Who is The Banker on Deal or No Deal? Was producer Glenn Hugill the faceless caller on Noel Edmonds show

The identity of The Banker on the Noel Edmonds' game show Deal or No Deal was a well kept secret for more than a decade, up there with who played The Stig (no, it wasn’t Michael Schumacher), and what happened at the end of The Sopranos.

The Banker’s name was never confirmed on the game show, although the odd cackle could be heard down the phone, the only thing that viewers knew for sure was that The Banker was a man.

With a new series of Deal or No Deal now on its way, with Stephen Mulhern replacing Edmonds as host, the mystery comes to the fore once again, as another Banker will be required.

Mulhern let slip the name of the original banker years ago, before his involvement with a reboot of the show, but whether that Banker will return now that his identity is out there remains to be seen, or heard.

Who was The Banker on Deal or No Deal?

The role of The Banker was simple, call contestants throughout the show and offer them money to quit the game early, rather than continuing in the hope of winning more. It had long been believed, but not proven, that The Banker was none other than Deal or No Deal’s executive producer, Glenn Hugill. It was not until 2015, that this suspicion was finally confirmed.

Richard Osman, who also worked as a producer for Channel 4 at a similar time to Hugill - on 8 Out of 10 Cats - before becoming famous in front of the camera for his work on Pointless, wrote in Metro that Hugill was probably The Banker.

Later that year Mulhern confirmed the revelation during an appearance on This Morning to promote his new ITV game show Pick Me!, which Hugill was also an executive producer on. 

Who is Glenn Hugill?

As well as executive producing and lending his voice to Deal or No Deal, Hugill, 53, also had a stint as an actor, playing Alan McKenna in 86 episodes of ITV soap Coronation Street from 1996-97, and presented 2001 reality game show The Mole.

He also worked as a producer on reality series Beauty and the Geek, Bradley Walsh game show Cash Trapped, Catchpoint with Paddy McGuinness, Unbeatable with Jason Manford, and Sitting on a Fortune with Gary Lineker.

It makes sense that Hugill would be The Banker for several reasons - firstly, the show’s executive producer is likely the best placed to make on the spot decisions about the amount of money he is prepared to offer contestants, as he would ultimately be responsible for how much of the budget is spent on cash prizes.

Additionally, Hugill’s father Deric, was a bank manager, and even though the son took a totally different career path, it seems that in some ways he followed in his father’s footsteps after all.

Who is The Banker on the Deal or No Deal reboot?

Unfortunately, we don’t know the identity of the new Banker - even host Stephen Mulhern claims not to know who he is, though he says he does have a male voice. The mystery continues.