The competition on Deal or No Deal Island is ramping up. The Banker invited 13 guests to enjoy his private tropical island and compete in challenges. The last player standing will face the Banker and hopefully take home up to $200 million.
Not only are the challenges physical in this Survivor and Deal or No Deal mash-up. The social game is just as important. More and more guests are trying to form alliances, or at least put a target on each other’s backs.
Boston Rob Mariano asked to face the Banker in the fourth episode. He made a good deal with the Banker and sent his nemesis, Kim Mattina, home.
Kim joined Reality Tea writer Kim Stempel to discuss the show and her strategy going into Deal or No Deal Island.
Kim discussed why she played the game and what surprised her
Kim Stempel: I’m curious. What made you decide to join the show?
Kim Mattina: I think that the opportunity to get on and play the show and do something outside of my comfort zone was huge. And it really was outside of my comfort zone. I’m not a TV personality. I’m not…you know, I don’t have experience with anything like this but have really appreciated the competitive reality genre of shows for so many years. And…you know what? If you’re not willing to take the chance you can’t really complain or criticize. Or cheer on people if you’re not willing to get out there and do it yourself. So, I applied, and next thing you know, I’m on an island. (laughs)
Kim Stempel: What surprised you most about the game?
Kim Mattina: I think what surprised me most was how close you get to people in a very, very short amount of time. And how you read people, and others read you, in that short amount of time. You know, they say you only have one chance at a first impression…literally getting out of the Jeeps was everybody’s first impression of each other. So, that surprised me a lot- really.
Kim Stempel: It did seem like a lot of you bonded very quickly.
Kim Mattina: The first chance we even had to talk to each other was when we were in the jeeps going up to meet Joe [Manganiello] for the first time. So, that was maybe like 15 minutes and that was really the first time we were able to talk to each other. And I observe a lot, so I was looking at you know who was talking to whom, who was immediately drawn to whom, and that kind of gave me some ideas on where there could be bonds forming early on.
Kim’s reaction to seeing Boston Rob
Kim Stempel: And what were your thoughts when you saw Boston Rob there?
Kim Mattina: I saw…actually, I saw Boston Rob at the airport. And my first thought was, ‘Dear Lord, this is not a coincidence that he is heading to Panama at the same time I am.’ But that’s not a coincidence. My initial thought was, ‘Dear God, I hope he is here to host a challenge. I…I hope he’s not here to play.’ And obviously he was here to play.
I had to change that mindset really fast. I was really hoping he was there to help host something. And then when I saw that he was there to play the game, I totally had to shift any pre-existing potential strategies that I might have had going on in my mind. Those were out the window. They were gone.
Was it fair to have an experienced gamer in the cast?
Kim Stempel: Did you think it was fair to have somebody who was an experienced gamer also compete on the show? Or did you feel that gave him an unfair advantage?
Kim Mattina: I would say it gave him an advantage in that, you know, he played Survivor five times, he was on The Amazing Race twice, [and] he won. He is married to a Survivor winner also. So, it runs in the family. That definitely gave him an advantage, more so I think on how to read people because he’s very good at that [rather] than in the game itself.
Because he didn’t know what to expect any more than any of the rest of us. It’s a brand-new show. I also think it gave him a little bit of a disadvantage because he’s Boston Rob. Not everybody knew who he was or what he had done but enough people knew. He had a target from the beginning. Maybe not as big as what he thought it was initially, but he definitely had a target. So, he was going in with a huge advantage, but also a huge disadvantage, and the guy maneuvered through it. You know…he’s an incredible player. I’ve got nothing but admiration for his gameplay and for…for how he does that.
Kim explains her mindset going into the game
Kim Stempel: And what was your strategy going into the game?
Kim Mattina: Going in, I wanted to really kind of lay low…not float but lay low enough to get to know who would be my people. Who could I work with, who could I bring a benefit to?
I knew that physically I wasn’t going to be a benefit to anybody that I aligned with, but I knew that strategically and just through life experiences, that I did have something to bring to the table that could make me a very, very good ally. Including the fact that I am so loyal to the people that are loyal to me, that I’m not going to turn on them. And there were people that saw that. They saw that in me and I wasn’t quite as alone out there as it appeared at times.
Who were the biggest threats on the island?
Kim Stempel: Other than Rob, who did you think was the biggest threat?
Kim Mattina: I would say…there were two people that I really felt like were threats after…the second challenge. (The arrows- hunters and gatherers.) I felt that Alyssa [Klinzing] was a physical threat because she was incredible in that. And I felt that Nick [Grasso] would also be a physical threat. I mean, just because…look at him. He has arms that are, you know, guns. The guy is in amazing physical…his physicality is intimidating.
And I would say the other one would probably have been, to some degree, Miranda [Harrison], because Miranda was scared of nothing. She was not scared of bugs, she wasn’t scared of any of the physical challenges, anything like that. She…she was definitely a physical threat out there.
And mentally, or socially, [the] biggest threat was Amy [McCoy]. Amy has a personality, she’s a spitfire…she’s got a personality that you’re drawn to and she makes you laugh and she’s incredible. And it was fun to hang out with Amy.
What it was like facing the Banker
Kim Stempel: You did an excellent job facing the Banker, by the way. That was awesome!
Kim Mattina: Thank you. Oh my God, that was so nerve-wracking. I mean, to know you literally have a 50-50 shot of going home. Or, you have to point your finger, and end somebody else’s opportunity and dream of being there. Because none of us went there…most of us didn’t go there on vacation, okay? Most everyone was there to play the game and play it from the start.
Kim shares her one regret
Kim Stempel: Is there anything that you regret from your time in the game?
Kim Mattina: Okay. I regret calling Rob and Claudia [Jordan] ‘f’ers.’ It did get exaggerated after that because that was what I said.
And when Alyssa took it to Rob, she elongated it and made it ‘motherf’ers,’ which is not what I said. I don’t necessarily regret saying it- I regret saying it where someone like Rob, whose got four daughters who absolutely worship him, that they would hear their dad called that on TV.
Other than that, honestly, I don’t regret the way I played the game. I don’t regret using what skills I have to make up for the skills I don’t have.
And I don’t regret going there for sure. That was an amazing opportunity and I’m so thankful that it was made available to me and that I didn’t back off of it. I played hard. I played with what I had, and I don’t regret that.
There are so many people that are seeing this, and you know hopefully I inspired… even if they didn’t like me. I mean, I’ve got my share of hate. Anybody who is a fan of Rob or a fan of Claudia was not a fan of mine. I get that. I understand that.
But I hope that maybe I inspired some people to get up and take their own chances, and break out of that box and the comfort zone, and do something that you might not normally ever have an opportunity to do. I hope there’s a few people out there that go, ‘You know what? I think I’ll take a chance. I’ll do it.’
This interview was edited for clarity.
Deal or No Deal Island continues on Monday, March 26 at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.
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