With the Australian version of Deal or No Deal now officially off the air, and the British version nearing its supposed curtain call, one version of the international franchise stands alone - the handout-filled, sponsor-laden Quebec version known as Le Banquier. The show has been one of Quebec's highest-rated programs since it first premiered in 2007, and is now back for its 11th season.
We begin the new season's episode recaps with the second episode of the season. I've DVRed the premiere episode, but I have yet to watch it. Rest assured, dear readers, I will post a recap of it when I have a chance.
Fresh off of a summer filled with political fiascos and a high-profile marriage to media magnate-turned-politician Pierre Karl Peladeau, hostess / producer Julie Snyder returns to the stage, as blonde and bubbly as ever. She's accompanied by Martin Matte, our contestant for the evening. He's an actor and the star of a show that none of you have ever heard of called Les Beaux Malaises.
If you haven't already figured it out yet, this is a "special" episode of Le Banquier, as Martin will be playing for his personal charity, the Martin Matte Foundation, which provides support for victims of head traumas.
Our case models for this show are 26 actors who have appeared on or currently star in Les Beaux Malaises alongside Martin. After a great deal of fooling around, the audience is awoken, and Martin selects case 26. It is brought down by Jean Lapointe, who appears to be about 200 years old. For some reason, he takes out his false teeth and plunks them down on the Dollar Desk. And to make matters worse, Julie then starts to play with them. Yuck
.
Just one more thing before I hit you with the digits - the sponsor prizes that appear in some of the cases have changed slightly for this season. Capital One is now Videotron Mobile (still awards a $10,000 bonus), and La Valise Maxi is now La Valise Sunwing (still awards a trip, which is now always worth $8,000). The Surprise remains unchanged.
Now that you're up to date, let's see what happened.
Round 1[12] -
$75[4] -
$300,000[18] -
$100,000[20] -
$0.01[3] -
$10[19] -
Sunwing /
$1,000 - Martin is presented with a trip to Cuba, and says he'll most likely give that away to one of his foundation's beneficiaries.
After a whopping 33 minutes, including a commercial break after the fourth case was opened, we get the first offer.
Martin says
REFUSÉE.
Round 2[17] -
$5[23] -
$125,000[2] -
$400,000[10] -
$50[15] -
Videotron Mobile - Ten grand in the hand for Martin no matter how this game plays out.
Martin says
REFUSÉE.
Round 3[11] -
$5,000[5] -
$500,000 - Don't worry about that, folks. This is Le Banquier, after all, and if you've read my previous recaps, you can figure out what's going to happen.
[13] -
$100[16] -
$200At this point, the two kids who portray Martin's children on Les Beaux Malaises appear, and award Martin with a $5,000 PlayStation package. After that, the offer arrives.
In a normal game of Deal, I can guarantee you that the Banker wouldn't have made an offer close to that. But this is Le Banquier, where Julie Snyder and company reject your reality and substitute their own. As expected, Martin says
REFUSÉE.
Round 4[7] -
$200,000[6] -
$750[25] -
$1Martin says
REFUSÉE.
Round 5[8] -
$20[14] -
$500Martin says
REFUSÉE.
Round 6[24] -
Surprise /
$25,000 - The Surprise is $10,000 worth of outdoor furniture from Club Piscine.
Martin says
REFUSÉE.
Round 7[9] -
Nothing! - The placard holding the amount fell into the lid of the case, re-creating a funny moment from Deal UK. The amount was then revealed to be
$400.
Martin says
REFUSÉE.
Round 8[21] -
$175,000 - Again, there is nothing to worry about here.
Martin says
ACCEPTÉE.
Personally, I'd have gone on at this point, but I guess Martin had other ideas. Let's see if he made the right move.
ProveoutRound 9[1] -
$50,000With a final two of
$300 versus
$150,000, monsieur Le Banquier delivers this...
BANKER'S OFFER WOULD'VE BEEN | $85,000 |
We already know that Martin could've had a bit more, but there's a fine line between that and double the amount of his deal. Unfortunately, the latter proved to be the case, as Julie reveals that the 150 large resided in case 26. Case 22 had three bills.
So, after a less-than-great deal that would leave Ipswich's own Mark Dade fuming, surely we must be finished. Martin's total stands at
$108,000 in cash and stuff at this point. But no, we're not finished just yet. The president of furniture store Brault & Martineau, one of Le Banquier's 20,000 sponsors, comes out from backstage and presents Martin with a giant cheque for
$150,000. See? I told you everything would be okay.
While I begin to throw objects at my TV screen, Martin's total is raised to
$258,000. Now I know how Robert Seidelman from Game Show Garbage felt when he had to review crappy game shows.
This happened once when Julie herself played the game in season 1, and a second time when Celine Dion replicated the feat two seasons ago. Now it's happened a third, and if that's the proverbial third strike, then we're most definitely out.
Join me next week for more faffing about on Le Banquier. Until then, good night, and good deals.