Robert Evans, a speech pathologist from Clemmons, North Carolina, competes on tonight’s episode of Deal or No Deal. When promoting Evans’ episode, Deal or No Deal teased that it was “An unpredictable game with the biggest surprise yet!” This post contains spoilers from the January 2 episode, which aired on CNBC at 9pm ET.
The bubbly 46-year-old who lives on “Booger Swamp Road” captured fans of the shows’ hearts from his first introduction, donning a bright blue button-down, plaid bowtie, gray vest, and matching hat. The show played up his southern roots and charms, introducing his aunt in the audience as she sat in a rocking chair. When he’s not teaching, he enjoys acting in community theater; he revealed on the show that his love of theater came from his love of watching Soap Operas when he was younger. In addition to his aunt, Evans brought his speech pathologist colleagues with him, and they gushed about how great and caring he is at his job (as well as his big “mouth of the South”).
In Broadway World’s description of the episode, aptly named “Southern Charm,” they said “It’s the ultimate television cliff-hanger…as soap opera fan Robert Evans fills the stage with SOUTHERN CHARM in his quest to defeat The Banker. This selfless speech therapist has sacrificed it all for his community and now risks it all in [a] game full of surprises that won’t leave a dry eye in the house!”
The big surprise was Evans’ student Xavier, of whom he shared stories about earlier in the episode. The boy, who could not “speak a word” when Evans first started working with him, showed up in the audience with his mom; both came on stage to show their support of Evans. Not only does Evans have a big heart for his students, he is also an animal lover. He told Mandel at the start of the episode and persisted throughout his consideration of the bankers’ deals that a good portion of the money he won would be donated to a humane society to support animal rescue.
Although the results of his try at $1,000,000 on the show are top-secret until after the episode airs (since that is, of course, the entire point of the show), Evans told the Winston-Salem Journal “I have always wanted to be on TV and finally got the chance to do it,” he said by email. “I can say it was the experience of a lifetime.” He later added “Meeting Howie and the models was surreal. Lots of emotions were left on that stage. It’s hard to turn down large amounts of money!”
At the end of the episode, after counteroffering with the banker, Evans walked away with $185,000. He said he intends to use that money to buy a house and help abused animals.
Tune in to CNBC to watch new episodes of Deal or No Deal on Wednesday nights at 9 & 10pm ET.