Amy McCoy got a taste of victory after beating Boston Rob Mariano in the Deal or No Deal Island finale.
“It feels really good. I admire Rob. I think a lot of Rob,” McCoy, 42, exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday, May 14, following the season finale of Deal or No Deal Island. “I know on this show we [were] arch enemies and I look like the biggest jerk to America. He’s the hero. But what people don’t understand is [that] this is a game.”
In the season finale, McCoy and Mariano, 48, faced off for the last spot to face the Banker, who ended up being Howie Mandel himself. In the challenge, McCoy quickly solved the puzzle and was the first competitor in the maze. However, she lost her lead after taking too many wrong turns which led Jordan Fowler and Dr. Stephanie Mitchell to finish first.
Mariano earned himself a hefty penalty after he was caught looking at McCoy’s solved puzzle. He was the last one to enter the maze and McCoy was still running by the time he entered.
“Seeing him in the maze and getting down to it and knowing that when it came down to a mental comp, something I feel like I could shine in knowing that I got it first,” she told Us. “He absolutely went and looked at my answer to try to stay in the game.”
While McCoy was “annoyed” at Mariano for looking at her answer, she admitted she took it as a compliment after looking back on it.
“The fact that he had to look at my answer, I was like, ‘Good for you, Amy!’ I was so proud of myself in that moment,” she said. “Rob’s a good guy. I have nothing negative to say. It was an honor to play beside him. He’s literally the GOAT in my opinion. So I was flattered.”
McCoy, who was the shortest female player on the season, also shared that she was even more proud of herself because she spent the most time running around the maze compared to her fellow players.
“I beat him out of the maze, but I also ran the maze three times longer than the other people because I hit every dead end,” she told Us. “I crawled through the low value cases obstacle, then I clouded the high value cases. I ran the whole maze and still came in third out of people coming out. So I was proud of myself. I got some cardio in that day, some unwanted cardio.”
During the finale, it appeared that McCoy and Mariano were neck-and-neck in the maze challenge. However, Mariano told Us that the race “wasn’t as close” as the show made it out to be.
“I think I was just unlocking my case when I heard them celebrating,” Mariano told Us. “So she had already got back just after I had retrieved my case and I was making my way starting back over the hurdles so it wasn’t as close as they made it look, but that’s good TV editing.”
Deal or No Deal Island season 1 is available to stream on Peacock.
