¡Allá tu! (2004-08, Telecinco (Spain), Endemol) - Deal or No Deal Spain

 ¡Hola vosotros!

Today's review is of ¡Allá tú!, the old Spanish version of Deal or No Deal.

I've taken the episode of 7 April 2006 to start.

Our theme is something I'm sure I've heard from a French lesson once before. The pink boxes used in the show are singing the tune. Our top prize is €600,000, but half of that goes to a phone-in competition, and both the contestant and phone-in winnings are taxed.

Jesús Vázquez ('z' in Spain is pronounced "th", i.e. "Hesoos Vahthketh" is a close English approximation of pronunciation) is nuestro conductor today.

We meet our 22 players. These include Álvaro from Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha, Ginés from the Balearic Islands, whose sexy pose is immediately overshadowed by Juán from Badajóz, Extremadura and his classy shades, the amicable Óscar from Málaga, Andalusia, although Elena from Segovia, Castile y León's all-black style suits her. We finish with Javi from Vizcaya in the Basque Country and María from Huelva, Andalusia.

Today's new player is Box 7: Lola from Tarragona, Catalonia, who seems nice. In a couple of weeks, he'll see someone on the show demonstrate their party trick of cracking a walnut open whilst standing on two legs.

Don't ask.

Oh wait - is that Cumpleaños Feliz I hear? Yes, it's our Óscar from Málaga's birthday, and everyone congratulates him.

Our qualifying question is "What percentage of the Spanish elderly have used the Internet?" It's 6%.

7 contestants answered correctly, and the rest will be performed, very nicely, with their places of residence on a map of Spain.

The place selected is Málaga, Andalusia - which means our birthday boy Óscar is playing for the €600,000!

Our board goes from a churro (a popular Spanish type of fried dough, a Spanish cuisine icon) to €600,000. Our joke prizes are the churro, the valeriana (a type of herb), and ciprés.

The aim of ¡Allá tú! is to find out what's in the player's box out of various sums of money by getting rid of all the other boxes. Now and again, La Banca will phone the player and offer a cash offer, based on the values of the boxes left, to quit the game and to give your box to them. The player can accept or decline the offer, the idea is to sell your box to La Banca for higher than it's actually worth: the player wins whatever's in their box.

An ad break ensues, before we return.

The box ambience theme is quite nice actually. His first pick is Box 6: Diana from León: she has the €60,000: a sad piece of music ensues. Elena from Segovia's got the €6,000: the sad music ensues, but that's because it's played for any right-hand side amount. Txulin from Álava in the Basque Country has the €1,500. María Carmen from Cantabría has the €900: it's going respectably. José Manuel from La Rioja has the €12,000.

Oh dear, María from Huelva has the €120,000 in Box 16: that's the biggest amount on the board gone.

His first banker's offer is a rather generous, considering he's taken two of the Power 5 out, €28,000: it's promptly No Dealed. Yraya, from Las Palmas, has the €600. And Aldara from Teruel, Aragon, has the churro!

He and Jesús share it, which is nice.

Txomin from Castellón, Valencia, has the €30: two nice boxes gone. The next offer is €18,000: it's No Dealed. But for luck Isabel María from la Ciudad Real, Castile-La Mancha, has a sing-song: she's got a great voice actually. As a reward, Óscar picks her next: she's got the €50.

Next is Javi from Girona, Catalonia: he has the €600,000, so he can't win the jackpot. And it was all going so well!

Álvaro from Toledo has the €1 though, so it's not all bad. Javi from Vizcaya has the €3,000, a prize one can happily clear off, and Pilar from Burgos, Castile y León has the ciprés, before €15,000 is No Dealed.

Óscar decides its time for a singsong. His voice is fantastic: he should do a duet with Isabel María.

Ginés, who is to the left of our Extremaduran friend Juán, has €10. Alba, from Ourense, Galicia, has the Valeriana. And looking at our board, €22,000 is actually not a bad offer. Óscar's holding out for more though.

David from Albacete, Castilla-La Mancha, believes that blowing on the box is good luck.

It doesn't work.

Inés, from Melilla, a Spanish city on the coast of Morocco, has the €5! "Muy bien, muy, ¡muy bien!"

The next offer is an exceedingly respectable €32,000. I'd have quit then, but Óscar likes to ride his luck.

Paloma, a fellow Andalusian from Cádiz, has the €18,000: it's not the €300 but it could be worse.

Now a dramatic increase in the offer - a massive €62,000. For reasons I can't explain: he says No Deal.

Some news headlines before the show resumes with our new guy Lolo opening... only the €300!

So, now, he can still leave with some lovely cash sums: either €30,000, or €240,000. He's offered a brilliant €120,000. He talks to La Banca...

Finally he deals!

Now, the final question: did Óscar sell a €240,000 for half that price, or has he sold a €30,000 box for four times its price?

¡SÍÍÍÍÍÍ!

And now Juán from Badajóz, without the shades (Boo!) has the €240,000. If only he'd have held on and swapped...

But that doesn't change the fact this is a great result.

And then there's a big huddle. We'll see them except Óscar on Monday 10, and I'll see you next Friday!

The Spanish version was designed to be bright and catchy, and the set is questionable (it was changed later in 2007), but it has its own charm, and I enjoyed watching it. My rating: 7/10