Deal or No Deal in 'fix' row

Noel Edmonds' TV quiz show 'Deal or No Deal' is at the centre of a "fix" row.

The show - which sees contestants open a series of numbered boxes to reveal unknown amounts of money inside - stunned viewers on Friday (07.01.11) when there was an apparent breach of the show rules that state only an independent adjudicator knows how much is in each box.

As a contestant selected a box, the £100,000 graphic disappeared from the screen which shows the remaining sums of money - before the container had even been unlocked to reveal the amount inside.

The graphic was quickly replaced, and then disappeared again after the box was opened to reveal it contained the £100,000.

A stunned viewer told The Sun newspaper: "The whole point of the show is that no one knows what is in the boxes.

"But by the look of this, it seems that the production team knows exactly what is in them before they are opened. Someone gave the game away by being a bit too quick off the mark with the graphics."

But last night, Channel 4 bosses defended the blunder - saying the production team had mistakenly added the graphics at the wrong time during post-production.

A spokeswoman said: "The on-screen money amounts are added after the show has been filmed as part of the post-production process.

"Occasionally, an error is made in the overlay and this is quite simply down to human error."

She also confirmed that only the independent adjudicator knows what cash amounts are inside which boxes during the game.