If a contestant finally wins the 250K jackpot (or 500K in the Christmas editions) would it change the popularity of Deal Or No Deal? Would it have the effect of boosting subsequent ratings, would people lose interest because they were happy to see the jackpot won once, or would it have no effect? Would the contestants take more risks in the pursuit of the jackpot, seeing it having been won? Also, will it change the behaviour of the banker and Noel towards the contestant? Would there be less focus on forcing the contestant to go all the way with low offers, or will gambling be encouraged more as having tasted the first jackpot winner, everyone becomes really hungry to see a second one?

Interesting question, Rico!



I certainly know that when Millionaire started, I wondered whether it would continue after they had their first millionaire... I certainly think Millionaire lost a certain something when the first millionaire was created. As for DOND, I can't really see it losing popularity as every game is different, however, the feeling of "Are you going to be the first £250k winner?" would be removed (remember Noel in Morris' game? - "Are you gonna be the first? Are you gonna be the first?").



It could go three ways - I have heard some people say they wouldn't want to be the first £250k because of all the press hype associated with it, so in that case, those people will be more reckless and gamble as it has been won already.

On the other hand, if the £250k has already been won, people may deal the offer, as they know that even if they won the £250k, they wouldn't be the first.

People may also be unaffected by it!



Very interesting point - it would certainly not enable Noel to say "We still don't have any members of the £250k club"... I suppose he'd just change it to "We 'still' only have 1 member of the £250k club..." - the 'still' being added after a while, obviously.

To be honest, I still think that gambling would be encouraged, because if people gamble and it pays off, whilst there won't be the "Ooh, you're are you gonna be the first £250k winner" element, it will certainly provide a good, tense show - shows that spring to mind are Jeff's £64k, Germaine's, Kirsty's and Lynne's £75k, Lance's £87k, Gaz's £100k and Jennifer's £120k games.

There may well be some people who are less keen to watch after the £250k gets won (assuming it does at some point), but there will also be some who are more keen to watch - and of course, there are us fans who always watch, so I don't think viewing figures would change!

Some good points u make there h. I can't help thinking that if the jackpot was won soon, say this month or January or February it would be just the right time for the show. Up until now, there has been a lot of suspense about who the first one will be, and if it had been won too early in the history of the show you wouldn't have had that special excitement. On the other hand, I think it would help the show to have the first jackpot winner sometime very soon as it would naturally raise its profile, and you would get a number of people that might have missed seeing the show where the first jackpot was won wanting to see a similar win. It would also encourage the contestants to believe that it can be won which of course Morris and Kirsty already proved to a large extent. I think it could only be good for the show. Let's hope it happens soon!

Some people would be detracted form the show, some wouldn't. Remember, people could be more attracted to the show because once they know it has been won, there is no way the show can be fixed.

it really would'nt make a difference to me...

Less popular because then there's nothing really to look forward to knowing the jackpot has been won.

But like I said, it's not like Millionaire, where you just answer questions correctly and go up the money ladder. With DOND, every game is different, and potentially, someone could climb to the dizzy heights of over £100,000 and still win 1p.

Personally, I think that once someone wins the jackpot, Endemol might well contemplate increasing it so there could be the same sort of anticipation to see the first £300,000 winner for example. They have already increased the viewers LTL from the early days.

I wouldn't be surprised if they did that.

Yeah, I think a £250k win would probably just lead to changes to the format...which is either great or awful, depending on how you feel about such things. I think it'll probably lead to me not watching anymore, as I'm a purist and don't want any changes at all, but I guess it could pull in a lot of new viewers.

I don't think that changing the jackpot to £300k will do it any harm - £250k is so much more than the next highest box that it sticks out on its own anyway, its presence shouldn't affect the early offers too much, and if it survives to the later stages, the offers will only revert to a series 1 level with the £250k still in play, if that. An offer of over £100k on a £300k/blue last pair should be a no-brainer!

£300,000 would be a bit of a strange amount to have as the jackpot though... "Will you be our first three-tenths-of-a-millionaire?"

I think if it is ever increased, it can only be to £500,000 or £1m. If it was my decision I'd wait at least a year or so after the first £250,000 winner, hope for a possible second one within that time, and then make the increase when ratings need a boost. After all, it's going to decline at some stage, winner or no winner - some game shows have a fairly short shelf-life while others can go on potentially forever, but none of them can permanently sustain the ratings they had when they were the latest big thing.

But every game is the same! Like the boxes they are identical! You might get the odd change here and there but otherwise each game is similar in every way.

It will become less popular all around. Some people only watch the game currently because they await a 1/4 millionaire! When ratings decrease (and it will happen) Channel 4 will have to pull out a few tricks from their sleeves. Now thats where the Xmas specials come into play.... Changes are always popular with viewers. You either love them or hate them!

Still... Millionaire is still on here and there as is Weakest Link..... I can see deal or no deal going on for a long time yet though (With or without a £250,000 top prize)

The thing is, what with episodes being recorded, on average, 2 months in advance, they can't really do much if the viewing figures start falling.

My logic is people tune in if the game is interesting, e.g everybody saw the way the forums lit up here when Amanda's game wasn't show, & the birthday show, it was the same. It happens when something contraversial happens. I am almost certain if the 250k was won this forum would go into meltdown.

I don't know how a £250k winner will affect the ratings, but I do know that this household doesn't find it as compelling viewing as it was.

Whether that's down to a general lack of charisma on behalf of the players, or that the formula is becoming stale, or that we're just seeing too many shows per week I don't know. I do know, though, that Ingerlise and Donna's game were disappointing to all of us here, in that none of us particularly enjoyed their conduct.

From Ned's game onwards, there's been a lack of personality, we think - nothing to make a particular player's game stand out, although there are one or two in the wings that look as though they might be interesting. If the spoilers are to be believed, then early January may be interesting viewing, and perhaps for a short while after, but I think that the ratings rise will be short lived unless they make some changes after that.

The problem is is that because they record the shows so far in advance, if they found that viewing figures were falling, there's nothing they could do about it quickly - i.e. they couldn't change the format on-screen for a while.

By the time they had finished on 8/12, they'd already filmed the episodes to be shown up until late February. If the ratings dropped in say, late January, they'll already presumably be filming late March episodes by then, so even if they made a very fast format change, it wouldn't come on-screen until April at the earliest.

I think it'd boost them for a while and then they might just go back to their normal figure after a while. Though the suspense of the first person to win the £250k would disappear as it won't be the same next time. The first time will be interesting just to see how everyone reacts.

The actual 250k game, assuming it's heavily spoiled, will easily get the biggest ratings in the show's history, especially if it airs on a Sunday where the potential audience is larger than on a weekday afternoon.

The obvious comparison is with the first jackpot win on Millionaire; Judith Keppel's heavily-spoiled win gained 40% more viewers than shows either side of it, despite being up against the equally massively-anticipated final episode of One Foot In The Grave. Ingram Wilcox's recent and equally heavily-spoiled win drew an even bigger ratings boost in relative terms; his show picked up 6.2m viewers, episodes either side got 4.2m and lower - and that's DoND ratings territory, so you'd have to assume that a heavily-spoiled 250k win would pick up ratings in the region of 6m based on that particular evidence. And would that be Channel 4's biggest non-BB ratings in recent years?

Honestly, when I first heard about the 500k games, I thought 'right, there's been a 250k win for transmission in December then'. Noel's probably still angry that Ingerlise and Donna didn't make that happen... I honestly reckon they might be testing the water with those 500k games, ready to make a permanent change if reaction is positive and/or there's a 250k win.

We may find out quite soon, if the rumour mill is churning out accuracy...

Oh, incidentally, there's precedent to believe the jackpot may go up. Both France and Italy have had special double-money games, and in the case of France that doubled jackpot is now permanent (and they moved to 24 boxes from 22 and did a set/graphics revamp to a US style while they were at it). Courtesy of insane offers and insane players, the previous jackpot had been won quite a few times in France...

Personally I don't mind what the top prize is. A change might be quite interesting to see how the players react, short-term and long-term - that's the biggest reason I'm looking forward to the 500k games, to see how they react to a board that's different to how it was for almost 350 games beforehand...