I occasionally watch reruns on GSN. They obviously screened contestants in order to get risk takers (the show would have been more boring if everyone played it safe), but I'm still somewhat surprised when I see how much people are willing to gamble on this show. I recently saw an episode where three cases were left -- $1,000,000 and two lower amounts. The contestant was being offered around $500,000 to leave. Instead they took the risk, revealed the $1,000,000, and ended up leaving with a very small amount of money. Would that person have gambled $500,000 outside of this show on a 1 in 3 chance that they would double their money? I don't know, but I think people would be more conservative if they were gambling money they had accumulated through working and investments over time. Somehow because the offer is still just "theoretical" money, not money they already have in hand, people will take significant risks hoping that their luck will make them rich. I've only ever seen one contestant not play the game this way, and it was so unusual that Howie actually commented how strange it was that the contestant was leaving with three large amounts still in play.
I recall reading an interview with Howie Mandel back in the day where he said he was astounded that someone would be offered a huge amount of money for simply saying "I'll take it" but would turn it down for lousy odds at making more. He chocked it up to people being caught up in the excitement and ignoring their common sense.
There was no gamble in Mr. Mandel’s decision to be Host; it was a quantum leap from this: “Howie Mandel: Take the C Train - Calgary Transit 1983.
Or the pals that would keep screaming “no deal” to their friend. So annoying. Generally, if it gets up to $100,000 plus just take it. You’re almost always going to take a big dip and then struggle to get out of the pit if you’re even able.
My wife and I watched it for the first couple years then it got stale. Did anyone ever get to the end and win the $1 million?
There were two winners in season 4. I haven't seen those shows yet since I'm still on season 3 on amazon prime.
Just started on Season 5. This season was something like 10 years after Season 4. A new thing is you can do a counteroffer on the banker offer but only once per game. And I don't think you can switch cases at the end anymore.
I cannot imagine watching it in real time unless I was only half paying attention. With a DVR, however, it's easy to pick up the pace.