Claudia Jordan reacts to being called a 'f---er' on “Deal or No Deal Island”

"She called me a f---er. I called her a bitch."

Claudia Jordan flipped the script when she showed up on NBC’s Deal or No Deal Island. A former briefcase model on the first four seasons of Deal or No Deal, Jordan returned to the franchise, but this time as a contestant. Unfortunately, her knowledge of the game did not help her escape her first encounter with the Banker.

Claudia took a massive risk when she stopped Stephanie Mitchell from using her Steal to swap briefcases with Boston Rob Mariano, who had the highest value case. Instead, Claudia told Stephanie to take hers. That meant Claudia put herself in danger of facing of the Banker, and Boston Rob indeed sent her into that battle.

Eventually, Claudia took a statistically sound deal with three cases left, even though her gut was telling her it was the wrong move. She should have listened. Claudia indeed had the $500,000 case, far more than the offer — meaning she had accepted a “bad deal” and was thereby eliminated.

Why did Claudia put herself in the line of fire? Why were she and contestant Kim Mattina going at each other so hard? And whom would she have eliminated had she bested the Banker? We asked the former Real Housewife of Atlanta all that and more.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: They kept bleeping it out, so what was it that Kim called you and Rob?

CLAUDIA JORDAN: She kept calling us f---ers and motherf---kers. And I'm like: Okay, that's not the worst thing. Because like I said in the show, “Okay, she called me a f---er. I called her a bitch.” It wasn't that big of a deal. I mean, it was rude, but honestly at that point we were just sick of her and that was a reason to kind of get in her ass a little bit and just address her. But honestly, I'm a tough cookie. I'm not going to be devastated that this old lady called me the F word. There's other words that would've gotten her more smoked she could have called me.

 Where did this beef between the two of you start?

I didn't like how she went out to Jamil. Jamil was so nice and he was so good for the morale of the cast. He was cool to everybody, and the way she put a target on his back and said he was sneaky when she was the sneaky one.

I shared her tent with her, so I would see some of her little sneaky ways. You ever see that movie Saw? The little puppet that rides around on a tricycle? That's how she was at night. She would leave the room and she would ride around and she would go into people's tents and she would be eavesdropping in their tents. And I was like, “Girl, you don't got to win the game by being like that.” That's very creepy and an invasion of privacy.

She would do that. And when I first started out, I'm like: I can't get down with this. And just seeing how rude she was, sometimes I didn't like it. She would kind of go off on production sometimes about things I thought was really rude, and I just didn't like her arrogance. I'm like: Why are you so arrogant? I'm not arrogant. Why are you arrogant?

So yeah, that's what the beef was, and basically I just call it like I see it. I felt like I clocked it from the beginning that she was very manipulative. I really did.

What was your take on Rob out there, and now watching it back — like when he referred to himself as the general and you as one of his soldiers.

Rob, knock it off. I was not one of your soldiers. I was an ally. Don't disrespect your ally. I had your back. I actually saved you. And if it wasn't for what I did, you would've been gone. Well, you could have been gone. So I thought that was a little bit of arrogance, but okay, you're giving me good TV. I'm going to give you a pass on that, Rob.

I'm not intimidated by him. I actually like successful people. I like being around people that have done well in this world. I think I could learn more about reality through him. I get he's playing a game and I wasn't familiar with his work. People in my comments are like, “You didn't know how Boston Rob is” and “You shouldn't have been loyal to anyone. And especially him.”

I'm like: No, I feel good about how I carry myself. I like the guy. Even if he said his little soldier and general comment, I still like him. I really do. I respect him. I feel like he's good at what he does. And to be good at what you do in these kind of situations, you kind of have to be a little bit selfish. And that's something that I struggle with, and I wish I could actually learn to be a little bit more selfish sometimes. I'm too much of a team player, actually.

Well, that leads me to ask: Why put yourself in harm’s way by telling Stephanie to take your case instead of Rob's?

I felt like Stephanie was exposing. The more she kept talking, I was just trying to get her to shut up. The more she kept talking, the more she was exposing that Alyssa was in on the plan and all the people that knew about it. And I felt like she was putting people in harm's way by doing that. The more she talked, the more she put a battery in Kim's back to be vindictive.

I was being protective of Alyssa and some of the others. So I was like, “Girl, take my case if that makes you shut up and stop going after Rob.” And plus, I gave my word. If I give my word that I'm down with something, then I'm going to be down with something. Unlike Stephanie, because Stephanie was part of the plan. She and Alyssa came to me in the tent and told me what their plan was. The plan wasn't just Alyssa, Stephanie was 100 percent on board.

So for her to go into the challenge and then sabotage on the spot, I'm like: What kind of person are you? You really just did this. You sat there, looked us all in the eye and said, “Let's do it.” Then when it's your turn to stick with a plan, you totally throw everybody under the bus. I told her, “You're going to have a target on your back after this. It's not going to be good for you."

So why did she do it?

I don't know, temporarily insane? Because first of all, when she got up in that harness and the fake tears — I call out fake tears all the time — she was being overly dramatic. She's a player, she's an athletic girl. Girl, stop. I recognize bad acting when I see it because I've done it. I've been in some very low budget movies. I understand bad acting. I've been there, done that, girlfriend. I see you. What are you doing? So I guess I was trying to protect the plan and other people.

If I did nothing, Rob and Aron would've been the bottom two and they could have worried about it. But there's something about taking control of your own destiny. Like: Okay, I'll put myself in. I even went to Rob and said, “Put me in the game, not Aron.” It wasn't that he was going to protect Aaron. No, I told him, "I'm going to play and don't worry about it." And he was like, “Do what you got to do to keep yourself in.” I go, “No, I'm going to build a pot and then I'm out of here.”

He was like, “No, no, no, no, no. Don't even worry about the deal.” He was saying not to prioritize the money in the pot to save myself. And I was like, “No, I'm going to build a pot up and I'm going to go out on top for what feels good to me. I'm kind of sticking y'all right now and I can leave and be totally fine with this.” I'm like: Damn, we backstabbing on challenge three already? I just felt like it was a little too early in the game to be kind of that grimy.

Lets talk about facing off against the Banker. It seemed like your gut was telling you that you had the $500,000 case, but the odds were telling you to take the deal since you had a 66 percent chance of being right and staying. What was your reaction when you saw that half a million number come up?

There's a constant battle with humans, right? Your gut versus your brain, logic versus feeling. And it just shows you that your gut is what you should probably try to go with more than your brain. I just had a bunch of different things going through my head, but I am glad that my gut is still intact. I just got to tell my mind to just shut up sometimes and let the gut take over because the gut was right.

It's very emotional and the stakes are high. If you looked at my face the whole game. I looked kind of like I was almost a little defeated. And that was not really about the game. It was really about my disappointment in humans. I thought some of our conversations meant something. I thought you said what you meant and meant what you said, Stephanie, and to see you blow up the spotlight like that?

That's something that as an empath that I struggle with in this world —thinking people are really better people than they really are and that they would never do that. That they would have integrity. It doesn't matter whether it's a game show or a coworker — there's a lot of people that just don't really care about their word being their bond. And I do. Call me old school, but I'll always care about that. I'll always care about what y'all think about me — like, “Hey, man, she got out, but she didn't do it in a dirty way.” And I think I get rewarded in my real life because of that.

So had you beaten the Banker, whom would you have eliminated?

Stephanie. People would've thought it was Kim, but we can get Kim next week or the week after. I feel like Kim's always going to be struggling. She does well with the mind games, but as far as the physical things, there'll probably be more opportunities to get Kim out because Stephanie's actually really a good competitor physically. So I figured I would've surprised everyone. I was going to blow up the spot on her and then we'll worry about Kim another time.

Finally, what did it feel like to be opening a briefcase again?

I felt really good and nostalgic, and I really have fine memories of Deal or No Deal. I was like: Oh, your girl still got it! Both of the Banker models were really great. After Deal or No Deal, my career really took off, so I'll always be grateful for my time on NBC. So thank you, NBC. I really appreciate this more than y'all ever know.

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Related content:

• Boston Rob reveals if he would return to Survivor or do The Traitors

• Boston Rob explains why he will thrive on Deal or No Deal Island

• Deal or No Deal Island cast to include Boston Rob and Claudia Jordan

• Joe Manganiello to host Deal or No Deal Island

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.