Deal or No Deal Island’s La Shell Says CK Would Not Be Viewed as a Villain If She Were a Man (Exclusive)

Even on a cast with reality TV legends, few have had a bigger target on their back throughout Deal or No Deal Island season 2 than Courtney “CK” Kim.

With her outspoken nature and a notorious cheating incident during one of the excursions, CK, 36, quickly became one of the season’s villains.

La Shell Wooten, who was eliminated in the episode that aired Tuesday, February 25, saw her differently. La Shell, 55, placed seventh on season 2 and told Us Weekly exclusively that she thinks CK’s villain title is only there because she is a woman.

“I do think that if CK was a man, they wouldn’t look at her the way that they do,” she said. “People seem to have it out for her, and they see her as a villain, but if she was Dr. Will [Kirby], or if she was David [Genat] playing the game that she played, she’d be seen as smart and strategic.”

La Shell added, “She’s small, she’s unassuming, and I just think that people didn’t expect her to play the kind of game she played, and it kind of threw them off.”

La Shell and CK worked together on the island, even facing the banker in one episode as a team.

With only six players remaining and the target shifting to breaking up “the family” alliance of David, Dickson Wong and Parvati Shallow, CK stands a real shot at making it to the end. Parvati and David are both competitive reality veterans, but La Shell sees CK in a similar light.

“CK is a very strategic and very passionate person. She also will manipulate what she needs to to get the results she needs,” La Shell explained. “She’s a poker player. She brought all those skills to the island, and so what I’ve learned about her is [that] strategy is important to her, getting to the finish line is important to her, and she will do it almost at any cost.”

It’s a far more forgiving view of CK than how eighth-place finisher Seychelle Cordero saw her. CK was responsible for Seychelle’s exit and, in a conversation with Us, unloaded on her reality rival for her cheating incident. It happened during an excursion when she was caught peeking into a bag containing chips with players’ names on them. She was supposed to be drawing blindly.

“It really just speaks volumes on how much of a loser she is,” she said. “I just feel like, bitch, you look f—ing doofy and everyone’s pointing and laughing.’”

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