Joe Manganiello, tell us how you really feel about Dr. Will Kirby.
“I wanted to kill him while he was there,” says the host of Deal or No Deal Island. “I think we all did. I speak for everyone in the crew and cast, we all wanted to kill Dr. Will. He was so aggravating.”
But as soon as the former Big Brother champ was sent packing this season on the NBC competition show, Manganiello admitted that he felt a pang of regret. “I was sad to see him go in the end because he was such good television,” he said. “Dr. Will is of that era where people weren’t afraid to go on these shows and be villains, be the bad guy.”
Manganiello has learned from the best; before he was asked to emcee the game in 2024, the True Blood actor spent a great deal of his free time watching Survivor. So he felt more than prepared to host a game that invites players to compete in challenges to secure briefcases packed with cash.
Watch on Deadline
Ahead of tonight’s second season finale, Manganiello recounts why he signed up for the game in the first place and how his love for Survivor has made him respect this year’s true ringers, who are Survivor‘s Parvati Shallow, Survivor Australia’s David Genat, and Dr. Will (even though he’s annoying as hell).
DEADLINE When the offer to host Deal or No Deal Island first came your way, was it an easy sell for you? Did you have to think about it?
JOE MANGANIELLO I would always get offers to host. People were interested in having me host things, but I always made the choice to stay in my own lane as an actor. With that said, it was always something that I felt like I could do really well, and I’ve seen almost every single episode of Survivor. That was just something that I did in my free time. When I’m traveling on set, I usually keep myself company while I’m alone in a hotel room by watching Survivor. Initially, they described the show to me as this blending of Deal or No Deal with elements of Survivor and Fear Factor. And interestingly enough, I was offered the reboot of Fear Factor. It was just the right time for me to say, you know what? I love doing this in another universe. I think I played Survivor in another universe where I didn’t go to acting school. I think I’d probably wind up on Survivor. So I just thought, this is the right time for me. This is the right show for me. Let’s go.
DEADLINE Speaking of Survivor, host Jeff Probst can be deliciously lippy with the contestants. Are you not above giving the players a hard time if you have the chance?
MANGANIELLO I definitely give the players a hard time. I’m not above judging the players on their actions. That happens a lot. Players sometimes say things to me in the moment and you kind of put the hosting aside. I’m not really taking offense to it, but I’m like, ‘wow, you’re going after the wrong person.’ Because anything I say, that’s the stuff that’s going to wind up on air. The stuff that you’re saying is going to wind up cut. So you probably want to watch what you’re saying to me. But I welcome that stuff because I want people to be who they are. I try not to manipulate them in a way that is going to stifle any part of their game. My job is to just let them be who they are, bad and good.
DEADLINE Let’s talk about this season. Who did you identify early on as a true contender?
MANGANIELLO Our game is interesting because those people that you would initially say, ‘wow, that person’s going to go far’ is also a person who has a big target. I knew that Parvati Shallow was coming to the game. I knew that she was one of the former champions that was going to play this season. And I thought, boy, if they’ve learned anything from season one or just watching Survivor, they’ll get rid of her right away. But we put her on the boat sitting next to Luke from Wisconsin, and immediately I’m watching footage and I’m seeing Luke say, ‘oh, what’s your name? What do you do?’ And I’m like, oh my God, he doesn’t know who she is. Son, stop talking to her. His game’s already over. She’s already got her first kill basically. So I thought, oh boy, this is going to be good. People who did know kept her secret until Dr. Will entered. So now you have these two adversaries.
I watch Australian Survivor. It’s available in the U.S. but I have my ways of tracking it down. I’m a big fan. David Genat is a former Australian Survivor champion, and he’s 6-3, 230 pounds. I don’t even know if he’s in the top five biggest guys on Survivor Australia. I mean, they’re monsters in that game. It’s like the old school Survivor challenges where they’re wrestling, they’re pitted against each other physically. So it’s a much more rough and tumble game. With that said, I knew that we had this former Survivor champion on the show. Is anybody going to recognize him? The only person that did recognize him was Parvati because she was preparing for USA versus Australian Survivor. She was doing her homework. So she decided to keep his secret so that they could form a stronger alliance. And what I loved was watching the two of them walk through a game. This is such a great season, in that even if you’re not somebody who normally watches this type of thing, you’re watching this man and this woman in cahoots, working their way together through this competition. It’s awesome.
DEADLINE So did that make you think David could go the distance?
MANGANIELLO He wound up like Clark Kent. He had a pair of glasses on the whole competition, this magical pair of glasses where nobody could recognize that he’s Superman under this glasses. Somehow Dr. Will and Parvati were seen as bigger threats than David in the competition. But if you watch episode one, you can see David up on top of his perch in the zip line challenge. He knows that he has a bird’s eye view to watch the game unfold, and he’s not going to move from that perch until he sees what he needs to see. So in a weird way, it was like he was giving away the fact that he had a strategic mind and maybe had played before, but then he had to backtrack shrink himself in a way to become less of a threat. So yes, I was watching him. Parvati played an incredible game where she had total safety until the moment when she didn’t. So it’s really an incredible season in a couple of different ways. Of course, I don’t want to take anything away from the first-time players. I think casting did an unbelievable job this year going through all the submissions. And certainly when we got to the final 20 possible competitors, you could go with any one of ’em. They were amazing.
DEADLINE Were you disappointed to see Dr. Will go?
MANGANIELLO Will is great TV. You need those villains. We invite villains onto the show. And I think if you look at other reality competition shows right now, it seems like the show is populated with all heroes. They’re all people you’re going to root for. I’m a big fan of old school Survivor where you had the Richard Hatches and you had the Russell Hantz and the Jonny Fairplays, these maniacs who are out there playing the game. You need somebody like that. Dr. Will is of that era where people weren’t afraid to go on these shows and be villains, be the bad guy. I wanted to kill him while he was there. I think we all did. I speak for everyone in the crew and cast, we all wanted to kill Dr. Will. He was so aggravating, but when he was gone, it’s like oh man. I was sad to see him go in the end because he was such good television.
Our game is hard. You’ve got to be great in challenges, then you have to have great social game, and then you’ve got to have a ton of luck. We need people who are serious about gaming. So having some of those ringers, having some of the previous champions play like Boston, Rob, Parvati, Dr. Will and David, you see how a seasoned game player takes to the game and understands what’s being asked of them. They’ve developed a certain amount of style and personality.
DEADLINE What can you say about the finale?
MANGANIELLO I think the finale this season presents an interesting challenge for us for a season three. What’s going to happen next season? How are we going to top that? This season finale is so unbelievable.The person who wins winds up breaking the all-time television game show record for money won. What actually had to happen in order for that to go down is … I mean, people are going to be talking about it. It’s unbelievable.
The post ‘Deal Or No Deal Island’ Host Joe Manganiello Handicaps Tonight’s Finale & Why Reality Vets Make Good TV: “We Need People Serious About Gaming” appeared first on Deadline.
