‘Deal Or No Deal Island' Champ On ‘Incredible' $5.8 Million Record Win, And Why He ‘Related' To Ne...

Welcome to Reality Derby , our weekly deep dive into all things reality TV, hosted by Gold Derby senior editors Marcus James Dixon and Denton Davidson.

Joining us this week is David Genat , the winner of Deal or No Deal Island Season 2, who set a new game-show record for American television by winning $5.8 million during the March 25 finale. The self-proclaimed ⁘Golden God⁘ was already well-known to fans of Australian Survivor , having won All Stars and played on Champions v Contenders , before he joined up with the NBC competition. Watch our video interview above.

'I go out to win!' Parvati Shallow admits she would've cut her 'Deal or No Deal Island' family members, teases her 'Survivor' future

'The Voice' Season 27 Episode 8 recap: Michael and Kelsea close out 'Battles' round with final steals

'American Idol' recap: Carrie Underwood brought to tears by 19-year-old's heart-wrenching audition

⁘It's incredible,⁘ David says about his history-making performance. ⁘When I started this journey of doing reality shows and you're playing for big money, I never dreamed that I would play for this amount of money and get a chance to win this amount of money. It's so far beyond the scope of what I envisage to myself. So it's been really, really intense.⁘

David admits he was ⁘calm⁘ during the final temple when he played for millions of dollars. ⁘I was having a very spiritual experience out there,⁘ he recalls. ⁘I was feeling really connected to my dad, who passed a few years prior, and to God, and I just felt very spiritually driven when all that was happening. And I actually knew where that $12.2 [million case] was. I felt like I knew [briefcase] seven had the money in it. So I had made peace with the fact I was going to accept $5.8 [million], and I was thinking through all these different scenarios and how I would like this to go and want it to happen.⁘

Read more: Found here