It was both title and slogan! “Deal… or no deal?”
Again and again, host Howie Mandel posed that question to players on his NBC game show, a ratings hit since its premiere on December 19, 2005. (All five episodes of that Christmas week stunt made the Top 15.) Contestants would pick a briefcase of 26 containing a hidden dollar value (from a penny to $1 million) and repeat until the tension reached levels of health hazard. A low amount inside meant that there would be a lot of money at stake.
“This was the most relatable, craziest, most ‘engageable’ television I think to date,” says Mandel. we. “Anybody could open a case and have a chance.”
Who was involved
Mandel, 70, was planning to quit television and focus on stand-up when he got the call.
“I was insulted,” he says. Back then, “the people who made television didn’t make commercials, the people who made comedies and series didn’t make soaps, and comedians didn’t make game shows.”
After watching the original Dutch reality series Titan Joan of Mol (creator of big brother i The Voice), and with a push from the woman TerryMandel said yes. Behind each case was a model with hooks, fearing that it would bring bad news.
“We would cry all the time for strangers. We would fix people like they were our family,” she says. Claudia Jordan52, a The price is right alum who held the No. 1 briefcase for four seasons.
Meghan Markle She spent one season with Case 24. (Jordan remembers her as quiet, studying scripts instead of playing Never Have I Ever with the others.) Also, chrissy teigen he briefly held Case 12 and acted as a henchman for “The Banker,” the silhouetted disruptor who would call Mandel with offers of cash to entice players to quit. Among the occasional guest bankers? Donald J. Trump and Darth Vader.
Why do we remember it?
That pit-in-your-stomach feeling when the contestants took life-changing risks! Jessica Robinsonthe first million dollar winner, had to turn down the banker’s offer of $561,000 to get there. Louis Green he said no to $333,000 and went home with $5. For Mandel, a plan to showcase his comedy turned into a desire to help players be smart and “leave a better place than they came from.”
Key details
says Jordan we approximately a 19 hour day. Because the models couldn’t wrinkle their dresses, they couldn’t sit!
“I had spasms in my back and my feet were bleeding,” he explains we. “They realized it was too much.”
Mandel also pulls back the curtain to share a story about the banker: “He was single, and people told me that all over town he would use that line and tell young women he was the banker, but they couldn’t recognize him. Then he’d shine a flashlight or something on them so they could see his shadow.”
The Consequences
The classic came back in the form of Deal or No Deal Islandhosted by Joe Manganiello and adjusted to include elements of surviving. In 2025, Australian survivor legend David Genet won season 2 and $5.8 million, the largest prize in reality television history. Deal or No Deal Island was not renewed for a third season.
A new perspective
Mandel believes To deal or not to deal he reinvented the genre.
“The fact that we lean more on the humanity than the game changed the way they produced game shows,” he says.
treat it also changed the way producers viewed the hosts.
“From that point on, they started hiring comedians,” Mandel adds, pointing out Jeff Foxworthy of Are you smarter than a 5th grader? i Steve Harvey of family fight.
where are they now
Mandel joined America’s Got Talent in 2010 and is its longest serving judge. (Acts interested in auditioning for 2026 can go to AGTAuditions.com.) He also podcasts (“Howie Mandel Does Stuff”) and is set to host a prime-time Canadian version of The price is right. Jordan, briefly one of the Real Housewives of Atlanta peaches, appears on the podcasts “Accidentally Informed” (as a cohost) and “Reality With the King” (as a guest).