Man who won biggest TV prize in US history still hasn’t got it 7 months later
What is taking so long?!
David Genat made history by winning the most money ever given away on network TV in the US – but he still hasn’t received his jackpot yet.
The Survivor star totally stole the show when he took part on season two of Peacock’s Deal or No Deal Island, and won the competition on Tuesday night’s finale, taking home a whopping $5.8million.
The gameshow follows contestants as they are transported to paradise in the hopes of winning a fortune, with different sums of money hidden around the island – they then complete challenges to secure briefcases, which are then used in nightly Deal or No Deal games.
In gripping scenes filmed last August, the 45-year-old was down to his last two cases, containing either $75 or the $12.2m grand prize, when he was offered a total of $5.8m from banker Chrissy Teigen.
He accepted the offer which proved to be the right move as his own case only had $75 inside, meaning he almost lost out on an eye-watering sum.
However, despite filming ending last summer, David shared that he has yet to get his winnings – but he has ‘already started spending it’.
Detailing his plans for the money in a new interview, he told Entertainment Weekly: ‘It’s not in the account just yet.
‘I remember just after everything happened, someone came and shoved a contract in my face and they were like, “So you need to sign this to facilitate getting the money.” And I was like, “Okay, let me just have a little read here.”
‘At the top it was like, “We such and such declare we will sign over the value of $5.8 million to the assigned.” And I was signing my name on that line. It was heavy.’
While we would be sending hourly requests for a bank transfer, David explained that he hasn’t even ‘asked that question yet’ of when he can expect the $5million to hit his account.
David accepted an offer worth more than $5million (Picture: NBC)He also told the outlet that his plan, if he didn’t accept the deal, was to actually switch cases at the final moment, meaning he could have walked away with more than double his money.
Although he missed out on taking home a briefcase containing more than $12million, the contestant was much happier with what he ended up with – when he gets it, that is.
‘I wanted to do something that had never been done before. I wanted to accomplish something that had never been done,’ he continued. ‘And at 5.8, I do that. I leave a little bit of room for someone else to maybe do something bigger in the game.
‘Also at 5.8, I’m still motivated to do something. At 12.2. I’m like, check me out, I’m done. I’m not good to society anymore. That’s just too much money for me. I can’t handle it.
Joe opened up about the future of the show after David’s big win (Picture: NBC)‘So I have thought about it obviously, but I just feel like it’s just such a great amount of money. And if I’m smart, then I can turn 5.8 to 12.2.’
Game show icons will be beside themselves at the prospect of beating David’s win next season, but host Joe Manganiello shared that the finale actually presented everyone involved with a ‘future challenge’ for the upcoming episodes.
He told Deadline: ‘What’s going to happen next season? How are we going to top that? This season finale is so unbelievable. The person who wins winds up breaking the all-time television game show record for money won.
‘What actually had to happen in order for that to go down is … I mean, people are going to be talking about it. It’s unbelievable.’
Deal or No Deal Island is available to stream on Peacock.
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