PASADENA, Calif. — If you can't believe the choices made by some of the contestants on "Deal or No Deal," you're not alone. Host Howie Mandel said the contestants have "surprised me in absolutely every way. I have no idea how humans work now."
"Deal" features people who show up with nothing and have a chance to take home as much as a million bucks if they choose the right briefcase. But sometimes, with tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in hand, they still choose to risk all that for a very slim chance at even more money.
"I'm just filled with awe, sometimes anger, sometimes bewilderment," Mandel said. "That's why I hope to do it for years to come, because maybe I'll figure this deal out.
"I interview them and they say they've never owned a home, they have three children to put through college, and they're in a debt. And I say, 'I'd like to offer you a quarter of a million dollars,' and adamantly they go, 'No deal.'
"But look at the board! What is wrong with you?"
In his place, a lot of us would want to shake some sense into those contestants.
"I'm not allowed to. They've told me that," Mandel said.
Of course, he also has that OCD thing (obsessive compulsive disorder), where he doesn't like to even touch people. "Right," Mandel said. "I can't shake hands. I'm not going to shake people."
That's not something he's ever made a big deal out of on the game show. "I just don't shake hands," Mandel said. "The fact that I get to talk about my OCD — I do that a couple times a week with a professional therapist. I don't need a national TV show."
Mandel has been in show business for a long time, as a stand-up comedian (with various TV specials), as an actor (he was a regular on "St. Elsewhere") and as the host of his own daytime talk show. But "Deal" has raised his profile far higher than it's ever been.
"I've never been more blessed in my life, especially at this time in my career and in my life," Mandel said. "This is so out of left field for me. And it has obviously opened up a lot of opportunities and a lot of notoriety — more than any other job I've ever done.
"Besides, it's just a pleasure to go to work each day. It is so much fun. We've actually started taping next season's shows, and I can tell you it's the most thrilling few days I've just spent. There's nothing negative about it. It's the most positive experience of my life."
Even when people who don't have much money are gambling recklessly with tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"There's nobody more conservative than me with money," Mandel said. "I play (stand-up comedy dates in) Vegas many, many weeks a year, and I don't put a quarter in the machine. I don't gamble. I'm very conservative. You know, I drive a hybrid. I'm just really conservative." (He's conservative. Did you catch that?)
"That's the fascinating part for me," he said, "that a lot of contestants are very free and easy with money, and I'm just not."
Which is why he's apparently not acting when he seems nervous for the contestants. "I think Howie, when he hosts this game, is legitimately a nervous wreck," said executive producer David Goldberg.
And Mandel agreed. "I tell you, it's devastating. Sometimes I go home exhilarated, sometimes devastated. First and foremost, I'm a human being. I'm a father; I'm a parent; I'm a husband. And I watch these people and I have all the same issues that they have.
"And when I see somebody making what I believe to be the wrong move, I find it devastating."
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com