Howie Mandel didn’t remember Meghan Markle from ‘Deal or No Deal’: ‘Is she a duchess?’

Rachel Markle who?

Howie Mandel claims that he “didn’t remember” Meghan Markle from their “Deal or No Deal” days. 

The comedian and actor, 68, hosted the NBC game show, which premiered in 2005 and moved to CNBC in 2018, before ending in 2019. 

On the latest episode of his “Good Guys” podcast, Mandel answered a question about whether he kept in touch with Markle, 42. 

“In touch – you mean by text or email? No,” said Mandel. 

“To be honest, when she became The Duchess or whatever – is she a duchess? When I heard that she was on ‘Deal or No Deal,’ I didn’t remember her. I have a picture of her in my office. She’s one of the girls standing behind me. But, I don’t remember a lot of them. You know, Chrissy Teigan was also a ‘Deal or No Deal’ model.” 

Before she married Prince Harry in 2018 and became the Duchess of Sussex, Markle, 42, was one of the “briefcase models” on “Deal or No Deal” from 2006-2006. She held briefcase No. 24. 

This was also before she starred on legal drama turned streaming sensation “Suits,” from 2011 until 2018. 

Markle said that she ended up quitting the reality show after feeling “objectified.” 

“I was so much more than what was being objectified on the stage,” she said on a 2022 episode of her Archetypes podcast, titled “Breaking Down the Bimbo” featuring Paris Hilton.

“I didn’t like feeling forced to be all looks and little substance.”

Markle said she would be on set for the game show and think back to her time as a college intern at the US Embassy in Argentina, where she was “being valued specifically for my brain.”

“Here, I was being valued for something quite the opposite,” she said about “Deal or No Deal.”

“There was a very cookie-cutter idea of precisely what we should look like,” Markle added, sharing that women would line up at tapings for different stations where they would put on lashes, get extensions put in or get padding in their bras — and they even received spray tan vouchers every week.”

“It was solely about beauty, and not necessarily about brains,” she said.

Markle shared one detail she would “never forget,” when one producer on the show, who couldn’t pronounce her last name, would scream, “Mar-kell suck it in!” repeatedly. 

Since 2010, Mandel has also been a host on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” where he’s occasionally ruffled the feathers of contestants. 

In September, Sofía Vergara, 51, walked off the “America’s Got Talent” stage after Mandel made a joke about the “Modern Family” star being single, following her split from Joe Manganiello, 47. The exes were married from 2015 to 2024 and announced their split in July 2023. 

Mandel’s wisecrack came when Vergara was selected by fellow judge Simon Cowell to take a lie detector test live on the show.

Sitting on a throne constructed out of tater tots — dubbed “the tot-seat” in honor of the show’s sponsor Sonic — Vergara was subjected to several questions ranging from her personal life to how she felt about working on the show.

Mandel went straight for the jugular and asked his co-star if she was “interested in anyone.”

“That’s it,” replied Vergara, before ripping the cuff off her arm and walking back to her seat at the judge’s table. 

On her podcast, Markle added that she was “thankful for the job, but not how it made me feel, which was not smart.”

“I was surrounded by smart women on that stage with me, but that wasn’t the focus of why we were there,” Markle said.

“I would end up leaving with this pit in my stomach, knowing I was so much more than what was being objectified on the stage.”