Showbiz Blackjack
Synopsis
It's Blackjack with celebrities. Four celebs compete, they get 20,000 in chips to begin with and aim to have the most after 20 hands. The maximum bets rise throughout the evening, beginning at a rather boring 500 chips, to a rather more exciting no limit for the final three hands. This does rather give the impression that only the last three hands really matter, but still.
A few things have been added to the mix to make it a little bit more interesting - mixed into the deck are "trust or bust?" cards, where the player has to put the card to their head sight unseen and ask their opponents who can see it for advice as to whether they should hit or stick. Whatsmore, if a celeb gets a blackjack, instead of taking a 2-1 return, they can choose to steal another player's bet. Although we can't think of many places where this would be an advantage, to be honest. The tenth and 20th hand are played with everybody betting blind.
It doesn't recognise the five card trick, which is a bit rubbish.
It's all kept very light - host Matt Brown stands just behind the dealer for the entire show keeping the banter level up, whilst Grub Smith gives us the theory from the commentary box. We don't think it plays as good a game as the US' Celebrity Blackjack, which is the obvious influence, but it's a pleasant enough way to pass the hour.
