Ellen DeGeneres, most known for her Emmy-award winning daytime talk show, is set to appear on NBC's Deal or No Deal, not as a celebrity contestant nor guest banker, but as one of the 26 briefcase models.

According to Access Hollywood, NBC will be shooting DeGeneres' Deal or No Deal episode on November 9, and will air it sometime in January 2008.  TV Guide, however, is reporting that fans of DeGeneres will get a sneak peek into the episode as the 49-year-old actress-comedienne plans to bring her own film crew to the shoot.  The teasers will air on DeGeneres talk show in November.

"Ellen is a great supporter of the show and we were looking for our first celebrity model. Who better to do that than Ellen?" Libby Hansen, NBC's vice president of alternative series and specials, told TV Guide.

Signing on to become a briefcase model means that DeGeneres will be trading in her usual duds for a sparkly dress that each model wears during the show.  Those who have watched Deal or No Deal religiously know that the models wear the same dress, but a different one each show.  Sometimes, the dresses are custom-made, but more often than not, they are off-the-rack and altered by series costumer, Dina Cerchione, who has yet to reveal her plans for DeGeneres' guest appearance.

"Ellen knows our show and knows the kind of sparkly, sequined dresses our spokesmodels wear, and she's agreed to be [one of them]," Hansen said somewhat cryptically.  "Ellen won't do anything she's not comfortable with."  Then again, Hansen said, "Who doesn't want to see Ellen in a dress?"

Loyal fans of NBC's The Office will also be delighted to know that some of the comedy series' stars are also set to guest-appear on Deal or No Deal.  The network told TV Guide that the show's accounting staff, played by Angela Kinsey, Brian Baumgartner and Oscar Nunez, taped their episode on September 28, and will be seen on the primetime game show on December 12.

All three actors will be in character throughout the whole broadcast, helping a contestant who has trouble with numbers.

The week in which the Office accountants are set to appear has been dubbed “What's the Deal?” week, and will have nightly airings of Deal or No Deal.  The week will feature “special guests” and “twists,” and will have all 26 models sporting bikinis instead of the usual dresses.


-Lisa Claustro, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Access Hollywood, TV Guide
(Image Courtesy of E! Online)