News
The Banker differs from country to country. In some shows he’s a mysterious, shadowy figure, only seen in silhouette. In others, he’s nothing more than a grumpy voice at the end of a phone. But wherever The Banker is, he hates giving money away. So much so it can make him act very strangely. In the Philippines in 2006, The Banker’s demands provoked outrage from viewers, when he offered a contestant a P40,000 deal if his advice-giving cousin was removed from the studio. The contestant dealt and grabbed the big cash pot instead of The Banker’s original P300 offer. The cousin didn’t seem to mind!
Véronique Landry is the only model to appear on more than one version of the show, on both the French and English Canadian versions. Howie Mandel, Héctor Sandarti, and Linda de Mol each have hosted multiple versions of the show: Mandel, with the American English and English Canadian versions, Sandarti with both the American Spanish and Mexican Spanish versions, and de Mol with both the Netherlands Dutch and German (in 2004) versions of the show.
Other countries that have their own versions of the show include Albania, Armenia, Austria, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Portugal (SIC network), Puerto Rico, and Vietnam, according to the UK version's website.
Variations
Taiwan Television Enterprise (TTV) has a variation of "Deal or No Deal" embedded within its Saturday night weekly variety show hosted by popular TV host and one time recording artist Jacky Wu. The portion involved 16 boxes wherein celebrity contestants will play for NT$1.5 million top prize in denominations starting from NT$1.00. In this game though, Jacky Wu the TV host, also acted as a banker. He would randomly come up with an amount when the choice of boxes become fewer. Contestants however should successfully win a talent portion of the show before playing this game.
