Jessica Robinson Becomes First Deal or No Deal Millionaire
Tuesday September 2, 2008
Well, we knew it was coming, and here it is. Jessica Robinson, who is pregnant with her second child and dreaming of moving to Texas, won a million dollars on Deal or No Deal Monday night. She's the first million dollar winner on the show which is kicking off its fourth season with a Million Dollar Mission.Robinson started off her game with five cases holding $1,000,000. The game itself was rather uneventful until near the end, with the only surprise being that one of the cases held the gender of the baby, which Robinson's husband didn't know. (It's a boy.) Robinson had an uncanny knack for knowing how much money was in the cases she chose, calling out the penny, the $10 case, the $50 case, and a few others before they were even opened. Her chosen case, #4, held one of the million dollar offerings, and she played the game to the end, turning down the banker's final offer of $561,000.
It was disappointing, however, to know how the game would turn out before it even started. In the future, I really hope that NBC and any other network will think twice about revealing the outcome of a game show before it airs. It's one thing to tease that the contestant will win big, or that this will be an episode that we don't want to miss. But the knowledge that Jessica Robinson would walk out with the top prize really took away from the excitement of watching the game.
That said, huge congratulations to Jessica Robinson and her family! She was a great contestant, full of energy and guts, and I hope she gets to move to Texas and buy a great house with her winnings.
Photo courtesy NBC
Comments
Actually I think revealing that there would be a million dollar winner last night was NBC’s strategy for getting a huge rating for the show. So many of us have been waiting for that first million dollar winner for years, that NBC probably knew that most of us would tune in. It still amazes me that even last spring when people were getting 10 or more million dollar cases, no one even came close to winning.
Jessica has a lot of dreams for the half a million or so she’ll net after taxes – move to Texas, buy a home, start a business for her husband… I wonder how much will be left to put aside for her children’s educations?
John
Jessica was at home in Salt Lake when interviewed on TODAY Show this morning. I wonder how long ago the show was taped. Obviously pre-releasing that there was a big winner was to attract viewers, but it sure made it anti-climatic for me.
It was rigged. She knew what dollar amount was in those boxes – she was calling them out. She said she knew what she had in her box because she was told.
I don’t watch the show as much, mainly due to the obnoxious contestants (and their oftentimes boneheaded decisions), but this one was pretty smart. If there was a time to go for the million, it would be with $200,000 being your other value. Yeah, you risk losing $300,000+, but I think the $200,000 makes a nice consolation prize and could soften the blow…
Unfortunately, most contestants go for the million, even when the case values are $1,000 and less.
@John Fischer – I’m sure she’ll have enough left over to put some money away. With that amount, she could put a hefty down-payment on a home and still have lots left over.
@Ksgal – She said yesterday that she has plans to move to Austin very soon. The show was taped over the summer, so it wasn’t too long ago.
@Michael Harris – I wondered if people would think it was rigged because of all the cases she “knew” about. But if it were, there’s no way they’d show all of that in the final edit of the episode!
@Brandon – Completely agree. $200,000 is a comfortable amount to walk away with, so you almost have to take the gamble and see if your case is worth a million at that point.
Knowing that she would win the million definitely took away from us as viewers, but we can’t discredit her game play, which was executed perfectly.
I JUST SAW A PROMO ON FOX SAYING THAT “ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5TH GRADER” WILL HAVE THEIR FIRST MILLION DOLLAR WINNER SOON! IM SURE FOX WILL BEAT THIS TOO DEATH JUST LIKE NBC DID WITH “DEAL OR NO DEAL’S” FIRST MILLION DOLLAR WINNER!
I saw that too Walt! I just hope they don’t actually come out and tell us which episode it’ll happen on, or which contestant is going to win. That’s all I ask for!
Michael Harris, go back to your hole. This is the fifth time someone has “predicted” the case amounts or gotten that information from a supporter, and ALL FIVE were correct. Two of the games were back-to-back.
People would have noticed sooner than this that something was rigged if it was fake.
Jessica is a very close friend of my daughter and I can tell you without hesitation that the show was not rigged and that she picked the million dollar case on her own. My wife witnessed Jessica’s competitiveness at my daughter’s baby shower. She had help but it wasn’t the type of help most people would believe in if you know what I mean.
I didn’t know this pregnant young lady would take home a million dollars. I’m writing a screenplay about a bigger milestone in game show history. It’s not about you, Jessica, but still, congratulations!!!!!!!
A Milestone in gameshow history? let me take two guesses. When John Carpenter won 1 Million Dollars from Who Wants to Be A Millionare (I think this was the first time anyone has walked away with a million on any american game shows, I could be wrong) My more likely guess would be when Ken Jennings appeared on 75 episodes of Jeopardy. Just guessing.