MCTA mix of students gathered in the Widener lecture hall on Tuesday, March 24, for CAP Board’s version of the hit game show “Deal or No Deal.”
Anticipation was in the air as students entered their names into a raffle, hoping for a chance to play. “This is actually the first event I’ve attended on campus,” Danielle Gordon, freshman chemistry major, said. “I’ve watched the show a few times, and I always have luck picking the cases, so hopefully it helps me out up there!”
As the games start, the contestant stands face to face with the smiling models, each grasping a sealed brief case containing anywhere from $0.01 to $1 million. He or she then selects a briefcase to be set aside until the end of the show, at which point they can choose to keep it.
Next, using nothing but intuition they must work through the remaining 25 cases, eliminating the ones they believe to hold the least amount of money.
With each elimination, the pressure builds as the stakes become higher; the likelihood of eliminating the $1 million is just as great as eliminating the small amounts.
Hidden above the studio, watching intently, is a figure known only as “the banker.” He periodically offers settlements to the contestants in the hopes of saving some money. But due to the changes occurring with every case that’s eliminated, the banker’s offer can easily diminish.
Cabrini’s version, which was scheduled to start at 9 p.m., began about 20 minutes late due to some technical difficulties. The stress didn’t seem to affect the 26 smiling models from the dance team and cheer leading squad, nor did it bother CAP Board’s own Howie Mandel, played by junior Robbie Cunningham. Senior Shannon Santangelo was the mystery banker.
The game consisted of three rounds in which three contestants were picked at random from the raffle to stand before the models. While none of their cases contained $1 million, the contestants were playing for real prizes.
“The player with the most money gets $100 Visa gift card, the second gets a $75 card and the third gets a $50 card,” Felicia Neuber, senior education major, said.
This opportunity to finally have some “gas money,” as many of the students referred to it, had everyone eager to see whose name was drawn next.
“I saw the little signs they have posted and thought, well, I’m broke maybe I can win some of that money,” Gordon said.
Even for the audience members who didn’t win it big, the evening was an entertaining one. The coy banter between Howie and the models, along with the shrouded banker’s attempts at intimidating the contestants, was enjoyable.
