So tonight, during the Million Dollar Mission, the contestant is Richie Bell.

-Seven cases containing <Dr. Evil>ONE MEEEEEELION DOLLARS</DE>...
-Richie gets down to the last three cases: $1, and the remaining two containing the big money.
-Unfortunately, Richie knocks out one of the million dollar cases, leaving $1 and the million.
-The Banker offers $416,000.

COMMENTARY: Even after taxes and tithing, I could basically get out of debt (student loans, car note, credit cards), give some to family, make a down payment on a house, and bank the rest, still leaving some left over.

Anyways, Richie, in typical Nighttime Deal or No Deal dumbassery, decides that nearly half a million dollars is not enough, and N0 D33LZ!!!1! He also cries, in typical Nighttime Deal or No Deal mode.

I hope he enjoys his one dollar and Nelson Muntz/Gene Wilder duet...

What a freakin' moron.

I tuned in with about 5 minutes left and it said at the bottom that he also won $10,000 for a challenge. What was that about?

During the discussion after a big offer, the banker told him that if he could keep his BPM below 140, he would be given $10,000 no matter what, so he actually ended up with $10,001.

IMO, if you're willing to accept a lower offer if you knock one of them out, not taking the $600,000 offer with two millions and a dollar is okay. That makes sense to me. However, a coin flip for a $1,000,000 instead of a guaranteed $400,000 is simply ludicrous.

Absolutely. With two million dollar cases, the odds still swing in your favor, and I'd still be very happy with $400,000 than $600K.

Approves

Heh, that was my initial thought as well.

Not that I saw or like the show, but times like this, I wish I owned the studio they tape at.

Then, after the show, I'd meet up with the contestant, and tell them to get the heck off my lot or I'd sic security on them.

Yes, I do get pleasure from schadenfreude.

It was a good thing I didn't see that EPIC FAIL there because I was too busy checking out Game 1 of the World Series which ended on a happy note for me. Now I can celebrate my birthday in peace untill abou 8:22 PM later on tonight.

Shame they didn't use the same aligator on the show so it could attack and bite the heads off those who do idiotic things like that.

NBC are true to their word in their opening season premiere spiel. They will go ALLLL THHEEEE WAAAYYYYY.

QFT.

Next time....EIGHT M$ cases!

You may NOT answer the question.

Hell, I forgot the primetime version still comes on. I'm not even joking when I say that, either.

Judging from last night's ratings, you weren't the only one. A season low of just over 7 1/2 million viewers. I might cut it some slack, considering the World Series game, but the ratings for Game 1 weren't outstanding.

I wonder . . . how many "side offers" has the show done before, that weren't affected by the main outcome? I'm just wondering what those contestants might have had in their cases.

But the show isn't about what you would do in that situation; it's about what the contestant does. That said, I *do* think that was extremely dumb-headed of him to turn down the $416,000 offer when it came down to 2 cases.



Of course, he still won the $10,000 from that challenge earlier, so he's enjoying $10,001. Not exactly chicken feed as a consolation prize....

But it is. Any decent game show has some sort of playalong. Whether it's "The Spanish rice is $1.59, dummy!" or "No, doofus, call an H!", good game shows do that. The only play along you have is whether you'd take the deal or not.

Oh, I dunno. I pretend I 'play along' with the models pretty much every time.

This is something I wanted to talk about a few weeks ago, but this thread (and the bush league Youtube clip that came with it in the V&A section) brought it to my attention again.

Granted, I am not the one out there on the stage, so I do not have that stigma of added pressure. Still, I believe I see contestants who have their eye on the top prize, but fail to realize the weight of the board. They have to learn when to quit.

One million dollars can be quite alluring, but when that value is the only one left on the board with any merit, there should be no question. Now, in the situation of having two $1M cases, I would have gone only just to try and knock out that dollar, but after that, I would have gotten out of there with my $416,000.

Point is, this is one EPIC FAIL that should never have happened.

You know, ever since DoND went daytime, my attention has shifted to one other nighttime game, AYSTA5G? Now, I want to be a contestant...scary...

The Inquisitive One

And that's exactly it. Two millions and a buck? Sure, take a shot. If you hit it, you're a millionaire. If you miss, ~$500K is still Life-Changing Money™. It's the NOT TAKING THE BAILOUT THAT WAS THE REASON YOU WERE RIGHT TO TAKE THE SHOT IN THE FIRST PLACE that makes this one a Mah-Rone Du Jour winner.

Does anyone know what the offer was prior to the $416K offer?

With two $1 Million cases and $1 on the board, a very tidy sum of $603,000 was offered to him.

I do not have an exact number, but the offer was well into the $600K range, about $603,000.

This is one time (and probably the only time) when I would have put up one-third of that offer to knock out that dollar. Anything else should have been common sense.

The Inquisitive One

EDIT: I was wrong about the offer...my bad. :)

At least $600K. Can't remember if it was $600,000 on the nose, or $600K and change.

Sounds about right, mathematically. So, yeah, this is where that whole Numbers Joe Sixpack Can't Fathom concept comes into play. I call shenanigans on anyone who wants to stand here and tell me that this guy could intelligently discern the difference that $400K as opposed to $600K would make in his life. Which makes the first decision Life-Changing Money™ vs. (Millionaire or Life-Changing Money™). So yeah, by all means play on. When he bails out of that sure thing to toss the coin ongo to Millionaire vs. Epic Fail, he becomes an idiot.

I am going to make a statement that is detestable.

What if there were celebrities on Deal or No Deal? Would we see the same recklessness as we do now, with the celebrities playing with charities' money?

http://gskingdom.blogspot.com/

Summary is over there

Doubtful, but even on MILLIONAIRE charities never got less than $32,000. It'd look awfully bad for a celeb to win a charity $1.

Which means there might be enough fudging with the rules to ensure that this would not happen. And that would take a lot away from what little enjoyment was left in the game to begin with.

And if Howie was taking Tom Bergeron's advice, he'd be running like hell.

I will take that action.

(Of course, I didn't see the episode in question, so I don't know the player's sob-story bio, and this is high conjecture.)

Say he got sub-prime mortgaged into a mini-mansion he now can't afford. Let's call it a $500K house. Now, due to circumstances probably briefly discussed during the interview segment (and recapped by Howie, but covered by the screaming of the crowd and his supporters) he's about to enter foreclosure. $400K gets him mostly home. $600K is a payoff and a cushion.

I don't think you need to be a genius to do that math.

That said, a $400K offer on the table? I deal.