Deal or No Deal Island season 2, episode 10 promised a double elimination. We will need to wait a week for the second of the two eliminations that night at Temple. We ended with David sending Phillip Solomon home.
This was devastating, especially since Phillip had played such a strong game. In the end, Phillip chose money over power, and it’s not something that he regrets now. Nor does he fully regret trusting David, and he explained all that in our exclusive interview.
Phillip talks trusting reality TV personalities in Deal or No Deal Island
Hidden Remote: Let’s start with how you’re feeling after the elimination?
Phillip Solomon: I’m feeling good. I feel like you have those important events in adulthood that sometimes you want to feel a certain way about, but you need to stop, reflect on it, and be like “did you grow? Did you learn?” If the answer is yes, then it’s an amazing day?
HR: Well, did you learn from the mistake of trusting David?
PS: Yes and no. I learned not to trust reality TV show legends. At the time, it’s hard for the viewer to remember, that David is still a civilian. We know nothing about his resume. He was a model in New York that has been working on and off, and he has a YouTube travel show. Money comes and money goes. He has a wife with a medical issue, so he’s also supporting her, and he has to put four kids through school.
We talked about that every morning. The conversation you saw on this episode happened every morning we worked out and drank coffee. Just me and him, every day. So, to be honest, the more I’m looking at it, the more I know that’s a friend in the real world. I wish I could say I regret it, but I don’t.
HR: That’s right, and it is easy to forget you didn’t know he was a Survivor Australia winner. So, what was it like finding that out afterward?
PS: For me, it was a good 50/50 split. Half of me was really hurt and betrayed. You want to feel negatively about it. And then the other half of me is, as a reality TV view, I had to applaud him. He really had to navigate the game as a civilian. With Parvati and Dr. Will, they had their respect from everyone else just based on their resume. David had to earn his, very much like any of us, so he had to work his way up and he wasn’t allowed to say that he was on a show. We all had to genuinely trust him as a person.
HR: Talk me through your thought process holding the bags and choosing the money.
PS: The hard part for me is I’m a very black and white person. I like to run the numbers and try to make a choice that works best for me. Initially, I was like “okay, I’m gonna go for power.” Then Lete was eliminated, and then Parvati was eliminated and CK “accidentally” responded by eliminating her self after. I thought I had a real good shot at this, so then I had to do the math. I either have a one in five shot at getting the opportunity to play for $10 million, or getting money that I’m sure of right now.
What a lot of people on the viewer end aren’t necessarily remembering — and I’m the same when I watch shows like this— is the winner does not get $10 million. The winner gets the opportunity to play and then have to win and then have to select the briefcase worth $10 million. At first, I didn’t think the money was a real possibility, but once it was so close, I knew it was mine.
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HR: Would you have preferred to have played The Banker and been eliminated instead of David taking you out?
PS: I think for me, I would have preferred to play, but that’s just the kind of person I am. I don’t know if it reads through the television screen or not, but I’m a firm believer in just trying to remain optimistic. I would love to dwell on the idea of going all the way there and not playing The Banker, but I conquered my fear of heights. I learned how to swim three weeks before I got to the island. I’ve never encountered animals, and I was in a pit of iguanas. I was outside for a month.
There were so many amazing things that I would have to take away from to say “you didn’t get to play before you left.” I understand it, but at the same time, I got so many amazing things out of it.
HR: I loved watching you conquer your fears and throwing yourself into the challenges. Was there one that you loved the most? Each one had its own purpose.
PS: Totally, yeah! I wish you guys could have seen this, but I’m glad you didn’t. Right before the challenge jumping off the grab the ring, I had a full emotional, let’s call it a spiral. There were tears, I couldn’t catch my breath, ugly tears into snot into spit. It was just a disaster! They had to pull me off the dock, calm me down, and throw me up again. It’s because the two things I said I couldn’t do are water and heights.
So what I will say is that I’m grateful for that, because you can almost pinpoint my arc. I came back to the game a different person after I caught that ring because of that. It’s like unlocking a secret level in a video game. Once you unlock that level, I said “game face on.”
I’m so glad that it was where it was in the game. I think if it was challenge number one or two, I wouldn’t have been able to have the support from my teammates.
HR: I love that for you.
PS: Thank you.
HR: You opened up so much and share so much that many of us can relate to in different ways. What’s the response been like back home as people have seen it?
PS: I’ve gotten really good responses from people I know — family, friends, clients — they were like “what I loved about watching you the most is the things you say here in the gym, the things you say out in the world, are exactly how you were out there.” They thought it was refreshing to see someone be like “that’s the brand. He doesn’t know how to do anything else.” I’m loud, I’m messy, I’m obnoxious, I’m vulnerable when I need to be. What you saw is me.
An even greater response is that I’ve gotten so many amazing messages from others whose kids are having a rough time in middle school, and they don’t feel like a good version of themselves. The reason that I taught middle school, I went back to Seventh Grade specifically, was because it was the worst school year of my life. I think it’s the worst year of everyone’s life. I wanted to tell a 12-year-old that “you’re gonna be okay. The next few months are going to be the worst and the best all at the same time, but you’re going to be okay.”
I’ve heard from so many former students, current middle school students, parents, people who have said their kid loves watching me on the show. No offence to any of the adults, but those are my people. To me, it makes me feel like I really did my job.
HR: I have a 12-year-old and yep, it’s hard! There are constant emails from the school about the kids in her grade bullying over SnapChat. I’m so glad I didn’t have that when I was 12! I keep telling her to just make sure she talks to me and don’t bottle it up.
PS: Totally!
HR: Who did you want to win at this point in the game.
PS: I want to say I was Team Lete. I think it’s so important, as someone like me that has been a role model for kids and played a pretty good game, not too messy, not too dirty, that I want to be able to look at the winner and say I’m so proud of the winner of this experience. I wouldn’t feel great in losing to a person that I believe played a dirty game. I want a good person that’s had a good arc and has shown growth and learning and development.
You guys didn’t get to see all of the Lete that I did. They decided to highlight [my vulnerable moments] a little harder, but the thing is for her, we had those moments where she has been bullied herself and pushed aside. She made it through all of that. She’s the former Miss Indiana. She’s grown and learned and evolved, so for me, I would like to be Team Lete.
HR: My last question is one I’ve asked everyone of you so far. Which show is next for you that you’d like to do?
PS: Traitors, but probably not for the reason that everyone else thinks. There’s the castle and the challenges aren’t that hard. But, number one, the outfits! The wardrobe department dressed us on the island, but take a look at my Instagram, and it’s a whole a*s show.
Number two, I think someone like me, I always think it’s so weird when they walk in episode 1 and meet each other, and people have no idea who a Housewife is or who that person from Vanderpump Rules is or who that person from Survivor is. I think not only my ability to make good human relationships and network would help, but I know these people, their history, their story.
I watched Gabby on The Bachelor, then The Bachelorette, I know her social media, so I knew that she had already come out and she had a girlfriend who has recently become her wife. I know all that information. So, I think it would be great to be someone who really knows all of this.
HR: I am there for that! And now I’m gonna stalk your Instagram!
Deal or No Deal Island airs on Tuesdays at 9/8c on NBC.
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