Deal Or No Deal Is Dumb Or Not Dumb

Deal Or No Deal keeps trying to trick up its format to stay fresh. On Thursday, Jay Hughes (of Dallas) squares off with some Michigan woman in head-to-head, deal-or-no-deal action. Whoever amasses the largest amount wins both prizes — kind of like getting both showcases on The Price Is Right. Hughes’ episode airs Thursday. But here’s what I don’t get: When Howie asks for a contestant to pick a bunch of cases to open, the contestant wants low dollar amounts, right? They want crappy cases. But almost without fail, said contestant will pick cases based on anniversaries and/or loved ones’ birthdays. Like, “Timmy was born on the 18th, so I’m going to go with 18!” Then Ursula or April or some other model opens the case and reveals $250,000, and everyone’s ticked off. Doesn’t make sense to me. They should be happy and reassured. “We love Timmy, so we’re glad his case had lots of money in it.” Those people just haven’t thought it through.