Deal or No Deal Island

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.

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.

Totally get it mix Deal or No Deal with Survivor which isn't a bad idea. But it makes no sense whatsoever.

I pushed through the first episode because it looked like it was going somewhere. But it didn't lol

The casting isn't bad - Boston Rob is naturally saving the series from some people who think this is their meal ticket to stardom.

Then in the last 5 minutes they turn the tables and get rid of someone completely invisible for the entire episode. Nah...

That poor guy didn't even get anything through the episode so you can't just blindside the audience like that and it made no sense because it negates the entire deal or no deal part... Play fair

Editing is shocking. Don't have all these contestants if you're focusing on the most weird and desperate for fame.

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.

The Survivor stuff, splashing through mud, etc., I can live without. I've never watched Survivor, so the physical challenges do not appeal to me. When it comes to the actual case-choosing game, they have inverted the object of the game from what it was. Contestant is now building a team total, not playing for himself/herself. And, they have added a rule that the deal the Contestant ultimately takes must be a number higher than the (hidden) case he/she first chose, which means the winning strategy must be to eliminate all the high-amount cases. It turns Howie's studio game around backwards. Makes no sense.