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BRICK FAMILY HITS JACKPOT ON "DEAL OR NO DEAL"
By Keith Hagarty
 | | --Photo By Keith Hagarty Wayne Ramos (left) and his family are all smiles after he took home $277,000 on the hit NBC game show "Deal Or No Deal." |
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When Wayne Ramos underwent back surgery two years ago, he fell on tough times. With seven children, a wife and out of work for six months, Christmas gifts were few and far between, leaving him and his family no choice but to move in with his in-laws.
All that changed, however, when on televisions across America last week, Ramos stood quietly on a Hollywood soundstage and heard that familiar catchy question: deal or no deal?
Seconds later, Ramos took the deal and is now $270,000 richer and has his appearance on "Deal Or No Deal" to thank for it.
"Blessing is not the word," Ramos said on his winnings. "This as just been an unbelievable experience for me and my family."
The popular NBC game show gives one contestant a mystery briefcase containing an unknown sum of money ranging anywhere from $1 to $1 million. One by one, the contestant dismisses 20 other mystery suitcases where their value is revealed. As the gap narrows to determine what odds your suitcase has to be worth the most money, the pressure mounts to make a deal and get as much as you can. Ramos' $277,000 deal paid off, as his suitcase had only $75,000 inside.
A huge fan of "Deal Or No Deal" since its debut, Ramos and his 12-year old daughter, Cheyenne, watch the show religiously together, never missing a single episode. Cheyenne couldn't imagine her father would one day be center stage, with her and her family also on television rooting him, sitting next to "Deal Or No Deal" model, Marisa.
"I was jumping up and down screaming, like, 'Oh my God! Oh my God!'" she said. "When I told my friends, they couldn't believe it. They were like, 'you're a hundred-thousandaire!'"
An avid New York Yankee fan, producers stunned Ramos by having manager Joe Torre make a surprise appearance during the show, inviting Ramos and his family as his guests at a game this year. Yankee slugger Jason Giambi also gave Ramos a signed jersey, which did not however make it to airing.
Ramos credited the producers and everyone associated with the show for making his family's experience an amazing one, particularly host Howie Mandel for being a great sport.
"He's a great guy. He's just a regular, down-to-Earth guy," said Ramos. The striking physical resemblance between Ramos and Mandel made for great laughs on the show, as producers donned Ramos in an identical Armani suit, thereby capping the classic Mandel-esque 'bald head, soul patch, earring' mirror image.
Following the airing of the show, Ramos and his wife, Jackie, recently went to see Mandel perform in Atlantic City, where they were surprised to have Mandel drop the spotlight down upon them in the audience during his show.
"It's still so surreal," said Ramos, who admits he's barely slept a wink since he filmed the episode six weeks ago.
Ramos' journey to game show stardom began last May, when Jackie spotted an open casting call for the show. Driving in a broken down 1988 Ford Bronco, Ramos and Jackie took Cheyenne and their youngest daughter, 6-year old Madisyn for a day in the city for fun. After several stalled engines and wrong navigation, Ramos was just thankful they made it to the auditions in time, thanking one of the people already in line for sharing her spot with them.
Believing he had no shot to be on the show, a November 3 phone call from the producers changed everything.
"Jackie calls me at work and she was screaming on the phone, and I was thinking right away that something was wrong or something happened one of the kids, it was that kind of shriek," he said. "So
while she was telling me this, I get a message from
the receptionist at work that 'there's a John from "Deal Or No Deal" holding for you.'"
Assuming the call was a joke from friends, it took Ramos a little time to actually realize it was indeed a call from Hollywood giving him the good news.
"Once I realized who it really was, let me tell you, I ran out the store screaming and jumping up and down," he said.
While most of their jackpot will go towards a new home and investments, Ramos also plans to donate a portion to charity, most likely a cancer research foundation.
Even if he had not won a dime, he said the entire experience would have been more than worth it just to share the adventure with his family.
"NBC paid for the whole family to go out there," said Ramos. "We were all together out in Hollywood, California for the whole week, the whole family. Everyone who meant something to me was out there.
"We're still enjoying the ride," Ramos said with a wide, endless grin.
His family agrees.
"It's like we got on a roller coaster and it hasn't stopped yet," added Cheyenne.
With the episodes not televised until six weeks after filming, perhaps the only drawback to winning over a quarter of a million dollars on national television was not being allowed to tell anyone until the show aired.
"I came back and people would ask me, 'Hey, how did you do?,' and I'd have to be like, 'I can't say,'" said Ramos.
The pressure to spill the beans about her father's triumph was almost too much to take for Cheyenne.
"It was so hard keeping such a big secret from your best friend," said Cheyenne. "You have no idea."
After struggling through the bad times, Ramos believes the fortune of his family may have turned with a little help from above.
"We're not super religious or anything, but we're very spiritual," he said. "We believe there was a higher power that definitely had something to do with it."
With an omnipresent smile, Jackie thanks their lucky stars.
"We definitely believe there's an angel up there who got their wings," she said.
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