CK responds to being sabotaged on final ‘Deal or No Deal Island’ excursion

It might be the oldest cliché in all of reality competition television, but Courtney “CK” Kim did not go on Deal or No Deal Island to make friends. The corporate banker and competitive poker player came for one thing and one only: the money. And she would do whatever it took to win it. CK played hard and played fast, and while her aggressive game may have rubbed some fellow contestants the wrong way, it was super entertaining to watch the chaos and fallout that would ensue from her various moves… legal and otherwise.

However, CK’s approach came back to bite her in the final excursion as Seychelle Cordero, Parvati Shallow, and Dr. Will Kirby ether sabotaged or initially declined to help speed the controversial contestant on her way. As a result, CK was immediately eliminated in third place when she had the slowest time across the bridge.

What does CK have to say about that final excursion? Does she have any regrets about her aggressive gameplay? And how does she respond to Phillip Solomon’s claim to Entertainment Weekly that she made a comment assuming he was poor because he was Black? We spoke to the third-place finisher about all that and more.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Let’s talk about the final excursion. Seychelle makes you get on your knees and grovel. Then says she is going to help you, but actually starts kind of sabotaging you and not helping. What did you make of that whole situation?

COURTNEY “CK” KIM: I think it’s on brand for Seychelle. Kind of just speaks volumes to the kind of person that she is. And if she’s that angry and can’t accept that it’s a game, then it is what it is. Sorry she hates me so much, but what can I do about it?

When did it start to hit you that like, “Oh wait, she’s not helping me”?

Halfway through it. Honestly, I kind of died laughing. It was really funny. I’m not going to lie. I’m like, “Well, you’re driving me nuts, but of course I should have known this.” But, at the same time, you put yourself in my shoes: I’m playing for potentially 10, 11, or $12 million. I would do a lot of things for that much. And Seychelle’s like… Again, funny. I don’t have any malice towards her, so I’m just like, yeah, whatever. I just think it’s really s—ty that she still didn’t help me, but she is who she is.

What about Will not helping you at first, but then finally stepping in to assist you on that platform? It was also maybe too little, too late at that point.

I mean, I appreciate it. At the end of the day, some help is better than no help. Dr. Will is Dr. Will. He cheated so much. I’m just like, “You should not be talking to me about cheating or not cheating. You use production in strategy the entire time, dude.” But I think, at the same time, Will and I are so much alike and he loves the chaos and he loves the game, and so he liked that I caused a lot of drama.

I kind of use some of his strategies sometimes, and I think he said, “Game recognizes game.” Will just loves gamers and he loves reality competition so much, so I think that kind of kicked in halfway through and he was like, “All right, I’ll help you.” And at the end of the day, outside of the game, I think Will’s a great person.

Did you know that you were going to have the slowest time? Did it kind of hit you halfway across that bridge?

That throwing challenge — more than anything, that took forever. And I still wonder, “Did Parvati really not [help me]?” I saw that she helped Lete. Me and Parvati worked together so well and we’re still such good friends. I’m like, “Why didn’t she help me more?” But then again, I’ve seen Parvati try to throw something in her life and I really don’t think she has the athletic ability to really throw that well. But I don’t know, maybe she was sabotaging, maybe she didn’t. Maybe that’s a bone I need to pick with her later.

She told me that with both you and Lete, she wasn’t sabotaging but she wasn’t really helping.

Which is interesting to me. I just think Parvati is more like a girl’s girl and she had a girl gang. So I haven’t put my finger on exactly why she still wanted David, this big guy, to win over the girls.

Phillip pointed out the highest case to take but you didn’t believe him. Why?

Parvati. She really did sabotage me, which sucks because I loved working with her and I had so much fun playing the game with Parvati. But I guess she just really wanted David to win that bad. So what you guys don’t see is I grabbed the highest case first, and when I was walking over to Parv, she looked at me and gave me this little look [indicating to not take that case] and it kind of made me second-guess. And at the time, I trusted Parv. I’ve worked this whole game with her, even though you guys can’t see it. I’ve been working with Parv since episode 3. We slept in the same room. I trusted her, and I put it back and grabbed a different case.

Had David chosen you to play the Banker in that previous Temple, and you won, would you have taken out Lete or Paravti?

Yeah, that’s a million-dollar question. I would’ve questioned Parvati. I would’ve asked her straight up, “What is going on with you and David? Are you truly in love with him, or is there something else happening here?” And depending on the answer she gave me would [dictate] her fate. Ultimately, in my heart, from a strategic standpoint, I wanted to send Lete home because she’s just so much bigger and stronger than me, but I was so angry with Parvati and David at this point, I could just tell that they were screwing me over basically and they had for a few episodes now, so I might’ve just made an emotional decision and sent Parvati home… just because.

 So we already talked down in Panama about how your fellow players reacted to you peeking into the selection box on that one excursion. What do you make of how it played out on TV and the reaction there?

I don’t know. I think it’s about the same. I think people just blew it up more than it really was. Again, it’s a random draw, so I just randomly redraw. Nothing changes from the situation. And again, when I looked down at it, I could see some letters, so I put it back because I was like, “Oh, I can see these.” So then I grabbed one that I couldn’t see, which had to be a short name. Maybe if I was 5-foot-11, it wouldn’t have been a problem and I would’ve seen right over it. Instead, it’s at eye level and it’s kind of hard not to. I think the most interesting thing, though, is how people react to it more than my castmates. I even have a small bone to pick with you, Dalton Ross.

You’re not the first, CK.

Would you agree Rob and I both looked at something we shouldn’t have looked at?

Yes.

The article you wrote about him says Boston Rob discussed “his penalty” and my article was CK discussed “her cheating scandal.”

I think it was “copying penalty,” if I remember.

Copying penalty. You never used the word “cheating” though, and I thought that was very interesting. And I don’t think that you have anything out for me versus Boston Rob by any means, but I do think that people have unconscious bias when a man does something like that than when a woman does it, because even the comments were like, “Boston Rob’s a gamer,” or, “He was on Survivor, they’re allowed to do that. He didn’t know any better. He was just playing the game.”

You’ve seen it, we literally have to raise our hands and be like, “Yes, we fully understand the rules.” So he knew what he was doing, but people give him a pass. And even articles written about him don’t call him a cheater, but when I did the exact same thing — a.k.a. I looked at something I wasn’t supposed to look — just raked through the coals.

I hear you, but I do think it’s fair to point out the context of Rob being caught doing something he was very used to doing legally on four seasons of Survivor, and he even made no effort to hide it.

Not on the same network.

Yeah, I don’t know what was going through his head, and I don’t know what was going through your head. And the context of the situations have both similarities and differences. But I understand what you’re saying in terms of the discrepancies, CK. Let’s talk about Phillip.

Okay.

Phillip talked to me in his interview about how you made a comment to Lete about how you didn’t actually think he was that poor after all, and then told Phillip you initially thought he was poor because… and then sort of trailed off, implying it was because he was Black. I just wanted to give you a chance to respond to that since he put that out there.

I think the most interesting thing is, why didn’t he just finish that sentence? I think it’s a really big miscommunication, obviously, and more than anything, it’s because of what he said out there that you guys see. He was like, “I’ve never had this amount of money. I really want this amount of money.” So to me I was like, “It really seems like okay, you need it.” And more than anything, the “because” I was going to say was “because you’re an educator and you are a teacher in America.”

I think that teachers are one of the most important jobs in the entire United States. That is the most highly underpaid by a long shot, right? The poverty level in North Carolina is $32,000. Starting average salary in North Carolina for a teacher is $40,000. So I think it’s a serious issue within our country. A lot of people know that I’m passionate about education in general, and I’ve always had a soft spot for teachers and everything that they do in our country. And so it had everything to do with him being what seems like from everything he’s described, a really great middle-school teacher and someone who deserves to win that $75,000.

I remember you saying something along those lines at the finale, which I don’t think is making it to air, so I wanted to make sure you had a chance to respond since it’s not going to be in the episode.

I appreciate that.

Sometimes players butt heads in the game but then make up and are friendly outside of it. What about with you and your castmates? How are you with them now?

I think for the most part it’s similar to what was in the game. She and I have had our ups and downs, but I really like Lete. We were texting today. I really like Will. I don’t talk to him much, but when I do, he is always very friendly and kind and he’s letting me get some treatments at [his dermatology clinic] LaserAway, which I really appreciate.

I talk to David every now and then I still talk to Parv. Parv and I are still good friends. La Shell and I are great friends. We talk every single week. Love Dickson. It’s funny how much we hate each other on the show because I freakin’ love Dickson. I talk to MG every now and then. And then with Seychellle, we don’t talk, and Phillip, we don’t talk.

Any regrets about your aggressive gameplay?

Hindsight is 20/20. If my aggressive play gets me a one-in-three chance to win a couple million dollars, then yeah, I’m going to do it every single time. If my aggressive gameplay makes me have to face a jury that I didn’t know was going to be there, then yeah, I’m going to change that tactic. I’m just a results-oriented kind of person. I wanted to get to the end to give myself a chance. So I did. I just didn’t know I was going to have a jury. So yeah, next time I’ll play a little more sneaky, a little bit more manipulative. I’m going to take notes out of Parvati’s book instead of notes out of Will’s book.

Finally, if you could go do another reality competition show, what would it be?

I guess the popular one is Traitors. Everyone loves The Traitors. Because I’m not big enough for The Challenge. I am too much of a prima donna to do Survivor. So it’s either that or this new show Extracted. I just don’t know if I would be a Traitor or a Faithful, Dalton. You watch a lot of these: Do you think I’d be a better Traitor or a better Faithful?

I’d like to see you as a Faithful. I’ve actually thought about you on that show, CK, because I think you’d be great on it. If I were the producer, I’d put you on as a Faithful hunting the Traitors.

I think I would be a better Faithful. It would be so hard for me to lie. I kind of wear my emotions on my sleeve, so I don’t think I would be a very good Traitor to hide it. And because I do have such an aggressive gameplay — like, I die for the Roundtables. I wish I had Roundtables at DONDI. I would’ve been like, “Let’s all get on this island and talk about it” — like I did in Temple. I like confronting people and that’s what I would love, the Roundtables.

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