyin, a makeup artist originally from Houston, won both the $10,000 bonus and the car, along with her case's amount of $100,000. Also Kimberly Caldwell was a supporter as both were born in the same town. The other contestant Brien Crowder of Antioch (Tenn) won $234,000 and quit with 8 cases left.
12/25/08 Christmas The 2-hour special had snow all across the set, and the set had different color changes during a game except for the bank offer segment. A father of 13 from the Calhoun family rotated rounds with 2 of his children, Gina and Joshua. SSG Matthew Zedwick, a veteran from Oregon, who had received a Purple Heart and a Silver Star, played the game for the second hour.[citation needed]

The models came down to the tune of "Deck the Halls", carried 26 gift boxes in place of the cases (opened in the form of the UK version, but from the side) and gave out 11 gifts at intervals throughout the games, typically between rounds or before breaks, to the lucky audience. For the contestant, a special "reindeer game" was played. Nine of the smallest-amount boxes each contained the name of one of Santa's reindeer (including Rudolph); finding all of them awarded the player $25,000 in addition to whatever he/she won in the main game for a chance to walk out of the game with $1,025,000. Only the second player received this prize, adding it to the $202,000 deal he accepted; the first player took a deal of $107,000 when Vixen ($5, which ended up being in his gift box) and Rudolph ($.01) remained alongside the $400,000 case.[citation needed]
11/21 & 26/08 Thanksgiving The shows were Thanksgiving themed shows that aired just before the Thanksgiving holiday, and the cases were replaced with trays, with a live turkey movie replacing the skyline. On the money board, the bars displaying the money amounts looked like ears of corn. On the second show, contestant Ashley Otte proved that she didn't like turkeys, so the Banker challenged her to live turkeys. That live turkey thing stopped when she sold her $2,000,000 tray; becoming the 20th player to miss the top prize, as well as the second player ever to call to the podium an amount greater than $1,000,000 (The first player, Matthew Sollena picked out $3,000,000 and sold his case for $675,000; that happened on the second episode of the second season. Sollena would have been the biggest winner in game show history off of a single day total.).

Season Three (2007-2008)

Date Theme Brief Description
5/14/08 Around The World #3 The show is moved to South Africa for the third (and final, for unexplained reasons) stop on the "Around The World" special.
5/07/08 Around The World #2 The show is moved to Estonia for the second stop on the "Around The World" special.
5/05/08 Around The World #1 The show is moved to the Philippines for the first stop on the "Around The World" special.
4/28/08 Star Wars Two fans of the Star Wars franchise played for up to $1,000,000 in a winner-take-all episode. The player who had won more money in his/her game took both players' winnings. The models dressed as Stormtroopers and Princess Leia, and Darth Vader filled in as the banker. Carrie Fisher, R2-D2 and Chewbacca all made guest appearances. (Matt Sloan reprised his role Darth Vader from Soulcalibur IV and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Matt Sloan is also from the Chad Vader series, but, he did not appear as Chad Vader himself.)
4/16/08 Spring Break Special #2 Four college students from the Sigma Chi fraternity of USC played together in another Spring Break episode. The models were once again clad in bikinis. The banker was up to his devious tricks again, as he brought out Sigma Chi's rival fraternity midway through the game and made one of the Sigma Chi members swim in oatmeal for an additional $30,000.
4/14/08 Spring Break Special #1 The models wore bikinis and two college students played for the million dollar prize in a special Spring Break episode of Deal or No Deal.
4/9/08 Superheroes Contestant Josh Akuna's love of superhero comics became the focal point of this episode in a number of ways. Midway through the game, the models still holding active cases all changed into matching hero costumes. The Banker was seen in full light for the first time as well, a variant on a hero revealing his secret identity, but he had put on a clown mask to hide his face (and because of Akuna's fear of clowns). Finally, Josh accepted a deal that included a guest appearance in an upcoming issue of the Uncanny X-Men comic series.
3/17/08 Eyeglasses Contestant Linda Gerard, who once sang with Barbra Streisand, has a fetish for bizarre eyeglasses. As an average viewer would expect, Howie and the models all wore glasses similar to hers in her honor, though Howie quickly took his off.
1/23/08 Beauty Pageant The models came out wearing beauty pageant sashes with their names and respective case numbers on them as a way to celebrate contestant Britney Lewzader, a former beauty pageant contestant.
1/21/08 Sanitation Appreciation To make contestant John Buonviaggio, a retired sanitation worker, feel right in his element, the cases were replaced with conventional aluminum trash cans, with the dollars amounts placed underneath their respective lids. A memorable blooper occurred in this game when the lid of can #10 was lifted to reveal a missing dollar amount, which had fallen off the lid and into the can (a similar incident happened on a 2006 episode of the UK version, except the amount fell onto the floor rather than in the box).
1/9/08 Hawaiian To make contestant Brad Falcon, a native of Hawaii, feel right at home, the models wore traditional Hawaiian leis around their necks.
1/7/08 Motocross Contestant Guy Goudeau is a big fan of Motocross racing. For his introduction, Guy came on stage riding his bike. Video clips of Guy racing were shown. And midway through the game, reigning AMA Monster Energy Supercross champion James "Bubba" Stewart came on the show also on his bike to provide Guy with extra moral support.
1/6/08 Groovy 70’s & Radical 80’s This was a two-part theme episode. The first part was dedicated to the 70’s where the entire set was transformed to look like a disco club, the models were dressed in "groovy" disco suits, and Howie bared his chest. Contestant Nick Abdullah, who is a big disco fan himself, also dressed in his formal disco suit. The second part was dedicated to the 80’s. Again, the set was transformed to look like a retro club, and the models were dressed in "totally cool" retro outfits. In addition, 80’s superstars Deborah Gibson & Corey Feldman appeared as supporters for contestant Teresa Troglio, a self-proclaimed child of the 80’s.
1/3/08 Pigs Contestant Heather McKee, a pig farmer from Oklahoma, is all about pigs. She brought along her personal piggy bank with the anticipation of filling it with a million dollars. When the Banker asked to see her piggy bank, he cruelly smashed it to pieces. Feeling down about what just happened, the show wanted to cheer Heather up and make her feel as if she was back on the farm. So they empty out the audience sitting in one of the pit areas, and transformed it into a pig stable. In keeping with the theme, the models had their hair in pigtails. And as a joke, Howie also had some fake pigtails that he put on for a second before giving them to one of Heather’s supporters. After her game, and on the official Deal or No Deal website, Heather’s piggy bank, which was thought to be broken by the Banker, was not broken after all, and was returned to Heather at the very end.
12/25/07 Christmas The set was filled with decorations associated with the holiday season. The models wore fashionable Christmas attire, and held Christmas-wrapped cases. And Howie surprised the audience by giving out 12 gifts in his Twelve Days of Christmas' Gift Giving.
12/11/07 Broadway Musicals This theme was part of a bigger theme on Deal or No Deal called What's the Deal? week. Contestant Mary Banford is a huge fan of Broadway Musicals. So to make her feel comfortable, the audience in both sides of the pit area was replaced by a Broadway orchestra which played short numbers depending on how her game progressed. Also the stage lights were fixed to give a dramatic Broadway feel to the game. Mary said “Deal” to the ultimate fan experience of her favorite musical Wicked.
12/10/07 Boxing This theme was part of a bigger theme on Deal or No Deal called What's the Deal? week. Contestant Eric Serpico is a huge fan of boxing. So as a treat, famed boxing announcer Michael Buffer was introduced to get Eric’s game off to a great start. Midway through the game, boxer Sugar Ray Leonard appeared on the show to provide moral support for Eric.
12/7/07 Summer in December The set was transformed to look like a beach. The models were clad in fashionable beachwear while Howie was in a black shirt and swim trunks.
11/21/07 Thanksgiving The set was filled with decorations associated with Thanksgiving. In addition, a giant pumpkin pie was placed in the pit area where the audiences normally sit, right in-front of the large visual display board. And throughout the episode, Deal or No Deal presented its Top Ten Greatest Moments in show history.
11/9/07 Green Week and Boy Bands The Green Week episode was part of NBC’s week long Green is Universal campaign. The models wore green dresses made from recycled parachutes. Green information & tips were given out periodically throughout the show. Also the ultimate green celebrity, Kermit the Frog, appeared as one of contestant Danny Pecoraro’s supporters. Danny, who used to be part of a boy band, had videos of his boy-band days exposed to by the Banker, with no success of bringing him down. Midway through the game, the Banker then assembled a boy band that he appropriately called The Banker Boyz to hopefully get Danny to accept one of his offers.
10/19/07 Breast Cancer Awareness October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. To celebrate, the models wore pink dresses, and held pink cases. Howie did his part by slipping on a pair of pink socks. And breast cancer survivor Ashlee Mundy was the contestant on this special episode. Besides her supporters, joining Ashlee in her fight against breast cancer, and the quest for a million dollars were Sharon Osbourne, Alec Baldwin, and Elizabeth Edwards (the wife of 2008 Presidential candidate John Edwards).
9/28/07 Family Night In the first part of the Family Night episode, contestant Charlene Miranda’s son Ayden was introduced, and assisted Howie with hosting duties. In the second part, the Drew Family became the first family to play for a million dollars at the same time.
9/19/07 NFL Contestant George Barnes is the ultimate NFL fan. So as a surprise, the entire Deal or No Deal set was decorated with logos and decals of NFL teams, while the models sported team jerseys. Besides his supporters, joining him in his quest for a million dollars were NFL greats Jerry Rice, Marcus Allen, Eric Dickerson, Kordell Stewart, Wayne Chrebet, Terrell Davis, Rod Woodson and Marshall Faulk.

Season Two (2006-2007)

Date Theme Brief Description
6/18/07 Laurel Martin To tie a particular theme to contestant Laurel Martin was not possible. Therefore, the contestant herself was the theme in the Season-Two Finale of Deal or No Deal. Laurel Martin, a preschool teacher, has three important loves in her life. Number one is family. Number two is action movies. And number three is the color red. For the family part, Laurel brought every family member of hers to her game. In the middle of her game, personal family portraits were blown up and displayed all through the stage area. For the action movie part, actor Danny Glover made a personal guest appearance on the show since teachers are near-and-dear to Danny’s heart, and he is most well-known as Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon series of action films, of which Laurel loves. Finally for the color red, the remaining models changed into red dresses.
6/13/07 Miami Heat & Calypso Two themes were incorporated for contestant Arthur Joseph, a proud native of Trinidad and Tobago who is a super fan of the Miami Heat basketball team. So to make him feel comfortable, the models came out sporting Heat jerseys. And in his introduction, a steelpan Calypso group led Arthur and his supporters out to the stage. The group would continue to play during commercial breaks and at the end when Arthur’s game was finished. Arthur said “Deal” to the ultimate Miami Heat experience, which among its many perks included the Heat organization going to his native country of Trinidad and Tobago and refurbishing one basketball court with the Heat logo on it in his honor.
6/5/07 Deal or No Deal at Home The first round of this particular game was played at the home of contestant Mary Mirolla before returning to the regular stage for the remainder of the game.
5/21/07 Heroes This theme was part of a bigger theme that night on NBC as the hit drama itself, Heroes, followed Deal or No Deal that night as it has been every Monday night during the 2006-2007 season. In this episode, the contestant was Wesley Autrey, a real life hero from New York who saved a man from being run over by a subway train. Service officers who were awarded for their act bravery also took part in Wesley’s game as supporters and briefcase holders along side the models.
5/7/07 The 100th Episode The stage was set, and past contestants (including some of the biggest winners ever) came back for the 100th episode of Deal or No Deal. Jay Leno, Regis Philbin, and Ozzy Osbourne made cameo appearances via satellite to congratulate Howie and the show. The lucky contestant for this special occasion was Brooks Leach, who became the first contestant to play the game twice, and was one of the most entertaining contestants in show history. Previously, Brooks appeared on the 11/27/06 episode going all the way in his game, but went home with only $10 despite being offered numerous six-figure amounts from the Banker. For the record, Brooks again went all the way in his second game but has only $400 to show for his effort.
5/6/07 Mardi Gras Contestant Julie Lonero is a native of New Orleans. So to make her feel right at home, the set was filled with decorations associated with the Mardi Gras. Among the decorations was a giant parade float of Howie’s head which stood at the very top of the models' temple.
3/19/07 Ladies' Night For this episode, everybody in the audience was female. Even the models took the night off and sat with the audience, as firefighters from the Los Angeles and San Diego Fire Departments guest star as briefcase models in this special Ladies Night edition of Deal or No Deal.
3/12/07 High School Prom Night Contestant Jessica Howard made it known on the show that she never went to her high school prom. So as a consolation, Deal or No Deal set up a prom-like atmosphere early on in the game, and rushed her backstage during commercial break to prep her for a night she will never forget. Her prom date for this special occasion was her husband.
3/12/07 Military Night A festive military atmosphere was the theme for this game as members from each branch of the military came to Deal or No Deal to cheer on and salute contestant General Hugh Neisler.
3/5/07 Afros To honor contestant Anteia Greer, who is "all about the fro", the models wore pink afro wigs to go with their pink dresses midway through the game. Hayley Marie Norman was the only model not wearing a wig for obvious reasons. (On the other hand, models on other international versions of the show do wear wigs regularly, such as Australia's version or the Netherlands' Miljoenenjacht.)
3/4/07 World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Contestant Rick Achberger is a huge fan of the WWE. He is best known in that community as the Sign Guy for his signature clothing attire (blue working man’s shirt and red cap) and the numerous poster-board signs that he brings to every WWE event he attends. In typical Sign Guy fashion, Rick came on Deal or No Deal as if it was another WWE event wearing the same clothing and bringing numerous signs that he made personally for the show. And if that wasn't enough, wrestling superstars Randy Orton and Edge came on the show as the Banker's henchmen aiming to take down Rick, while John Cena and Bobby Lashley came on to support Rick in his quest for the million dollars.
2/21/07 Greek Celebration Contestant Dimitra Apostolopoulos is a Greek woman who is proud of her heritage. So as a way of celebrating the Greeks, stacks of dishes were setup by the supporters’ area. And every time Dimitra opened a small amount, in typical Greek fashion, she and her supporters broke dishes in celebration. OPA!!! Even Howie joined in on the fun on one occasion, but he continuously had trouble saying Dimitra’s last name. So as a way to compensate, he asked model Patricia Kara, who is also Greek, to stick around for the whole game to help him with the pronunciation.
2/12/07 America and "Go Red for Women" Movement Two themes were incorporated in this episode. The first theme was for contestant Donato DeMarinis, an epitome of a true American, who came on the show wearing an American flag looking jacket and glittery red, white & blue shoes. To honor Donato, a large American flag was hung from the rafters above the models' temple. The second theme was the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women Movement, which was sponsor by the Campbell Soup Company and their Healthy Request Soups. Their goal was to fight heart disease among women. The models wore Campbell-Soup red dresses. And for one week after the episode aired, these dresses were auctioned off online, and all the proceeds went to American Heart Association for this particular cause.
1/31/07 Bass Fishing One of contestant Will Edmond, Jr. favorite hobbies is bass fishing. The next time he appeared on Deal or No Deal, he brought along a fresh bass for Howie, which he hesitantly held, then brought it towards the models to show off before putting it on the floor where the models too were standing. One of the Banker’s offers to Will was a bass boat and an all expense paid trip to fish with Bassmaster Roland Martin.
1/24/07 Live Music Contestant Jackie Monroe is a huge fan of live music. So as a surprise, part of the set was transformed to look like a live concert venue with musical instruments and everything. As an even bigger surprise, Jackie’s favorite band, Hanson, came on the show to support her in her quest for a million dollars.
1/22/07 NASCAR Contestant Charlyn Speth is a big fan of NASCAR. Therefore, the regular silver cases were replaced with checkered flag ones in her honor.
1/07/07 Grease This episode was a precursor to NBC’s newest reality TV competition Grease: You're the One that I Want!. Besides that, Grease was also contestant Kathy Beck’s favorite movie, claiming to have seen it over 300 times. Throughout the game, the models wore two different outfits from the movie. First one was a poodle skirt, and the second was a tight black T-Bird outfit. Grease star Olivia Newton-John even made a call-in appearance to the show.
1/3/07 The Color Orange Contestant Tommy Terpening is a huge fan of the color orange. Therefore the models wore orange dresses in his honor.
12/25/06 Christmas The set was filled with decorations associated with the holiday season. The models wore red holiday dresses, and held Christmas wrapped cases. Even Santa stopped by to give gifts to members of the audience.
12/18/06 Chuck Taylor All-Stars Shoes Contestant Brian Miller is a big fan of the Converse’s Chuck Taylor All-Stars shoes, even got married in them. Therefore Howie and the models all wore the Chuck Taylor All-Stars in his honor.
11/23/06 Thanksgiving The set was filled with decorations associated with Thanksgiving, and the models had on shimmering autumn-colored dresses.
11/20/06 Lime Green Anything on Deal or No Deal that could turn lime green was turn into lime green. From the models' dresses, their cases, Howie’s dress shirt, his shoes, the whole stage lights, the visual displays, and even the "Deal" button. They were done for contestant Zanny Henseler, the self-proclaimed "Lime-Green Queen". Zanny said "Deal" after the Banker offered her a 2007 lime green Cadillac Escalade, her dream car.
10/19/06 Animals Contestant Jed Dodds, a zookeeper by trade, brought along some of his four-legged, feathery and furry friends to Deal or No Deal, much to the discomfort of Howie. In one of the Banker’s offers, he got somebody who he said could "speak Jed's language", and hopefully convince him to take one of his deal. That somebody was a chimp all dressed up in a suit and tie.
10/13/06 USPS Halfway through the game the remaining models changed into United States Postal Service (USPS) uniforms for contestant Jim Maida, a postal employee.
10/5/06 The Deal or No Deal Models Contestant Latoshia Odom admired the models, and wished she could be one of them. So the next time she appeared on the show, she got her wish. She came out wearing the same dress that her model counterparts were wearing for her game. One of the Banker's offers to Latoshia was a souvenir Case #27 along with a cash offer of $83,000.

Season One (2005-2006)

Date Theme Brief Description
4/12/06 Miss USA 26 delegates from the Miss USA 2006 appeared as models for this special episode.

Top Ten Greatest Moments (11/21/07)

The Thanksgiving 2007 episode featured a list of the top ten greatest moments in the show’s history dating from the series first episode up until this particular point. The moments are as followed:

Rank Moment
10. Contestant Zanny Henseler is offered her dream car from the Banker, a 2007 lime green Cadillac Escalade, an offer Zanny enthusiastically accepts.
9. Contestant Anteia Greer anxiously awaits the offer of $189,000, to which she then stumbles to the floor in disbelief.
8. Deal or No Deal is on location at the house of contestant Mary Mirolla.
7. Contestant Lauren Potter and her family are in for a big surprise family reunion as one of the models is actually Lauren's sister holding Case #21.
6. Contestant Michele Falco becomes the biggest winner to date on Deal or No Deal winning $750,000. She is now surpassed by Jessica Robinson and Tomorrow Rodriguez winning the $1,000,000.
5. Contestant Charlene Miranda's son Ayden helps Howie out with hosting duties.
4. Contestant Malaika Merrick gets proposed to on Deal or No Deal.
3. Contestant Nondumiso Sainsbury gets a surprised family reunion from her brothers and most importantly her mother all the way from South Africa.
2. Deal or No Deal goes to The Oprah Winfrey Show.
1. Contestant Casey Bell is surprised by her favorite singer, Celine Dion.

Howie's Twelve Days of Christmas (12/25/07)

A new spin was put on the classic Christmas carol The Twelve Days of Christmas for the Christmas 2007 episode, as Howie presented twelve different gifts to each member of the audience, while the models pass them out. The list of gifts is as followed:

Gift # Item
1. Deal or No Deal Howie Talking Bobblehead Doll.
2. $200 and tickets to Nickelodeon Movies’ The Spiderwick Chronicles.
3. Nintendo DS System featuring Brain Age 2 and DSI Games' Deal or No Deal.
4. Digital photo frame courtesy of Aluratek.
5. Roomba Robotic Vacuum Cleaner courtesy of iRobot.
6. A $100 gift card to BP service stations.
7. Archos 605 Wi-Fi Portable Media Player.
8. Ultreo ultrasound toothbrush.
9. Backstage pass to Universal Studios Hollywood.
10. Palm Treo 750 Windows mobile phone with 30 days of unlimited service from AT&T.
11. Plantronics Discovery 665 Bluetooth headset.
12. Round-trip airplane ticket courtesy of JetBlue Airways.

Gifts of Christmas 2006 (12/25/06)

Not to be outdone, the Christmas 2006 episode also featured gifts for the audience members. The list of these gifts is as followed:

Gift # Item
Grand Prize 1 A 50-inch Plasma-Screen TV, Laptop Computer, and an Apple iPod Video courtesy of PriceGrabber.com.^
Grand Prize 2 A trip for 4 for a five-night stay at the Radisson Resort Spa & Casino in Aruba courtesy of JetBlue Airways.^
3. A penny, courtesy of the Banker.
4. A digital camera courtesy of MyPoints.com.
5. Hasbro’s Itsy-Bitsy Spider-Man Dancing Plush Doll, plus a $100 gift card to HasbroToyShop.com.
6. A year-long subscription to Netflix.
7. A year-long membership to Bally Total Fitness.
8. A gift bag featuring a round-trip certificate courtesy of JetBlue Airways.
9. A $100 gift card to Albertsons.

^ For each grand prize, only two members of the studio audience went home with these gifts as the winners were determined by small gift boxes placed underneath each audience members' respective seats. The audience members whose boxes had a piece of paper with the word "Deal" inside went home with the Grand Prize.

The Banker's "Special Offers"

The Banker sometimes encourages contestants to sell their cases by offering prizes, sometimes worth tens of thousands of dollars, in addition to or in lieu of a cash offer.

Season Four (2008-2009)

Date Contestant Prize(s) Value Additional Cash Offer Grand Total Deal or No Deal
12/29/2008 Davon Clark An admission to training camp for the Los Angeles Lakers in Hawaii with 2 preseason games, two tickets to two home games next season, and a chance to hang out with Kobe Bryant after a game, with a pair of autographed Nike shoes $5,000 $383,000 $388,000 Deal
10/31/08 Vinny LaSalvia "1983 Chevy Chevette" $4,000 $4,000 $8,000 No Deal
9/01/08 Jessica Robinson "Texas soil" (sand and manure) $0 $85,000 $85,000 No Deal
8/25/08 Koshka Blagburn* A Biggest Loser package, including a lifetime membership to the club, and a personal training session with Jillian Michaels $17,500 $95,000 $112,500 No Deal

* Koshka was also given an incentive by the Banker: if she rejected all her offers, and accepted one of the final two cases, she would win, in addition to whatever her case held, a trip to New York to audition for famed casting director Bernard Telsey, and given a walk-on role for the Broadway musical Hairspray. Blagburn did so and won $5,000 plus the trip—but would have won $1,000,000 had she switched cases.

Season Three (2007-2008)

Date Contestant Prize(s) Value Additional Cash Offer Grand Total Deal or No Deal
5/14/08 Allison Doheny Trip to New York to visit Martha Stewart and Stewart's staff wedding planner $3,200 $22,000 $25,200+++ Deal
4/21/08 LeTia Soney Dinner and a private lesson with Billy Blanks and an appearance in a Tae-Bo video $5,100 $15,000 $20,100 Deal++
4/14/08 Kerinne Bratty A date with Lindsay Clubine for her brother $5,000 $93,000 $98,000 No Deal
4/9/08 Josh Akuna Being immortalized in a Marvel comic No value mentioned $189,000 $189,000 Deal
3/10/08 Carla Antonino Being moved out of her parents' house (her belongings were being packed up) no value mentioned $53,000 $53,000 No Deal^
1/23/08 Britney Lewzader A lifetime supply of cotton swabs $3,000 $365,000 $368,000 No Deal
1/14/08 Margarita Montijo Flying lessons $15,000 $40,000 $55,000 Deal
1/9/08 Brad Falcon Additional cash for cutting his beard (three different occasions) $5,000; $10,000; $25,000 $172,000; $153,000; $235,000 respectively $177,000; $163,000; $260,000 Deal (on $260,000)
12/11/07 Mary Banford A dream package to the Tony Award-winning musical Wicked $12,000 $50,000 $62,000 Deal
9/19/07 George Barnes An Indianapolis Colts dream package, plus a 2008 GMC Denali $66,900 $50,000 $116,900 No Deal+

^After Carla rejected the offer, her belongings were dumped onto the floor. +After George rejected the offer, the GMC Denali was awarded to a random person in the audience. ++At the end of the show, LeTia played the Deal Wheel and doubled the total value of the deal to $40,200. +++Doheny also received an extra $10,000 from the South African Banker for eating five mopani worms, making the total deal value $35,200.

Season Two (2006-2007)

Date Contestant Prize(s) Value Additional Cash Offer Grand Total Deal or No Deal
6/13/07 Arthur Joseph A Miami Heat dream package $60,700 $10,000 $70,700 Deal
6/5/07 Mary Mirolla An all-expense paid trip to see The Wiggles perform in concert in Brisbane, Australia $17,174 $0 $17,174 No Deal
4/2/07 Jamar White A VIP audition for NBC’s reality series Last Comic Standing $0 $35,000 $35,000 No Deal
3/26/07 Stan Stava A date with the sister of model Lisa Gleave (in reality, a man dressed in drag) $0 $87,000 $87,000 No Deal
3/19/07 Annie Hewlett & Aubrey Wentworth A lifetime supply of Doublemint gum $4,250 $27,000 $31,250 Deal
3/11/07 Uzma Lone A sleeping bag & pillow (for the contestant’s mother) $10 $53,000 $53,010 No Deal
3/5/07 Anteia Greer A car door with power windows & locks $2,350 $101,000 $103,350 No Deal
2/14/07 Kate Miller A credit card with a $36,000 credit line $36,000 $0 $36,000 No Deal
1/31/07 Will Edmond Jr. A 2007 Ranger V-288 Bass Boat, plus an all-expense paid trip to Lake Okeechobee to fish with Bassmasters legend Roland Martin $38,350 $77,000 $115,350 No Deal
1/7/07 Kathy Beck A large vat of grease (for a fan of Grease) $300 $10,000 $10,300 No Deal
11/27/06 Brooks Leach A lifetime supply of Sprecher Root Beer $26,657.28 $0 $26,657.28 Deal
11/23/06 Becky Spears The pleasure of seeing Howie pie the Banker $0 $17,000 $17,000 No Deal^
11/20/06 Zanny Henseler A 2007 Lime Green Cadillac Escalade $83,755 $0 $83,755 Deal
11/17/06 Zanny Henseler 658,500 aluminum cans $20,000 $0 $20,000 No Deal
11/13/06 Peter Shine Two dozen doughnuts+ no value mentioned $136,000 $136,000 Deal
10/16/06 Tammy Fuller A New York Jets dream package $28,800 $70,000 $98,800 No Deal
10/12/06 PJ Dykes A Massey Ferguson tractor $33,620 $155,000 $188,620 No Deal
10/5/06 Latoshia Odom A model’s case, numbered 27 no value mentioned $83,000 $83,000 No Deal

^Howie went ahead and pied the Banker anyway after the game was over. +In reality, only 1 dozen donuts were shown in the case (6 on the top, 6 on the bottom)

Season One (2005-2006)

Date Contestant Prize(s) Value Additional Cash Offer Grand Total Deal or No Deal
5/15/06 Renee Stokes A Harley-Davidson motorcycle $18,000 $99,000 $117,000 No Deal
5/1/06 Randy Smith A Dallas Cowboys dream package for his entire family (tickets to every home game in the 2006 season, with all expenses paid to and from Dallas) $40,000 $0 $40,000 No Deal
4/26/06 LaKissa Bright A hair transplant (for the contestant's husband) $15,000 $134,000 $149,000 No Deal
4/5/06 Hans Hartleben A pony (for the contestant’s daughter) no value mentioned $44,000 $44,000 Deal
3/30/06 Michael Wallace A 2006 Hummer H3 $40,000 $17,000 $57,000 No Deal

Special Guest Stars

Occasionally special guest stars would make appearances on Deal or No Deal. Most of the time, they were there to provide support to contestants who are big fan of theirs. The list of stars is as followed:

Season Four (2008-2009)

Date Guest Star(s) Contestant Appearing For Additional Information
1/1/09 Kimberly Caldwell Tunde Oyeneyin Was a supporter for Tunde as both are from the same city in Houston, Texas.
12/29/08 Kobe Bryant Davon Clark Kobe called into the studio to present to him a special offer that he enthusiastically accepts.
11/14/08 Tony Hawk Robert Arellano
8/25/08 Aretha Franklin Koshka Blagburn The singer called into the studio to wish Koshka, an aspiring actress good luck in the game and when she makes it on Broadway.

Season Three (2007-2008)

Date Guest Star(s) Contestant Appearing For Additional Information
4/28/08 Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia, Chewbacca (as portrayed by Peter Mayhew), Matt Sloan as Darth Vader, and R2-D2 (as portrayed by Kenny Baker) Elyse McCrillis, Brad Flinchum The Star Wars cast made an appearance to help two contestants who are fans of the franchise. In addition, Darth Vader is the special guest Banker for that episode.
4/21/08 President George W. Bush Capt. Joseph Kobes President Bush made an appearance in a taped message for the contestant, a US Army transportation officer and Purple Heart and Bronze Star recipient who had served three tours of duty in Iraq.[59][60]
2/27/08 Cedric the Entertainer Larren Colum The actor-comedian paid a visit to the show to support Larren, and brought along his own pair of boxer-shorts considering it was a good luck charm to the contestant.
1/16/08 Ellen DeGeneres and Brigadier General Dana J.H. Pittard Shequila Farrelly Ellen became the first celebrity on Deal or No Deal to appear as a model. General Pittard appeared on the show to present Shequila, a dedicated army wife, the Commanding General's Coin.
1/7/08 James "Bubba" Stewart (Motocross) Guy Goudeau The AMA Monster Energy Supercross Series champion rider appeared on the show riding his bike.
1/6/08 Deborah Gibson and Corey Feldman Teresa Troglio These 80's superstars appeared on the show as part of the 80’s theme episode.
12/25/07 Da Brat The rapper was spotted sitting in the audience. She did not appear for a particular contestant.[citation needed]
12/12/07 Brian Baumgartner, Angela Kinsey and Oscar Nuñez Anthony Moreira The accountants from NBC's hit show The Office made their appearances on Deal or No Deal.
12/11/07 Megan Hilty Mary Banford The star of the Tony Award winning musical, Wicked, appeared on Deal or No Deal to offer Mary the ultimate fan experience to the successful musical.
11/9/07 Kermit the Frog (performed by Steve Whitmire) Danny Pecoraro The famous Muppet appeared as part of Green Week on the show. Danny happens to be a fan of the famous frog.
10/19/07 Sharon Osbourne, Alec Baldwin and Elizabeth Edwards Ashlee Mundy Sharon appeared in person, while Alec and Elizabeth appeared via satellite on the Breast Cancer Awareness episode.
9/19/07 Jerry Rice, Marcus Allen, Eric Dickerson, Kordell Stewart, Wayne Chrebet, Terrell Davis, Rod Woodson, Marshall Faulk George Barnes These NFL greats all appeared in the special NFL episode.
9/17/07 Donald Trump Donna DiBiase For the second time Trump appeared on the show, this time as the Banker for the Season Three premiere.
UNAIRED LeAnn Rimes Halie Swan The country music star made an appearance on the show to support Halie. This episode was to be aired in Fall 2007 as the original first game of the first "Million-Dollar Mission". In that episode, Halie eliminated the two $1,000,000 cases she had in the first round of play. As a result, the producers felt the episode was a bad start to the mission and ultimately decided against airing this episode. Halie nevertheless was able to keep the $50,000 that she won on the show. To this date, this particular episode has not been officially aired on NBC.[61]

Season Two (2006-2007)

Date Guest Star(s) Contestant Appearing For Additional Information
6/18/07 Danny Glover Laurel Martin The famous actor has a soft spot for educators. Therefore, he made a personal cameo appearance in the Season Two finale to praise Laurel, a preschool teacher.
6/13/07 Fred Armisen Jesse Puttananickal The Saturday Night Live star appeared on the show dressed as a live-action version of Deal Man, a cartoon character drawn up by Jesse.
6/13/07 Dwyane Wade Arthur Joseph One of the Banker’s offer was the ultimate Miami Heat fan package, which he had the Heat superstar introduced in a pre-recorded segment.
6/5/07 The Wiggles Mary Mirolla The children's musical group appeared from Mary’s house to present her the Banker’s first offer, which involved them. They were also present in the audience when the game moved from Mary's house to the studio.
5/7/07 Jay Leno, Regis Philbin, and Ozzy Osbourne Brooks Leach For the second time, both talk show hosts appeared on the show. It was Ozzy’s first. All three appeared via satellite to congratulate the show on its 100th episode. Ozzy also wanted to wish one of his best fans, Brooks, the best of luck on his second game, or else he will "kick his butt".
5/6/07 Larry King Julie Lonero The famous CNN talk show host appeared as the Banker before walking out of the booth, and giving up his duties to the regular Banker in the middle of the game.
4/2/07 Bill Bellamy Jamar White The host of NBC’s hit reality competition show Last Comic Standing appeared on the show to offer Jamar, an aspiring comedian, a private audition to the show.
3/19/07 Martin Mullen and Matthew Mullen Annie Hewlett and Aubrey Wentworth The firefighters and stars of the 2006 NBC reality competition show, Treasure Hunters, appeared along with 24 other firefighters in this special Ladies Night edition.
3/4/07 John Cena, Bobby Lashley, Randy Orton, and Edge Rick Achberger These four wrestling superstars came on the show to create mayhem for Rick, better known as the Sign Guy.
2/26/07 Joe Torre Wayne Ramos Torre, who was then the New York Yankees manager, appeared on the show via satellite to give words of encouragement to Wayne.
2/18/07 Dick Butkus and Scottie Pippen Tony Kolton These two Chicago sports icons appeared on the show to support Tony, a Chicago native.
2/12/07 Bobby Generic Donato DeMarinis Better known as Bobby from Bobby's World (of which Mandel created and starred in), he appeared as a cameo for Donato, who is a big fan, and asked the all-important question - "Deal or No Deal?"
2/5/07 Flavio Insinna Giuseppe Iannello Giuseppe, who is originally from Italy, is a fan of that country's version of Deal, Affari Tuoi. Therefore via satellite, Howie surprised him with a greeting from their then-host of the show. Max Giusti is the current host.
2/5/07 Magic Johnson Vicki Montzingo The former Los Angeles Lakers basketball player appeared on the show to give advice to Vicki in regards to the Banker’s offers.
1/31/07 Roland Martin Will Edmond, Jr. The Bassmaster appeared on the show on a brand new boat that was wheeled out by the models. Martin was part of a Banker's offer to Will, a bass-fishing fanatic.
1/24/07 Hanson Jackie Monroe A surprise visit was made from Jackie’s favorite band midway through the show for moral support.
1/7/07 Olivia Newton-John Kathy Beck The star of Grease made a phone-in appearance to the show to give words of encouragement to Kathy.
12/25/06 Big Bird Lamar Wilson The Sesame Street star came on the show to support Lamar, and also to help him overcome a childhood fear he had of him.
11/23/06 Bob Costas, Cris Collinsworth, Sterling Sharpe, and Jerome Bettis Joe Kaiser The cast of NBC's Football Night in America appeared via satellite to wish Joe the best of luck in his quest for a million dollars.

Season One (2005-2006)

Date Guest Star(s) Contestant Appearing For Additional Information
6/5/06 Celine Dion Casey Bell The multi-platinum singer made a surprise guest appearance via satellite to support Casey, a huge fan who went on to see Celine performed live in Las Vegas.
5/22/06 Ben Roethlisberger Jeff Griffiths The Pittsburgh Steelers Pro Bowl quarterback made his appearance via satellite to coach Jeff, a Steelers fan, through his game.
5/15/06 Jay Leno Renee Stokes The Tonight Show host entered the set with a brand-new Harley-Davidson that he presented to Renee.
5/15/06 Regis Philbin Lauren Potter The host of Live with Regis and Kelly and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? made an appearance on Deal, most importantly, to get the "final answer" from Lauren.
5/12/06 Matt Lauer Chad Pritchard Chad, an alumnus of Ohio University, got some words of encouragement from the host of The Today Show, who is also an alumnus.
4/12/06 26 Delegates from the Miss USA 2006 Pageant Bryan Kennedy The delegates guest starred as briefcase models in this special Miss USA edition.
3/20/06 Riley Mandel Brett Sloan The daughter of the host appeared for her dad as a model in this special Take Our Daughter to Work Day edition.
3/6/06 Nunzio Patrick Maritato The Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) star came on the show to support his brother Patrick.
3/3/06 Molly Sims This particular episode was a crossover to the hit NBC show Las Vegas. Sims, who plays Delinda Deline on the show, appeared on the Deal or No Deal set as her character to grab Howie for his plane to Vegas. The two then leave the stage, and head off in slow motion while the others remain behind. Howie was a guest star that night on Las Vegas. That was the reason for the crossover.
2/27/06 Donald Trump Peter Montesanti The billionaire real-estate developer and host of NBC’s hit reality series The Apprentice becomes the first guest star to appear on the show, giving Peter some expert dealing advice.

References

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