Howie Mandel defends Meghan Markle over ‘Deal Or No Deal’ comments – Hollywood Life

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There was a slight commotion when Meghan Markle said that her time up Deal Or No Deal “forced [me] to be all looks and little essential” as she stood by her numbered briefcase and that she ended up feeling like she was a “bimbo” on the show. “I understand. I felt like nothing [too]” Howie Mandel tell Our Weekly on October 27. The show’s former host said that he “[didn’t] think she’s annoying Deal or No Deal. … I’ve never really heard anyone complain, and I don’t think Meghan does. I think Meghan just said she wanted to do more. It was not fulfilling for her.”

Howie, 66, empathized with Meghan over her comments about how Deal Or No Deal felt diminishing and diminishing. “I get it because – I’ve never said this before – but they had this pyramid of 26 beautiful, intelligent women standing there and just staring at me like I was a piece of meat,” he said. “I was in the middle, just dressed in a suit, and I felt like I was more than that. And they just looked at me, and I didn’t have to do anything.” Like Meghan, Howie found the experience Agreement missing. “And so I moved on and became a judge America’s Got Talent. I just needed more than to be a Deal or No Deal host.”

With that said, Howie did say that the show was “a great workplace environment” and that Meghan likely talked about “what was going on” during her time on the show. “I don’t think there ever has been [any] complaints of any of the [other] women,” Mandel said. “And unlike most shows up to that point, the ladies had more to do. They didn’t just point out and open presents [cases]many times they were targeted, and they had their input.”

“I don’t know why there’s a big fuss,” Howie says, “except I have to say that standing there with 26 women staring at me made me feel like a bimbo.”

Meghan made her comments during an episode of her Spotify podcast Archetypes. “I was grateful for the job, but not for how it made me feel, which wasn’t smart,” Markle said. “I was surrounded by smart women on that stage with me, but that wasn’t the focus of why we were there. … didn’t like being forced to be just looks and little substance, and that’s how it felt to me at the time. To be reduced to this specific archetype: the word ‘bimbo’.” Meghan also claimed that a woman on the production team would tell her to “suck it in” as a way to look thinner.

Donna Feldmananother former “Briefcase Beauty” up Deal Or No Dealtell Hollywood Life that she”[has] to disagree with what is being said. During my time on the show, neither I nor anyone else I worked with was ever treated as such, in my opinion. However, it is important to note that everyone has their own experience, and I can only speak from mine.”