As I speak with Joe Manganiello, it’s abundantly clear that being the host of Deal or No Deal Island is the role he was born to play.
The star of True Detective and Magic Mike admits that he is playing a bit of a heightened version of himself on the NBC reality show, a man clad in leopard print Versace. It’s a representation of DONDI as a concept: Fighting it out in the animalistic environment of Banker’s Island in the pursuit of future luxuries and millions of dollars in winnings. And in tonight’s finale, one contestant, David Genat or Alexis Lete, will get the chance to play the Banker (revealed on Friday to be Chrissy Teigen) and get their own chance in the lap of luxury.
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Manganiello is also, however, a huge fan of games. His love of tabletop RPGs, in particular Dungeons & Dragons, has been well-documented. And so, while he is giving the look of a European “man of mystery,” he’s carefully balancing the freedom and boundaries the contestants are playing in, not unlike a dungeon master.
“I know enough to know that my job is to give a player enough room,” he tells Parade exclusively, “and also kind of shield them the way that a catcher would shield a pitcher in the middle of a no-hitter in Game Seven of the World Series. You see it in their eye. You know that they’re on something, and my job is to recognize that and make sure that they stay in that zone and don’t get thrown off by everything and play the game that they want to play. My job is to ride the roller coaster and hold their arms up for this crazy ride, which is going to be exhilarating one way or the other.”
Every episode of DONDI exists in two different spheres. The first half consists of an “Excursion” challenge and is chock full of social strategy that has been the building block of reality TV for 25 years. It’s there where reality TV vets like Survivor legend Parvati Shallow, Big Brother icon Dr. Will Kirby, and Australian Survivor champ David Genat shine.
The second half, however, has one chosen contestant play a game of “Deal or No Deal.” It is, in its essence, a game of luck. As much as people try to intuit cases to pick based on numbers in their life, as they contemplate deals from the mysterious Banker, a person staying in the game and the hunt for a life-changing amount of money comes down to if the odds are on their side. As powerless as that may make a player feel on paper, Manganiello actually believes it speaks to a greater cosmic power at play.
Related: Everything to Know About Deal or No Deal Island Season 2
“Our game deals with luck in a way that other games don’t,” he explains. “And luck should not be dismissed. Because those people, the Boston Robs aggressively want that power in their hand every time they want to, if they’re going down, they want it to be because of something they did.
“But if you watch the Dicksons, the Parvatis, the La Shells, they didn’t want to play,” he continues. “They felt something in the air, which is where luck comes in. People are tuned into something. They know which cases to open; they know which ones to avoid. They know how to play the situation. They know that “Somebody is going to get knocked out this week. And I don’t want to play the Banker, because I feel that it’s coming.” So watching all of that play out is really fascinating, too. Because, I mean, again, you’re going to watch the finale and you’re going to say, “Oh, it’s just luck.” It’s real; there’s something real. Certain people are lucky. Certain people are being spoken to or seeing a bright light on the cases telling them which ones to pick. It happens.”
Check out our full interview with Joe Manganiello below. The Season 2 finale of Deal or No Deal Island airs Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
How much did you change the way you approached Deal or No Deal Island as host for Season 2 versus Season 1? Did you make small tweaks, or was it an entire change in philosophy?
I think I looked at it the same way. I think that a lot of times when I, as an actor, especially when I learn a new skill, or I start practicing something new, there’s a difference between the first time I do it and there’s a huge jump to the second time that I do it, which is great. In theatre, you have all those rehearsals and previews. You knock it out so that by the time it’s opening night, you’re ready to go. And so there was a bit of it heading into Season 2, where now it was like, “Oh, I know where I can breathe. I know where the moments are.” It was more instinctual, I think, the second time around, which meant that I could have more fun with it.
On that note, did you find your role in relationship to the players change? For instance, watching Survivor, it’s interesting to see Jeff Probst almost regard them as peers in the early seasons, to the clear host role he plays now.
It’s interesting. I think in both seasons, early on, the players thought that I was their adversary. So when I come in, they think that they’re up against me. And it’s like, “No, no! I’m PT Barnum. I’m the ring leader. I’m the gamemaster. I want you to win. But I also want you to fall flat on your face, and I want to see drama.” I mean, as a viewer, as kind of as a voyeur, so. But I think that that will change as we move on because people will become more accustomed to what my role is in it. With that said, I mean, I think my job is also to judge them on what they’re doing, good or bad as well. Again, I’m the conduit for the audience at home. So I’m going to be reacting the way that I’m going to be reacting in an accentuated way to which they would be reacting on the couch. And a lot of times when I watch the playback, I’m like,” Oh, wow, I’m making the expression that I would be making on the couch at home.” Which a lot of hosts don’t necessarily do. But for me, I’m riding the roller coaster with them.
Talk to me more about that. When I spoke with Alan Cumming for the first season of The Traitors, he said that he was playing a “Bond villain” in his role as host. Did you find yourself embodying any sort of part or archetype as well?
I mean, there’s a bit of it in my mind where I’m like, “European international man of mystery.” I’m stepping off of a boat in Venice onto St. Mark’s with the golden briefcase, the final case. There is a bit of that in my mind. And, of course, like, I’m wearing a lot of Versace, Dolce Gabbana, Versace, the southern Italian stuff. So it kind of lends itself, I think, a little bit to that persona. And that was my idea. I did come with leopard print, lots of animal print shirts.
That was you?!
Yeah. Because I think the original look was a little more Ricardo Montalban, “Welcome to Fantasy Island!” And for me, it was like, ” I’m gonna put this leopard print on, and you’re gonna see a transformation. Just watch. It doesn’t make sense right now, but I’m gonna go put it on, and it’ll make sense in a second.” And then I did, and our costume designer, Lauren Bush, was like, “Oh, you’re right. Okay, so we need more Versace shirts.” I mean, there’s a bit of it in my mind that is that.
But I don’t know if you saw Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, where I play Pee-wee’s best friend. But on the day, the director, John Lee and Paul [Reubens], came up to me and they said, “We want to play this, but you be Joe Manganiello, not Joe Mancuso,” which was originally the character’s name. I thought, “Okay, so I’m in this completely strange, subversive, weird fantasy world. But I’m playing me from reality.” And it was so absurd. There’s a bit of that. There’s an element of that in the way that I host the show. I’m me, but there’s a Banker, and there’s a yacht, and there’s this crazy billion-dollar game that’s going on. But I’m still me, and I’m on this island. So there’s a bit of me playing it as close to me as I can. But, oh, by the way, I’ve also been hired by this Banker to run this game, and they’re on their yacht watching.
You talk about wanting to watch players succeed and fail. And my mind can’t be helped but drawn to your history playing RPGs, in particular Dungeons & Dragons. How much do you find your experience as a dungeon master has carried over into hosting?
That was part of my initial conversation with NBC and Endemol. When they described the show to me in my first meeting, I understood exactly what the what the assignment was. I mean, yeah, when you’re running a tabletop roleplaying game for a group, I’m setting up the stakes. I mean, I know where this thing is headed, and I’m laying down the train tracks. But I’m also open in the moment where the players can go anywhere. And they will go anywhere; they’ll go in the exact opposite direction. I mean, Episode 1 of the season, Luke winds up with the dollar. And initially, you think, “Well, this is going to be horrible because who wants to see a game where somebody wins $1?” It wound up being such a fantastic and entertaining episode that then altered the river the rest of the season. Because from there, every single player that got up there was terrified to leave a small amount at the end of their round. So, they were playing the game completely differently. And I knew how to run that, and I knew how to amplify that type of fear in them subtly.
And then from there, you’re setting it up for the for the people at home. “This is what you need. If this is in this case, if this is not…Okay, go ahead and open it.” So we’re setting up the table for that dice roll where everyone’s leaning over, which is what you do at a craps table. I’m like a craps table narrator at points in the game. And I know how to do that, and I know how to run that. And I also know how to stay out of a player’s way when I know that they’re in the zone. Which people are going to see in the finale. There’s a moment in the finale where…again, if we end a season where someone wins 300 bucks, believe me, the network doesn’t want to see them. So there’s an amount of, “Make sure they take a bigger offer.” Okay, but that’s not my job. My job is to ride the roller coaster and hold their arms up for this crazy ride, which is going to be exhilarating one way or the other.
So I know enough to know that my job is to give a player enough room and also kind of shield them the way that a catcher would shield a pitcher in the middle of a no-hitter in Game Seven of the World Series. You see it in their eye. You know that they’re on something, and my job is to recognize that and make sure that they stay in that zone and don’t get thrown off by everything and play the game that they want to play. Because, during this season, I experienced very early on, in some of the earlier rounds, there was one player in particular, this guy Rock. He knew he had a big number in his case, and he didn’t trust himself. And he was kicking himself, kicking himself in a way that he knew, he believed he knew. And I saw that and thought, “Okay, you know what? For the rest of the season, if somebody wants to ride it out, then my job is just to ride it out with him.” You’re going to see that in the finale. It’s the most insane thing I’ve maybe ever seen, and had I not been in that place where I could kind of energetically put that bubble up around them, I don’t know that they would have gone all the way.
Related: Parvati Shallow Teases Spiritual Deal or No Deal Island Season 2 Ending: ‘The Most Mind-Blowing Experience I’ve Ever Had’
Let’s talk about these players around the proverbial craps table. What most surprised you about the Season 2 cast?
Oh gosh. I mean, Seychelle comes to mind. I saw her casting tape, and I remember I called our showrunner, Matt Kunitz, and I was like, “We need this. She has to be on the show.” She was so funny. She’s a flight attendant who’s afraid of heights. Puerto-Rican, Bronx, not afraid to tell people how she feels about things. And so it was in those moments where I knew. I would notice that she was being quiet a little bit in the Temples. And I’d say, “Seychelle, what do you think? You’re being quiet.” And then she’d go up, “Joe, I know!” And then she would let it loose. So it was a matter of just allowing her the freedom, or at least letting her know, “It’s a safe place. Tell us what you think. “And just what came out was amazing. So she was great.
Dr. Will…we all wanted to kill Dr. Will. Everyone. Ben, who opens the cases, wanted to kill Dr. Will. I wanted to kill Dr. Will. But he was such great television. He was fantastic. And we’re cool now; we’re going to go hit a Lakers game when I get back home. But in the moment, I wanted to kill him. But he knew what he was doing. He’s such a great strategic mind. He’s such a great showman. Parvati was incredible. To watch Parvati up close, these Survivor champions, it’s real. Their superpowers are real. And to watch Parvati go to work…I told everybody at the beginning of the season, they were like, “Oh, she was on Traitors.” And I’m like, “She was in a sweater! Once we get her back to the beach in her bathing suit, she’s gonna be fine.” And I told her that, and she was laughing about it all. She’s like, “I know!” And I was like, “You were back in your power.” When she put the bikini back on, it was like the Black Widow came to life, and we all watched it. And she was incredible this year. I mean, she was safe the entire season, which is this insane run. Until she wasn’t, and now she’s immediately up against the Banker.
What I find so interesting about Deal or No Deal Island is that, in a typical reality show, you want to do anything to avoid giving yourself a higher chance of getting eliminated. But throughout both seasons, we’ve seen players volunteer to play the Banker, wanting to take fate into their own hands, despite the fact that Deal or No Deal is, at the end of the day, a game about luck. It’s trying to find power in a powerless game.
But I think also the dynamics, just the nucleus of that, people love an underdog. So, one moment, you’re the underdog; you’re the one on the bottom. And in that next moment, you’ve got the power. So it’s this incredible flip. But also, our game deals with luck in a way that other games don’t. Survivor, you’re relying upon the opinion of your peers. So there’s a lot of strategy, a lot of social gaming. I mean, yes, there are challenge beasts that go out and win these challenges and win immunity. But in our game, luck plays such a huge part. And luck should not be dismissed.
Because those people, the Boston Robs aggressively want that power in their hand every time they want to, if they’re going down, they want it to be because of something they did. But if you watch the Dicksons, the Parvatis, the La Shells, they didn’t want to play because they felt something in the air, which is where luck comes in. People are tuned into something. They know which cases to open; they know which ones to avoid. They know how to play the situation. They know that “Somebody is going to get knocked out this week. And I don’t want to play the Banker, because I feel that it’s coming.” So watching all of that play out is really fascinating, too. Because, I mean, again, you’re going to watch the finale, and you’re going to say, “Oh, it’s just luck.” It’s real; there’s something real. Certain people are lucky. Certain people are being spoken to or seeing a bright light on the cases telling them which ones to pick. It happens. You’ll see it next week.
DONDI also has brought in some reality TV ringers throughout its two seasons to play against newbies. But, while they may have a leg up in some portions of the game, the Temple ends up being that equalizer. As you mentioned, Parvati had this huge string of safety, but she went into the temple once, and that cosmic luck was not on her side.
Yeah. I mean, Dickson pulled that $5 million case. I mean, he whittled it down to the biggest two. I mean it’s an interesting thing that I think frustrates certain players. But it separates our game from the other ones, that there is this randomness that I love watching, because it is a great equalizer.
What is the intention of bringing in some of these reality TV veterans to play against the newbies? Considering the advantage they have of experience, but the disadvantage of being a known commodity?
It gives you the opportunity to watch tried and true, tested greats at these types of games. And then you get to see their superpowers on display. But because they’re mixed in with newbies, I mean, you get to see character arcs that you wouldn’t necessarily see. You get to see players emerge. Players get better. I mean, on the cutting room floor somewhere, there’s a conversation that I have with Dickon. We’re doing the axe-throwing challenge, and Dickson’s having real trouble. And I said, “Hey, man. Did you ever read The Hobbit?” And he goes, “No, man. I’m not a nerd! I don’t read books, man. I play fantasy football and bowl with my friends.” And I was like, “Well, I’m a nerd, but whatever. Okay, fine. It’s a story about this guy. He comes from this little town, and he’s never left his town. And there’s a knock on the door, and there’s this wizard with these dwarves. And the dwarves’ mountain, their gold has been taken by this dragon, and they need help. And so they recruit this little guy, and he leaves his house for the first time and goes on this huge adventure. And then he helps them kill the dragon, and he gets a portion of the treasure. And then he returns home with the treasure and all these stories to regale his friends with in his little town.”
And it was not landing at all. [Laughs.] And I’m like, “That’s you. You’re that guy. You’re gonna throw this axe. You’re gonna hit that target.” And then he did, and everybody exploded, went crazy, and picked them up and were cheering. And so the idea that you get to watch like this Campbellian hero’s journey within this show. While he is teamed up with Parvati, who he knew, but unknowingly also the greatest Australian Survivor champion ever. And so you watch him get to grow. You watched that kind of rub off in the same way that Aron did last year with Boston Rob. You’re watching these great setups and pairings. With Dr. Will, Lete was his teammate, and so she picked up a bit of that. And then you watch Seychelle emerge. And I don’t think this is the last time we’re gonna see Seychelle. But also you watch CK, for example. I mean, CK is a great character. Polarizing, but a great character. And so, it’s a really fun game in that there’s a mix of these personalities.
Related: Parvati Shallow Calls ‘Deal or No Deal Island’ the ‘Culmination’ of Her Reality TV Career (Exclusive)
