Deal Or No Deal Island

[SeaBreeze341]

A spinoff of the NBC gameshow hit from the 2000s is pretty much a combination of the Howie Mandel original version and Survivor.   Basically the contestants, including Claudia Jordan & Boston Rob Mariano are on a private Island (the Bankers I believe) competing on it.  The briefcases are hidden throughout DOND Island.


Here comes a report from Entertainment Weekly, including the cast.  Monday, February 26, 2024 at 9:30 PM Eastern is the premiere on NBC.

[holein1isawesome]

This... is unique to say the least.

[TPIRFan1995]

I don't want Survivor-like aspects in Deal Or No Deal or have Claudia as a player in order to entice me. If I wanted to watch a reality show, it'd be The Amazing Race, which in my opinion is the best reality show on CBS or anywhere. Seeing commercials for DOND Island m akes me all the more grateful for TPIRAN, LMAD Primetime, Celebrity Wheel, Celebrity Jeopardy!, Jeopardy! Masters, Celebrity Family Feud, That's My Jam, Password, Weakest Link, and the Fox game shows. IDK why they couldn't just bring the original show back if Joe had to be host. This will end up on Peacock and be replaced with Extended Family, Lopez Vs Lopez or Night Court.

[Mr. Weatherman]

This will end up on Peacock and be replaced with Extended Family, Lopez Vs Lopez or Night Court.

…or serve as a segue into bringing back regular DOND for a third time.  IMO, DOND Island is a goofy, one-off program serving as a means of reintroducing audiences to DOND at a time when network TV is saturated with primetime game shows.  It’s filler programming, first and foremost.  But bringing back the original version with so many other competing game shows may have led to less-than-desirable results.  If this new format draws a meaningful audience — enough to get people talking about DOND again — and a few other primetime game shows are cancelled in lieu of scripted programming with the writers and actors strikes resolved, then who knows.  Perhaps DOND will be given another shot on the ‘Peacock’ network.  I have my doubts.  But there’s no way the creators of DOND Island are taking this version of the show seriously.

[imhomerjay]

From classrooms to conference rooms, the mantra “there’s no bad idea” is shared so often it is taken as a truth.

This proves that statement is false.

[Reloaden]

I seen a clip of the show on youtube and it just looks like survivor with a deal element to it. I don't see this show lasting long.

[gamesurf]

I don't see this show lasting long.

I don’t think it was meant to. I can’t think of a show that could scream “desperate writers strike filler” any louder. The whole idea feels like a 30 Rock joke come to life.

Even the “Deal or No Deal” round feels backwards. Eliminating big cases early on is good, because the contestant wants to have a small amount on their case, and yet everybody is coached to groan when they eliminate a big amount and cheer when they reveal a small one.

Statistically the best offer the contestant could have taken was the first one—they had a 58% chance of winning if they had taken the $47,000 deal. There’s no amounts between $750 and $200,000 to worry about.

(I guess the producers are hoping contestants realize they’ll have coin flip odds at worst and an 8% higher chance at surviving elimination isn’t worth the target that will be painted on their backs for failing to contribute to the pot. My prediction is pretty much every game will go down to the final two or deal with only one six-figure case remaining.)

I wasn’t expecting them to build an elaborate set on an island, but so much of what made the original DOND memorable was the fancy set and the sound effects and the chrome. You just can’t get that when your set is cheap and mostly CGI and the contestants aren’t playing for real money.

[noahproblem]

The one good thing about a main game structure (i.e. the basic DOND game as opposed to the Survivor-ish parts of the show) which in whole is very counter-intuitive to how the game has always been played:  at least there will still be some drama if the endgame comes down to 2 or 3 low cases.

[StacksOfCash]

The show is exponentially worse than the sum of its parts.

Everything that makes Survivor good isn't there. No tribes, no teams, and most importantly no "survivor" aspect. Contestants are fully clothed, fed, and given every possible accommodation. Aside from getting dirty for some challenges, this is essentially a paid vacation for people who can be considered at minimum - semi-celebrities. A large part of the social aspect is gone too since there's no voting and no goal of controlling a majority. Just a person playing a good or bad game of deal and either getting sent home, or choosing someone to go home - no questions asked. I don't have much hope for many twists either like hidden immunities, large reward challenges, auctions or anything that made survivor exciting to watch.

Everything that makes deal or no deal good is gone too. No studio audience, no support group, little buildups, less intense music, and even the rules change to be something far less exciting. I was hoping they would re-introduce the one-time counter offer as well, but they didn't. A "good-deal" should have meant that they made more than what they discovered in their case (I think that dude found $150,000), setting at least some kind of bar or goal for the contestant to achieve. This would make a unique situation the other contestants to root AGAINST the contestant, or give BAD or misleading advice. The game would possibly end early if the contestant had no chance of making that amount though case elimination, but this depth is taken away and reduced to what's essentially a coin-flip at the end.

The run-time for one episode is 1:04:32 without commercials for the first episode. I felt that they could have cut out at least 3/4 of it for it to not feel like a total drag. I won't be watching episode 2 or the rest of the season. This show sucks complete ass.

[gamesurf]

A "good-deal" should have meant that they made more than what they discovered in their case (I think that dude found $150,000), setting at least some kind of bar or goal for the contestant to achieve. This would make a unique situation the other contestants to root AGAINST the contestant, or give BAD or misleading advice. The game would possibly end early if the contestant had no chance of making that amount though case elimination, but this depth is taken away and reduced to what's essentially a coin-flip at the end.

Then the contestant’s decision would be automatic as long as they know what’s in their case. Every offer $149,999 or less guarantees they go home, so they have zero incentive to take the deal.

It could work if the lowest contestant’s case was kept a mystery, but then they’d need to come up with a new play in game since it neuters the whole first half of the show if contestants aren’t allowed to know what’s in their case to bluff and trade and whatnot.

It’s fascinates me because there’s so much to pick apart. I’m sure there was a way to make  “Deal or No Deal reality competition” work, but that would mean they had to put more thought into it, and they clearly needed something they could duct tape together and get on the air quickly.

[SeaBreeze341]

The show is exponentially worse than the sum of its parts.

Everything that makes Survivor good isn't there. No tribes, no teams, and most importantly no "survivor" aspect. Contestants are fully clothed, fed, and given every possible accommodation. Aside from getting dirty for some challenges, this is essentially a paid vacation for people who can be considered at minimum - semi-celebrities. A large part of the social aspect is gone too since there's no voting and no goal of controlling a majority. Just a person playing a good or bad game of deal and either getting sent home, or choosing someone to go home - no questions asked. I don't have much hope for many twists either like hidden immunities, large reward challenges, auctions or anything that made survivor exciting to watch.

The run-time for one episode is 1:04:32 without commercials for the first episode. I felt that they could have cut out at least 3/4 of it for it to not feel like a total drag. I won't be watching episode 2 or the rest of the season. This show sucks complete ass.

On one hand, the people behind the show can make the show work all they want for nothing, and on the other hand they can do exactly what they're doing without consequence.

Very good points, StacksOfCash.  I don't know if I'll forgo the season, whatever is left of it on NBC.  However, and IMHO, DOND & aspects of Survivor (excluding the things that make the latter great) should've been left separate.   Having watched the CBS hit for a nearly a quarter century, the outcome here is nothing more than a shoulder shrug.

Not must see television, but I still have to give some respect for someone trying something new.  Or different.  I guess I'm a fan of someone that "takes risks" even when they're not good at all.

By the way, the ratings were not that bad to start.  Helps having the Voice as a lead-in, I suppose.

The fact is they might do nothing to address the concerns, but if people tune in, it's not going anywhere.  At least for what's slated to run.   Of course, they can make this work all they want, but if nobody cares enough to tune into it when it's on, it's curtains.  I don't know or think I'll watch going forward.  IOW, whenever it's on.  Probably a show to binge in the future, but that's pretty much what I do with everything else.  To be fair, it's only one episode.  Things could go either way, or not.  It does help that Rob, Claudia, and Joe Manganiello are on it; without some decent people, chances are DONDI would be a hard pass for me

[BillyGr]

Even the “Deal or No Deal” round feels backwards. Eliminating big cases early on is good, because the contestant wants to have a small amount on their case, and yet everybody is coached to groan when they eliminate a big amount and cheer when they reveal a small one.

Not really - they want to have a large amount, as that is what gets added to the pot that they will play for at the end of the day.

All they want to do is get rid of anything that is larger than what they have, as doing that allows them to win just as happened in this first episode, stay in the game and get to choose who to get rid of.

[Game Girl]

I am watching a show though I am a little disappointed since based on the description I thought I was going to be a scavenger hunt for all the cases Easter egg hunt style. At the same time I have been enjoying the deal or no deal portions even though a lot of the editing is really too much survivor, even though I am not completely against a competitive reality show for this just not survivor style. anyway I am going to watch the show 'competitive reality show' portion when I have time and it is decent and most likely for other weeks just skipping to the deal or no deal portion.

I wasn’t expecting them to build an elaborate set on an island, but so much of what made the original DOND memorable was the fancy set and the sound effects and the chrome. You just can’t get that when your set is cheap and mostly CGI and the contestants aren’t playing for real money.

I think the set works for you would be cool I think the beechy deal no deal is pretty cool. I just wish they did a little better with making the area around the screen a little fancier with some flowers even though the leaves are somewhere nice touch and the red were not done well. The lack of money being paid really does lower the impact of the game. I think they needed to do a more personal bank like how they did it on the first season of the challenge USA rather than the group part because it does not lead to personal incentives as much as the other option would.

[88JRFAN]

The most recent episode saw former TPiR and Deal or No Deal case #1 model Claudia get eliminated after accepting a deal, which turned out to be a bad deal (she had 500K in her case). Boston Rob had immunity and is still active

[sayingsorry]

Is anyone else still watching? I am enjoying the show for what it is, I know the challenges are not crazy hard but I like the strategizing that is involved. Last nights game of DOND was crazy with the drama and if you trust your case to take you that far why did he take the deal at the end and go home?! I am personally happy Rob is still alive