KEY POINTS:
Cases of cash, a harem of girls and a tall guy with a cheesy smile. Must be a gangster film, right?
Nope, it's - muzak please - Deal or No Deal.
The gameshow is the latest addition to TV3's line-up, the local version of the successful format that
plays out like Jeopardy, Goodfellas and a beauty pageant. Well, sort of.
There are 26 suitcases, each containing amounts from 10c to $200,000, and each held by a model in a gold dress. Contestants choose one case, (or do they pick their favourite model?) then start opening the others, all the while getting a better idea of how much they've got in their own case. Meanwhile the "banker" tempts them to sell him their case by offering an instant cash amount.
It's a bit like picking the same Lotto numbers for weeks, then tossing up whether or not to change them. If you're of a certain psychological ilk it's enough to drive you to the brink if you make the wrong choice.
"It's an honest game of chance that delivers a lot of emotion," says producer Darryl McEwen. "This is not a Q&A show, it's not Who Wants to Be A Millionaire. It's not a cerebral game. Anybody can win $200,000 if they're lucky enough."
It's been a while since a gameshow drew primetime audiences in New Zealand, as reality telly has taken over as the couch potato's drug of choice. Unless you count the slightly tongue-in-cheek takes on the genre: Louise Wallace playing a meanie on The Weakest Link , C4's madcap music show, Pop Goes the Weasel or Oscar Kightley and Nathan Rarere's Snatch Your Booty.
Aside from the models, who show up in the TV ads like Stepford Wives, the show is helmed by self-described "excitable" host Jeremy Corbett, of More FM fame.
"I get tense and excited and cheer and all the rest of it, the same as the contestants," he says. "Perhaps not quite as vehemently as them. But I get very excited."
Corbett doesn't have a clue if his new telly role will lead to him becoming the next Selwyn Toogood. But he says his stand-up comedy helped more than his radio background because he's had experience at presenting in front of an audience.
The strict rules set down by the Endemol production company mean there's little room for spontaneity. But McEwen knew he had to find a host who was a "friend of the people", someone on the contestants' side.
"I haven't passionately pursued TV stuff," says Corbett, who last appeared on screen in Charlotte Dawson's Prime TV show, Charlotte's List. "I just do stuff I've been asked to do."
About 7000 wannabe contestants applied to be on the show and 1500 auditioned. What does it take to get on to Deal or No Deal? "People who will give you the highs and lows of TV and provide entertaining television," says McEwen.
The show screens in more than 40 countries and it's not just TV fans who have taken an interest. Mathematicians, statisticians and economists have used the show to study the way people make decisions under pressure. They found that contestants' behaviour becomes riskier as their expected winnings tumble.
"The journey that a person goes through over the hour is phenomenally up and down," says McEwen.
The journey goes on at home too. "You can play it while you watch," says Corbett. "You can have your own look at someone and advise them by yelling at your television. If they do the wrong thing you can say, 'well you should have listened to me'. As you move towards the business end of the programme it's very hard to turn away. You get to know what decisions they'll make and where they're going to turn. I think that's really powerful."
Lowdown
Deal or No Deal, TV3, 7.30pm, Wednesday
