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As we all well know, before Meghan Sussex (née Markle) became the Duchess of Sussex, she was an actress and a model. And one of her first—most talked about—gigs was as a briefcase model on the iconic all-American game show Deal or No Deal.
Coincidentally, briefcase modeling on the show is also how Chrissy Teigen got her start, and the two friends had quite a laugh recalling that time in their lives during Season 2 episode of With Love, Meghan, which dropped this morning.
“I remember when I used to audition [in Hollywood’ I’d get so nervous—I’d always get blotchy on my chest. I just started auditioning in turtlenecks only—I was like: Nothing to see here!” the Suits alum said as she kicked off the episode, remembering her life as an actress.
She added, as she waited for her star guest, “I’m so excited that I get to see Chrissy again. I haven’t seen her in almost 20 years. I reached out and we reconnected just a couple years ago.”
Deal or No Deal briefcase models were in charge of simply holding up numbered briefcases, each containing a different cash amount, while looking great in slinky little dresses, tall heels, and big smiles. Meghan was No. 24. Teigen was No. 12.
Teigen was a briefcase model on the original Deal or No Deal in 2005 and 2006, during the show’s pilot and first season. She also appeared in a different role in Season 2. Meghan overlapped with Teigen, as she was on the show in 2006 and 2007, appearing in 34 episodes.
“I was thinking about how many moons ago we crossed paths. That was a past life—that was good old Deal or No Deal,” Meghan told Teigen as they reunited.
“I feel like our lives have had so many chapters and that one being a really important, really funny one. I remember basically being a backup girl—the alternate!” Teigen said.
“I remember having to stand in line to get our lashes on all in a row,” Meghan recalled.
“I do remember coming off stage one day and they held like a Ziploc bag open and we all took our eyelashes off and put it in there—I was like, are these for… tomorrow? What a time, though,” Teigen added.
“I was just so happy to have health insurance!” Meghan noted. “I left that show and then a year or so later you got famous! I was like, Oh my god she’s on the cover of Sports Illustrated! How far we’ve come—how’s that for memory lane?”
The duchess shared a similar sentiment about her Deal or No Deal gig during an episode of her podcast Archetypes in 2022. She admitted at the time: “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.”
This year, Teigen actually returned to the game show franchise as the banker for Deal or No Deal Island.
Why not?
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