What Is The Monty Hall Problem? TV Host Dies at 96

Iconic game show host, Monty Hall of the hit 1963 TV show "Let’s make a Deal," died at his home in Beverly Hills, California, on Saturday. He was 96.

His agent, Mark Measures, confirmed that Hall died of heart failure, USA Today reported.

"Let’s make a Deal" made its debut in the year 1963 and went on to become one of the most successful shows on television.

Hall had hosted various game shows and programs in the beginning of his career after which he created "Let’s make a Deal" with his creative partner Stefan Hatos. The show caught the public’s attention and became renowned for encouraging its audience members to dress up in bizarre costumes with the sole aim of attracting Hall’s attention in the hopes of being given the opportunity to win big.

The show was so deep-rooted in pop culture that it gave birth to “The Monty Hall Problem,” a counter-intuitive statistics puzzle. The puzzle involves three doors, behind which are two goats and a prize.

The player has to decide whether to stick with door A (his/her original guess) or switch to the other unopened door after the host who knows what is behind all doors opens one. The game basically is to re-evaluate one’s decisions as new information emerges.

In an interview with New York Times in 1991, Hall pointed out that because he had control over the game and the psychology of the contestant, the theoretical solution did not apply to the show's actual gameplay. He also added how he was not surprised at several experts’ insistence that the probability of choosing the right door was 1 out of 2.

Surprisingly, the odds aren’t 50-50. If you switch doors you’ll win 2 out of 3 times.

"That's the same assumption contestants would make on the show after I showed them there was nothing behind one door. They'd think the odds on their door had now gone up to 1 in 2, so they hated to give up the door no matter how much money I offered. By opening that door we were applying pressure. We called it the Henry James treatment. It was ‘The Turn of the Screw,’” he said.

The puzzle became so popular that it was also mentioned in an episode of the TV drama "NUMB3RS," a novel, "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time," and in the 2008 movie, "21."

A detailed explanation of the solution to this problem is presented in the book The World's 200 Hardest Brainteasers by Gary Gruber.

According to New York Post, Hall and Hatos both produced several TV shows through the 1970s and 1980s and Hall hosted close to 5000 episodes of "Let’s Make a Deal," as the show moved from National Broadcasting Company (NBC) to American Broadcasting Company (ABC). In 1973, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Due to its popularity, the show was revived by Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) in 2009 with Wayne Brady as its host. Hall remained involved in "Let’s Make a Deal" to the end, as an owner of the show and an occasional guest, giving Brady, his successor as host, his seal of approval.

Celebrity net worth puts the net worth of the Canadian producer, actor, singer, and game show host at $10 million.

Hall is survived by his two daughters, Gleason and Sharon Hall and a son, Richard, who is an Emmy winning producer. Hall was married to Marilyn Plottel, an Emmy Award-winning television producer who died in June at the age of 96.