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Deal or No Deal Island is here, and one contestant has already been eliminated from the Banker’s private island. And his exit was not the way he saw his gaming playing out, to say the least.
Brantzen Wong, a 31-year-old professional poker player from Tustin, California, joined 12 others in NBC’s newest reality competition show. And before the premiere on February 26 wrapped, Brantzen was sent home by 26-year-old Aron Barbell, who survived the first Deal or No Deal showdown with the Banker.
Brantzen painted himself as a target during the first mission when he helped Kim Mattina, 63, secure a red briefcase. In a challenge that had the players traversing through the mud to obtain high-ticket briefcases, the two red cases through a twist into the straight-forward mission — one case gave the power to steal another person’s briefcase, and one had a low-dollar value.
As per the rules, the players with the two smallest dollar figures would be on the chopping block for possible elimination. So, the fact that Brantzen helped Kim, who already appeared to have the lowest value case, directly send someone into the line of fire was not a smart game move, and when Aron earned the power to eliminate a player of his choosing, he took the shot at Brantzen, a consensus desire.
The poker player spoke with NBC after his ousting and revealed that he was “deeply” hurt after watching Kim’s confessionals. The longtime reality TV fan said in a private interview during the episode that she had no issue taking on the “villain” role and would lean into the older, more feeble stereotype if it meant she could use it to her advantage. She, in part, manipulated Brantzen to help her with the briefcase, which directly led to his downfall.
That was extremely frustrating. That was brutal, not gonna lie. I didn’t see it coming. Because afterward, it was one of those things where like that really hurt me deeply because she – not that I was looking for her to owe me or anything, but I would have liked [her] to say ‘thank you’ to me. That would have been kind. We had a conversation late at night and I was like ‘Oh, you know, if no one came forward with the million dollars, who would you have picked? And she was like ‘Oh, maybe you.’ And I was like ‘Maybe? I got it for you!’
Brantzen said the Deal or No Deal Island medical team tended to Kim for a half-hour after she emerged from the mud the first go-around, and the edit clearly showed how tiring and taxing the mud pit was for her. He said his decision to help Kim was from “pure emotion.” “She didn’t even have that ability [to go back into the mud],” he continued. “It’s not fair. And then I was like, ‘Well, I’m young enough and I have the ability, so I guess I’ll go!’”
Regardless, Kim left the challenge with immunity and the $1 million case while Brantzen left the game for good.