Joe Manganiello Is Still Processing How ‘Deal or No Deal Island’ Will End: “What Happened Is Impossible”
Joe Manganiello has seen a lot in his 25 years in Hollywood, and even he seems stunned by what went down while filming the new season of Deal or No Deal Island.
“Without sounding crazy, all of us who were in the jungle that night witnessed something other-worldly. There’s no other way to say it,” says the veteran actor, producer and filmmaker who is back as host for the hit NBC reality competition show. “What happened is impossible. It is just impossible, and I don’t know if it ever happens again. You’ll see what I mean [when it airs], but it is like an argument for something more out there than our humdrum everyday lives. I was on the field while it was playing out, and it was wild.”
He adds, “I’m excited for everyone to see it and the buildup to it, because it’s the greatest moment in game show television history.”
Tune-in teases don’t get much more effective than that, and Manganiello should know. The True Blood alum took the leap to become a reality television host (and executive producer of the new second season) for Deal or No Deal Island after being a big fan of the genre for years. That means, some of the faces that have shown up on the show — and will be seen on the second season — are familiar to Manganiello, like contestants Parvati Shallow, Survivor Australia’s David Genat and the one and only Dr. Will Kirby. The second season premieres with a two-hour episode at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, followed by a weekly release with episodes streaming next-day on Peacock.
Below, Manganiello talks to The Hollywood Reporter about how a classically trained Carnegie Mellon University theater grad wound up hosting an island-set reality TV show (and why he turned down so many offers over the years), a contestant’s claim that this season is filled with “narcissistic psychopaths” and just how wild the final Temple turned out.
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First of all, this show is ridiculously entertaining. Were you so surprised to be headed back for a second season so soon after the first?[Note: Season one aired February-May 2024.]
Yeah, and it’s that typical thing when people ask, “Did you know that the show was going to be that successful?” You never know, but during season one we all felt like we had something really special. Then, of course, once we were officially renewed for season two and I started seeing casting tapes coming in, we all had a really good feeling about this season, both in terms of the cast and the gameplay improvements we planned on making to tighten it up and make it more exciting. I believe in the show. I love the show. NBC wanted it on sooner because we got the time slot we wanted since kids and families are watching the show together. It will now be on at a time when everybody can watch. So yes, I was pleasantly surprised. I don’t ever take anything for granted. But I think the show is amazing and I’m glad that other people feel that way, too.
You mentioned seeing the casting tapes coming in, it sounds like you were deeply involved. How did that come about? Is that why you’re an executive producer now?
During season one, I was being groomed by the producers to step into that role. Certainly while we’re shooting, I’m a bit like a field general out there. There was a question about whether or not to keep the host in the dark about certain secret things that they don’t want revealed. I said, “No, no, no, no. I need to know everything.” I need to know everything so that I can go out there and understand who’s teaming up with who, who’s fighting with who. It allows me to understand what’s at stake so that I can set the table for the people at home. I can be like P.T. Barnum overseeing this flying circus. During season one, I was definitely very, very much involved. As we prepped for this new season, I got to chime in on casting, and I was even involved with challenges, game mechanics, how to flip the script on people because there’s now a full season of episodes out there to watch, study and strategize. We need to completely flip those expectations on their head and provide chaos. Because if we’re going to be offering the biggest money prize in reality game show history, then we need to be the most strategically and socially advanced game to play
I saw that tagline in the promo. How much money are we talking about?
You can go and do your research, and people can speculate as to what that is, but yes, we tease it in the trailer. We are giving away the largest prize in television history. [Per NBC, it’s a $200 million cash prize on the line.] Think about the final case or the mechanics of what it would take for someone to be lucky enough to leave that giant case somewhere on the board, but then to also either be so tapped in on some sort of metaphysical level to somehow avoid every other case and then be crazy enough, absolutely insane enough to keep turning down offer after offer after offer.
For season one, someone went home with $1.2 million, which was amazing and changed her life. If she could have kept that final case in play all the way to the end, she would’ve had to turn down not only that $1.2 million offer, but at $2.2, $3.2, $4 and on to keep turning down that money with the chance of busting is completely insane. You’d have to be a psychopath in order to ride that all the way to the end. And we found that psychopath this year. I couldn’t believe it. No one could believe what we were watching [in the finale]. We were all beside ourselves, and the final Temple went to three in the morning.
Wow.
It just wouldn’t end. People were losing their minds, heads in their hands, pacing around. The insurance team was there. It was crazy behind the scenes. I mean, there should be an episode about what went on behind the scenes.
As an executive producer, you should make that happen.
It’s unbelievable. It was a bit like being a catcher while your pitcher is throwing a no-hitter. Like a perfect game in Game 7 of the World Series with everything at stake. You just don’t want to throw them off.
Let’s go back to what you said about psychopaths. In the teaser, David says that every single person is a narcissistic psychopath on this show. Do you agree with that statement? How was it for you to witness their behavior compared to things you may have seen on the set of a film or TV show?
The stakes are so high. People watch our show or other shows like it and ask, “How could you cry when someone gets eliminated? You’ve only known them for two weeks.” But it’s so much pressure. These alliances mean so much. I get to witness how everybody is so fully committed. Everyone was all in, especially this season. They had a full season to study where the cast of season one did not. It was a brand new game for them. In terms of the narcissistic psychopath thing, at the end of the day, these contestants have to watch out for themselves. I kept reminding them all season that only one person is going to play for that final case. Despite all these alliances that form, only one person will be standing at the end. There’s so much luck that’s being tested. Some people are lucky, some are unlucky. You have to be somewhat of a gambler because you can only play the numbers game so far and the rest is up to luck.
Honestly, you’re such a great host. I think it’s often assumed that if you stick an actor in front of a camera and give them lines to memorize, that they will be able to do it. But that’s obviously not the case. What has this transition been like in your career? It feels like you’re hitting a stride in this season, you’ve got the game show voice, the hosting quips and you’re really quick on your feet …
Thank you for that. I really appreciate that. It means a lot to me because I really do love my job. I love hosting the show. I am a fan of the genre. I was a fan of Survivor. I’ve seen almost every episode. I love Jeff Probst. I love Amazing Race. But those guys, they put their own spin on it, and it’s very indicative of their personalities. For me to step into a similar-type role, season one, for me, was about getting my sea legs under me and trying to figure out what kind of host I wanted to be. That evolved over the season.
For example, in the crossbow challenge with Boston Rob and Aron, when Rob hit the $1.5 million tiny target he came over and high-fived me. In that moment, it revealed a little of my style as host. I’m going to be setting the table for this final shot. It could go this way, it could go that way. But man, when it happens, I can be the conduit for the audience. I guess that’s something that I’m used to being an actor or being on stage — I’m the conduit of the story to the audience. In those moments, I can go as wild as people are at home. In fact, in a way, I’m giving people permission to go wild at home because I’m going wild as well. I won’t give it away, but there’s a moment in season two when one of the contestants is about to do something that is ill-advised. My instinct is to want to stop them but that’s not my job. My job is to be the devil and the angel on their shoulder, and lay it out from both sides. From there, my job is to ride the ride with them no matter what they want to do; it’s not to interfere with the game.
Boy, that really came in handy towards the end of the season when I was watching someone connected to some sort of other worldly power that was guiding them to the greatest prize in television history. If I would’ve tried to step in, manipulate or implant a thought in their head that would get them to do the smart thing, then I wouldn’t have been able to witness one of the most unbelievable things I’ve ever witnessed in my life that audiences will soon be able to see. It’s a very interesting process as the host. Good or bad, I just want great television. I want great drama. But I also have to know when to step back and hold their hand while they’re about to do one of the most insane things that anyone has ever done.
Did you have any reservations about taking a hosting job? I remember a time when people used to say that once you took one of these jobs, it might be harder to go back to acting though that isn’t seem true anymore. Did you have conversations with your agents or do any soul searching?
Yeah, things change. When I got into the business in 2000, you had to choose film or television. George Clooney had the guts or the internal belief to leave E.R. at the height of its powers to attempt a film career. A lot of other people followed and tried to do that, and none of them worked out. It was just him. It really wasn’t until The Sopranos, which started its run around the same time, that perceptions started to change. That show helped change the face of how people viewed narrative storytelling, and all of a sudden, the small screen became more relevant than most of what was on the big screen. That helped pave the way for the golden era of television. I ended up jumping ship and wound up on True Blood, which to me was better than just about anything that was in the theater at that time. There was Game of Thrones, Mad Men, Dexter, Deadwood, Breaking Bad, the list goes on and one.
There was also a writers strike, which led film actors to start doing more TV. TV actors also started doing American commercials, which was a big no-no back in the day. But things change. People’s perception of things change. I came out of the ‘90s, and it was all about protecting your integrity as an artist. If you were a classically trained theater actor, you always wanted to hide who you were as an actor because you didn’t want people to know who you are. The internet and social media smashed that. But there still was a tendency for people to look at my characters and think I actually was the person I was playing.
When I was on True Blood, people thought I grew up on a farm. I grew up in the suburbs. With Magic Mike, people asked me if I used to jump out of cakes. No, I went to an Ivy League school to study theater. It was always a compliment to me that I was doing my job well. But I realized that I had hidden who I was to a certain degree, and that people didn’t have a baseline for my own personality. It was kind of missing. I said yes to Deal or No Deal Island after having said no to a lot of other hosting gigs over the years — I had been offered a lot — because this just felt like the right one for me. It’s adventurous and it’s a game that has great characters, big drama, requires math skills and gambling, this strange jambalaya of a lot of things that are right in my wheelhouse. All the circles in the Venn diagram overlapped and I knew it was the right job for me.
The two-hour premiere of season two of Deal or No Deal Island debuts Tuesday, Jan. 7 at 8 p.m. on NBC, and will be available to stream the following day on Peacock.
