Deal or No Deal Season 5 Review: Weeks 9 & 10 (Oct 19 - Nov 1)

Welcome to the fifth instalment of this review of the fifth season of Deal or No Deal, which includes the first of the special weeks, Halloween.

Week 9

The Banker described Laura from Durham perfectly: ‘she’s like honey covered in candy floss, because it makes you puke.’ She brought a soft toy duck called Harold with her, and it became part of the game at eight-box when the Banker said he would double the offer from £8,000 to £16,000 if she gave him Harold so he could decapitate him. Laura refused the offer and played on. At five-box with £35k and £20k being the only good amounts left, Laura turned down £5,000 and it proved to be a great decision as the two good amounts stayed to the end. The Banker whipped out his ‘old faithful’ £26,000 but it didn’t work on Laura, who went on to become the first person in season 5 to go to the end and win a power five sum!

Greek Cypriot Nicholas was YET ANOTHER HAIRDRESSER! Seriously, in a couple of years’ time everyone in the hair industry will have been on this show. Anyway, despite jumping around the studio like a maniac Nicholas wasn’t having the luckiest of games and by the second break the power five had been wiped out. With £20k, £5k and three blues left at five-box, Nicholas dealt at £3,000. However, the two reds happened to stay to the end and Nicholas could have won £11,000. Some could say it was shear bad luck.

Despite being an old dear, Bessie clearly wasn’t providing Noel with an enjoyable game, as he was even forced to revive the dreaded blue chant (which didn’t work by the way). At five-box, Bessie had £75k and four blues remaining, so the Banker predictably told her that she may have an offer after every box in the next round. Bessie dealt at a three-box offer of £17,500, but when a blue then went, she was offered the Banker’s Gamble, hence rendering a No Deal at that £17,500 offer completely pointless! Bessie didn’t take the Gamble, but it was still a shambles of a game.

Carol’s game wasn’t proving all that exciting (Noel had resorted to randomly asking players where they were from), so when it transpired she was a Status Quo fan there was a predictable outburst of puns which none of the younger viewers got. At eight-box, the Banker offered Carol £22,000, but after some negotiations, he raised it to £26,000. After dealing at that, Carol revealed that she would have taken the £22,000, hence infuriating the Banker. Despite the last two boxes being £20k and £35k, the Banker didn’t offer his Gamble (saving the gimmicks for next week perhaps?). The show ended with a different piece of music, which was presumably a Status Quo song.

Noel and the Banker fell out in Dan’s game over the Banker’s mistake with Carol, prompting Noel to go on one of his prolonged strops. He sat with the pilgrims and even asking one of them to ask Dan the question at the third offer. Meanwhile, Dan’s game wasn’t going well, especially seeing as the power five had disappeared by the second break. Things didn’t improve, and the last two amounts were £1,000 and 50p. Dan turned down £220, but managed to avoid becoming a member of Dennis’s 50p club.

Tantalisingly missing out on Halloween week was Aurora, and it was only her 15th game! Noel kept poking fun at Aurora’s shyness, which was irritating because it’s actually nice to have the occasional player who doesn’t scream after every blue. Sadly though Aurora had the unluckiest game of the season so far. Her highest offer was just £2,500 (which incidentally was her opening offer) and she went on to become the 24th member of the 1p club! Halloween had started early...

Week 9 average payout: £13,750.00
Summary: It was a week which started at one end of the scale (a power five win) and finished at the other end (a 1p win). The games in between were pretty forgettable though.

Week 10: Halloween (Mon to Fri)

Well they haven’t spared any expense for this week of specials. Not only are Noel and the players dressed up in the usual over-the-top gear, but we’ve even got an amended, spooky title sequence and theme, as well as a range of ‘scary’ sound effects and graphics during the game. The studio is designed to look like a haunted house, and the boxes are a weird ghostly colour. There’s even a portrait of all 24 members of the 1p club! At five-box, the player has to choose the ashes of either the Banker’s grandma or his grandpa. One contains a Treat, the other a Trick. As usual, a Treat means the player gets an offer after every box and an additional prize, while a Trick means the Banker looks inside the player’s box (once it’s been escorted to him by Sir Dealalot of the Pound Table).

First up was Hassan, originally from Cyprus. His first offer was a swap, which he declined. As is expected in these special shows, the eight-box offer was awful, so Hassan got to five-box, where the £50k, £15k and three blues were left. Hassan then became the first Halloween player ever to find a TRICK. The Banker claimed there was a red in his box, and offered £9,000. After lots of talk about mind games, the Banker increased it to £9,250, but Hassan still said No Deal. Left at the end were £1 and £15,000, and the Banker offered £1.50, which wasn’t even considered. There was indeed £15,000 in Hassan’s box, so the manufactured wins had started already.

Lollipop lady Lillian had written her sizeable shopping list on a roll of toilet paper. Her five-box set-up included £75k, £35k, £5k and two blues. Then Lillian suddenly announced that before the game she had predicted a win of £75,000. Her chosen urn contained another TRICK, and after seeing the contents of Lillian’s box, the Banker offered £17,500, which Lillian accepted. However, the last two amounts were £750 and £75,000, and there were no prizes for guessing that the Banker’s Gamble was coming. Lillian declined the Gamble, but it transpired the £75,000 was actually in her box!

In David’s game it was revealed that the Banker’s grandpa was named Titus Aduxus, and that the Banker’s family motto is ‘Nil Spankus Bankerus’. At five-box, David still had the £250k in play, along with £20k, £15k, £10k and £750. And for a third time in a row, a TRICK was found. The Banker claimed there was a red in David’s box, and made an offer of £15,000. Then a minute later he increased it to £30,000. Then a minute later he increased it to £40,000. David unsurprisingly chose to deal at that, but the £250,000 stayed to the end with £15,000, and the final offer would have been £100,000. Then a hypothetical swap was carried out and David’s new box contained £15,000. Is it just me or is this show edging worryingly close to another Alice-esque manufactured jackpot win?

Noel started Sarah’s game by trying to wreck the studio after David’s mistake yesterday. Sarah’s lucky number was 5, so it featured heavily in all the offers. At five-box she had £100k, £20k, £15k and two blues on the board, and she managed to find a TREAT. Her treat was a weekend spa break for two, and she was offered £15,555. After turning it down, the £15,000 left the board, and the new offer was £17,555. Then the guaranteed offers started flowing but as usual they didn’t work and Sarah still dealt at £17,555. She could have won £25,000, in what wasn’t an exciting game.

The last Trick or Treat player was Gary, who straight away launched into the story of how he once saved a woman from a fire. It would have been more impressive if he wasn’t a trained fire-fighter. Gary’s five-box consisted of £50k, £5k, £3k and two blues, and he was able to find a TREAT. The ‘treat’ however was - wait for it - a balloon flight. Gary turned down £7,000, but then the £50,000 left the game. Suddenly the ballooning trip looked like a decent prize. £900 was refused, then the £3,000 went and Gary was offered £1,300. Then the Banker asked if he could look in the box and Gary agreed. Unsurprisingly, the Banker claimed the £5,000 was in his box. Gary turned down the £1,300, and £5,000 and £750 were the last two amounts. The Banker offered £4,000, which going by percentage of mean is the best offer in the show’s history. Gary snapped it up in an instant. Unsurprisingly (in my opinion), his box actually contained the blue, and Noel called it one of the ‘best player victories ever’. Codswallop.

We were back to normality on Sunday, when Roli, a baker from Suffolk, took to the Chair. As with all games in the show’s history which have featured a baker, there was no shortage of bread-related buns - I mean puns. Roli wasn’t having the best of luck, and at five-box £50,000 was the only decent amount left. Then the Banker told Roli that he would only need to open two more boxes before getting another offer. How original. Roli decided to go on, and he took the three-box offer of £7,000. However the £50,000 was in his box. You know it’s been a dull game when the puns were the highlight.

Week 10 average payout: £16,842.50
Halloween average payout: £18,811.00
Summary: The Halloween specials were about as bad as expected. If the Banker’s going to use gimmicks, then he could at least start using some unpredictable ones.

SEASON 5 AVERAGE PAYOUT AS OF THE END OF WEEK 10: £10,030.14

Thanks again for reading. The next edition will kick off with the fourth anniversary special, so expect more whinging about predictable gimmicks!