Meghan Markle felt reduced to a 'bimbo' on 'Deal or No Deal'

Duchess of Sussex worked on the popular show before she met Prince Harry

The National

October 19, 2022

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Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, said her experience on the US television series Deal or No Deal left her feeling objectified and reduced to the “bimbo” stereotype.

On her Archetypes podcast, Meghan spoke to comedian Iliza Shlesinger and former reality star Paris Hilton about breaking down “dumb blonde” labels. The duchess said she felt reduced to that label during her time as a “briefcase girl” on the programme.

“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 US embassy in Argentina, in Buenos Aires … and being in the motorcade with the secretary of treasury at the time and being valued specifically for my brain,” Meghan said.

“Here I was being valued for something quite the opposite.”

Deal or No Deal, an American game show, featured 26 female models, each holding a suitcase that contained money ranging from $0.01 to $1 million. Contestants would then tell host Howie Mandel which suitcase they want to be opened. The show ended in 2019.

She opened briefcases for the show in 2006. As a “briefcase girl”, she would walk up and down a staircase and wait for contestants to call on her suitcase number.

Meghan said she came across an old episode of the show recently and recalled how other suitcase models had to put on fake eyelashes and hair extensions. She also said the models were given vouchers to receive spray tans.

“We tell a woman to be one way then we ridicule her for following suit,” she said.

“That’s exactly why archetypes ― including the bimbo or the dumb blonde ― this is why they flourished in the reality TV boom of the early 2000s.

“There was a very cookie-cutter idea of precisely what we should look like.”

Meghan eventually quit the show before meeting future husband Prince Harry.

“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,” she said.

“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.”

Prince Harry and Meghan Duchess of Sussex through the years — in pictures

Juvenile arthritis

Along with doctors, families and teachers can help pick up cases of arthritis in children.
Most types of childhood arthritis are known as juvenile idiopathic arthritis. JIA causes pain and inflammation in one or more joints for at least six weeks.
Dr Betina Rogalski said "The younger the child the more difficult it into pick up the symptoms. If the child is small, it may just be a bit grumpy or pull its leg a way or not feel like walking,” she said.
According to The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases in US, the most common symptoms of juvenile arthritis are joint swelling, pain, and stiffness that doesn’t go away. Usually it affects the knees, hands, and feet, and it’s worse in the morning or after a nap.
Limping in the morning because of a stiff knee, excessive clumsiness, having a high fever and skin rash are other symptoms. Children may also have swelling in lymph nodes in the neck and other parts of the body.
Arthritis in children can cause eye inflammation and growth problems and can cause bones and joints to grow unevenly.
In the UK, about 15,000 children and young people are affected by arthritis.

The specs

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India squads

Test squad against Afghanistan: Rahane (c), Dhawan, Vijay, Rahul, Pujara, Karun, Saha, Ashwin, Jadeja, Kuldeep, Umesh, Shami, Pandya, Ishant, Thakur.

T20 squad against Ireland and England: Kohli (c), Dhawan, Rohit, Rahul, Raina, Pandey, Dhoni, Karthik, Chahal, Kuldeep, Sundar, Bhuvneshwar, Bumrah, Pandya, Kaul, Umesh.

ODI squad against England: Kohli (c), Dhawan, Rohit, Rahul, Shreyas, Rayudu, Dhoni, Karthik, Chahal, Kuldeep, Sundar, Bhuvneshwar, Bumrah, Pandya, Kaul, Umesh

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