With a strong social game as her central strategy, La Shell Wooten was making her way through the Banker’s Private Island with the greatest of ease. But never let your guard down because this Banker, she always has a twist up her sleeve. La Shell’s journey on Deal or No Deal Island Season 2 was one of coasting and playing her own game. A strategy that was working quite well. But when fear got the best of her, the game got her back.
Former alum and host of the Deal or No Deal Island After Show, Boston Rob Mariano, picked La Shell as his winner pick for the season. That’s a pretty big honor right there! His prediction could have come to fruition, but alas. Using an “anybody but me” style strategy, La Shell’s social game was one of the best of the season. “I really didn’t focus on pushing people in front of me as a shield, more so than making sure that anyone who had the option to take people out, were not interested in me,” she revealed.
La Shell Accidentally Applied for ‘Deal Or No Deal Island’

COLLIDER: She’s the queen of calm, but she ain’t your auntie. It’s La Shell! Okay, so I relate to you because I was always New York City-based, and I recently came to the Triangle. So you and I, we get each other.
LA SHELL WOOTEN: We took the “Y” out of NYC?
COLLIDER: Uh huh, there it is. All right. Let’s start simple. If you could describe your experience in three words, what would they be?
LA SHELL: Fun, scary and an opportunity of a lifetime.
COLLIDER: I love that. What was it like being out there on the beautiful Banker’s Private Island?
LA SHELL: Oh, it’s lovely. I mean, it was luxury at its best. The price you had to pay to be there was to kind of fling your body around in the jungle and in the ocean. So, I mean, for some it’s a small price to pay. Other times, it felt like a really hefty tariff to have to cover just to be there.
COLLIDER: What inspired you to go out on this adventure and join Deal or No Deal Island?
LA SHELL: I had zero inspiration. I literally looked at the application online because I saw it advertised on Season 1, and I was like, I just wanted to see what the questions were like. And so, you know, the way the thing is set up, it’s like, you answer a question, it says, next, next, next. So I did that just to check it out. And one of the next said, “Thanks for your submission.” But I didn’t think of it, you know, because I wasn’t earnestly filling it out. I just wanted to kind of roll through. And then they called me, so I had to find some inspiration somewhere.
COLLIDER: Speaking of Season one, what was it like knowing that Boston Rob wanted you to win?
LA SHELL: Oh, my God, I was honored. I was so excited. I don’t know if you can tell, but I was totally shocked when he said that. He was like, “You were my favorite player.” And I was like, “I was?” But once he explained it, I kind of got where he was coming from. You know, my social game kept me in there. I wasn’t hidden. I was in the mix. I was engaged with everybody, but nobody wanted to target me. So I kind of, understanding him as a player, I kind of see where that came from. But it was exciting to hear that, yeah.
COLLIDER: Your strategy was focused on a strong social game. You really were everybody’s best friend, but you weren’t. You were reliable. You were comforting. How do you think that did help you through the game?
LA SHELL: It helped me tremendously, especially since my skills always left me in the bottom. Right? I was always up for elimination. I think, every time except for the first round ,but helped me a lot, because I really, if my “strategy” is me, right? This is just who I am every day. And so it benefited everyone on the island who was getting unnerved during challenges or when they were pitting themselves against other people. So people wanted to keep me around because I helped them stay calm, I helped them feel good, and that worked in my favor.

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COLLIDER: Whether it was The Family, Dickson Wong, CK Kim, Dr. Will Kirby, there were always targets ahead of you. Was it part of your game to be able to flow under the radar and let others attempt to take each other out?
LA SHELL: Well, I like watching the drama like almost as if I was at home watching it. I was right there in the midst. So I enjoyed that aspect. I really didn’t focus on pushing people in front of me as a shield, more so than making sure that anyone who had the option to take people out, were not interested in me. For whatever reason made sense to them, right? It was different reasons for different people, and I really tried to remind people of that. I keep you calm when you get crazy. I think you’re fine, even though people think you’re the king of chaos, right? And so, being able to feel like a comrade to each person in the way that meant something to them was really more my strategy, versus like, trying to show people, “Oh, you should target them.”
COLLIDER: The numbers were dwindling.
LA SHELL: Yes.
COLLIDER: This week, there was less place to hide during the excursion. Did you feel there was hope before the big twist happened for yourself?
LA SHELL: I came down that mountain thinking I was safe as a little bug snug in a rug. I was like I was in the final three. I’m coming back down with a case. For sure, I am safe. And then, of course, the Banker throws a twist in.
COLLIDER: Would you have done the same thing if you were in the bottom four?
LA SHELL: No.
COLLIDER: OHHHH!
LA SHELL: I would not have done the same thing. Nah ah. Not at all. Right, the reason I actually pushed and fought my way to not get eliminated going up the mountain is because most of the challenges before this, I had no option. Like, I always ended up in the bottom. There was no way that I could even navigate pushing to be able to show what I can do in a challenge. This challenge was different. But it turned around and bit me in the ass, right? Because I didn’t know the Banker was going to throw that twist. But had I had an understanding of that, oh, I would have left, like, the second level up, I would have, like, “Have fun with those iguanas,” and they’ve been out of there.
COLLIDER: Well, speaking of the scary things, you didn’t want to go up in the heights. You let it go down to Parvati [Shallow] and David [Genet]. Do you regret that decision?
LA SHELL: I do. I really do. I really did not want to scale a gorge. It was loud, it was horrifying. I also didn’t know that I could handle my body weight, and I didn’t even fully understand what that challenge was going to be. But what I could tell by what I read, it was not going to be like a cute little zip line at Great Adventure, right? So I decided to let them have it, because the worst thing I could have done is fought to send one back and then not complete the task.
COLLIDER: If one of them went back, how do you think it would have played out in the Banker’s Temple? If you had the power?
LA SHELL: If one of them went back, and I had the power to choose who would play, I probably would have picked, it would have been Dickson and Parvati or Dixon and David. If it was Dickson and David, I would have picked Dickson, because me and David lived in the same dome, so we had a connection. And if it was Dickson and Parvati, I think I would have picked Parvati because she had never had to face the Banker. She was always safe.
COLLIDER: Emotions really affected Parvati this week. It’s something rare we see from the Black Widow. Tell me, did she make the right decision for her game, forcing you to play the banker?
LA SHELL: You know, sure, ultimately she remained safe, right? She would have been safe either way, I think, though, and we will see in the next episode, which we usually get to see, is the reaction after Temple. I think that that might have increased some targets on her back. David did not want me to go at all. CK, as you could see, was growling when I lost. And Phillip, for sure, didn’t want me to go. So I think if you split who’s left me being gone because she put me up against the Banker, I think kind of raised the stakes on who was coming after her. And [Alexis] Lete was after her to begin with.

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COLLIDER: That’s true. That’s true. Let’s talk about CK for a minute. You did have some time with her, as you did get to play the banker together with her. What is it about her that made her such a divisive character?
LA SHELL: Well, it’s funny, I didn’t see her as so divisive. CK is very strategic, right? I knew from the beginning that one of her goals was to have all women at the end, right? So, for example, when we played the game with the Captain’s Case, and she got Dickson to go get that, that put all the women in safety, including her, because her team was all guys, right? And she learned from the challenge before that the alliances she thought she had were not real and not true. So she was going for hers, and I don’t blame her. I’m from the Bronx, right? We always go for ours, especially if we think that you are not holding up to the agreement that we made that. Yeah, we don’t play like that in the streets. And CK is no different.
COLLIDER: Had you stayed, what would your next plan of action have been?
LA SHELL: Well, I would have had to pick someone to go home, and it would not have been Dickson, even though that’s what I said, because I used that as a strategy. I would have sent Lete home because to me, she was a physical threat. She was always winning challenges. She had the power too many time. For my game, she would have had to go, and then I would have did what I did for every challenge. Is go back to my dome, pray and meditate that whatever crazy thing they have us doing next, I am able not only to survive, but somehow come away with safety before the next temple.
COLLIDER: Let’s end with a fun question. Finish the sentence. The best moment of my Deal or No Deal Island experience was blank.
LA SHELL: The best moment of my Deal or No Deal Island experience was the arrival of Dr. Will.
COLLIDER: Yes.
LA SHELL: In a winter tuxedo on the bow of a boat. Because when he arrived, you guys may have seen this, but Sydnee [Peck] was crying. And she was actually crying because she was in physical pain because she has a medical disability. I thought when the cast members who knew Will, because I did not know him at all, when they were like, “It’s Dr. Will,” I thought he was coming for her. So in my mind, I’m like, I’m so confused. How did they know? Where’s his medical bag? Why does he have on a tuxedo? And it’s a winter, it’s like velvet. I was like, confused, but that was my favorite moment of the game.
COLLIDER: It’s definitely a different kind of doctor.
LA SHELL: He sure is.
COLLIDER: La Shell, it is a pleasure chatting with you.
LA SHELL: Same Michael.
COLLIDER: It was so much fun watching you. Congratulations.
LA SHELL: Thank you so much. Thanks a lot.