Noel Edmonds will hang up that big black telephone for the last time this September with the axing of daytime quiz show Deal or No Deal after 11 years, £40 million in prize money and 3000 episodes.
Edmonds, who has previously hosted a range of TV shows including the Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, Telly Addicts and Noel's House Party, will host a farewell tour in which he will take Deal of No Deal’s 22 red boxes to audiences at landmarks across the UK.
Ratings for the Channel 4 show have been tumbling in recent years, with the latest figures revealing that 300,000 people watched compared with a 4 million peak in 2006.
Deal or No Deal was based on a Dutch format by Big Brother producer Endemol, which has been sold to more than 100 countries since its launch in 2000.
However, Edmonds is currently developing a new big money game show for Channel 4. In Cheap Cheap, Edmonds will challenge contestants to guess the lowest price of three items in his eclectic general store to win a huge pot of money.
Edmonds is also to pilot Sell Or Swap, which sees the 67-year-old presenter pose as an auctioneer with contestants bidding on items ranging from expensive antiques to a second-hand speed boat or a never-used wedding dress.
Last June, the veteran TV host became involved in a Twitter spat row over his claim that a small electronic box “tackles cancer”.
A simple box that slows ageing, reduces pain, lifts depression and stress and tackles cancer . Yep tackles cancer! pic.twitter.com/krL9sXlpby
— Noel Ernest Edmonds (@NoelEdmonds) June 7, 2016
Edmonds claimed that the “simple box” slowed ageing, reduced pain, lifted depression and stress, and even tackled cancer. “Yep tackles cancer!” he claimed.
@newschambers @SLATFascists @NoelEdmonds I used to admire Noel back in the day but he has gone Icke in my opinion.
— Caroline Ost (@caroline101061) June 7, 2016
After a Twitter user who said he has kidney cancer accused Edmonds of “quackery”, the presenter replied that the man’s cancer might have been caused by his “negative attitude”.
