First off, Let’s Make A Deal is back, on CBS, with Host Wayne Brady [Whose Line is it Anyway, Don’t Forget The Lyrics.]
All this week, Monty Hall is in the studio. He hosts one “game” per show.
Monty’s game today was incredible.
15 cards were presented to a contestant. 13 of the cards were safe, 2 of the cards were Zonks. The safe cards had various money amounts on them. If the Contestant accumulated $1,000+ from the possible $1,800, they could “buy” the new car on stage.
13 of 15 cards safe.
Contestant picks a Zonk card as their first pick.
Monty can’t believe the bad luck. He is obviously upset at the bad luck.
Monty then comes up with an Impossible impromptu challenge.
If you can pick the other Zonk card right now, I will give you the car.
If you make the (possibly unjustified) simplification that you need 8 cards to win on average[sup]*[/sup], the odds of winning the car normally are
13! (15-8)!
15! (13-5)!
or
7*6
15*14
which works out to 0.2, or 1 in 5. Better than 1 in 14 (odds of winning after Monty makes that deal), but not a whole lot. (Discussion of the likelihood of Monty offering that deal in the first place based on picking the first Zonk belongs in an endless series of threads going to 18 pages or more).
*I get this by assuming each card as $1800/13 or ~ $140 on it.
The win was pretty good, but I continue to be amazed by how sharp is Monty Hall. The guy’s almost 90 years old! He still looks OK. He seems to be tad slower with the ad libs, but he can still make the deals!
BTW, if anyone should be planning a trip to Las Vegas, tickets for Let’s Make A Deal are free and it is taped in the Tropicana - who knows, you may win something there if the slots are not paying off for ya!
You can order tickets in advance by contacting CBS on the website, or often you can get tickets here as well.
Last week, Monty Hall was interviewed during the KTLA Morning News on the set of “Let’s Make a Deal,” which is filmed next to the studio for the news. He seemed to be his old lively self with that million dollar smile.
