Justin Uhart is the latest contestant on Deal or No Deal, hosted by Howie Mandel, with a chance to win up to one million dollars in prize money. The description for tonight’s episode, entitled “Cowboy Up,” reads “Real-life Las Vegas hero Justin Uhart storms the stage ready to risk it all for his chance at $1 million; NFL Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith shows up to celebrate Justin’s feat of heroism; Justin plays like a champ fighting for the big six-figure money.”
Before bringing Uhart on stage, Mandel played a breaking news clip from the morning after the mass shooting. The clip then played a video interview of Uhart recounting the massacre, followed by an interview with Jan Lambourne in the hospital, the woman whose life Uhart helped save. When Justin was invited to the stage, he revealed that he and Lambourne keep in touch every day. He even wore his “lucky charm” Canadian flag socks to compete in her honor, since she is from Canada and gifted them to him.
Justin Uhart was working as a bartender during the Las Vegas massacre that took the lives of 58 people at a country music festival. According to CNN, Uhart found a badly injured woman in the chaos, Jan Lambourne, and helped her into an ambulance and to the hospital, saving her life. He found out that Lambourne had survived surgery when he received a Facebook notification from her days later. Days after the shooting, Uhart told Cronkite News “My co-worker died and got hit in the head, and I had a guy die on me… I plugged a wound of a woman who got hit in the stomach and went to the hospital with her packed in an ambulance. I was right in the middle of it and not really sure how I’m feeling at the moment.”
When Howie asked Justin to introduce himself, he said “I grew up in a really small town called Minden, Nevada. We have a whole 6 stoplights. And now I’m in Vegas, I’m a loan officer, I’m 26 and hoping to win a whole bunch of money and have fun with you guys.” When asked if he was in a relationship or married, he said “I’m not married. I’m good right now, so hey ladies!”
Based on preview clips released ahead of the episode, we know that Justin chose briefcase number 19 as the one he believes is carrying $1 million. He told Mandel that he chose 19 because “The last three times I have been to Chinese food and got a fortune cookie, this number has been on all of them, so it’s a sign.” The first case he opened, number 16, eliminated $25 from the board; immediately after, he chose the case with $750,000, taking a big prize number out of the game.
We also know that during the episode, Uhart gets a surprise visit from his hero Emmitt Smith. Uhart shared a photo with Smith on Instagram, writing “Still no words and something I’ll never ever forget! I got to meet my hero on @dealornodealcnbc #thankful.”
Tune in to Deal or No Deal on CNBC, Wednesday nights at 9/8c.