Does anyone know when the current series of Deal or no deal ends, and if there is a break when we will be deprived of it? Personally, I'd be quite happy for it to run everyday of the year, so I hope that the current series goes smoothly into the next one! Can you imagine getting to 4.15pm on weekday, turning on Channel 4 and there being no DOND? Wouldn't that be terrible!!

I think this series (2) was supposed to be 230 episodes, of which we've had 82, so there should be 148 left!

hopefully no gap...there was no gap between the first two series...66. Gill and 67. Terry

If there ever was a break, this forum would be dead quiet...

I dont think it will ever end. It will soon take over our lives as we are suffering from addiction to DOND.

I dread to think but what would we do when it does finish? Which it will eventually, maybe not for a long time but like everything else it will finsh at some point. What would happen to this site?

I can't see if ending for a long while yet.

Look at COUNTDOWN - 21 years still going strong, same format (although it was extended), only sadly losing Richard Whitely.

I think DOND can do the same. What is good about it is that we have contestants who we get to know over the month or so they are on. It just wouldn't work with models like in USA.

It is simple, but really addictive.

Hard to say whether DOND will have the same kind of staying power as Countdown. The ratings are bound to decline after a while when it's no longer the latest "big thing", but shows like Countdown and more recently Millionaire and Weakest Link have retained a decent following a few years after their peak.

I think the main questions are how long Noel will want to do it for, and also how much Endemol are tempted to tinker with the format etc. once audience figures start to drop off a bit.

I always thought the factor in determining the show's future would be the issue that they shell out thousands week after week

... and make most of it back through this £1 a time "legalised lottery" thing they do on each show. Not to mention the new sponsorship deal theyve just made with BT and the revenue brought in by all the adverts shown during each break and the show is making Endomol a fortune! Even Noel's reported huge salary wouldn't make a dent in the profits of DonD and they haven't even started on the merchandising angle yet - where are all the DonD mugs? (apart from the dodgy stuff on eBay) Endomol are missing out BIG-TIME

Actually, I've just had a thought - the biggest single expense on the show is probably this hotel that they put all the contestants up in while they are waiting for their turn. That WILL cost a fortune! How long before they start an economy drive? Couple of tents in a field just outside of Bristol perhaps? How many people would apply then?

I have no idea how many people call in and neither do you? I agree about the adverts, yea, but how do we know how much money they really bring in, in comparison to how much they give out, so I was just makin a natural observation.

PLEASE don't tell me we're gonna have stupid little 10 second BT ads before the show starts now

Godsake those things are so god damn irritating!

Just think. If the show will end, people who have played will not be replaced; or the show WILL never end. So if the series was to end players will not be replaced therefore the last show or two will only have a couple people on their box and 20 odd boxes with no one opening them.

Unless Noel runs around like a chicken opening the boxes chosen by the contestant

If they knew it was going to end, they would probably keep the last group of players there opening boxes after their game.

If they didn't know, it would just be "taking a break" and the players would be told they would be invited back for the next series, but would just be unlucky if there never was one! (Maybe they could come back for the Challenge TV revival in 2030...)

Haha

So at the end when theyre selecting the player it would be choosing between 2 players

LUCY
LIZ
LUCY
LIZ
LUCY
LIZ
LUCY
LIZ

Itd look a bit wierd IMO

Granted, I don't know how many people phone in. Mind you, it's possible to make an educated guess I should think. Let's say that 4 million people watch an episode of DonD and let's also say that 1 million of them are under the age of eighteen (it's probably more than this), and of the remaining 3 million, only 1% actually bother to make the call. It's probably more than this in reality, but most people if they have any sense (including all on this forum) I should think enter for free online rather than jack up their phone bills.

1% of 3 million potential viewers is something like 30000 people, which at £1 a pop generates an income of £30000 an episode. Some people might enter more than once, but let us assume they don't, and use my somewhat rather unrealistically low figure of £30000.

BT probably take about half of that to run the line itself (I don't know the real figure, but they do take a slice, that I do know) and Endomol takes the rest - say £15000 of a 50/50 split. The top prize money on a good day is only £10000 (assuming the right box is picked at the end) so C4 don't seem to be doing too badly on the deal, do they? They must come out on top every time.

Anyone out there want to correct me on my numbers or maths? Have I ridicuously underestimated or overestimated the potential takings for this do you think? I personally reckon I am way under on this number. Not that I really care.

Lol i dunno why i found that so funny but i did

i suppose if it ended the contestants would just open more boxes... and when like down to the final 5 etc they just open everything lol.. erm can liz open number 6, oh i have liz again, erm liz please.. i suppose

I might be wrong, but I have heard that Noel has just signed up a new 2 year contract with Endemol in Bristol.

In reply to Mental Micky, I think your estimates are rather on the low side as adverts are VERY expensive. One has to consider the contestants hotel fees as well. There are 3 filmings a day, and so if a contestant is on the panel for 30 shows, and assuming filming is done 5 days a week, a contestant would be in the hotel for 2 weeks, at an average costings in Bristol of £60 per night B&B........the mind boggles!!

On a live web chat to Noel, I asked the question 'Can anyone realistically win the £250,000?' I got no reply.

My wonderment about this would be say if a contestant got to the stage, lets say the best senerio of having £100,000 and £250,000 and it could savely say that the banker offers £175,000, would anybody actually gamble on losing £75k........?????

Comments please people.

I'd like to think I would gamble because I would be ecstatic if the minimum I could get was the 100K, so in my case, it's well worth the gamble of maybe getting lucky and walking away with the 250K

I would gamble if the lower amount was 75k or above ...... if it was 35k or 50k I would have some serious thinking to do but I would still be very tempted to gamble !! Any of those amounts would change my life so why not go for gold ?

I think someone could take home the £250k.

We need another "Kirsty" situation, where there is the 250k left, and either £100k or £75k, and they don't deal on the final offer.