Joe Manganiello.Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty
Joe Manganiellohas played a werewolf, a male stripper and a lawyer.OnDeal or No Deal Island, he’ll simply play host.
“I was waiting for the right opportunity to happen and this was it,” Manganiello, 47, tells PEOPLE. “I was asked to be onSurvivorat one point. I was offeredFear Factor— not the original, but after Rogan stepped aside, I was offered the next incarnation. So they pitched me the show, [Deal or No Deal Island]. I was like, you have no idea who you’re talking to. I’m a big fan of game shows. One of the huge draws is to see how people interact with each other.”
TheTrue Bloodalum met withHowie Mandel, who hosted the originalDeal or No Deal, to pass the torch — or, in this case, the briefcase.
“We filmed a really fun promo for the show where he actually hands me the briefcase to take over,” Manganiello says. “We had a good laugh over that. Howie’s a really fun, loving, generous guy but this is a very, very different show. There obviously is a component ofDeal or No Dealbut it’s really an action-adventure series, like aSurvivor.”
Manganiello drew inspiration from Mandel, 68, andSurvivorhostJeff Probstwhile hostingDeal or No Deal Island.
Hosts (from left) Jeff Probst, Joe Rogan, Howie Mandel and Dan Cortes.Getty
Getty
In the new version ofDeal or No Deal, 13 competitors — includingSurvivor’s BostonRob MarianoandThe Real Housewives of Atlanta’s Claudia Jordan, who used to be a briefcase model on the original series — head to a jungle island to take on the Banker, who hid briefcases filled with over $200 million in cash across the island. Players compete in weekly challenges to find the briefcase with the most money, which grants the player immunity and the ability to choose another contestant to enter the Temple.
Inside the Temple, the contestant plays a round ofDeal or No Deal. If the player accepts a deal worth less than their selected briefcase, they go home. If they make a good deal, they can eliminate someone else who doesn’t have immunity.
The winnings from each game ofDeal or No Dealwill be added to a group pot that will grow throughout the season. The last player standing will ultimately face the Banker to win what could be the biggest prize inDeal or No Dealhistory.
‘Deal or No Deal Island’ host Joe Manganiello.Patrick Ecclesine/NBC
Patrick Ecclesine/NBC
“There’s life-changing money out there, so tensions are high, emotions run high,” Manganiello says. “There’s unbelievable heartbreak, and there’s just incredible excitement and cheering over everything that happened. It was really such an incredible social experiment to watch.”
According to Manganiello, “there’s also a lot of luck involved” in the game.
“There’s kind of an invisible game supporting the physical game: What numbers are people picking? What are they feeling in the moment?” he says. “Claudia had a sixth sense when it came to picking numbers for a while. So you wonder, is this some kind of innate ability or is it because she saw every single game played out and somehow this burned into her DNA?”
The actor teases that the show will have “people coming in that I thought would have targets on their back,” as well as “clear villains who are not who you thought they would be.”
“You just don’t know what happens until you put people into those scenarios,” Manganiello adds. “These different challenges are designed to test the contestants and see who wants it the worst. And hopefully, in the end, that means that the audience is going to feel like we landed this thing.”
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Deal or No Deal Islandpremieres Monday at 9:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
source: people.com
