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Deal or No Deal Island's Joe Manganiello Secretly Fanboyed Over Boston Rob's Casting
"I think I could win, for sure," the Host of the hit NBC competition series said of Survivor.
Boston Rob is a Survivor legend, and he's become a Deal or No Deal Island all-star on the dramatic first season of NBC's spinoff competition series.
Reality TV fans were excited to see Boston Rob, whose full name is Rob Mariano, return to their screens — and those fans included Joe Manganiello. Though the Deal or No Deal Island Host was starstruck by Boston Rob, he had to hide his excitement — so that it wouldn't ruin the surprise of the Survivor icon's inclusion.
On April 30, Manganiello stopped by Late Night with Seth Meyers to reflect on hosting Deal or No Deal Island, including when he learned Boston Rob would be among the contestants playing to walk away with a whopping $200 million cash prize.
"I was a Survivor junkie, and when I got to the island they [the production team] said Boston Rob's flying in this morning," the Magic Mike actor told Seth Meyers. "And I said, 'What's he doing here?' They said, 'No, he's one of the guests. I went, 'Get out of here!' But of course, I had to hide that, because it's up to the players to reveal that or Rob to reveal that or not. I don't interfere."
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"So you're just doing so much hiding. You're hiding cases [around the island], you're hiding guests," teased Meyers.
How Joe Manganiello's Survivor obsession helped him host Deal or No Deal Island
"I watched Survivor like a junkie," Manganiello told Meyers. "When I was on set or in some foreign country, it's always me and the dog, brushing my teeth, watching Survivor episodes. So when they called me and explained the job to me, it was basically, 'Do you want to be the next Jeff Probst?' And I was like, 'Of course I do! You don't know who you're talking to.'"
"So I was really excited to do this, specifically," he added.
Meyers asked Manganiello how he thought he'd do if he was a player on one of his beloved reality competition shows.
"I think I could win, for sure. I think I could win Survivor," answered Manganiello. "The trick about Survivor is I'd be really good at getting everyone things to eat, catching the animals, catching the fish, climbing the trees, winning the challenges."
"As soon as everyone merges, and it's every person for themselves, they're going to go right after me, so I'd have to win immunity every time," he strategized. "But I will say, I did stand there looking at our game thinking, 'I would switch places with any of you right now.' Like, I wanted to play."
Boston Rob versus Joe Manganiello? That's a matchup worth $200 million.
New episodes of Deal or No Deal Island premiere on Mondays at 10 p.m. ET/PT. All episodes will be available next-day on Peacock.
