‘Deal or No Deal Island’: Courtney ‘CK’ Kim on Fan Reactions to the Cheating Scandal & That Shower Moment

[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for Deal or No Deal Island Season 2 Episode 11, “Water Under the Bridge.”]

Annnnd then there were two. Tuesday’s (March 18) episode of Deal or No Deal Island saw Parvati Shallow going in to face the banker at temple and making a bad deal, leaving just three players still vying for the cash: David Genat, Alexis Lete, and Courtney “CK” Kim.

Then, the final three challenge was a doozy that required them all to get help from those contestants who’d already gone home — sometimes with harsh words from those who remained, no less — to build bridges and select the highest-value cases based on their recommendations.

Ultimately, it was CK who came up short and didn’t advance to the final two. So does she blame anyone in particular for her not advancing to the finals? And how did she feel about outlasting the “Black Widow” herself? TV Insider caught up with CK to find out.

How did you feel about making it to the final three? I know it’s disappointing to lose, but you did beat reality royalty twice.

Courtney “CK” Kim: I am happy and proud about it, but I am a results-oriented kind of person. As you can see from my game, I really didn’t care about much as long as I got to my goal. So the goal is to win, so I’m still definitely a little disappointed.

When it came to that final challenge, obviously, you had to work with some people that maybe sometimes hadn’t had a good exit where you were concerned. Who are you most shocked to see and do you feel like anybody sabotaged you? 

I wasn’t shocked to see anybody. I was praying to God to see Maria-Grace over some of those other people. But when I heard of the challenge, I already kind of accepted my fate before we went into it. I was like, “D**n it.” I was hoping for a puzzle or an agility challenge where my small size against the other ones could help. But as soon as I heard what the challenge was, I was like, “Kill me now. I should have just taken the $75,000 and gone on.” So yeah, I mean, I kind of expected what it was and what I got out of this situation.

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I think the Seychelle situation, I think of anything, I wish she — I’ll do what I need to do. You want me to gravel or grovel. I don’t give a sh*t. I’m playing for millions of dollars. I’ll do whatever you want. But like, hold up your end of the bargain, which she didn’t do, so that was disappointing.

You had some dustups with some of the other people too, like Lete and Dr. Will who brought up the cheating thing again. How do you feel about that? I mean, some people don’t even feel like you really did anything wrong. 

Thanks. That’s what I was just telling one of the other reporters. A lot of this stuff I see they’re like, “NBC really blew that up to a lot more than it actually was.” I agree cause it’s just a random draw, so I just randomly redraw. It’s not like I got like a head start on something. I think they definitely blew it out of proportion, but you know what I think’s funny? I think they’re just mad that I got to the final three and they didn’t, and they have nothing else to be mad at me for. So that’s like this one thing was a random draw that didn’t affect the game and then even I took the chance of potentially going home by playing the banker just to appease them. And I happened to win, and they’re just mad… They can’t pinpoint anything else I did poorly obviously ’cause I made it to the top three, so like, “You cheated.” I’m like, “Okay, just keep beating that drum if you want.”
Has anything changed about your relationship with those people since filming ended? 

I would say Dr. Will, really… I was just telling somebody else, he sent me over a laser way, got some Botenza, face looking good. I appreciate you, Dr. Will. And he’s a pretty nice guy. I think you see him help me at the end. He just really loves these games, and so even though he was driving me nuts in the game, at the end of the day, it’s just a game. And I think ’cause he’s a seasoned pro — where some of the other people are still I’m living rent-free in their head, and they’re angry about it.

Monty Brinton / NBC

So I take it that you haven’t forgiven Seychelle about what she said in the temple? She did get a little harsh with you. 

Yeah, I mean, it’s just her character versus mine. So they’re kind of different groups that we run with, they’re gonna be proud of me for not saying anything back and taking the high road, and the groups that she runs with are gonna love what she said too, right? We just come from different places, so that was her five minutes of glory. It’s like, I’m glad I could help you become more famous. I hope you have an extra 1,000 TikTok followers because of that, Sey, congratulations. I’m never gonna say anything back — what am I supposed to say? Like, “Catch me outside, Sey”? I’m not gonna do that on national television.

You and Parvati had an interesting relationship … A lot of people were asking about the shower situation and what was going on with that conversation you had there?

Well, some people were like, “Oh, CK was peeking!” Like yeah right. Parvati and I shared a room together. The amount of times me and Parvati are just completely naked all the time is infinite. So the shower, we’re like, “Yeah, who cares?” So many times the camera guys would get so mad at us because we would be talking game, so they had to be in there, but we had to get dressed. So I remember one time I just dropped my whole towel, the camera I was like, “CK.” I was like, “I told you to get out of the dome. We’ve got to get dressed and get ready for temple. Just do the voiceover. I don’t know what to tell you!” So yeah, I mean, and everybody saw each other naked. Seychelle’s seen Storm naked, Lete has seen Seychelle naked. We’re on an island together guys. What do you think we’re doing out there? We’re in the elements. I think we all would have walked around that island naked if we were allowed to. It’s whatever.

What was your reaction in this episode when David says in a confessional that you are a “footnote” to his golden god story or something like that?

Oh, I mean, David, what drives me nuts is, if you go back to just like us as Neanderthals and growing into hunters and gatherers to now, right? It is in our nature to follow the big strong alpha male. And it’s so annoying ’cause we’re still like that. Like David, look at him. I wanted that dude out like when Luke was playing the banker and had a choice, and he still was gonna get Seychelle out, and I was just like begging, “Luke, get him out!” He’s 6’5″, 280-pound specimen of a human being. How people wanted to get Parvati out before him because, “She’s the ‘Black Widow,’ and she’s blah blah blah and manipulative…” Who gives a sh*t? She’s also 5’5″. The people I was working with are so stupid. So yeah, they just let David just be there at the end as if any one of us could ever beat him in anything physical ever. It’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen.

Yeah, so I take it you weren’t rooting for him. Were you rooting for Alexis at all? 

I love that you called her Alexis. I call her Alexis, too, and she hates it.  I mean, at that point, it’s like I’m 50/50 on it. I think if f I was in the game, I probably would have helped Lete over David. But at the end of the day, David does have four kids. I’m like that’s not cheap, But he’s also, one, he’s gonna have so many other options. The dude was a model for Ralph Lauren at the same time, he’s not hurting for money. Lete’s really trying to figure out what she wants to do in life, and I think that money really could have helped her. But I also think Lete’s awesome and she’s beautiful and she’s athletic. I think she would run The Challenge if she was ever on it, so she’ll have plenty more options. But yeah, if I was there, I would have helped Lete over David.

A lot of people are gonna wonder — since you had mentioned you were starting a family — have you had any updates since filming? 

[My partner] is pregnant. I know we’re really excited. … She’s 19 weeks, 18 weeks. Yeah, so it’s super exciting. That was really, really great. It’s just now that the baby is coming, I’m like, I really wish I would have won that show because babies cost millions of dollars, so I need the money. So that’s the only disappointing part. Very excited about the family, but now that I’m starting one, I’m like, “Oh, I would want even that much more!”

Lastly, is there anything looking back on the season that you wish had been made clear or anything you want fans to know that maybe they didn’t know about you?

I’ve talked about a lot in my other interviews about it’s just all the strategy that I have. I think the villain that you guys see is kind of random, kind of emotional, just skating by. There’s a reason why. And at the end of the day, I could get out a lot of these pros — everyone thinks David got Will out, I contribute myself to getting Will out over David cause I put them on my team specifically. And then I knew I had the choice of throwing the challenge or not when I was choosing my team. And so I know I was getting David or Will out. One of them too was gonna go home.

And then with Parvati, I could have played the banker, and I don’t even think I would have taken her out. I probably would have taken Lete out. I’m not really sure, but I told her that because I knew she wasn’t gonna take me out. Parvati’s not that dumb. Even if she was mad at me, she’s still taking the 6-foot girl out before she takes me out. So it was a great game move. So I was able to get Parvati out, and I was able to get Will out. I did a lot in that game, but I don’t know what it looks like — just me randomly making it to the end somehow.

Deal or No Deal Island, Tuesdays, 9/8c, NBC