Dickson Wong became the ninth player eliminated from Deal or No Deal Island season 2. He chatted with us about that elimination and his strategy going into the game.
Dickson put $5m into the prize pot early on in the game, so it seems a little unfair that he doesn’t get any of that money. That’s the nature of the game, though, and he knew that going in. He did hope that he would get a little further to go up against someone in the final, but it is what it is.
We got to chat with Dickson about his game play, including how Dr. Will was right about him throughout the game. Dickson is a man who grew up with game shows, so knew how to play them.
Dickson admits to being a bit of a weasel in Deal or No Deal Island
Hidden Remote: Lete has always stuck to her word, so what was it like knowing that if she beat the Banker, you’d be out?
Dickson Wong: I wasn’t blindsided. She straight up told me what she was gonna do on the island. One thing I will say about Lete is that she did tell a couple lies to me, but she was 95% honest with everyone. I don’t know why everyone is so focused on integrity and doing the right thing, because you can’t win a game like this by playing an honest game. You gotta tell a few lies, so whenever Lete told me she was gunning for me, I felt like she was telling the truth. It’s why I wanted to face the Banker right away.
HR: You did get to face the Banker earlier in the season [in Deal or No Deal Island season 2, episode 3]. What was it like to land that $5m case?
DW: My gosh, it was such a surreal moment. Just being able to play the game, Deal or No Deal, you know? I grew up watching all these OG game shows. One of my favorite memories is watching Deal or No Deal with my grandparents.
I’ve seen comments of people saying I’m creepy because I knew some of the models. What they don’t understand is how religious my family was about game shows. One of my favorite memories again is getting home from school and watching game shows from like 5 p.m. until about 9 p.m.
I didn’t get to play the full extent with 26 cases, but the fact that I did go up there and I got to play the game and I won $5m, as a reality TV fan, I thought it was so surreal and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
HR: Let’s talk about your blindside in choosing to eliminate Storm. I didn’t see that coming. Why him?
DW: I’m glad you brought that up, because people send me comments and I read them now and then, so I want to clear a few things up. I chose Storm because he was a physical threat, and he was well liked around camp. I felt like Jordan won in season 1 because she didn’t make any enemies and she won a challenge at the end. I saw Storm doing the same thing.
Even my own alliance didn’t want me to take Storm out. In my opinion, it was the best move for me at the time. The one person who did know about it, David, knew that I wanted to make a big move and take out a big player. I wanted to blindside someone, so it was always between Storm and Lete. Even Phillip, too.
What the show doesn’t show is that they had a workout squad in the morning. I would sit and drink my coffee and watch them work out. If you’re that dedicated to working out in a game show where someone’s going to take you out for the smallest thing, I know you’re going to be a physical threat. Phillip was close to Parvati, which is why Phillip wasn’t an option.
With Storm, there was also the showmance. I want to clear it up that I’m not jealous over anything. People think I’m jealous over MG and Storm. I live a great life, and I rarely had any conversations with MG about the game, even on the island. We didn’t talk that much. So, for me to take out Storm, it was absolutely 100% a game move. It was nothing personal.
I want to ask you a question. In the final challenge in season 1, it was Amy and Jordan. Do you think I could take Storm in that challenge?
HR: No.
DW: Do you think I would have had a better chance of taking CK?
HR: Yes.
DW: So yeah, I’m not gonna keep someone that I can’t beat. With Deal or No Deal it’s a coin flip, so I’m not going to have power every single time to eliminate someone. The fact that I had power, I wanted to make a big move and I took out Storm.
HR: What was your strategy going into the game?
DW: I wanted to be perceived as a weaker player who wasn’t good at challenges. I thought, which people didn’t have this mindset, that people would want to take out the physical players like David, Phillip, Storm, and Lete. So, I wanted to be perceived as a weaker player because of that.
The second thing, which I stuck to, was keeping two players in the game hat were bigger threats to me. From Season 1, we can tell that one player is not enough. You gotta have at least two players. If I ever play a game like this again, it’s gonna be three.
Be real with me, if you beat the Banker, would you send home me, Parvati, or David?
HR: It would be either Parvati or David.
DW: So, my strategy was working. I just didn’t expect David or Parvati to get safety. It was just my luck that happened. I was expecting one of them to always be at the bottom with me in the scenario, and people would choose one of them over me.
HR: And you’re right in that you can’t go into this game to win by being honest all the time. You ended up playing both the Family and Lete. When did you decide to play all sides?
DW: Gosh, that was at the beginning of the game. The whole time. One thing I will say about Dr. Will is that he wasn’t wrong about me playing a very weasely game. I’m not gonna lie about that. I was making a lot of deals with people.
Whenever you’re sitting at home on your couch and are like “I wouldn’t do that,” it’s a lie. When you’re on the island, you don’t have a cell phone or anything to entertain your time. The only think you can think about is the game.
Everyone knew I was walking around telling people “I got you.” Everyone knew that. So, I was trying to play all sides from the beginning, and I was caught very early on. It wasn’t shown, but during the ax challenge, Dr. Will asked everyone “who has a final deal with Dickson” and everyone raised their hands, apparently.
It was all just part of the game. I do value integrity in real life, but this is a game for millions of dollars. I had to do whatever I had to do to bring home the money. The people in my real life know who I am as a person.
HR: Which game would you like to do next?
DW: I want to do Big Brother so bad. That’s the one game I really want to do. I would also do Survivor in a heartbreak. I think the biggest reason why I would do Survivor is because I do want to show people that I can play a game without David or Parvati. A lot of people thought I rode on their coattails, which I don’t think I did. I made a lot of moves outside of them. When they would tell me there’s certain things not to do, I would do them because I thought it was best.
I wasn’t a pawn for David and Parvati. If I’d have made the move for Dr. Will and took out CK, people would have been saying the exact same thing; that I was a pawn for Dr. Will.
I want to be able to play a game without other Legends or with a cast full of Legends to show that I have what it takes to win a game.
Deal or No Deal Island airs on Tuesdays at 9/8c on NBC.
Catch up with the latest TV news with Hidden Remote.