At the risk of being shot down in flames am I alone in thinking that the dresssing up required for the Easter and other specials devalues DOND?

I am always telling my friends to watch DOND, but what kind of impression does it leave when they see players dressed as rabbits, playing cards , tweedle dee and tweedle dum etc? Is DOND a game show for adults or young children?

Don't get me wrong, it's only the dressing up I'm taking issue with, the new twists with extra gambles etc certainly help the game.

What do others think, particularly ex players on the forum who have had to dress up and maybe had their 45 minutes of fame ruined by being totally anonymous in a rabbit costume!

They never used to be this extreme with holidays and whatnot. Back in the old days it was very low-key: some holly and tinsel thrown around for Christmas, yellow boxes for Easter, occasionally costumes were worn such as Eurovision, Halloween but nothing major.

However, as the show progressed, they got more and more gimmicky, with lots of elaborate costumes, stage transformations, gameplay twists such as potentially going on one box at a time, the banker looking inside the contestant's box etc. I think the reason why this happened is because they want to keep viewers interested. Deal or No Deal's been on for a long time by game show standards, and they're probably afraid that peopel might get bored and stop watching, so they take every opportunity they can to make things interesting...

I do feel sorry for contestants playing on the day though, for two reasons. One being that the costumes don't look very comfortable, adn the other being that it's quite humiliating to have to play dressed as an elf or a rabbit or whatever, and you'd be the butt of your friends' jokes for a long time...

If I were a contestant, it's not that I would be embarassed but rather that I wouldn't be recognized. I would like to be able to recognize myself on TV if I played, and I would like to play in clothing of my choice, and it's the same when I watch other people too. I like to be able recognize the contestants.

I was about to post the same topic I saw the start of yesterdays show and almost died.

The peak viewing days of Deal or No Deal were when the show was simply about opening 22 boxes. Noel Edmonds was Noel Edmonds, not Comedy Devil/Comedy Elf/Comedy Rabbit. The contestants didn't need costumes because they were entertaining enough themselves, and the producers trusted that.

Three/four years ago, I couldn't miss a single episode of the show and it wasn't because I wanted to see what hilarious costumes everyone were in this week. Noel wearing a mildly silly hat for about 30 seconds was about as surreal as it got. Ok, I like the occasional extra offer sometimes and the Banker's Gamble is a brilliant addition, it keeps people watching until the end of the episode. But episodes where the Banker just randomly gives the contestant a few grand anyway (Helen B, Brian, probably more) even if they won a blue defeats the whole point of the show and is completely unfair.

It's quite sad to see the show turned into this and it all smacks of desperation.

I am going to rib Glen about having the dress up as a playing card when I see him next, though I think he has got off lightly compared to some others (except Davinia! ) - compared to people like Adam for example!!

I think one way round the problem is they obviously have planned who is going to play the special games beforehand, they could go a bit easier on the costumes for those players so they're at least still fully recognisable when it's their 45 minutes of fame!

(That's why the love gods worked well, you knew who everyone was!!)

Would love to be a pilgrim at one of these specials - party atmosphere! And if I was a contestant I wouldn't mind wearing a ridiculous costume.

I'm thinking of being a pilgrim for the forthcoming Halloween specials (see filming dates thread for details), but the only snag is that it would probably mean getting up at 5am! Am I mad? Quite possibly! But there is a rather 'unique' atmosphere to these specials with all these weird costumes and set transformations, although admittedly they have gone a bit overboard lately...

I really like how they have done these specials this series on the show, the extra features to the game and the additional themes used. Personally i think keeps the show fresh just like the change of back drop on the game board that was introduced at the turn of the year.

To be perfectly honest, quite a few of the women looked the same during the Easter specials (Emily, Ciara, Emma etc). It didn't really work as well as others had.

I would also like to visit during one of the specials...
I did post a couple of weeks ago but cant find it.
Any idea when they will film the haloween week ?
Can i ask for tickets for certain dates or is it random dates ?
Thank you in advance