When people asked me what attending the Deal Or No Deal Canada tapings live was like, it was the third episode of the show that immediately came to mind. The third episode had it all. A great contestant. A raucous crowd. And a lot of drama.
And the third episode finally aired last night.
After Howie Mandel started the episode by introducing the theme music in front of the Toronto skyline, the audience was introduced to the fourth player to try their hand at the Northern version of the popular American game show.
Michael George, a Leaside teacher from Brampton was undoubtedly the most entertaining contestant that the producers selected. The married coach who is also responsible for instituting a basketball program for lower-income youth called C.I.A. (Characteristics Inspiring Achievement) immediately became a crowd favorite as he hopped around on stage. He also introduced the audience to his wife and four-month old son Noah before selecting case #26 as the one that he would attach his million dollar dreams to. He picked the case because it was the room number where he taught.
The basketball theme and feel of the show started with the audience itself. George brought many of the kids in his program and they all wore red and yellow basketball jerseys. There were so many of them in the crowd that the Toronto Production Centre actually looked more like the Air Canada Centre and as the crowd would later find out, this wasn’t too far from the truth.
In addition to his supporters, George also picked cases based on the numbers of his favorite players.
The opening round saw him call out the names of Joey Graham, Michael Jordan, TJ Ford and Jason Kidd as he included cases #14, #23, #11 and #5 among his first selection. It was the New Jersey Nets point guard that stung him with a first quarter buzzer beater as Kidd’s #5 case held $200,000. This still wasn’t enough to sour the spirit of the stadium as the banker made an initial offer of $45,000 which George promptly refused.
It was quite clear that the teacher was playing up to the partial Ontario crowd when he picked case #15 and dedicated it to former Toronto Raptors shooting guard Vince Carter. The superstar player admitted that he wanted to leave the team and much to the delight of the audience, George said that he needed to also get the number out. It was a smart decision as the case only held $25. The good luck continued as Morris Peterson (#24), Jose Calderon (#8) and Sam Cassell (#19) were selected next and they respectively contained $10,000, $200, and $400. George closed out the round by selecting case #9 for his son’s birthday and it contained $300, forcing the banker to propose a deal for the insane amount of $111,000. Once again, George declined.
The third round was unkind to the teacher as another former Raptor and Vince Carter’s cousin, Tracy McGrady, exacted their revenge. McGrady’s #1 case held the $1 million and this lowered the next offer to $82,000.
It was at this point that the wacky appeal of the program really shone through as 10 of the teacher’s students rushed the stage with basketballs.
With Michael George playing the role of the mad conductor to his orchestra of rowdy rockers, the team engaged in a cheer of support while bouncing the balls on set. Howie took the opportunity to make a particularly poignant quip as he said that he would go out on a limb before standing on the ‘stem’ of the maple leaf stage where the team conducted its cheer. While the segment was obviously rehearsed, it remained entertaining and served as a nice break from the monotony of the case selection.
George declined the offer and after picking case #4 for Raptor player Chris Bosh, Mandel surprised the contestant once again, this time with a videotaped message from Bosh himself (along with teammate TJ Ford). While the message was personalized, it was just a generic ‘good luck greeting’ and this led to the fourth offer from the banker of $73,000.
After taking some time to think about, George decided to keep going in an attempt to get closer to the $750,000 that was still on the board. The fifth round saw him remove $10 and $5 off the board and this led to an offer of $122,000 which was also rejected as Michael wanted to open one more.
The decision turned out to be a good one as case #6 held $25,000 and with $750,000 still in play, the banker offered the highest amount on Deal Or No Deal Canada up to this point when he tempted George with $144,000.
Citing the fact that he planned to donate half of his winnings back into his basketball program and that he wasn’t just playing for himself, George took the deal which turned out to be a good one as his case only ended up having $75.
All in all, it was an entertaining hour of television and to see in-person.
Personally speaking, I liked this episode the most because George was a likeable contestant. His excitement could never have been misconstrued as being irritating. His smile could not have been any more genuine. His program could not have been any more deserving. I thought that this show typified what has made Deal Or No Deal such a hit. It’s a combination of personality, surprise, intrigue, drama and money. It just doesn’t get any better.
For those of you who missed my taping reports, they are available here:
Murtzcellanious: LIVE Coverage – Deal Or No Deal Canada Tapings – DAY 1
Murtzcellanious: LIVE Coverage – Deal Or No Deal Canada Tapings – DAY 2
Murtzcellanious: LIVE Coverage – Deal Or No Deal Canada Tapings – DAY 3
The next episode of Deal Or No Deal Canada airs on Thursday at 9 PM on Global. Jenny Monaco will be playing for $1 million. As always, Murtz Jaffer will be your live hook-up. He only wishes it was with model #7, Veronique Landry.
Deal?
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