‘Deal or No Deal Island’ contestants react to female Banker twist: ‘Oh my God, it’s Beyoncé!’
No, Beyoncé is not the new Banker on Deal or No Deal Island — let’s make that clear right up front.
For the first time since the Deal or No Deal franchise was created 20 years ago, however, the Banker is in fact a “she.” And the contestants on Season 2 of Deal or No Deal Island couldn’t be happier. Host Joe Manganiello, who calls himself the “ultimate game master,” revealed the female Banker twist at the end of the season premiere, which aired Jan. 7 on NBC and Peacock.
To recap, the Banker is the villainous figure who offers relatively small amounts of money to contestants in order to get them to sell their cases and walk away from potentially life-changing money. In the original Deal or No Deal game show hosted by Howie Mandel, the Banker’s face was never seen on camera, but it was always understood to be a male. During the Season 1 finale of the Island spin-off, Mandel, who’s now an executive producer, was revealed to be the Banker, and his offer of $1,230,000 was accepted by the winner, Jordan Fowler.
“Beware of the Banker — you never know what she will do next,” Manganiello teased in the premiere episode, titled “The Banker Strikes Back.” If this is anything like Season 1, the contestants (as well as viewers at home) won’t find out the identity of the new Banker until the finale … so stay tuned.
The players, particularly the women, could hardly contain their excitement after hearing that news. Survivor winner Parvati Shallow even joked, “Oh my God, it’s Beyoncé!” Sorry, Parv, we have a feeling the award-winning superstar has other things on her plate at the moment.
SEE ‘Survivor’ deaths: Full list of castaways we’ve lost
La Shell Wooten from Chapel Hill, N.C. remarked, “I knew it was gonna be a she,” to which Parvati replied, “It needed to be a she. It’s time!” In the years since playing Survivor, Parvati now spends her time working as a yoga teacher and a life coach. She sees herself as a “cult leader” on this new island who will “blow fairy dust” in everyone’s eyes to keep them loyal.
The first episode opened with a pyramid challenge on the water in which all of the players had to divide into three groups: those who would jump across floating buoys to retrieve high-value cases, those who would jog through the jungle to obtain medium-value cases, and those who would risk it all to obtain mysterious red cases via a zipline. The “rocky path” group wound up with the biggest combined total at $2.55 million, compared to $1.15 million for the “jungle” team, and only $1.025 million for the “zipline” team.
Those results meant that somebody from the risky group — either Australian Survivor stand-out David Genat, Seychelle Cordero, or Luke Olejniczak — would have to face the Banker in a classic game of Deal or No Deal. Since Sydnee Peck retrieved the case with the highest amount in the challenge, the power was in her hands, and she chose Luke. After going back and forth with the Banker, Luke ultimately passed on an impressive offer of $218,000, and ended up taking what was in his case: a grand total of $1. Because he made a bad deal, Luke became the first person eliminated from Season 2.
Seychelle was all smiles after surviving the elimination, telling the camera, “So, Luke did a phenomenal job by adding a total of a hundred cents into our final bank. I mean, a dollar for me in New York can’t even buy me a pack of gum.” She’s happy Luke went home back to Wisconsin, claiming, “I love that for him, and I love that for me even more.”
Only 13 players remain in the running to win Deal or No Deal Island, including Big Brother legend Will Kirby, who will make his grand entrance in Episode 2. Find out how it all plays out when “Where There’s a Will There’s a Way” airs on Tuesday, Jan. 14.
Scroll through our gallery below (or click here for direct access) to see the Deal or No Deal Island Season 2 cast photos. Who is YOUR early favorite to win it all? Be sure to sound off in Gold Derby‘s reality TV forums.
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