This is Le Banquier, where the rules follow the long-forgotten U.S. version, and our contestants don't make terrible decisions.

Tonight, the set is transformed into a cabaret as we welcome 22-year-old Marie-Sophie Rondeau to the stage. The Montreal native is a waitress at a bar, and is a huge fan of burlesque dancing. She loves the costumes, the colours, and the performances; so much so that she gives us a sample of what she can do. I wish you guys could've seen this, because she gave an excellent performance, if you know what I mean . Marie-Sophie also loves cotton candy, and even integrates it into her burlesque act. "It's sweet like me," she says. Her hair is dyed mauve to match her favourite snack-turned-burlesque accessory.

Our models are also dressed appropriately for the evening, as as three of Marie-Sophie's four supporters. She plans to to use her winnings to go to Paris to visit the world-famous Moulin Rouge cabaret. If I ever get the chance to go to Paris, I'm doing the same. Marie-Sophie's burlesque costumes and accessories are rapidly taking over the space in her apartment, so she'd also like to use her winnings to find a bigger place for her and her partner to live.

Julie then reveals that she also got involved with burlesque earlier in her broadcast career. In 2000, she hosted a show in France called Vendredi, c'est Julie, and in one episode, she visited the Moulin Rouge, and got into full burlesque garb. We see a clip of that on the big screen.

Marie-Sophie then picks case 20, and is then awarded a trip to Paris to visit the Crazy Horse cabaret, courtesy of Expedia.ca. It's worth $7,000. We then begin the game by opening six cases.

Round 1 - 6 to open
[8] - $175,000
[18] - $.01
[7] - $200
[12] - $200,000
[22] - $5,000
[14] - $300

Offre du Banquier: $38,000

Marie-Sophie says: REFUSÉE

Round 2 - 5 to open
[23] - Julie switches places with Tom, the model who holds case 23. She opens the case, and inside is the Capital One bonus. Marie-Sophie is now guaranteed $10,000 regardless of the outcome of the game.
[16] - $100
[11] - $400,000
[6] - $300,000
[13] - $1,000

Offre du Banquier: $42,000

Marie-Sophie says: REFUSÉE

Round 3 - 4 to open
After a performance from Nanette Workman, Marie-Sophie picks case 3.
[3] - $25,000
Marie-Sophie then presents Julie with a gift, a first on Le Banquier. At first, Julie thinks that the gift is a pair of fancy earrings, but Marie-Sophie tells her that they're actually nipple tassels. I am not making this up, folks. Marie-Sophie then clips them on to the front of her costume to demonstrate how they work, much to the delight of Julie, the audience, and your recapper . Julie then tries them out herself before wearing them as earrings for the rest of the show.
[17] - $1
[25] - $750
[4] - $10

Offre du Banquier: $51,000

Marie-Sophie says: REFUSÉE

Round 4 - 3 to open
[2] - $20
[1] - $150,000
[21] - $500,000 - Boom goes the dynamite.

Offre du Banquier: $39,000

Marie-Sophie says: REFUSÉE

Round 5 - 2 to open
[10] - Surprise / $5 - The Surprise this time is something any girl would enjoy - $7,500 worth of shoes from Spring.
[5] - $125,000

Offre du Banquier: $34,000

Marie-Sophie says: REFUSÉE

Round 6 - 1 to open
[26] - $100,000 - Game basically over.

Monsieur le Banquier decides to throw our contestant a lifeline, and offers this:

Offre du Banquier: $20,000

Marie-Sophie says: ACCEPTÉE

With $50,000 as the sole remaining right-side amount at this point, the proveouts will determine whether or not she got out at the right time.

Proveouts

Round 7 - 1 to open
[9] - $50,000 - Looks like that decision worked in Marie-Sophie's favour.

Good thing Marie-Sophie didn't go all the way, for if she did, she'd have won only $50 from her case 20. She dances off with $44,500 in cash and stuff.

Next week, Le Banquier will re-air the Celine Dion special. I'll be back with more recaps when new episodes resume. Until then, have a great week, and don't be a Rosie.

WOW, clearly you can see why contestants never make horrible decisions on this version of the show; it's nearly impossible to do so. Those who need money have the comfort of a $10,000 check and a nice prize or two even if all goes wrong, so they usually aren't cautious, and even of they were, the offers are so great on this version that you can't reasonably argue with any Deal past the 3rd offer.

Anyway, it's a shame the six figure run had to end, though just like any other version of Deal, there have to be low-tariff games at some point, and at least on this version a low tariff game still results in the contestant winning $40,000+.

Hey there, bud. Thanks for your post-game analysis as usual .

I gotta ask you something, though. What do you think of my recapping style? Is too informative? Not informative enough? Too sarcastic sometimes?

The reason why I ask if because I'm a journalist by profession, and I'm constantly looking to improve upon my writing.

I think you're recapping style is excellent. You give us the game and only the needed background facts concerning it.