Stephanie Mitchell Talks ‘Deal or No Deal Island’ Group Chats & Reunion Plans

From the beginning of Deal or No Deal Island, Stephanie Mitchell found herself playing defense. Early on in the inaugural season, she was targeted as a potential eliminee by some powerful people, but thanks to her signature “determination” (and a well-timed alliance with the so-called “Night Owls”), she managed to make it all the way to the end.

She might’ve even gotten to the final two if she’d have just selected a case that was higher than Amy McCoy’s. So how would she have fared in that final excursion with Jordan Fowler? And was she really trying to help her beat the banker (Howie Mandel) in the final temple? Plus, do the cast members have plans to get back together anytime soon?

TV Insider caught up with Mitchell to get all the scoop.

You were pretty much the only person that was eliminated purely by luck. How did you feel about that? And looking ahead at the challenge Amy and Jordan had, how do you feel like you would have done in that?

Stephanie Mitchell: Getting so close to the end and knowing that my head was essentially on a stake from Episode 1, and knowing that I’d gone through all of these physical tribulations and mental obstacles in order to get to where I was, it was bad luck that I ended up choosing a case that was the lowest value. Even though I pushed through the maze and got through as the second person off, and that was just dumb luck. But you know, it’s the name of this game. It’s very much strategic up to a point, and then at a point, it’s just a matter of luck.

I was super fortunate in my game against the banker that I chose a case that had a penny in it, and this time, it didn’t work out. So it’s like, it’s the way that it goes. And I know that heights — and so does all of America now — me and heights are not a thing. Don’t love that. And so seeing that those ropes were elevated, that Jordan and Amy had to do for their last excursion, I would have been terrified. And I would have fought through that fear. There’s no doubt in my mind that I wouldn’t have thought twice about it. Thinking about how close I would have been to my goal, it would have been nothing to me.

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Jordan Fowler on Beating the Banker (and Boston Rob) on 'Deal or No Deal Island'

I will say that when I am watching it, it’s for the first time along with you guys, and this is the first time that I was not in an excursion. This was the first one that I got a view that I wasn’t involved in. And when I saw Amy shake that rope when Jordan was on it, I was like, “I would have never even thought to do that. And frankly, I don’t know what I would do if somebody did that.” So that part shook me because it’s an unexpected thing. Like I can get over heights I can get over fear, but like the purposeful and willful wanting for people to have you fail that shook me to my core, and that’s the part that I don’t know how I would deal with. It was brutal. Amy, she’s tough. She’s scrappy.

When Jordan went into the temple, she said that her superpower was determination and I was thinking, “Wait, that’s Stephanie’s superpower.” What did you think about that?

So you have to be determined in order to win this game. To play this game, to even apply to this game, especially when you don’t know anything about it, and to be able to be seated next to all of these other contestants from various walks of life and be able to tell yourself, “I can do this; It could be me,” that’s a level of determination that we cannot downgrade. We could not make that any less than what it is. It’s an absolutely amazing feat, and Jordan should be very proud of herself in terms of life, and the ways that we walk upon this earth and our lived experience, there’s not a person on that cast that knows about what determination is and what perseverance is [as me]. And I will say that to this day, there’s not a person — we all have our individual struggles, but that is something that I hold near and dear to my heart because very much my walked existence is seeing people in the most desperate places of determination and need to get through to obstacles of healthy and safe and empowered birth. It’s everything that I breathe So that’s my word. That’s my word, but we can’t downplay anybody.

What was it like for you to open up about your journey — so much personal information and on such a big stage? And then how have people reacted to you?

I’ll start with the latter. People reacting to me has been, in the overwhelming majority, in a negative way that I’ve seen on social media. So I can chalk that up to a variety of reasons. And so I don’t pay too much credence to that because I do know that they were only privy to a few moments of my life over a course of a 12-week period. So that’s how I feel about that.

And the other part of it is my turbulent existence, bringing myself up into an adult and having four children to rear along that way, I take great pride in my story and my difficulties because it makes me who I am. My specific journey, in my abilities to transverse obstacles and difficulties, is what drives me every single day. I’m proud of how far I’ve come in my life and the things that I’ve had to go through in order to be able to say to the world, “Yes, it’s tough. It’s hard. This is these are not easy things, but you can do it. You can put your mind to whatever it is that you want to do. And this is something anybody can do, despite obstacles that you may have gone through that are more turbulent than other other people.” Absolutely.

Monty Brinton/NBC

I’m sorry to hear that things were negative because I felt like you were very inspiring, personally. Moving on, in the temple, were you really trying to help Jordan win? And was there anybody you were worried that maybe wasn’t?

Look, we worked hard for that. We worked on it — everyone cumulatively — and I spoke to Jordan at length. She was up there, she had gotten that, she had deserved that. Her story is valid. So we need to be cheering her on. She won. Not me, not Amy, not Rob. This was Jordan’s to win. We want her to be able to get her winnings to the highest level she can so that she can do what she intended to do with our winnings.

And as we saw, it’s unfolding beautifully into a very much wanted pregnancy. I couldn’t be more proud of her. As people probably know, pregnancy and women’s health care and reproductive health care is my life’s work. And so I don’t know if anybody else had ill intent during that time. But I can only be responsible for how I felt and I really really wanted Jordan to take home as much [as she could] — I want her to bankrupt little Howie [Mandel] up there. And so I was. yeah, it’s legitimate at that point. It’s like the competition’s over. Jordan is the winner. So yeah, I was really happy.

Jordan told me that you guys still have like a group chat going and keep in touch. Is there any talk of a reunion for the baby shower or anything like that?

Oh, totally. I mean, Nick is getting married in Italy this summer. And so a lot of us have been able to clear off our schedule so we’ll be able to celebrate with him. Our group chat is fire. It’s amazing. And I’m sure there are subgroup chats that we don’t know about because that’s how life does, but yeah, we’re still in great communication. I mean, we speak pretty much every day. These are people that I will know for the rest of my life. And what we went through together as a whole and then all of the post-production and being part of this experience is something I’m pretty sure we’ll all treasure. Yeah, and our group chats? Amazing.

Deal or No Deal Island, streaming, Peacock

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