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Meghan Markle quit Deal or No Deal after being ’treated like a bimbo’ and told to ‘suck it in’

In the latest episode of her Spotify podcast, Meghan Markle revealed exactly why she pulled the pin on the popular game show.

Meghan Markle quit Deal or No Deal after being told to ‘suck it in’ (Archetypes)

Meghan Markle revealed she quit Deal or No Deal after being objectified on stage in the latest episode of her Spotify podcast.

The Duchess of Sussex said she was told to “suck it in” by a woman who helped run the US version of the hit game show in 2006, The Sun reported.

The order left her feeling “objectified” and ”not smart”, the duchess told the latest episode of her Archetypes podcast.

Meghan held briefcase number 24 during her time as a model on the US version of Deal or No Deal in 2006 – years before she met Prince Harry.

In her latest Spotify episode – titled Breaking Down ‘The Bimbo’ with Paris Hilton – Meghan said: “The other night I was flipping through the channels on TV.

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In the latest episode of her Spotify podcast, Meghan Markle revealed exactly why she pulled the pin on the popular game show. Picture: Trae Patton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank
In the latest episode of her Spotify podcast, Meghan Markle revealed exactly why she pulled the pin on the popular game show. Picture: Trae Patton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank

“This, by the way, is a rarity when you have two children under the age of four – but I saw an episode of a game show called Deal or No Deal.

“This brought back a lot of memories.

“Back in 2006, I had a short stint as a briefcase girl on the US version of the game show.

“Now my experience on the show – which included holding said briefcase on stage alongside 25 other women doing the same – it was for me, fascinating.

“I had studied acting in college at Northwestern University and, like a lot of the other women standing on stage with me, acting was what I was pursuing.

“So while Deal or No Deal wasn‘t about acting, I was still really grateful as an auditioning actress to have a job.

“That could pay my bills. I had income, I was part of the union, I had health insurance, it was great.

“And yet, I had also studied international relations in college.

“And there were times when I was on set at Deal or No Deal and thinking back to my time working as an intern at the US Embassy in Argentina Buenos Aires and being in the motorcade with the Secretary of Treasury at the time and being valued specifically for my brain.

“Here. I was being valued for something quite the opposite.”

Meghan goes on to 'paint the picture' of what working on the show was like. Credit: NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via
Meghan goes on to 'paint the picture' of what working on the show was like. Credit: NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via

Meghan goes on to “paint the picture” of what working on the show was like.

“All the girls, we would line up,” she said.

“And there were different stations for having your lashes, put on, or your extensions, put in, or the padding in your bra.

“We were even given spray-tan vouchers each week because there was a very cookie-cutter idea, of precisely what we should look like.

“It was solely about our beauty. And not necessarily about brains.

“And when I look back at that time I will never forget this one detail because moments before we‘d get on stage, there was a woman who ran the show and she would be there backstage and I can still hear her.

“She couldn‘t properly pronounce my last name at the time – and I knew who she was talking to because she would go ’Mark-ell, suck. Mark-ell, suck it in.’ I ended up quitting the show.

“Like I said, I was thankful for the job but not for how it made me feel which was not smart.

“And by the way, I was surrounded by smart women on that stage with me, but that wasn‘t the focus of why we were there and I would end up leaving with this pit in my stomach. Knowing that I was so much more than what was being objectified on the stage.”

The Duchess of Sussex said she was told to “suck it in” by a woman who helped run the US version of the hit game show in 2006.
The Duchess of Sussex said she was told to “suck it in” by a woman who helped run the US version of the hit game show in 2006.

Meghan goes on to reveal that she hopes her and Harry’s daughter Lilibet will “aspire slightly higher” than a “bimbo”.

She tells Paris Hilton on the podcast: “I‘d be curious to hear your thoughts on this idea because when I hear the word bimbo, I have a very negative connotation to it.

“I don‘t see that as an aspirational thing for a woman, I want our daughters to aspire to be slightly higher.

“I want my Lili to want to be educated and want to be smart and to pride herself on those things.”

In the latest episode of her Spotify podcast, Meghan Markle revealed exactly why she pulled the pin on the popular game show. Picture: NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal
In the latest episode of her Spotify podcast, Meghan Markle revealed exactly why she pulled the pin on the popular game show. Picture: NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal

In her last podcast, Meghan slammed Hollywood blockbusters for “toxic stereotyping” of Asian women.

She took swipes at Austin Powers – famously a James Bond spoof – and Kill Bill, whose Lucy Liu assassin has been lauded as a powerful female role model.

In her first podcast since the Queen’s death, the Duchess of Sussex, 41, claimed the films promoted the “incredibly dangerous” image of a stereotypical “Dragon Lady” to movie fans.

She said: “Movies like Austin Powers and Kill Bill presented these characters of Asian women as oftentimes over-sexualised or aggressive. And it’s not just those two examples, there’s so many more.”

Meghan added: “The Dragon Lady, the East Asian temptress whose mysterious foreign allure is scripted as both tantalising and deadly. This has seeped into a lot of our entertainment.

“But this toxic stereotyping of women of Asian descent, it doesn’t just end once the credits roll.”

This article originally appeared in The Sun and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as Meghan Markle quit Deal or No Deal after being ’treated like a bimbo’ and told to ‘suck it in’

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