Deal or No Deal Island’s Luke Says Sydnee ‘Irritated the Cast’

In just one episode, Luke Olejniczak established himself as a historic Deal or No Deal Island player, albeit for all the wrong reasons. Fortunately for reality TV fans, he’s not the only season 2 cast member who may go down in DONDI infamy.

Luke, 29, the first player eliminated in season 2, made waves for his questionable decision-making, which culminated in him banking only $1 for the game’s final case in a disastrous round of Deal or No Deal at the end of the episode.

Luke spoke to Us Weekly exclusively about his game and castmates, who will continue on for what could be a multi-million-dollar payday. That roster includes Sydnee Peck, whose assertive gameplay and open flirting with castmate and Survivor Australia legend David Genat rubbed other players the wrong way.

“She’s not as toxic as she appeared on the TV, seriously,” Luke insisted. “But she definitely overestimated her skill set and it was shown and it irritated the cast.”

Sydnee’s brash approach to the game was brought up throughout the episode, culminating during Luke’s game of Deal or No Deal, when she both offered unsolicited advice and ordered other players not to do the same. She also told host Joe Manganiello, in front of everyone, that she considered herself to be her team’s leader.

Even though the episode showed other players talking about Sydnee, 27, behind her back, Luke said there was more to her than what was shown and that the cameras could not pick up “every little thing.”

“There were also some great qualities about Sydnee that weren’t shown on camera,” he said, adding that the premiere would have needed to be six hours long to tell her story in full detail.

Luke also revealed his plan if he had made a “good” deal at the end of the episode and stayed in the game. He would have had to choose between David and Seychelle Cordero to eliminate and while David, an obvious physical and strategic threat, would have been the obvious candidate, he would have instead cut Seychelle.

“Seychelle claims not to be a threat, but she could be crafty,” Luke explained. “At the end of the day, I looked for something that was familiar to me, and David seemed like he could be a trustworthy guy. I like working with people that are like-minded. I didn’t trust Seychelle nearly as much, so I felt, ‘Hey, let’s roll with David.’”

Instead, David and Seychelle lived to fight another day, and they’ll soon have a new player to contend with. In episode 2, Big Brother 2 winner Dr. Will Kirby will join the game in a twist that will introduce another outspoken and aggressive player to the island.

Deal or No Deal Island airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC and streams the next day on Peacock.