Meghan Markle wants us to have a notion that she was one broke actress that couldn’t afford even to repair the lock on her Ford Explorer. She wants us to believe this to be the case for all of her career. However, when she entered the ‘Deal or No Deal’ show her life went for the better. And she is not acknowledging it.
One day Meghan Markle’s agent told her that she has an audition for one of the most popular American shows. That’s how she got her first real money, and that’s how she became what she is today. It is reported that she was making up to $30 000 per week, which is way more than she had ever made in her life until then. Furthermore, this is the show that paved her path to stardom.
Deal Or No Deal Co-Stars Slam Meghan Markle – If She Wasn’t On The Show She Wouldn’t Have Met Prince Harry
As you all know, Meghan Markle is now pushing her way into podcasting. In fact, Spotify claims that she is one of the most successful podcasters as well. Her podcast ‘Archetypes’ allegedly passed the popularity of Joe Rogan’s podcast which was topping the lists for years.
In the most recent episodes of her podcast, she reflected on the time she starred in the show that catapulted her to fame. If you’d think that she had something good to say about it – you are very wrong. She reflected on the time as a time when people looked at her as a ‘piece of meat’. Meghan Markle claimed that the show is full of sexism, and female objectification.
However, Meghan Markle failed to explain how she managed to ‘endure’ 34 episodes before quitting. She claims that the humiliation and the ‘bimbo’ treatment was too much, so she had to flee. But not before making more than half a million dollars from the show.
According to critics, the Duchess of Sussex is now trying to portray herself as a victim of her life before the #MeToo era. The era is popular for subjecting women to sexism, misogyny, exploitation, and sexual abuse in rare cases.
When recalling the ‘Deal or No Deal’ show, Meghan Markle says she and the other girls needed to prepare themselves for each episode to ‘look like cookies’.
“Having your lashes put on or your extensions put in, or the padding in your bra — we were even given spray-tan vouchers each week. There was a very cookie-cutter idea of precisely what we should look like. It was solely about beauty and not necessarily about brains.”
The Duchess of Sussex even criticized her manager at the time for not pronouncing her name right. “Mar-kel, suck it in!”
“That’s TV, baby.” – Whoopi Goldberg, a TV host told Meghan. But what did you think you were going to? You know that’s what the show was. When you’re a performer, you take the gig.”
The fellow briefcase girls as well, think that Meghan Markle’s memories of the show are distorted. They remember the show as a fun and exciting experience.
Lisa Gleave is a successful Australian model, TV host and actress. Same as Meghan Markle, she started her career as a briefcase girl for the ‘Deal or No Deal’ show. She mastered walking down the stairs and opening briefcases for a wage of $30 000 per week.
Lisa Gleave remembers the time when she was on the show with joy and is happy that she was a part of it. She recalls feeling “blessed and lucky to have been on it. For me it was a joy and a great career move. Most of the girls would say that.” – Gleave said. “I never looked at it as a show that objectified women. The cast and crew treated us very well. It was a professional set. For many of us, it was a stepping stone in our careers and we went on to greater things.”
“If Meghan didn’t want to feel objectified and had bad feelings about her role then she could have chosen not to do the audition and not to do all the shows that she did.” – Gleave added. “And that would have given another girl a chance, someone who would have jumped at the role.”
Meghan Markle’s ex-colleague said that it’s true that the show featured only beautiful women, but they were all smart and intelligent. Furthermore, nobody treated them as ‘bimbos’.
She confirmed that Meghan Markle’s claims about spraying tan on them and preparing them with pad-out bras are correct. However, according to Gleave, it was ‘helpful’.
“It was almost like a uniform that we had to wear, but it’s showbiz — you have to have glitz and glamour. I’m sure they didn’t only tell Meghan to suck her stomach in. We were all told at one point or another. We wore tight and tailored dresses, so we couldn’t slouch or over-eat. It didn’t offend me. It was business — a job that most of us did gladly.”
Lisa Gleave’s views are the same as most of the other ‘co-stars’ of the ‘Deal or No Deal’ show. Another one who backed her up is Claudia Jordan, a ‘briefcase girl’ that continued her career on TV by becoming the reality TV star on the ‘Real Housewives Of Atlanta’.
“For clarity — yes getting a modeling gig on a game show isn’t necessarily about your intellect. But for every show, the executive producers pick five models with the most outgoing and fun personalities to place mics on, who they know would engage with the contestants. And Deal Or No Deal never treated us like bimbos. We got so many opportunities because of that show.” – Claudia Jordan said.
Claudia Jordan also thinks that Meghan Markle has got it all wrong about TV. The main characteristic that one should possess when appearing on TV is to look good. And that is clear to everybody.
“I was there from the very first episode and I loved every minute of it. It was a great job and a great opportunity.” – she revealed. “There was an emphasis on us girls looking our best but it’s showbusiness — an aesthetic industry — and it didn’t bother me at all. I never felt uncomfortable and never felt there was anything undignified about it. Instead, I was grateful for the good salary and the good working conditions. I look back on it fondly.”
Seems like all the ‘briefcase girls’ from the show are teaming up against Meghan Markle and against her views on the show. All of them have a different opinion on what the show was and how they felt during their days there. Tameka Jakobs, another ‘briefcase girl’ opened up about her experience on the show as well.
“Looking back, it was clear that she had a brand and wanted to protect that brand for a future career as a serious actor.” – Tameka Jacobs said of Meghan. “Meghan’s aspirations were to win an Oscar or be on Broadway. So if you’re in a mini-dress, high heels, with your boobs together when what you want to do is serious acting, then it’s tough.”
The ‘briefcase girls’ also team up to say that it was clear that Meghan Markle had big ambitions. They say that she didn’t team up with any of the remaining girls and did not socialize with them much. She very rarely joined them on nights out and didn’t like when they took photos of her. Especially if she drank something that is less expensive than a glass of champagne.
The girls recall a time when ex-president Donald Trump visited them at the set of the ‘Deal or No Deal’ show. All of the girls naturally, went and said hello, some of them even took a business card from him and pledged to join him and play golf in some of his clubs. However, Meghan Markle just politely greeted him and stood in the back not giving much attention to him.
If we go back to Lisa Gleave and give her the last words to close this article, she can sum up Meghan’s destiny beautifully in two sentences.
“She was a struggling actress and I think if it wasn’t for Deal Or No Deal she probably wouldn’t be where she is now. She might not have met Harry, she might not have been cast on Suits.” – Gleave says.
What do you think? Is the ‘Deal or No Deal’ show responsible for catapulting Meghan Markle to stardom? Could she reach the same celebrity status if she didn’t take part in it? Her ex-colleagues are sure that she couldn’t become so famous without it. Look at them all. They all now have successful careers.
