Meghan's Co-Star 'Never Felt Disrespected' on 'Deal' Amid Bimbo Comments

Meghan Markle's former Deal or No Deal co-star has spoken out in defense of the show, after the Duchess of Sussex spoke of feeling "objectified" while serving as one of its briefcase girls.

Back in 2006, while in the early stages of her acting career, Meghan joined the game show as one of the several glamorous women who stood by and opened briefcases for contestants hoping to guess their way into riches.

However, during a recent episode of her Archetypes podcast—titled "Breaking Down the Bimbo"—Meghan, 41, shared less than glowing memories of her single season on the NBC show, saying: "I ended up quitting the show. Like I said, I was thankful for the job but not for how it made me feel which was not smart."

The former Suits star went on to state that she felt she was being "objectified on the stage. I didn't like feeling forced to be all looks and little substance. And that's how it felt for me at the time being reduced to this specific archetype."

Meghan then cut into a clip of Clare Malone, a staff writer at The New Yorker, saying "the word bimbo" is used to "cut down a beautiful woman."

"Mixed Feelings"

Reacting to Meghan's recollection of her time on the Howie Mandel-hosted NBC show, former Deal model Tameka Jacobs told Newsweek that she has "mixed feelings" about her erstwhile co-star's take.

"We are attractive women, but I can't even say we were treated as though we were unintelligent," Jacobs said. "It's such mixed feelings for me, because at the end of the day, they weren't hiring us for our brains. And we knew that in the beginning.

"Were we objectified? Yes. But that was literally our job. Like, we were hired based off of our looks. I never felt disrespected by it."

Elsewhere in her podcast, Meghan said: "There were times when I was on set at Deal or No Deal and thinking back to my time working as an intern at the U.S. Embassy in Argentina, Buenos Aires, and being in the motorcade with the secretary of treasury at the time and being valued specifically for my brain.

"Here, I was being valued for something quite the opposite. I mean, you have to imagine just to paint the picture for you that before the tapings of the show, all the girls, we would line up.

"And there were different stations for having your lashes put on, or your extensions put in, or the padding in your bra. We were even given spray-tan vouchers each week because there was a very cookie-cutter idea, of precisely what we should look like. It was solely about beauty and not necessarily about brains."

Jacobs, 42, who has worked as a photographer for more than 15 years, did share the same recollection of the models having their bras regularly stuffed on the Los Angeles set before shows, as well as being handed spray tan vouchers.

"But again, they hired us because of our looks," she told Newsweek. "If they were looking for women's rights activists, [Meghan] would have gotten the job. And the fact that she's beautiful, yeah, that's why you got the job! Yeah, you're smart. Like she said, everyone [on Deal] was smart...

"She feels like she was reduced [to her looks]. I feel like we were admired. And then where does that perspective come from? I don't feel at all I got treated [badly], and I didn't feel like a bimbo. Come on, man, it's a frickin' game show!"

"Super Smart" Models

Describing a number of her fellow models as "super smart"—with some being members of high-IQ society Mensa—Jacobs added that the models needed to be quick-witted, as they often spoke on behalf of the show. "They're not hiring me to get tax advice," she added. "We're all very smart. They know that we're all very smart."

While Meghan would go on to find fame as Rachel Zane on the hit legal drama Suits—before becoming a global household name via her marriage to Prince Harry—Jacobs said that Deal was a "great stepping stone" that had significantly contributed to the life the duchess enjoys today.

"That show paid for so many girls to complete their education, to complete their training, to complete their theatre training, or whatever," Jacobs said. "I think [Meghan] is definitely dying to separate herself. She has hated being on the show her whole life. She has been trying to distance herself from the show since day one. But in reality, how was she going to be paying her rent before she booked Suits?"

"We're all very grateful. And I don't think that what she said was malicious or intended to hurt any of us or to hurt Howie or to hurt the show," Jacobs continued of Meghan. "In the general all around scheme of things, that's Hollywood.

"Do you think she got booked on Suits because she was smart? Sorry, I know I'm being cheeky, but it's true. There wasn't one ugly person on that show. They were all good looking. That's why they all booked it. This time you just get to speak. That's all. It's the nature of Hollywood."

She added that the trajectory of many of the Deal models was that they "either made it in entertainment or married well," often settling down with athletes. Meghan's run on Suits ended after her November 2017 engagement to Harry.

Jacobs said that she was far from surprised when she learned that Meghan was marrying into royalty, describing her former co-worker as "driven. She knew what she wanted. She knew what she wanted to be. And she wasn't dating knuckleheads."

"Always Very Focused"

So driven was Meghan, Jacobs told Newsweek, that she used much of her time on the show to learn scripts as part of her ambition to move on to what she saw as bigger and better.

"She wanted to study, she wanted to book the next job," Jacobs recalled. "And she was just always very focused. And nothing is wrong with any of that at all. It's like, people always ask me and I don't have a bad thing to say about her. She doesn't swear, she never got drunk. I've never seen her be mean or cruel to anyone. She was always very polite, always well spoken and just very driven.

"You know, that was it. Deal or No Deal was a stepping stone. She knew where she wanted to go, had her path, and wanted to get there."

That same ambition, Jacobs explained, is likely what led to Meghan stepping down from her role as a senior member of the royal family to return to her native California, where she and Harry are raising their two children.

"I feel like she brought too much change too fast and it wasn't accepted," Jacobs said. "People were probably thinking, 'These dang Californians, with their liberalness and women's rights!'

"People feel like they have to give you permission, like, 'Well, you can't be confident, you can't do this... You're supposed to be demure, you're supposed to be like Kate [Middleton].' ... I agreed with them when they left. It's no way to live."

While Meghan has left Deal—which ran between 2005 and 2019—firmly in the rear-view mirror, Jacobs' memories are so fond that she would happily return to the ranks if a reboot of the show ever became a reality.

"I wish the show would come back," she said. "At the end of the day, we had so much fun. One hundred percent, I would go back. The pay was great. We laughed a lot. We had the best time.

"I came from the foster care system. I remember going to the producer and thanking him, because it was my first time I was able to afford a real vacation. Like, it was my first time where I was like, 'I'm gonna go to Mexico.'

"I'd never been able to do anything like that for myself in my life. We were super fortunate to have that show. And I would go back in a heartbeat. It was like a big family. Some of us didn't get along. Some of us did. I was in two weddings that came out of that show. So I have lifelong friends from the show. I honestly don't know what would have happened if I didn't book Deal."