The Banker (male)

The Banker is a male figure, visible only as a dimly lit silhouette, from the formerly popular NBC Primetime/Syndicated game show Deal or no Deal portrayed by Peter Abbay.

History
In each round, after the player choses a number of cases to eliminate from play one at a time. A cordless telephone on the podium rings as Mandel answer it to speak with "The Banker" as his face is never seen and his voice is never heard; after the call ends, Mandel relays the banker's offer to buy the player's case for as little as possible. The player can accept the offer and end the game by saying "deal" as he/she presses a red flashing button on the podium or reject it by saying "no deal" and closing a hinged cover over the button.

The Banker's offers is typically a percentage of the average of the values still in play at the end of each round. This percentage is small in the early rounds, but increases as the game continues and can even exceed 100% in very late rounds. At times, an offer includes a prize tailored to the player's interests, either in addition to cash instead of it. In addition, prizes are occasionally substituted for some of the cash amounts on the board. Starting with the banker's offer in the second round, the player can bring a "cheering section" (a few friends/family members/colleagues) to the edge of the stage for advice on case selection and whether to accept the offer. However, only the player's decisions are counted as part of the game.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: The "cheering section" was seen only in the NBC Primetime version, the syndicated version never had it.

If a player accepts one of the Banker's offers, and if time permits, the host encourages him or her to play through additional rounds to see what would have happened. If time runs short of the highest remaining value is eliminated, all of the remaining cases are opened at once.

Show appeared
Deal or No Deal (NBC: 2005-2009/Syndicated: 2008-2010)