The East and West were in a showdown on last night’s finale of Deal Or No Deal Canada and they both ended up winning at the banker’s expense.
The show started with Jamie Cumberland from Calgary, Alberta. The self-titled gay cowboy immediately won the crowd over when he entered wearing chaps and cowboy hat and that wasn’t the only headpiece that the member of the Alberta Rockies Gay Rodeo Association brought with him. He presented host Howie Mandel with a white hat before starting the game by picking case #25 as his own.
The Calgary character certainly had the crowd on his side and started the game on a positive note by only losing $200,000 (case #12) and $50,000 (case #8) in the first round, leading to an initial offer of $29,000. Cumberland promptly rejected the deal and it was a good thing that he did because before the next offer came, the banker said that he wanted to test him. The cheesy Deal Or No Deal schticks have become common practice on the American version of the show, and this was the first chance for the Canadians to taste the cheese, even though this is perhaps the program’s greatest appeal.
Cumberland was asked to ride a mechanical bull for eight seconds before receiving the next offer. Unfortunately, this did not make the TV edit of the show because it was pretty cool and I am sure it was expensive. It was probably a timing issue given Jenny Monaco’s success last week. Anyway, what you didn’t see was a couple of the Deal Or No Deal models unveiled the bull that was obviously no problem for the cowboy. This led to a second offer of $80,000 which was also declined as Cumberland still had many of the larger amounts left in play including the top two numbers of $1,000,000 and $750,000.
The third round, unfortunately, did not go as well. Cumberland lost $1 million and $500,000 in the pivotal round which split his last offer in half as he was asked to walk into the sunset with only $41,000. Showing all the courage of Wyatt Earp, while also displaying an obvious desire to ham it up for the national audience, Cumberland pressed on and lost next to nothing in the fourth round leading to an offer of $113,000 as the number of cases started to dwindle. While many in the audience expected him to deal with at the first six-figure offer, the Calgary native decided to take a risk when Howie told him that he only had to open two more cases before receiving the next proposal.
The decision proved to be a wise one as Cumberland only lost $500 (case #26) and $100,000 (case #3) and left $750,000 in play leading to an offer of $131,000. Saying that he would like to use the money to buy himself a horse named Buttercup, Cumberland walked away.
The next contestant while not as lively, was certainly just as sweet. Valine Kavanagh from Cape Broyle, Newfoundland took the stage next and told Howie that she worked in the catering department on one of the world’s largest moving oil rigs, the ‘Eirik Raude.’
Kavanagh started the game by selecting case #11 as her own and like her Western counterpart, had a decent opening round, losing only $500,000 (case #15) off the big board leading to an initial offer of $28,000. Kavanagh decided to continue and the second round provided her with even more success.
After losing $200 (case #17), $500 (case #12), $100 (case #2), $5 (case #24) and $1 (case #14), the banker was forced to make a significant increase and try to buy the Newfoundlander off with $90,000. Kavanaugh again rejected the deal and pushed forward.
Just like Jamie Cumberland before her, the third round proved to be unkind for the pleasant oil rig worker. She lost $200,000 (case #25) and $750,000 (case #21) and this caused her offer to sink down to $79,000. Although she briefly considered the deal, she again rejected it and moved to the fourth round of the game.
The decision proved to be a wise one as Kavanagh kept the $1 million on the board and only lose $400 (case #5), $25,000 (case #10), and $2 (case #20). It was clear that reached the six-figure plateau was Kavanagh’s goal and when she was finally offered $157,000, she could not resist and accepted the deal much to the relief of her boyfriend and the chagrin of the studio audience.
All in all, Deal Or No Deal Canada was a successful experiment. It proved that the show does not have to be restricted to the States and that international versions are certainly possible.
It definitely took a toll on me as the tapings were grueling at times. When you watch the show at home, it certainly seems like a simple and even mindless concept but this was nothing like watching it live where the pressure is incredible and the intensity indescribable (although I did my best). Like all good reality shows, Deal Or No Deal is one that shows the best and worst aspects of human beings. You see their hopes being realized right in front of you with every case that is being opened. You see their dreams being dashed with the larger amounts of money being systematically eliminated. Ultimately, this is a show about luck, guts, survival and greed.
I don’t think it gets any better.
This has been Murtz Jaffer.
Signing off.
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
For those of you who missed my episode reports, they are available here:
Murtzcellanious: LIVE Deal Or No Deal Canada Report – Episode #1
Murtzcellanious: LIVE Deal Or No Deal Canada Report – Episode #2
Murtzcellanious: LIVE Deal Or No Deal Canada Report – Episode #3
Murtzcellanious: LIVE Deal Or No Deal Canada Report – Episode #4
Sir Linksalot: Deal Or No Deal
Sir Linksalot: Deal Or No Deal Canada
