Howie Mandel Game Show White Elephant Gets An Order From NBC

Next up for Howie Mandel, it looks like Mobbed host is getting back into the gameshow business. He once stood by and watched as contestants nervously chose briefcases, and this next gameshow sounds a little bit similar... or similarly unnerving for the contestants, anyway.

According to Entertainment Weekly, NBC has ordered a game show called Howie Mandel’s White Elephant. The series will have six contestants each selecting a package from “an assortment of wrapped gifts containing millions of dollars in prizes.” Then, much like the similarly named holiday gift-game, the contestants will have the opportunity to keep their gift or “steal” a gift from another player in the hopes that what they have is more valuable. At the end of each round, the person with the least valuable prize is eliminated.Things get even more interesting when it comes down to the last two contestants:

The final two players will face a tough choice, based on the classic psychology experiment “prisoner’s dilemma:” They’re presented with a box filled with two life changing prizes. They must choose whether to share the gifts, or steal the other player’s gift but risk walking away empty handed.

Like Deal or No Deal, this sounds like the kind of gameshow that will have viewers yelling at their TV’s.

Howie Mandel is set to host the show, which has received a 7-episode order form NBC. As EW notes, there’s no premiere date yet, but this show does sound like it would be a good fit for the holiday season.

Kelly West
Assistant Managing Editor

Kelly joined CinemaBlend as a freelance TV news writer in 2006 and went on to serve as the site’s TV Editor before moving over to other roles on the site. At present, she’s an Assistant Managing Editor who spends much of her time brainstorming and editing feature content on the site. She an expert in all things Harry Potter, books from a variety of genres (sci-fi, mystery, horror, YA, drama, romance -- anything with a great story and interesting characters.), watching Big Brother, frequently rewatching The Office, listening to Taylor Swift, and playing The Sims.