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Everything to Know About Deal or No Deal Island's Claudia Jordan: From Briefcase Model to Star Player
She held the briefcases for the first four seasons of Deal or No Deal, but now she's opening them on the Banker's private island.
The new series Deal or No Deal Island mixes up the traditional Deal or No Deal game show format. No longer are contestants just trying to pick the right briefcase; they’re also competing against a dozen other players and putting themselves through arduous physical challenges on the Banker’s private island in an attempt to win the biggest prize in Deal or No Deal history. For one contestant, though, things are especially different. For the first time, Claudia Jordan is in a position to pick a briefcase, as the former multi-season Briefcase Girl is competing to win on Deal or No Deal Island.
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Jordan, who also competed on two seasons of Celebrity Apprentice and was on The Real Housewives of Atlanta, is not the only contestant on Deal or No Deal Island with past reality show experience. Rob Mariano, aka “Boston Rob,” is a Survivor veteran. But Jordan is the only one who has had any experience with those iconic briefcases, even if she was on the other side of them.
What other shows has Deal or No Deal Island's Claudia Jordan been in?
Jordan was born on April 12, 1973, in Providence, Rhode Island. Her parents met in Italy when her dad, a member of the U.S. Air Force who was stationed there, met her mother, an Italian native. After graduating from Ohio’s Baldwin Wallace College, where she majored in broadcasting and journalism, Jordan represented Rhode Island as Miss Teen USA in 1991 and Miss USA in 1997. During the early ‘90s was also when she began her acting career, appearing in one-off episodes of a few sitcoms like That’s So Raven and having small parts in movies like the 2000 sci-fi film Simone.
From 2001 to 2003, Jordan was a model on Seasons 29 through 32 of The Price Is Right, serving as a “Barker's Beauty.” After she left the show, Jordan sued for wrongful termination, sexual harassment, and race discrimination, alleging that a staffer had made inappropriate sexual advances toward her. They settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.
After leaving The Price Is Right, Jordan became one of the inaugural Briefcase Models on Deal or No Deal when it premiered in 2005. Although she held Briefcase #9 during the initial premiere week, for the rest of her four-season tenure on the series, she held Briefcase #1 — a big deal, but for superstitious reasons, the #1 case was among the least-chosen cases by contestants in the show’s history.
Jordan left Deal or No Deal after Season 4, and would go on to host the 2009 Miss Universe competition and compete on Seasons 8 and 13 of Celebrity Apprentice. She was the fourth contestant to be “fired” on both seasons. She was also a member of the main cast of The Real Housewives of Atlanta in Season 7 and would return as a guest for Seasons 8, 13, and 15.
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She has numerous hosting gigs on her filmography as well, including The Raw Word, VH1 Couples Retreat, and more.
Will Jordan’s reality and game show experience help her triumph on Deal or No Deal Island — to say nothing of her experience on Deal or No Deal itself? Find out as the season continues.
New episodes of Deal or No Deal Island air on Monday nights at 10 p.m. on NBC and are available next-day on Peacock.
