Contestants drive the Deal
So what's the 'secret' to getting yourself selected as a contestant on Deal or No Deal? Executive Producer Deb Stewart talks to TV Tonight.
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So what’s the ‘secret’ to getting yourself selected as a contestant on Deal or No Deal?
Strictly speaking, it’s not via a traditional audition. Instead people are spotted in the audience on the day by Producers.
As Executive Producer Deb Stewart recently told TV Tonight, the key to being chosen is in looking like you are engaged with the game.
“People fill out a form via the website, and we go through them and invite about 250 people to the record day. Then they go in and they are told there are Producers watching them on the day,” she said.
“We play the warm-up video and we watch the room for the people who are the most engaged -the people who are a bit fired up. People come in here to have a good time, so they’re not sitting like they’ve gone to the movies or something.
“So we pick somebody who we think is great and they become the first contestant. And then we watch the other blocks (of audience members) during the game to see who gets involved in their game …and that’s how we make our decision,” she said.
“Sometimes we don’t get it right, but our strike rate is pretty good.”
There are some contestants who have come to the show with big dreams: world trips, paying off the mortgage, new cars.
Stewart says she has had to handle some ambitions more delicately, including one man whose need for money was extremely personal.
“He wanted money to pay for his child who was sick and I said ‘Look how about we find something else to talk about, because if your game doesn’t go well, everyone is going to be hanging on the edge of their seats?’
“So he said ‘Actually my wife and I never had a honeymoon’ so I said ‘Let’s go with that.'”
As Stewart explains, Duty of Care is even relevant in the game show genre.
“I know it sounds harsh but you can’t send a guy out to play for money for surgery and then say ‘Here’s your 50c.’ You can’t do that, and it’s not what our show is,” she said.
“It’s not just about the show, it’s about how that guy is going to feel. A lot of people might not think a 5:30 show has Duty of Care, but you do.”
Stewart has worked on Deal or No Deal for over three years and as the show proceeds through its eighth year, she still gets a kick from watching how people interact with the show’s simple, but deadly, gameplay. It’s what drives the show and what gets an audience member up onto the Dealer Drome podium alongside host Andrew O’Keefe.
“If that person is going to be a great contestant and play a great game, that’s what matters. That’s the primary motivation.”
Deal or No Deal airs weeknights at 5:30pm on Seven.
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15 Responses
I looooooove this shooooow soooooo muuuucchh!!!! I’d love to go on therewhen I am 18! Andrew is jus sooo cute!!!
totally agree with vince..what a load of s**t about auditioning. as l said earlier in a previous comment..all deal or no deal wanted to do was send me on a holiday..l told them at the audition l would bring laughter and charcter to the audience..l did rant and raved and keep claping, but to still no podium..all their interested in people that want to go on a holiday..well the wheels have fallen off the show..they have to give away money on radio stations so they can keep the ratings up or get people to watch the show.. l’ve been watching millionaire hot seat since it started..take a leaf out of their book ”deal or no deal….
Deal or no Deal is a fun game that is great for all the family to enjoy. Hubby and I watch Deal every night. My girlfriends and I would love to have a go at being contestants on The Deal. We are night shift nurses in an Aged Care Facility in Ballarat. We are a fun loving group of 4 with a little bit of age on us all but we are not ancient —- yet!
signed Sheryl Slingo
The Old Married Chook [not quite 60].
Hello i will like to play the deal or no deal game because i want to go to Nigerian and i want to buy a lind in Sierra Leone
If you’ve got Price Is Right experience and a caffeine addiction you’re a shoe in to get picked.
Thanks for the feature! I’ve been plotting my turn on DoND for years for when I get my butt over to Melb’s from Perth and it’s good to know I’ve been planning all the right things!
They like jokes about exploding body parts, right? 🙂
Deal or no Deal and Millionaire Hot Seat are really the only current game shows that have people from the public as contestants. Spicks & Spicks, Talkin’ Bout’ Your Generation, etc just have celebrities and team captains.
In the episode of Kath & Kim where Sharon went on Deal or no Deal, I don’t think it should her being in the audience first.
The secret to being on DOND is to be either from Sydney or Melbourne If you are from anywhere else in Australia forget about it
In the early seasons they used to ask general knowledge questions and select the contestant that way. But if I remember correctly, they chose three people “randomly” (not really) from a block and those three answered the questions to win the opportunity to play the show.
This show really needs to take a break tho.
I’d still like to see a half-hour version of Weakest Link take over for a while.
“I know it sounds harsh but you can’t send a guy out to play for money for surgery and then say ‘Here’s your 50c.’ You can’t do that, and it’s not what our show is,” she said”
Sorry to be cynical but it actually sounds like you can indeed do that…just as long as the TV viewer doesn’t know he is really playing for the surgery. That seems to be the main concern, not the man’s feelings.
The viewer would have been aware… that was the point. If that had gone to air, someone like me would have had a field day with it, and rightly so. It strikes me as correct Duty of Care.
If this is true:
“I know it sounds harsh but you can’t send a guy out to play for money for surgery and then say ‘Here’s your 50c.’ You can’t do that, and it’s not what our show is,” she said.
then kudos to them
If that’s really how they pick them, I wish they would use that genuine surprise when they call out the names, instead of the obviously staged reactions they film for the show.
Rubbish – they have a short list from the actual auditions, and then from those select few from each section, choose the most animated to participate in the deal-a-drome. Speaking to everyone in my section, most just got an email to confirm attendance, whilst only a couple including myself had *numerous* phone calls quizzing them about their lives. There’s no way every single person attending the filming has an equal chance at that point of being selected. It’s pre-determined before the day who the handful of potential contestants will be, then it’s up to them to prove themselves on the day to stand out against the few others in their group. The co-ordinators have also made it an art to convince you that you will be *the one* to be selected just to get you in the doors, which I find really deceptive and heart-breaking when they build you up to believing you’re going to be picked. This is common feedback I’ve received from friends who’ve auditioned, and was certainly my personal experience. I’d rather audition for a show like Millionaire Hot Seat where at least if you get on the show, you get air time and an actual chance to win. With DOND, you’re having to compete with a massive pool of contestants to be *the one*. I’d rather walk on hot coals that sit through an entire day of DOND filming ever again!
I rekon to get on this show you have to be a total bogan! has anyone seen the contestants. lol