Le Banquier is somewhat unique amongst the various incarnations of Deal or No Deal around the world. On the one hand, it is one of the few versions of the show that does not feature the word "deal" in the title. On the other hand, its hostess, Julie Snyder, is also its executive producer. Her production company, Les Productions J, produces this show, along with a slew of other reality shows on TVA.

Why am I telling you this? Read on to find out. I have a point; I promise.

But before I can get to that, let's talk about Pierre Bernard, our contestant. He's 53 years old, and he plans to donate 40 per cent of his winnings to La Guignolée des Médias, an annual food drive held during the holiday season by media personalities across Quebec. He also plans to give some of his winnings to his two daughters.

Your case holders are celebrities ones again, and your chosen case is 7 for the second consecutive episode. Let's get this show on the road.

Round 1
[17] - $300,000
[14] - Sunwing / $10 - Pierre wins a trip to the Bahamas ($8,000).
[20] - $150,000
[11] - Vidéotron Mobile
[26] - $300
[21] - $0.01

BANKER'S OFFER

$40,000

Pierre says REFUSÉE.

Round 2
[22] - $1
[12] - $500,000
[6] - $100
[5] - $125,000
[23] - $750

BANKER'S OFFER

$41,000

Pierre says REFUSÉE.

Round 3
[25] - $175,000
[4] - $100,000
[3] - $1,000
[1] - $25,000

BANKER'S OFFER

$44,000

Pierre says REFUSÉE.

Round 4
[15] - $5
[18] - $400
[13] - $200,000

BANKER'S OFFER

$50,000

Pierre says REFUSÉE.

Round 5
[16] - $50,000
[9] - Surprise / $75 - The Surprise is a new fireplace ($18,000).

BANKER'S OFFER

$60,000

This, to me, seems like a lifeline. The only reds left in play are $5,000 and $400,000. If the $400,000 goes, the next offer won't even be close to this one. That alone would influence me to take it. But this, however, does not faze Pierre, who decides to say REFUSÉE.

Round 6
[19] - $400,000

Game over. The most Pierre can win now is $5,000, although he does have the three bonus prizes to back him up. Julie is taking the whole ordeal much worse than Pierre. She's literally in tears, as it was she who opened the case after momentarily trading places with comedian Guy Jodoin, who was originally holding case 19. The offer has sunk so low, it's practically six feet under.

BANKER'S OFFER

$2,300

Guy says regardless of what happens in the game, he'll give Pierre $2,500, as Pierre is playing for charity. Pierre thinks he can lay claim upon the five grand, so he says REFUSÉE.

Round 7
Things are going so badly, Julie says that she'll give Pierre another $2,500 out of her own pocket. I think that's the first time in the history of the Deal or No Deal franchise that a host offered to give a contestant extra money. But once again, bear in mind that Julie also produces this show. As bizarre as that might sound, things are about to get even stranger.

[23] - $5,000

Now even the five grand is gone. We're now left with an all-blue final four of $20, $50, $200 and $500. Julie is unraveling faster than a cheap sweater.

On a board like this, Pierre would have received the following offer if he were playing the game on Planet Earth:

BANKER'S OFFER

$150

However, this game is being played on Planet Snyder, where it's all sunshine, rainbows and flowers, and no one is allowed to fail. And so, using her dual host/producer role to tamper with the integrity of the entire Deal or No Deal format, likely causing creator Dick de Rijk to scream out in agony somewhere in the Netherlands, the Banker makes this offer:

BANKER'S OFFER

$15,000

No, you are not misreading that. The Banker really did offer fifteen thousand dollars on a board where the mean is $192.50 (I checked). And yes, I purposely placed that five-figure offer in blue text to indicate what it really should have been.

AMOs are a regular occurrence in this game, but this is ridiculous. This offer is, like, a million per cent of the mean. I recognize that this game is mostly being played with charitable intentions, but this... this is an outrage. The heart of this program has effectively been ripped out and placed on a spear for all to see. Respect lost; integrity gone.

Once I pick my jaw up from the floor, Pierre and his two daughters hit the flashing button to accept the offer. Well, duh.

Proveout? Who needs it in this case? Pierre's case 7 had twenty bucks inside, while cases 2, 8 and 10 held $200, $500 and $50, respectively.

But Julie the Integrity Killer is not yet done with her salacious handouts. She gives Pierre an African safari, while several of the show's sponsors pony up an additional $15,000 in giant cheque form to aid Pierre's charitable causes.

When all is said and done, Pierre's total is $59,000. And yes, that blue text is deliberate once again for the reasons stated above.

Never in a million years would this ever happen on any other version of Deal. Something similar happened at the end of last season, but that contestant was allowed to win the five bucks in her case. She ended up winning $71,000 (again, deliberate blue text) because failure is not allowed on Planet Snyder. This included a new car worth over thirty grand.

Ben, I'll let you step in to tear Le Banquier a new one, because I'm done. And so is this show; it's the last episode of the current season. Thank God. After this debacle, I need a break.

Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting on the Le Banquier recaps this season. I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did bringing them to you.

Until next season, this is Mark David saying good night, good deals, and please, for the love of God, if you're going to host and produce a game show, don't meddle with the format. Thank you.

*drops mic*

What a way to finish the season.

Seriously, to get $71,000 out of a game that had an all blue final 4 in live play is ridiculous. He had a chance of securing roughly that amount earlier in the game if he dealt his ultra-generous 6 case offer, and yet he won that amount anyway out of total charity???!!!

I'm glad the show's over until next year. In the meantime I'll be watching versions of the show in which you actually need to have both good luck and good judgement to potentially win big money (UK Deal or No Deal and Affari Tuoi; the latter of which sponsors a children's charity but still NEVER gives out handouts outside the conventional rules of the game, it's worth noting!).

Just to be clear, Ben, the $71,000 was a reference to the last game of last season, where the contestant won a fiver out of her case, but due to Julie Snyder's anti-failure laws, she won $71,000 worth of prizes, including the three main game bonuses.

Pierre won $59,000 because of some ridiculous "generosity" that was mostly influenced by Julie's death grip on the show.

I think the moral of this story is that the main game prizes are okay because they ensure that everyone will take home at least $25,000 worth of prizes, but to render a game useless with extra handouts and a senseless offer on an all-blue board is a huge problem.

This is just weird. And why would you ever deal on this version if you're going to get bailed out like that? That makes the first three-quarters of the show almost meaningless in its own right, which sucks.

That offer is around 7,800% of the mean. This makes a complete mockery of the whole Deal format!