David Genat Says ‘Survivor’ Challenges Are ‘Easy’ Compared to ‘Deal or No Deal Island’ (Exclusive)

David Genat is a former Survivor Australia winner widely regarded as one of the best to ever play the game.

But his experience on Deal or No Deal Island has tested him in a way Survivor did not.

Speaking to Us Weekly exclusively at the halfway point of Deal or No Deal Island season 2, David, 44, explained that the challenges he faced on the NBC reality show require far more strategy than he was used to.

“Survivor challenges are so easy, so linear,” David said. “It’s Point A, Point B. I think that Deal does a really great job of leveling that playing field because you have to use your brain in every challenge.”

Though Survivor challenges often include puzzles or some kind of logical element, the challenges on Deal or No Deal Island require players to play the game within the game.

David used the challenge in the most recent episode, which aired Tuesday night, February 11, as an example. Contestants were asked to jump off a ledge and grab a ring. The ring corresponded to a high, medium, or low value case that would be played later in the episode, with the difficulty of the jump increasing accordingly.

Players who earned the high-value cases were safe, while those who earned the low-value cases were at risk of elimination. Here’s the twist: Contestants were not jumping for cases for themselves — they were able to choose another player to give the case to, forcing each player to reveal their loyalties.

“So there is a physical component, even what we see with the rings, you have to be able to jump. You have to be able to grab a ring, so there’s some coordination involved,” David explained. “But the strategy of what you’re getting is major, and that’s what I think makes the game so interesting. The challenges are so strategically based and every single one has a strategy to it.”

Parvati Shallow, also a former Survivor winner, used her jump to secure safety for her nemesis, Dr. Will Kirby. Though it meant Dr. Will was safe, it also meant he could not face the banker and eliminate someone in her alliance.

“I thought that was fantastic strategy,” David said. “We were talking a lot through the challenge about how we were going to work it, and she came up with that idea of me jumping for Phillip [Solomon] to leverage [Alexis] Lete, and then was like, ‘and I think I’ll jump for Will.’ She’s just on another level when it comes to strategic gameplay. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Deal or No Deal Island airs on NBC on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. and is available to stream on Peacock the next day.