Two-time World Series of Poker Circuit ring winner Courtney Kim will join the cast for the second season of NBC's Deal or No Deal Island, likely to premiere in the first part of 2025.
Kim will battle on the show against 13 other players, including some heavy hitters from the reality game show scene like Survivor winners Parvati Shallow and David Ganat, along with Big Brother season 2 winner Will Kirby. They'll compete in challenges under the watchful eye of host Joe Manganiello to earn briefcases that are used in an elimination-style game of "Deal or No Deal" at the end of each episode.
The reality competition show was recently renewed for a second season after a successful inaugural outing that featured Survivor winner and poker hobbyist "Boston Rob" Mariano. The first season of the elimination-based spin on the popular game show also featured Brantzen "BrantzenPoker" Wong, though not for very long.
'Serendipitous' post-WSOP airport encounter
"I got recruited because they thought I was a poker player," Kim told Entertainment Weekly. "I am a poker player, but it is not my profession. I believe they thought it was, so when I told them I was a banker, it only got them more excited because then they thought banker versus Banker! I did well in the interviews, but honestly, I still decided not to do it because I have a career and a family and I know what can happen in reality TV and how things can be spun and it's just not a spotlight or a career path that I ever wanted to be a part of."
Kim later thought better of it after a chance encounter with Boston Rob at an airport after the WSOP.
"But when I was flying back from the World Series of Poker three days before I had to make my decision, Boston Rob is flying up to Vegas Poker and I saw him in the airport. I went up and introduced myself to him and I just thought it was a sign. It felt a little serendipitous. So I said, 'All right, maybe I'll follow this sign and I'll do it.' And that's what ultimately made me do it."
Huge year for "CK"
Kim, who hails from Charlotte, North Carolina, won her first WSOP ring in February in the Womens event at the first Cherokee stop of the year. She beat a field of 247 entries that smashed the $10K guarantee to win $11,155 from a $250 buy-in. It was her first recorded cash on The Hendon Mob.
A few months later, Kim went to the WSOPC stop just outside of Chicago and finished eighth in a $400 ring event before she took down her second Womens event ring (seen below) for $7,961.
Kim will try to leverage her career as a banker and her experience as a poker player in a game that will require skills from both to claim a share of over $200 million in briefcases hidden throughout the island. Stay tuned to PokerOrg for updates on Kim's island adventure and check out the first season of Deal or No Deal Island now streaming on Peacock.
