Deal or No Deal Island

The classic game of deal or no deal that we all know and love just got a little more entertaining!

With more high skates and bigger prizes it makes the game that more interesting! And the fact that the only way to stay in the game is to have a better deal is smart!

The whole "survivor" aspect is perfect where each week the contestants go through challenges to collect briefcases and do what they can to avoid the lowest one

This concept works really well and it seems like this is going to be a fun show and season with twist and turns..

Also I'm wondering if Howie is the banker it would only make sense especially if they're revealing who it is at the end of the season..

Yes, it's deal or no deal meets Survivor... Sorta. The players are mostly interesting, but there are a few that are a little annoying or they just sorta blend into the background. The challenge games are fine - the loser of the challenges are up for elimination. The twist that is you don't beat the banker in the final game you go home and if you do, you send someone else home. I sorta like this idea just because it's different. I like that Claudia is on from the original game show. I have a feeling Howie is the banker on the ship though since I don't feel like they could really have the show without him. Anyway, I recommend giving it a try and see what you think about it.

I've never watched Deal or No Deal for more than a couple minutes because the concept just isn't that interesting to me (it's just statistics), especially if I'm not invested in the player. In this case, I was intrigued by the island competition aspect and enticed by Joe Manganiello and Boston Rob.

However, I ended up being pretty disappointed. Joe's charisma was dialed way down by the structure, and his lines seemed overly scripted. I enjoyed seeing Rob compete, but it wasn't enough to make up for many of the the other contestants, who schemed, back-stabbed and lied for no discernible reason, certainly not for gameplay. Without the excuse of starvation and exhaustion, I felt embarrassed for these people displaying such unearned personal vitriol for other players, and it ended up leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

It was interesting seeing the compassionate side of Rob unable to hold back the bloodthirst of first-time players, the personal offers spiced things up sometimes, and I didn't so much mind the final player, but I doubt I'll be watching future seasons.

This program is so unbelievably bad, the only thing that has kept me watching it is Boston Rob. They better make him a co-host if, miraculously, it gets picked up for a second season. Some people haven't like the Survivor aspects of it but to me, that's the only interesting part and even they are pretty tame and lame. The actual game of Deal or No Deal is not too bad, it's the 45 minutes of blather inbetween that make me feel like I'm wasting my life. And it's another American program of scheming, unpleasant, dishonest, backstabbing people will ill intent that I'm sure no one needs. If I wanted to watch that, I'd watch the news.

Season 2 is even more entertaining than the first. Was able to get right into the action especially with contestants like Parvati from survivor. She immediately starts working her magic which is hilarious - some people just have a natural gripping charisma. Without giving more away, there are a lot of other good personas matched throughout episode one. Am excited to see how the competition progresses as it seems they've shaken some things up from the first season. They are definitely trying find a groove for the show that really locks in as a calling card, and I don't think the briefcases are necessarily a part of that. I almost feel like the briefcases are a topping to a bigger picture and if they can make it work it can really help elevate the show to something of a classic.