Deal or No Deal? (2005–2023) User Reviews

Make a deal with Noel

[studioAT · 5/10 · 27 December 2016]

'Deal of No Deal' was for a time the biggest game show on British TV, with people throwing both love on it and scorn at the simplicity of its format at the same time.

That was part of its appeal really. You got to know the players during their time on the show, and genuinely wanted them to go home with big money. Some had systems, some had quirky personalities - it all added to the fun.

But like with all game show formats, it had it's time, and no amount of format tweaking could hide the fact that at the end of the day it was just someone opening boxes.

At the time of writing the show has recently ended, after 11 years. It was fun while it lasted.

Inferior to the US version

[jfgavina · 5/10 · 12 November 2021]

Deal or No Deal UK is engaging. I like how they color coded the cases. Thr simple silence, 22 cases instead of 26, and less noise is a slightly pleasant change. However, I think the US version is much better. First off, the UK top prize is only $250k tax free. The US version is $1 million, which is worth over $600k after taxes. This in turn leads the US version to be much more intense, and scare contestants with 6 figure offers. You almost never see that in the UK version. Also, the UK version requires way too many suitcases to be eliminated per round, while the US goes one case at a time in the 2nd half for dramatic, entertaining purposes. The UK format in turn allows the banker to make mathematically horrendous bank offers, even on the last bank offer. This results in 1) more risk taking 2) more often than not, spineless contestants settling for paltry sums of money. Personally, I find the UK banker's stingy banker formula infuriating. On the US version I complain that contestants are being too risky with mathematically more generous bank offers of 6 figures. In the UK version I am always complaining that the British players are wimps, taking bank offers in the low 5 figures worth less than half of fair value. The US version also has a lot more fun, silly gimmicks to it, and the contestants are more competitive in your face have more drive and energy, especially when shouting NO DEAL and fighting the banker. UK version everyone is using good manners with the banker, hence making the show look pathetic at times.

Boring and pointless

[DavidYZ · 1/10 · 14 April 2017]

This pointless rubbish just involves random opening of boxes - there's no skill involved. When I watched the first episode, I was expecting that they'd move onto something better in later rounds, but it was the same boring thing throughout the show. I've never watched another episode.

Once was good but has it lost its edge?

[CassiusMetal · 3/10 · 1 March 2007]

I wont bore you with details of how this show works. There are plenty of other article's that will give you that information.

I will go onto my personal views on the show.

This show was a great programme when it first started. It was fresh and a novel idea with nothing much like it on TV. I tuned in every day to watch and was stuck to my seat! However, this show has now become tired, boring and predictable. It is more like a problem page show. Everyone has a sob story as to why they "deserve" the money, everyone cries all the time and everyone pretends to like each other. Even though you know they don't! The "Holding hands" and chanting is painful to watch. This is a game of pure luck and although there is nothing wrong with positive thinking, its just stupid. Also why do Players insist on making fools of themselves by trying to guess whats in the box? Like todays player (1st March) was convinced the £100,000 was in her box, she dealt at £20,000 which brings up 2 points a) if you believed it was you wouldn't deal and b) it wasn't, she had 10p! I wonder if they are told to do this.

The banker is the most interesting element of the show and you never see him! Noel Edmonds also has become a bit stale. He is simply running out of things to say and tries to big it up as much as he can but sadly it isn't working anymore.

A problem is, a bit like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, now the top prize has finally gone, its kind of lost its edge. Why it took so long I don't know but now its happened, the show is not as exciting anymore! Although this show has not been around long, I think the time has come for it to be changed. Maybe a new presenter or rule change I don't know but something needs to be done.

Watch Deal Or No Deal...NO DEAL!

Boring new spin on the gameshow genre

[cjennings1987 · 1/10 · 28 September 2006]

Noel Edmonds returns as host of this new spin on the tired gameshow genre. Instead of using questions to test a contestants knowledge, the show uses a series of random boxes to test the players luck and nerve.

The programme when watched for the first time seems to be an interesting new idea that has not been done before. Its not until you watch a few of these episodes that you realise how tedious it can be. All that seems to happen is a rather annoying contestant chooses boxes by calling out numbers and seeing which amount is inside. After a week of this you suddenly realise how boring it is compared to other gameshows.

In other gameshows the viewer is able to 'take part' by shouting answers at the TV screen. Here all the viewer can do is to watch and become increasingly bored.

A good idea, maybe for a one off programme. I do not think it will last long though.

Moronic

[sqeaston9 · 1/10 · 14 December 2008]

So here's the format: There are random boxes containing cash awards that the contestant eliminates one by one. Occasionally a phone will ring which the presenter answers and then offers the contestant cash to drop out now (the call was from 'the banker', rhyming slang perhaps?). The offers are poor at the start, until there are only a few boxes left. And that's it, no intelligence required.

How anyone can watch this is beyond me, but to make it worse it's hosted by the retard pandering king himself, the excreable Noel Edmonds. I can't watch him without the hair on the back of my neck standing up. So smug, so slimy and insincere.

This is THE worst thing on TV, bar none.

Oddly addictive

[churchofsunshine · 8/10 · 13 January 2006]

There is absolutely no skill in this "gameshow" at all - it is pure luck. Having said that, it is incredibly addictive. Noel Edmonds, finally back on TV after years in the wilderness, hosts this UK version of a game-show that I think originated in Australia, before being sold all over the globe. Channel Four and Endomol (the people behind "Big Brother") bought the concept for the UK market and are showing it some six times a week in the afternoon slot at 4.15pm after the ever-popular "Countdown" show.

The idea is quite simple - 22 numbered boxes (each with a different sum of money ranging from just 1p up to £250,000) and 22 contestants. For each show, one of the contestants is picked at random and comes to the table with his or her box and then has to choose which boxes to open in order, hopefully leaving themselves with the box or boxes that have the most money in right to the end. At set points during the game after opening a certain amount of boxes, the phone rings and Noel talks to the mysterious "banker" (a person whose secret identity is second only to "The Stig" from BBC's "Top Gear" motoring magazine show) and tries to tempt the player to sell their box to him - the question being "Deal" or "No Deal".

As I said before, this is pure luck. Sure, you can try to pick numbers based on birthdays or use odd and even numbers or even try to make a spreadsheet based upon all the shows so far, but ultimately the process is completely random. The only skill involved is taking the money that is offered at the right time and maximising your winnings. No-one has yet won the biggest sum possible - a cool quarter of a million, though there has been one poor guy who walked away with just a penny and another 10p winner, so the key factor is not to be TOO greedy - just do well enough to get a sum of money you are happy with and walk away. It will take a very brave person indeed faced with a choice at the last box to decide whether to accept an offer of £120,000 from the banker or open his box which MIGHT have £250,000 in it, but equally might have only £50. Do you take the £120,000 you've been offered and be grateful, or do you go for the big one and come away with something much smaller? I'd love to go on this show, but after watching so many games unfold I'm still not sure whether I'm a real gambler or a bottler. As soon as I was offered £10K or more, I'd probably walk, even if I had the best game-board possible. Maybe I'd feel differently if I was up there. Somehow, I doubt it. I'm not that greedy - £10K is plenty. I'd love to get on this show!!

99% luck, 1% playing the odds and not that engaging to me even if Noel Edmonds comes over like he lives or dies on the opening on every box

[bob the moo · 6 February 2006]

22 contestants stand with 22 red boxes in front of them. The computer selects one at random and he or she must come to the front of the others with their box. They must then select boxes from the remaining 21 to try and identify which ones has the smaller amounts of money to eliminate them while keeping the location of the big money in play until the end. At times here and there a mystery banker will call in to try and convince the contestant to sell him their box for a certain amount of money – to which the contestant must decide whether to "deal" and take the money or "no deal" and keep playing for more money.

I glanced at the viewing figures over the Christmas period and noticed that, at a time of a year with loads of films and television events on the box, that "Deal or No Deal" won the highest ratings on Channel 4. Confused I decided to watch a show to get a grip on what about this show was making it so well watched. After a short time I realised that this was very much just a big game of chance dressed up as something suspenseful, skillful and tactical. This dressing seems to be enough for many viewers but I just found it amazingly dull; each decision is delivered slowly and occasionally talked through but really it doesn't matter what number is "lucky" or who's birthday they represent, it essentially comes down to luck and being aware of the odds. It does confuse me that it should do so well on afternoon TV given that it follows Countdown – a show that is the exact opposite and requires a real word power.

It is to the credit of the producers that they manage to stretch it out for over 30 minutes and keep a reasonable air of suspense – again, not enough for me but it is obvious that it grips some viewers. They use the music well and the cameras are slightly wobbly and mobile giving the show the slight feel of a cop drama rather than a studio quiz show. A lot rests on the shoulders of Noel Edmonds and he tries hard but cannot convince with so little to work with. He talks about keeping it positive and he works the contestants well, stressing the need for them to do something (although they can only open the box in front of them). He says that he likes their style, likes what they are thinking, likes what they are doing etc; he does well to keep the mood of tension in the studio but to me it just seemed like he was desperately flogging a dead horse. His conversations with the banker are the weirdest thing I've seen in a quiz – we can only hear his side of the conversation and he then gets to build the offer up tension-wise, however he wants; it is just a little weird and false.

The whole show feels quite low rent and I do give credit where credit is due, because the producers have managed to squeeze so much tension out of it. Personally I just found all the talk of tactics etc to be pointless because the whole show is based on luck and a very small amount of playing the odds; for me it was only this latter section that was of interest but it made up so little of the show to be not worth the effort. So despite topping the Channel 4 ratings, I just can't see the fuss. Noel Edmonds seems to be really enjoying himself and be totally enthralled by every move the contestants make but this all exists in his head and, despite trying really hard, he just couldn't make me care about a series of rolls of the dice.

So simple and yet so addictive. ***1/2 out of *****

[WelshFilmCraze · 7/10 · 21 February 2010]

At the time of writing this comment, The UK version of Deal or no deal has just passed its 2,500 show, which is extraordinary, For a show which has contestants needing no skill whatsoever (despite what Noel Edmonds may say to ratchet up the tension) All this is, is a game of luck, nothing more nothing less, but it's incredibly addictive and while coming up to 5 years since it started, it may have lost it's edge and may not be the must watch evening telly it was a when it started, it's still one of the most watched shows on Channel 4, and there's no end in sight.

When this started I gave this a few weeks before the Axe would fall (as did the National Press at the time) it just goes to show how a Game which requires no intelligence whatsoever has become a National Institution of sorts - which at one point (And it may still have) a waiting list of over a Year to appear on it!

***1/2 out of *****

Can this country sink any lower?

[save_the_plankton · 1/10 · 13 June 2007]

MY GOD I HATE THIS SHOW. Where do you start? The presenter: most repellent piece of pond life ever to crawl out onto land. The audience: brain-dead, gibbering apes. The contestants (90% of them): same as the audience. The format: strictly for cretins. No general knowledge or intelligence required, just guesswork. It makes the average game show look like a new version of 'Who Wants To be A Millionaire', with the £100 question at the same level of difficulty as the million pound one. I keep thinking, 'surely this country's sunk as low it it can' - and then something like this comes along. It's a bloody disgrace. If a small meteorite ever hits Earth, one just big enough to destroy a single building, I hope and pray that it lands on the studio where this effluent is being recorded.

I'll Deal, Noel.

[LTPHarry · 8/10 · 6 April 2021]

This game show was produced by the team at the Dutch-based company Endemol (later Endemol Shine, now part of Banijay), based on one of their Dutch formats, similar to how BrainTeaser and later shows like 1 vs. 100 were like. Throughout it's run on Channel 4 from October 2005 until December 2016, Deal Or No Deal became one of the biggest game show names in the whole of the UK.

Most versions of the format use briefcases, which the contestant allows female models to open to try and win money from. However, the UK version is actually a whole lot different, instead offering 22 contestants, to which one of them is selected to open boxes and hopefully spank the Banker and win lots of money if so, a grand total of £250,000, the biggest on UK daytime TV at the time.

The appeal of this show is how much of a roller coaster ride it ends up becoming: there's emotion, laughter, happiness, tears, drama, all sorts. It's a bit like a reality show, except without the reality. Contestants have all sorts of personality and looks that stand out from the rest, ones who really want the money, to ones who just wanted to enjoy themselves.

The host: Noel Edmonds, is great as well. He's been a name on UK television for many years hosting the likes of The Late Late Breakfast Show and Noel's House Party, but when this show came through, it reinstated himself as a household name.

Of course, we also have the Banker, the antagonist of his own in all versions of the format, who is trying to keep hold of the money to himself, and hopefully wants contestants to win very little. However, if you want to beat him, you must know the skill and luck in order to spank him.

The set design is pretty nice, and thankfully has the budget put onto it compared to fellow Endemol show BrainTeaser, which itself had no budget at all due to it's phone-in stuff. Speaking of that, Deal or No Deal did have a phone-in competition as well, which I think Alex Lovell narrated for or something like that, which makes it funny considering she WAS the presenter for BrainTeaser after all.

Now, going onto the flaws, looking back now, the show is pretty cheesy and forced in a way. The format pretty much stayed the same for the whole time, even with additions like Box 23 (which allowed £500,000 to be won, or maybe nothing at all) and the offer button in 2014 didn't help much. By then, the show's popularity went down, and was being beaten in the ratings by other game shows like RDF Media's Tipping Point on ITV. Channel 4 decided to cancel the series in 2016, but not before giving the show a nice send off by sending it on tour, with the show ending on a high note with the final £250,000 winner.

Overall, Deal or No Deal has been a classic for many, although to some nowadays it may feel cheesy, but it was at least fun and even emotional at times.

Proved to be repetitive

[k_mobius1 · 3/10 · 18 June 2008]

I'll admit that I really enjoyed this show. Once. A welcome return for Noel and every game entertaining with the different personalities of the contestants.

Sadly, they've all run out. The show has become a stagnant shadow of its former self, and yet it still continues to run without any sort of break. Where the early shows had the anticipation of whether the quarter million would be won, the media ruined it by printing the first winner several weeks before it was aired, thus eliminating any point in watching this show. It's pure guesswork, that's all it is. And there's too much hype surrounding it even now. I, for one, have lost favour with it.

Hate this godforsaken show!

[Irishchatter · 1/10 · 21 November 2015]

I really really really hate this show. Whenever my gran has to stay for a while in our house, we always have to put this on for her as she LOVES it which is torture and horrible. I used to love this when i was young and it was only new on the television but i just got bored of it after watching it a year.

Noel Edmounds is just so annoying and stupid, he isn't even a proper host. Its like, they just picked him because he was in Top of the Pops years ago but didn't see the quality in hiring him as a proper host. They might as well have picked Terry Wogan or someone younger to properly host the show. Noel is just a complete rubbish host!

The contestants look too smiley, they look like they really hate being part of the show. You can know well by looking at their expressions on their faces that they don't really like being there! The way they act by participating on this show with excitement is just chronic and you would honestly feel sorry for them!

Also the audience really look dead and don't seem to give the game have a good vibe. Normally in game shows, the audience really bring light to the game show but this didn't happen at this particular one which is very disappointing.

I still cant believe its still on television, I honestly wish it was taken off our television screens on Channel 4 or have the whole show rebooted with a properly new host, new set, enlightened audience and better contestants who truly want to be there.

Who would have guessed that picking boxes at random would be so addictive?

[Welshfilmfan · 27 January 2009]

When 'Deal on no deal' was first mentioned in the National press before it started in 2005, they were very sceptical as was I, about how a 45 minute show, with just a contestant picking red boxes at random would be much of a hit, but here we are close to 4 years later, the show which stated in the Netherlands is now practically everywhere in the world very much like BBC's The Weakest Link,

There is no skill to this game - and I wish Noel Edmonds would stop banging on about....'How well you're playing the game' & 'psychological game of cat and mouse with the banker'

IT'S PICKING BOXES FOR PETE'S SAKE!!!

But I have to say I, like many others am addicted

Pointless rubbish

[pwhtraining · 1/10 · 7 December 2023]

Absolute biggest pile of rubbish ever witnessed. How could anyone make a programme about boxes being opened and sell it to the public.

No questions, no excitement just a load of weird people pretending, yes pretending to get emotional about a box being opened, with some totally made up phone ringing and pretending to be a banker. Even if there is a banker - who cares? Wasted my time for the 2 minutes I watched it and will never get any viewing time from me again in the future.

Get the good programmes back on and stop wasting television airing time for everyone!

It was rubbish when Noel did it and I can hardly believe the new guy has taken it on, I thought he had more sense.

Deal or No Deal

[jboothmillard · 8/10 · 20 July 2006]

22 people, 22 sealed boxes with 22 different cash prizes, and no questions but one, deal or no deal? The last time I saw BAFTA and National Television Award nominated Noel Edmonds was probably with the awful Mr. Blobby, but this "return" is a really good programme for him to do. Basically a contestant from 22 is chosen at random, he/she has a numbered box (1-22) chosen at random. Basically the contestant has to ask the other contestants to open all boxes one by one, and make sure they get the lowest amounts coloured blue. The highest amount available is £250,000. Along the way, a dealer who rings on the phone gives the contestant a cash offer to that they may want to deal on (the meaning of the title). If they choose to carry on, they go with whatever boxes they are left with till the final amount, and if they deal a certain amount, they go away with that. It is quite nerve-wracking, but a really good teatime game show. It won the National Television Award for Most Popular Daytime Programme. Noel Edmonds was number 26 on TV's 50 Greatest Stars. Very good!