Fun and games! Before making it big in Hollywood, stars such as Meghan Markle and Lady Gaga made their first foray into show business with appearances on popular game shows.
Markle briefly served as a briefcase model on Deal or No Deal prior to becoming a household name on Suits and going on to marry Prince Harry. In February 2018, the former royal opened up to Esquire about her time on the game show.
“Working on Deal or No Deal was a learning experience, and it helped me to understand what I would rather be doing,” Markle told the publication at the time. “I would end up standing up there forever in these terribly uncomfortable and inexpensive five-inch heels just waiting for someone to pick my number so I could go and sit down.”
Howie Mandel, who hosted Deal or No Deal when Markle was on the show, joked at the 2018 TCA summer press tour about Markle being “slightly duchessy” during her brief stint on the series. Meanwhile, executive producer Scott St. John said, “She was not involved in many episodes, but I did remember her. She was a very nice person.”
The world has come to know Gaga as a multifaceted Grammy and Academy Award-winning pop star. However, years prior, a young Stefani Germanotta made a 2005 appearance on MTV’s Boiling Points, where she was unknowingly targeted in a prank.
Rebekka Johnson, an actress who was tasked with pranking Gaga, dished about her experience with the “Bad Romance” singer. While the GLOW actress noted that Gaga was “pretty cool” about everything in the end, the lead up to that moment was rocky.
“I remember when she went downstairs she stayed on her phone for a long time,” Johnson told MTV News in 2009. “We almost decided to end the shoot because we weren’t sure when she was coming back up.”
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Many high-profile names have appeared on game shows after fame as well. In December 2019, Seth Rogen stopped by The Price Is Right to raise money for Hilarity for Charity, an organization he cofounded with wife Lauren Miller Rogen to help combat Alzheimer’s disease. Kim Kardashian, for her part, got the chance to appear on a celebrity edition of her favorite game show, Family Feud, in July 2018.
“That is mine and Kanye [West]’s favorite show ever,” the Skims founder said on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at the time. “I started to get really scared from all the crime shows that I’d watch… I used to be obsessed, and then I got really scared of it and I was like, ‘What can I watch now that I’m afraid of all crime shows?’ And Family Feud was it. It’s like Friends and Family Feud.”
Scroll down to see which of today’s biggest stars have made a game show appearance pre-fame!
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