We all remember the classic Deal Or No Deal TV Series with Howie Mandel, right? Well now, there’s a new twist. On Deal Or No Deal Island, the test is to find out who the best gambler is. In the first episode, two people are up for elimination.
Let’s meet the Contestants:
- Boston Rob Mariano
- Claudia Jordan
- Dawson Addis
- Aron Barbell
- Jordan Fowler
- Nick Grasso
- Miranda Harrison
- Alyssa Klinzing
- Kim Mattina
- Amy McCoy
- Dr. Stephanie Mitchell
- Jamil Sipes
- Brantzen Wong
- Host Joe Manganiello
- Bankers Assistants Ben Crofchick and Kamari Love
If I’m being honest this is kind of like Deal Or No Deal mixed with Survivor, which surprisingly enough Boston Rob was on Survivor.
The Banker has some new rules
Rather than having the briefcases on a stage, they’re spread out on an Island. The contestants have to go on an adventure to find the cases. Whether it be swimming through mud, like they had to do in the first episode or climbing through trees. The cases are added up to a total of $4.5 Million. There were also, Two red cases contained a “steal” or a low cash value. Whoever gets the case with “steal” in it can steal a case from the another contestant.
Whoever finds the highest valued case is safe. The two contestants with the lowest-valued cases are in danger of being sent home. One of them will play the classic Deal Or No Deal game on the Island. There’s a twist though, if he/she makes a bad deal they will be eliminated. If they make a good deal, then they get to pick who gets eliminated. This new game show is out of control!
Introductions
After being driven in, the contestants met Joe on the Island. He is the new liaison between the contestants and the banker. All of the contestants got to know each other through the beginning part of the episode. Aron recognized Boston Rob from the jump. The two contestants started to form a connection.
All of the contestants come from a different background. This is gonna be stressful…
A Spa Day to Remember
Once the cases were dropped off of a helicopter, the contestants had to go find them. Turns out that they were in a mud pit which was called a “Mud Spa.” No Thanks, not a spa I’d want to go in. People were getting stuck in the mud, literally. Dawson was able to secure the $1 Million case while Kim, who is 62 years old, was struggling. Meanwhile, Jordan helped secure a case for Kim while Dawson and Boston Rob helped her out of the mud.
There was only one problem…
No one gambled on the red cases to start
The Banker was pretty salty about that, phoned Joe and offered $10,000 to anyone who goes back into the mud and grabs a red case. Kim and Brantzen jumped back in. Although, Brantzen just wanted to help Kim. The group was unhappy though, because whoever had the lowest-value case was now in jeopardy.
Due to Kim’s struggles, Brantzen was able to get to a red case and retrieve it for her. Kim opened the red case and it was a “steal.” Kim took the $1 Million case and told Dawson that she wouldn’t put him up against the banker. So it was Aron and Dawson who had the lowest cases.
Social Games
On Deal Or No Deal Island, the contestants will share fancy showers and tents. After the mud spa, they got to go hang out for a bit and during that time Kim told the group, she would stick to her word and not choose Dawson. Which meant Aron was going up against the banker.
Everyone then wanted to get on the good side of Aron, including Brantzen and Boston Rob. The former tried to make a deal with Aron saying he wouldn’t hurt him for the next three rounds. Right??? Like he’d know who he was going to hurt. Anyways, other players were calling out Brantzen when talking to Aron because he “doomed” him for helping Kim. The group got in a big circle and played some social games to kind of get to know each other.
Aron Barbell vs. The Banker
I am a fan of the new rules added to the game, those can be seen above.
Set to face the banker, Aron told Joe that if he wins, he will pay off his parent’s house. So like I used to do in the classic game show, I was rooting for Aron. All the case amounts were added to the board, along with the Banker’s low numbers. During the game, that shifty Banker will attempt to buy Aron’s case.
Aron picked Case No. 10. Unfortunately, the first round didn’t go his way. He had picked several large cases and the first offer from the Banker was $45,000. As you could imagine, he said no deal and continued to pick cases. In Round two, Aron lost the million-dollar case and the Banker joked about Aron’s ability as an accountant. Ouch. The value still went up to $107,000. He declined the deal once again.
Through the next two rounds, Aron would be offered $266,000 and $445,000 respectively. When it came to the end, there were only two amounts left on the board: $400,000 and $600,000. Aron rolled the dice and stuck with his case. He needed the $600,000 to survive. He did and added that value to the final case for the group. Unfortunately for Aron, he may not see any of that cash. It’ll all go into a suitcase for the final player on the Island.
So because Aron made a good deal, he chose to Brantzen (pictured above) as the first competitor to be eliminated.
The show is solid. Overall, the first episode was pretty good. Actually, better than I thought it would be. Can’t wait for the next episode.
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