The Big Picture

Joe Manganiello is excited to host
Deal Or No Deal Island
, which combines the show’s concept with intense challenges.
On
Finding Your Roots
, Joe discovered his paternal grandfather was not related to him and had Black ancestry.
Hidden ancestry discoveries are common, and DNA testing has revealed many secrets, leading to positive outcomes like Joe’s.

Joe Manganiello’s name became well-known to horror-romance lovers everywhere when he portrayed the character of Alcide Herveaux on HBO’s True Blood. Before True Blood, he was also known as Peter Parker’s bully in the 2002 iteration of Spider-Man. Since hitting movie and TV screens, he has participated in a variety of films and movies, including the Magic Mike trilogy and Zack Snyder’s Justice League. In addition to being a proud Yinzer, Joe is also a documentary filmmaker and has produced and directed a documentary called La Bare, which focuses on the stories of the male strippers who work at La Bare Dallas. Joe is a man who has worn many hats in his career, and now he’s about to put another hat on: his hosting hat for a reality competition series.

Deal or No Deal first had a Dutch iteration that came into existence in 2001 titled Die Chance deines Lebens. The US-based version of the series came to the US in 2005, with Howie Mandel acting as the host. The series was immensely popular in the US and ran for four seasons before being canceled. The series was revived for one season in 2018, with Howie back as the host. Now, in 2024, a newer and more intense version of the series is coming to TV screens and streams. Deal Or No Deal Island takes the concept of DOND and blends it with a survival of the fittestcompetition, a la Richard Connell’sThe Most Dangerous Game, minus the story’s fatal brutality. DONDI pits a group of celebrities against each other on an isolated island to battle through a series of rigorous challenges to claim the various briefcases filled with cash scattered throughout the island. With a total of $200M spread out in cases throughout the island, the celebrities will have to undergo physical and mental challenges to get those briefcases. Howie Mandel is producing the DOND spin-off, and Joe Manganiello steps into the role of host and master of ceremonies. Collider spoke with Joe about his DONDI experience, as well as the surprising discovery of his Black-American ancestry on an episode of Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates.

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Deal or No Deal Island A group of 13 contestants compete in dangerous games on a private island for a cash prize in an intense season-long reality competition overseen by an enigmatic Banker.Release Date February 26, 2024 Seasons 1

Joe Manganiello’s Love of Games Made ‘Deal Or No Deal Island’ the Perfect Fit
Image via NBC 

When asked about his experience hosting the series, Joe expressed a lot of enthusiasm. He’s an avid fan of games, sharing, “I’ve always been obsessed with game night. I take my game nights very seriously. Even as a kid growing up, we would watch the game show network and put it on mute, and we played 25,000 Pyramid or Password with somebody with my back to the TV,” he remembers. “I watch Jeopardy! all the time.” And his love of games goes beyond the standard game show, as he also mentioned his love of Survivor.

“Something that people probably don’t know about me is when I’m on set, or I’m [traveling] a lot with work. And, so, I’m always in some hotel somewhere by myself or with the dog, keeping myself company, I would watch Survivor. I would just pick a season and just motor through it while brushing my teeth, or going to bed, and I’d fall asleep watching it,” he added. Given his love of games, Joe enjoyed the process of hosting DONDI.

Related ‘Deal or No Deal Island’ Is a Tangled, Messy Competition Done Right The classic game show’s spinoff series is an isle of messy mayhem.

He said: “For me, it was almost like everything I love, you know, whether it was gaming or, you know, creating and working for Dungeons and Dragons for many years– It just seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to, not only be creatively fulfilled but also have a great time. Like I had a blast, it was right up my alley. This was the perfect job for me.”

When asked about the gameplay, Joe shared how the competitive element combined with the psychological factors of being isolated on an island affected the game. He also shared that because the game is new, the playing field was evened out for the celebrity cast. He said: “When you watch the contestants go through the excursions and challenges, it doesn’t just test them physically. We’re dropping people out of a hundred-foot trees. So, are you afraid of heights? Have you been afraid of heights your whole life? Are you willing to go up in this tree? Something you would never do left to your own devices, but when there’s $200 million spread out in cases all over an island, and you could be going home with a large percentage of that.”

Joe Manganiello Discovered a Fascinating New Branch of His Family
Image via PBS

Last year, Joe was featured in Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s series, Finding Your Roots. In the episode, Joe discovered that the man he thought was his paternal grandfather, Emilio Manganiello, was not related to him at all. When asked about the experience, Joe shared: “My last name Manganiello isn’t technically my last name. I’m related to 0% of the world’s Manganiello population. I’m still mostly Sicilian, and I am an Italian citizen, but what it uncovered was that grandfather — his military records listed that he was Black.”

He further explained that he discovered some other incredible facts about his lineage, and he was able to trace things back to the Revolutionary War. He also learned about all the new last names he was able to discover while learning about this new branch of his ancestral tree. He said: “There are Washingtons out there, [and] I’m related to Cutlers. So, there are some of these names that kind of float around in the family tree. So, I don’t know, maybe me and Denzel Washington? We have the same birthday. Maybe we have the same ancestors. I don’t know.”

The experience was an eye-opening one and not uncommon. Jersey Shore’s Angelina Pivarnickrecently discovered who her real father was after taking her DNA test and discovering the man she thought was her father, wasn’t. Cases of hidden ancestry are incredibly common, and thanks to the advancement and accessibility of DNA testing over the past decade, more are being discovered every day. According to The Guardian, “Increasingly, DNA tests are bringing to light infidelities, adoptions, cover-ups, and lies that have been concealed for decades.

There have been cases of people learning that they were conceived from donated sperm or even that they were switched at birth… There have been a lot of secrets covered up in the past, and they are starting to come out.’” While many have experienced devastating results, sometimes the discoveries from these tests are positive, much like Joe’s case.

To hear more from Joe about Deal Or No Deal Island and find out what his actual last name might be (thanks to his Finding Your Roots revelation), check out his full interview with Collider above.

Deal Or No Deal Island premieres on February 26 with a special 90-minute episode, followed by new episodes airing on Mondays at 10 PM ET on NBC. Episodes can also be streamed on Peacock.

Watch On Peacock