I got bored and decided to do a writeup on Season 2. Coming shortly will be a complete list of contestants in the show's history. Here goes...Deal or No Deal’s first full season was an exciting one for sure, despite the top prize remaining unclaimed. 93 games were played, over $10,000,000 was given away, and many lives were instantly changed. Here’s a recap of Deal’s second season.
SeptemberSeason 2 started off with a bang, as the opening week featured insanely high top prizes. Matthew “Matty” Solina and Kimberly Chastang won $675,000 and $701,000, respectively, although it could be argued that they bailed out too early. They would both be topped by Michele Falco, whose game was unquestionably the greatest in the history of the show. She went the distance, and with $750,000 and $1,000,000 as the last two amounts remaining, she was guaranteed to walk out with a life-changing amount of money. She turned down an $880,000 offer and found $750,000 in her case. While it wasn’t the million dollars, no contestant to date has won more. After Michele’s game, the money tables returned to normal, and the games took a turn for the worse. Malaika Merrick’s $105,000 win was the most successful game the rest of the month.
OctoberThings started to turn around as the calendar changed from September to October. There were three straight $100,000+ winners, and nearly a fourth in the enthusiastic Adalis Marreo. $500,000 was still on the board in the ninth round, but in one of the most heartbreaking finishes ever, she eliminated it by choosing Hayley and case #25. She ended up leaving with the $750 that was in her case. Things picked back up, though, as the next five out of six contestants won $100,000+, with P.J. Dykes being the richest in that stretch, taking away $321,000. While October featured big winners, it also saw two contestants pick the million-dollar case without winning it.
NovemberAnita English kicked off November in huge fashion, keeping $1,000,000 in play through eight rounds. However, with a $313,000 offer on the table and no safety net, she decided it was time to go. Her decision turned out to be a good one, as she would have eliminated the top prize on her very next choice had she played on. Peter Shine also did quite well, as his lowest amount on the board through seven rounds was $75,000. He knocked out $750,000 and $400,000 in rounds eight and nine, but still managed $100,000, which was in his case. The November 17 show had a Deal first: two players playing one game. Sisters Casey Penston and Courtney Rudy teamed up for a game of “Double Deal”, in which every value on the board was doubled. While they didn’t have a whole lot of luck in their game, they still won a nice $216,000. In the very next game, the lime green-loving Zanny Henseler became the first contestant to accept an offer with no cash in it. Her prize was a lime green 2007 Cadillac Escalade worth $83,755, complete with spinning rims and seven video screens. Deal had a two-hour show on Thanksgiving, although the games lacked exciting big wins. Joe Kaiser was the biggest winner of the three contestants to play on that show, winning $59,000. Contrasting this show was the final show of the month, featuring one of the most popular contestants in Deal history, Brooks Leach. The beer-loving man from Arkansas claimed to love women, so as he eliminated cases, the models holding each case he eliminated went and sat behind him instead of exiting the stage as they normally do. After round eight, with $500,000 still on the board, he was offered $147,000. He stunned everyone by rejecting the offer, and unfortunately, he eliminated the $500,000 case in the very next round. In the end, he won not only the $10 in his case, but the hearts of many of the viewers watching that night.
DecemberWith only four shows and six games, December was a short month. It did see some big winners in that short time, though. Shayla Ellis led the way with $264,000, while Karen Kulcsar won $151,000, and Skip Allen took home $136,000 on the Christmas show.
JanuaryThe first month of 2007 was fairly dull on Deal, as only two players won more than $100,000. A new addition was brought in, though: Double or Nothing. This feature gave the contestant the option to try to double their winnings or end up with nothing. On January 7, the first Sunday show in Deal history, Kathy Beck was the first contestant to be given this opportunity, but she declined and kept her $99,000. Double or Nothing was only used for one other game, and that contestant also chose not to play it.
FebruaryTwo games of Double Deal were played at the beginning of the month, although neither one produced any huge winners. Giuseppe Iannello finished with a nice $127,000, but Emika Porter won only $15,000. On February 18, Tony Kolton took a deal that confused everyone watching, including Howie. After only four rounds and with $200,000, $300,000, and $500,000 still on the board, he accepted a $94,000 offer. The very next night, Pyong Kong played his way to a very emotional finish. He ended up accepting a $211,000 offer with $750,000 remaining but no safety net. Fortunately, it worked out well, because the next case he would have eliminated had the $750,000. In a stunning coincidence, the three amounts left on the board when he took the deal were $75, $750, and $750,000, and in an even more shocking twist, Pyong’s case held $750, the same amount that his parents came to America from Korea with. Howie look-alike Wayne Ramos was the biggest winner of the month, taking home $277,000. He took the deal despite having $400,000 and $750,000 still intact.
MarchAs the month got started, Anteia Greer became one of the biggest winners in a regular game of Deal. She accepted an offer of $402,000 in the eighth round, despite still having $400,000 and $750,000 on the board. Anteia had $400 in her case, though, so it ended up being a good deal. The March 12 show was two hours long, and dubious history was made that night. Two contestants selected the million-dollar case, and even worse, both made early deals. Hugh Neisler bailed in the fifth round with a $99,000 offer, and Dave Atherton took an $81,000 offer in the third round, the earliest bailout in Deal history. On the next show, twin sisters Annie Hewlitt and Aubrey Wentworth played a Double Deal game. The game was unique in that each sister got to pick a case, and also in that they took turns picking cases for each round. For example, if Annie picked all of the cases in one round, Aubrey would pick all of the cases in the next round. Unfortunately, they didn’t have very much luck, leaving with only $6,000.
AprilAlaskan Heidi Kurtz started April off with a nice $204,000 win. When she took the deal in the sixth round, $200,000, $400,000, and $500,000 were all still in play, but she only had $200,000 in her case, and if she had played on, she would have never received a higher offer. Heidi’s game was the only big highlight of the month, though, as only one other contestant won more than $100,000. Unfortunately, that was only the beginning of the doldrums to come.
MayThis was unquestionably the most frustrating month in Deal history. There were only five games, but there was only one contestant who won a five-figure amount in May. In the first game of the month, Julie Lanero became the lowest winner in the show’s history, coming away with only $1. On the next show, Deal’s 100th, Brooks Leach was invited back. He once again ended up with hardly anything, but unlike last time, his game never really had any potential. All the big amounts were gone after only 16 cases had been eliminated, and he ended up with the $400 in his case. Although New York City subway hero Wesley Autrey’s game on May 21 also had a disappointing finish, the ride to get there was unprecedented. He knocked out all of the six-figure amounts after only three rounds, leaving the top prize of $1,000,000 as the only big amount remaining. Amazingly, he kept it in play all the way to the ninth round, where his luck finally ended. The million-dollar case was eliminated, and he won only the $25 in his case. However, after the game, Chrysler gave him a Jeep Patriot in honor of his brave deed.
JuneThe final month of Season 2 picked up where May left off: in frustration. Mary Mirolla, who played the first round of her game in her front yard, nearly became the first contestant to win $.01, the lowest amount on the board, as that and $10 were the two remaining amounts in the tenth and final round. Her case contained $10, though, so she just missed out on history. Next up was Miami Heat and Dwyane Wade fan Arthur Joseph, who bailed after only the fourth round. However, the offer presented to him was a very special one. His offer consisted of $10,000 along with: a 2006 championship ring, a basketball court makeover in his home country of Trinidad, a spot on set with the Heat as they film their promotional/player introduction video for the 2007-2008 season, a VIP game experience in which he will be driven to the game in a limousine and meet Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O’Neal, and Pat Riley, a team poster with his picture next to the Heat players, two lower-level season tickets for the 2007-2008 season, and a signed Dwyane Wade jersey. Any sports fan passionate about their team will agree that Arthur made the right decision in taking that deal. After that, Jesse Puttananickal continued the slump, finishing with the $100 in his case. His game’s destiny seemed to be foreshadowed from the start, with $200,000 and $1,000,000 being the first two amounts he eliminated. On June 18, Laurel Martin closed out Season 2 on a high note. Her game got better and better as it went along, and although she still had $500,000 and $1,000,000 remaining after six rounds, she decided to quit while she was ahead and accept a $272,000 offer. If she had continued, her highest offer would have been $520,000, as she would have kept the million-dollar case in play the entire way. The top prize wasn’t in her case, though, so things weren’t totally disappointing. After the game, all of the models came out for a curtain call, danced with Laurel and her family, and with that, Season 2 came to a close.
EDIT: Here's the aforementioned list of contestants...
http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/1/31/718456/List%20of%20Contestants.doc