# My Mayor Wins $200,000 on 'Deal or No Deal'



## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Monday night, the new mayor of Brunswick, Ga played the game like a virtuoso plays a violin, working the money board with amazing skill and finesse. Playing off his own Brunswick City Council members, a gang of enthusiastic constituents back home and his money-manager wife, a grinning Bryan Thompson boldly navigated the money board, the beautiful models and 26 numbered briefcases to finally take home $202,000 in cold, hard cash.

*"...had to be willing to win a million dollars"*

A few months ago, Mayor Thompson took a call out of the blue from an NBC producer. The producer said his show, "Deal or No Deal," was looking for an East Coast mayor as a contestant. The caller from Hollywood said the potential contestant had to be willing to win up to a million dollars.

"You're talking to him," Mayor Thompson remembers telling the producer.

He knew his TV appearance was a big deal -- his whole staff reminded him. And the city hall gang knows the biggest deal of all: the deal says if you're on the show, you can't talk about how it ends.

Yesterday, just a few hours before the show aired Monday night on NBC, I was downtown and happened to bump into the personable mayor in Spaldings, a small, upscale men's clothing shop locative on Newcastle St. in historic "downtown" Brunswick. As much as shop owner Mark Spalding and I tried to get the mayor to reveal how he faired on the show, which had been taped in Los Angeles well in advance of its airing, he was pretty much tight-lipped about the outcome, although his incessant grin made it pretty obvious he had done ok for himself on the show.

I don't usually watch game shows these days, but I rushed home yesterday to set a timer on my DVR and made sure it wouldn't conflict with "24", my Monday night addiction. While I was watching, and as the excitement grew with each decision, I was reminded of a game show I enjoyed years ago - "Let's Make A Deal" -- it's pretty much the same idea, but without all the furniture.

I probably won't watch "Deal" again because, without the local connection, it's just another game show, and as I said, I don't usually watch game shows. 

http://www.nbc.com/Deal_or_No_Deal/


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## Laverne (Feb 17, 2005)

I saw that.  I said - I know someone who lives in Brunswick, GA!  (I don't normally watch it either, but the rest of my family does, and that caught my attention.)

Seemed like a nice guy. :grin: And did you notice one of his city council members is named Laverne?!  Didn't he say it's your town's 150th anniversary?


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