Joe Manganiello must eat 50 chicken nuggets to satisfy ‘Deal or No Deal Island’ bet (exclusive)

It started innocently enough as a side conversation during a Deal or No Deal Island excursion. Host and game master Joe Manganiello and Banker’s Assistant Ben Crofchick were looking to pass the time while contestants were out hunting for cases during a season 1 episode when the former hit the latter with perhaps the most incisive and probing question ever asked on reality TV: “How many chicken nuggets do you think you can eat in an hour?”

Crofchick paused while considering the query before thoughtfully responding, “With a root beer, probably about 45.”

Manganiello’s simple reply: “Nice.”

But there was much more to the conversation that did not make it to air, and it was a conversation that led to both a challenge, an extended trip to a McDonald’s bathroom, as well as a bounce back bet to the host. It turns out that Manganiello and Crofchick debated the best dipping sauces (the host is team sweet and sour while the Banker’s Assistant prefers honey mustard) and also created a bet over whether Crofchick could actually consume those 45 nuggets in under an hour. And if he could, the challenge would revert back to Manganiello himself.

But could Crofchick do it? Entertainment Weekly went undercover in the jungles of Panama to procure the exclusive disgusting evidence for ourselves, and you can watch the challenge play out in the video above.

It seems fellow Banker’s Assistant Kamari Love, as well as executive producers Jeffrey Breeden and Matt Kunitz, have implicated themselves as being part of these sauce-dipping shenanigans, as all three can be seen in the incriminating footage egging on their colleague. The scene of the culinary crime is none other than a McDonalds in Panama, with Love providing a musical soundtrack for Crofchick’s quest while Breeden offers up encouragement and nugget-by-nugget play-by-play.

Along the way, Crofchick goes from “low key hitting a wall” at the 25-nugget mark, to “getting a little nauseous” at 28 nuggets, to “going into the dark stage” at 30 nuggets (“My kneecaps are sweating right now.”). But the man just keeps on eating, and eventually gets to the magic number of 45, during which he delivers the challenge back to his host/tormentor. “My friend, this is a 45th nugget and I did it with ease,” Crofchick brags… if you want to call consuming 45 chicken nuggets a thing to brag about. “I believe I have like 25 minutes left, so you’re going to have to show me something.”

“It’s on you, Joe!” chimes in fellow Banker’s Assistant Love.

And then Breeden steps in to add a little extra sauce, as it were, to the challenge itself. “You have beaten the challenge,” the producer announces to what appears to be a relatively empty McDonalds. “But you have five more left that you are essentially just rubbing in host Joe Mangniello’s face.” Essentially peer pressuring poor Crofchick to hit the nice big round number of 50, Breeden explains, “You’re saying ‘Joe, I see your 45. Here’s five more. What do you have, Mr. Manganiello?’”

Proving he is the true Man of Steel (or at least Stomach of Steel), the willing Crofchick makes it all the way to 50 in a remarkable time of only 35 minutes and three seconds, thereby upping the ante in his challenge back the host. “I’d really like to see what Joe has in him,” he proclaims. “You have to beat 50.” This bold proclamation is followed immediately by a visit to — where else? — the McDonalds bathroom. (“You don’t want to come in here,” he warns.)

So what was Manganiello’s reaction when pressed by an EW investigative journalist as to how he felt about having to now consume 50 chicken nuggets himself in under an hour? “How do I feel about eating a disgusting amount of chicken nuggets?” the host responded. “I mean, we just have to wait for the right moment.”

However, the sweet and sour devotee acknowledges he can only hide for so long. “I know, I know,” he concedes. “I owe Ben the chicken nuggets. I admit it.”

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That admission can’t help but whet Crofchick’s appetite. “I stuck to my word. I got up on a Friday morning and I went and ate an ungodly amount of chicken nuggets,” responds the Banker’s Assistant. “So I would love to see him stay up on his bet and try to beat me.”

For her part, Love thinks the host can set a new bar: “I expect 60, minimum.”

“Yeah, he’s bigger than me,” agrees Crofchick. “That means he has to be able to consume more.”

Either way, it appears that, perhaps for the first time, Joe Manganiello may have made what some might call… a bad deal.