Plus, he shares just how close he andAustralian Survivor’s Golden God,David Genat, truly were.
“We had a Wisconsin handshake.
A good old boy’s handshake.
Image by Zanda Rice, Peacock
If I won, he was not going to go home.
Hosted byJoe Mangianellolast season, the banker was portrayed byHowie Mandel.
This season, he’s passed the baton over to a new banker.
Image via NBC
For now, it’s time to chat to the first out of Season 2.
It’s officially $1 Luke!
LUKE OLEJNICZAK:Doing good, brother.
Image via NBC
I’m doing great.
Let’s start simple.
LUKE: Very, very intense.
I didn’t really have time to settle in, brother, I got the whole enchilada pretty quickly.
What was it like being on the Bankers' private island and having those stunning accommodations?
LUKE: Oh, goodness.
And it’s cold, you have a draft.
So to have memory foam mattresses, pressed robes, air conditioned yurts, catered food.
Yeah, it was, it was an upgrade.
I honestly found that to almost work against me.
Joe told you all the homework that you may have done was just out the window.
How much preparation and homework did you do prior to stepping onto the island?
I was too busy with my private dinner parties.
I didn’t do much at all.
I did a lot of running.
I was running anywhere from 30, a couple of those weeks.
I did 70 miles a week.
But other than that, nothing.
Let’s discuss the Bankers Pyramid Scheme.
It was all about risk versus reward.
Why go with the high-risk case off the bat?
The Golden God David wanted you all to wait and watch to see who took which case.
Were you just so eager and excited to get on the zip line and start your own adventure?
LUKE: I didn’t hear him.
I didn’t hear him.
He is a very masculine man in many ways, but his talking voice is not very loud.
It’s just not.
you could’t hear him.
Did you anticipate the first excursion to be so cutthroat?
LUKE: Ah, yeah, I kind of did.
The spin-off’s freshman outing placed focus in all the wrong areas.
Why go for the $450,000 one?
and they just both clammed up.
They didn’t say anything.
And I’m not the best at math, I thought, screw it.
I’m just going to go with our predetermined plan.
That obviously was not the correct decision.
But why even have a plan if you’re not going to follow it?
Let’s not even have a plan.
Luke Stands By Playing the Banker’s Game
You really wanted to play the Bankers game.
Was there ever a doubt in your mind about playing?
LUKE: Oh, absolutely not.
It was almost like a reaction to what happened with the cases, right?
You were told you were in the bottom.
It was just okay.
We’re at risk.
Now it’s time to play the Banker.
It was that easy.
It was never hemming and hawing.
Did you fear that David or Seychelle would have targeted you had they played and won?
LUKE:You know I don’t know.
That’s a great question.
And that wasn’t going to be a concern for me.
A good old boy’s handshake.
If I won, he was not going to go home.
And I feel that if he would have played, he would have done the same for me.
You played numbers with a lot of football inspiration.
I want to hear your predictions.
Who’s winning the Super Bowl this year, and who’s winning the College Football Championship?
There’s a pretty special guy on that offensive line too that deserves a ring.Kevin Zeitler.
That guy’s been an all star his whole life.
That man needs a ring.
In College Football Playoffs, I really want to see Texas.
I really do, but I’m not sure they can do it.
Ohio State look unstoppable.
My brother went to Michigan, so I’m very anti-Ohio State.
And I mean, listen, Michigan beat them this year.
Do you stand by going all the way and not taking any of the Banker’s deals?
LUKE: You know, I’m going to be honest with you, yes.
And most people that are going to listen to this are going to say, ‘He’s nuts.
He’s absolutely nuts.’
But here’s the thing: it weighed heavily on me that I put our team at risk.
That was my decision that put us in hot water.
Months ahead of time; case number seven.
I figured it was destiny.
If I was supposed to stay on the show, case number seven was going to pull me through.
And if it didn’t, guess what, the right guy went home.
And that’s exactly what happened.
There was also a guarantee here.
You’re going to be remembered for something.
And why not kick off the show right the first episode, right?
Had you beaten the banker, who would you have eliminated?
LUKE:Of course, Seychelle.
I mean, I gave David that handshake.
And I want to clear this up, Seychelle is a firecracker.
She’s from New York, period.
But she is not that naturally toxic.
So I just wanted that to be out there.
Maybe clean her up a little bit, because she isn’t that wild.
She’s actually a very nice gal.
The classic game shows spinoff series is an isle of messy mayhem.
So obviously, had you stayed, you would have been working with David.
Anyone that you would have wanted to target?
I really foundRockto be a guy that I could identify with.
He seemed to be a guy of his word, being older as well.
He’s he’s not in the bullshit.
What he says is what it is.
I find a lot of value in that.
That’s not too shabby either!
Let’s end on a positive note.
The best moment of myDeal or No Deal Islandjourney was blank.
LUKE:Running in the morning.
LUKE:Everybody was asleep.
In fact, there wasn’t a camera.
There wasn’t a peep in the yurts.
It was just me and just hearing the pitter-patter of my Nikes hitting the sand.
Having the waves come and crash on the shore.
It was a beautiful morning.
What a great way to start out the day.
It was God’s blessing’s for sure.
That’s how I start my days out a lot of times is with a good morning run.
So it was nice to have that.
Especially the day I want to play the Banker.
Well, congratulations on being so iconic.
You will definitely go down inDeal or No Dealhistory.
LUKE:Bless you, brother.
Deal or No Deal Islandairs Tuesdays at 9:00pm on NBC.
All episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock.
