Noel Edmonds' career has come full circle. From waking up the nation's youth with Keith Chegwin on a Saturday morning in the 80's, to waking those in their 80's from their afternoon nap on a weekday afternoon with 'The Banker'! Now I can't recall Chegwin having an accountancy themed nickname, but I do remember him being called something similar. From trying to entertain and inform, Edmonds now entertains the infirm. Gone are the zany shenanigans from his House Party (or
Ant & Dec's Saturday Takeaway as it's now called) and far removed from the cerebral taxing of 'Are You Smarter Than A Ten Year Old?', we see our vertically challenged star fronting a game show with one question, "Deal or No Deal?".
Presumably, the original question was 'What can we do with these 22 red boxes and this antique phone?' but there is no doubt that this show has rejuvenated Noel's career.
Today was the turn of stone mason and former Scottish youth football international Mikey to demonstrate his greed in front of the nation. After confirming the popular Scottish stereotype by showing he had brought with him his grandfather's 'lucky' money bag, which contained about £1.70 in change which had been there so long it had turned green, Mikey began his game, quickly dispatching most of the biggest amounts and deciding not to deal when offered shockingly generous amounts to leave the game. The 'Banker', sounding from Noel's impression, like the illigitimate love child of two other former Edmond sidekicks; Posh Paws and Mr Blobby, offered varying amounts between £5,000 and £17,000 before Mikey answered 'No Deal' for the last time and went away with £10.
And there we have it. The reason people watch 'Deal or No Deal' is because they are counting on the contestant to be greedy. No-one really watches to see someone walk away with a quarter of a million pounds, they want them to see pound signs in their eyes and keep going until they end up with as close to nothing as possible, preferably 1p.
The fact is, you can't lose on 'Deal or No Deal'. If you get the lowest amount, you are still better off than when your game started. It is possible to win the big money prizes, but more likely you will go home with very little, so the trick is to judge the best time to leave the game. So what if you take £10k and you could have won £250k, it's still better than what you had when you started the game. For many, the programme appeals because it is simple, basic, clean entertainment and far removed from the sexed-up version from across The Pond as the photo on the left demonstrates!
