What did Howie Mandel say about Meghan Markle? Former Deal or No Deal host supports Duchess of Sussex amid backlash

Popular comedian Howie Mandel has stepped up to defend and support Meghan Markle amid her Deal or No Deal backlash. Howie, who hosted the show for four seasons, defended the Duchess of Sussex and said that she wasn’t bashing the show, only expressing how it made her feel. He also exclaimed how he did not understand how Meghan was slammed for saying that she was reduced to a “bimbo” on the show Deal or No Deal.

Howie Mandel said:

“I’ve never really heard anybody complain, and I don’t think Meghan is complaining. I think Meghan just said she wanted to do more. It wasn’t fulfilling for her. So I don’t know why there is a big hoopla, except I have to say that me standing there with 26 women staring at me made me feel like a bimbo.”

Madel also said that he knows the feeling well but has never spoken out loud about it. He said:

“I was in the centre, just dressed up in a suit, and I felt like I am more than this. And they would just look at me, and I had to do nothing.”

All of this came soon after Meghan Markle discussed in her Archetypes podcast what it was like being one of the “briefcase girls” in the NBC game show.

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“This negative backlash is extremely disappointing to Meghan”: A source reveals how the backlash has hit Meghan Markle

In an Archetypes episode, Meghan Markle talked about being a briefcase girl in Deal or No Deal. She said:

“I ended up quitting the show. I was so much more than what was being objectified on the stage. I didn't like feeling forced to be all looks. And little substance. And that's how it felt for me at the time, being reduced to this specific archetype, the word bimbo.”

However, her comments about the same did not go down well with the internet. After being targeted by netizens, a source close to Meghan Markle spoke to US Magazine and revealed that the negative comments have been extremely disappointing for Markle. The source also said:

“This negative backlash is extremely disappointing to Meghan, but she’s learned a long time ago not to get too cut up or demotivated by those who wish to dwell in negativity, especially over something so trivial as a job she left many years ago. She knows that there are certain critics who will go to great lengths to stir the pot and call her out as a hypocrite in any way possible.”

Following Meghan Markle's controversial comments, several former employees from the show also spoke up against her claims. At the same time, Whoopi Goldberg also spoke out and rejected Meghan’s claims and said that it was just a part of show business. Whoopi also said that people who are in the game show might just be thinking about the money in the suitcase, and not the woman who has it.

Meghan Markle also spilled some beans about how she felt that the show was entirely about their beauties. She said:

“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.”

Howie Mendel added that he was only there to tell the women “to open up cases.”

“I get it. I felt like nothing. And that’s why I’ve moved on and become a judge on America’s Got Talent. I just needed more than to be a Deal or No Deal host.”

Deal or No Deal first aired in 2005 on NBC. The last season of the show, season 5, aired on CNBC in December 2018. The show aired its final episode in August 2019.