The reality star reveals what really went down surrounding the punishment.
Warning: This article contains spoilers about theDeal or No Deal Islandseason 1 finale.
In the end, it was too much of a deficit to make up.
Boston Rob Mariano on ‘Deal or No Deal Island’.Monty Brinton/NBC
How does Rob feel about his penalty?
What happened during the incident that we did not see?
We asked the Robfather all that and more.
Boston Rob Mariano on ‘Deal or No Deal Island’.Monty Brinton/NBC
BOSTON ROB MARIANO:I mean, it’s brutal.
No shade, I definitely looked at the other person’s puzzle, and that’s it.
I mean, I’m not going to sit here and make an excuse.
Boston Rob Mariano, Jordan Fowler, Amy McCoy, Stephanie Mitchell, and Joe Manganiello on ‘Deal or No Deal Island’.Monty Brinton/NBC
Yes, when they edited it, it wasn’t as clean.
Joe didn’t actually announce you might’t look at the other person’s puzzle.
All that was done in the pre-walkthrough, just like onSurvivorand on all the shows.
Boston Rob Mariano on ‘Deal or No Deal Island’.Monty Brinton/NBC
And they have [the standards and practices department] there, they do the whole thing.
They definitely did say, it’s possible for you to’t look at the other person’s puzzle.
Amy got it first.
Aron Barbell and Boston Rob Mariano on ‘Deal or No Deal Island’.Monty Brinton/NBC
Let me go see.
So that was it.
I looked at it, I got the penalty.
I don’t know that the penalty was three minutes.
So they made it look clean.
So as soon as Joe says Go!
I’m just going to tell Jordan and Stephanie the answer.
So that way there’s no time.
No, you never ask!
It would’ve been great TV.
So I should have waited.
It’s brutal, but it’s fair.
Yeah, look, it’s not an excuse.
I had a great time out there.
Of course, I wanted to win.
It’s ironic that nobody actually took me out.
I kind of caused my own demise, which, truthfully, hurts a little bit more.
But I had such a great experience and it was so fun playing this game.
It was so different than everything I’ve done before, and I’m really happy for Jordan.
I am, truly.
Did the punishment fit the crime?
I was really surprised that it took them as long as it did in the maze.
But I could hear them celebrating that she had made it, just as I was unlocking my suitcase.
How much did she end up beating you by coming out of the maze?
I don’t know exactly, but I think it was probably around a minute.
The whole challenge maybe lasted about 20 minutes.
I flew through the challenge.
I think I made only one wrong turn the whole maze after looking at the map.
It’s funny to hear you talking about trying to negate the penalty.
It reminds me ofThe Amazing Racewhen you got all the other teams to take the two-hour food challenge penalty.
And that was the thing I didn’t ask them!
I just did it.
And I ran into that a few times.
And this is no shade to production, they were awesome.
And they did everything to preserve the integrity of the game, for sure.
They edited for time that it was a random draw, but it wasn’t actually.
Are you allowed to transfer it over till after everyone goes?
You lose your turn and you have to go again.
So you don’t get to steal from anyone.
You’re the first one.
So immediately, Kim’s like, Okay, Rob, you’re going first.
I was like, Ah, shut your mouth, dude.
Did all the players sort of figure that out or not?
Does the show need to tweak that moving forward into season 2?
I don’t think the mechanic of the game is broken.
So you’re exactly right.
You want to knock off high cases, with at least one high case remaining.
And at worst you’re going to have a 50 percent.
you could always go down to two cases.
You’re going to play it the way you’re going to play it.
Now, in subsequent seasons, I’m sure they’ll change that.
They’ll introduce some kind of strategy into that portion of the game so it’s not so basic.
So I understand what you’re saying about what the audience wants and how its portrayed.
Everybody was good, but I think a lot of it was unwarranted.
Even the alliance-making, the whole thing.
They thought that was the game.
And probably the fact that I was out there lent to it a little bit.
But it wasn’t necessary.
You saw how many shots there were of me sitting on the beach hanging out, right?
Because I’m like, it doesn’t matter!
Make all the plans you want.
If I do well and win immunity, you’ve got the option to’t get me anyway.
It’s like, Man, focus on yourself.
Why are you so focused on me?
And it didn’t matter so much.
Also, there’s no repercussion for breaking your word to anybody.
There’s no vote at the end.
There’s no way for them to be accountable for whatever they do in the court of public opinion.
The audience might not like it, but it’s not going to change the dynamic of gameplay.
And overall, just a spectacular experience.
A lot of fun.
