Talks

Dr. Will Kirby, of Big Brother and Deal or No Deal Island fame, was one of the eight doctors on the December 8 episode of Celebrity Weakest Link, competing for charity. The reality TV legend came in third place behind Dr. Sandra Lee (Dr. Pimple Popper) and Dr. Dubrow.

He talked about making alliances with the medical doctors and voting off the TV doctors in a plan brought up by him. Kirby got every question, except one, correct, solidifying his place as one of the greatest competition players of all time. Despite forming an alliance with Dr. Lee, she voted him off in the final three because he was “just too good.”

The Big Brother 2 winner, and licensed dermatologist, faced off against Dr. Dubrow, Dr. Lee, Torrey Devitto, Ryan Eggold, Jason George, Hill Harper, and Kal Penn on the season finale. All except the first two played doctors on TV.

Kirby talked with TV Insider about his time on the game show, what was the hardest show he has done, what’s next for him, and more. Will Dr. Will fans see him return to TV? Read on to find out.

You are arguably one of the best gamers of all time. Did you have a strategy going into the Weakest Link? And if so, what was it? 

Yeah. I mean, I don’t want to get overly philosophical with you, but I think if you analyze, and I consider myself a student of the genre, I’ve been doing this for a quarter of a century, if you can believe it. But basically, if you look at the way that competitive reality television works these days, I see it in three main categories. There’s shows that have KQ, which is kinetic quotient, and those are shows that require you to be extremely physical, like The Challenge. And then there are shows that you know require EQ, like Big Brother. That type of show requires social interaction, and that’s where people excel. And as I’m moving on in my unscripted reality television career, I’m now focusing more on IQ.

So, my strategy on the show was, obviously, there’s no KQ involved, and there’s a minimal amount of EQ involved. But for me, it was about IQ. I think I wanted to make sure that, first and foremost, I represented myself and my friends and family and job very well, but I just wanted to bring a level of intellect to my personal reality television legacy that people haven’t really seen before, and I think I accomplished that.

At the end of the show, it was revealed that the plan was to vote off all the TV doctors, instead of the real life doctors. Looking back, did you think that you had a better chance going against the TV doctors in the end?

It’s pretty interesting. I had never met Doctor Lee before, or Doctor DuBrow. I had never met them before, but I knew of them. And I had been on Real Housewives of Orange County a few times, but not with Dr Dubrow. Dr. Pimple Popper is a legend in my world, so I knew of her. So, when we arrived, it was unclear as to if we were allowed to go to other people’s trailers and chat with them. But I went over to introduce myself to Dr Lee.

One of the keys in reality television is to plant ideas, but let someone else think that they came up with it. I was just trying to be very friendly with her. And then she said, “Maybe we should work together.” And I said, “What?  I would be all for that. It’s going to be hard to work in pairs in this format. We need a third person we can trust.” So then I went to Dr. Dubrow and introduced myself, and then as the show was about to get started, I said, “Hey, alphabetical order.” And then they knew exactly what I meant, and they were off to the races.

That was hard for me, because I’m a big fan of a lot of the other doctors on there. And in a way, and I’m going to say this as politely as I can, but in a way, it was a little bit unfair, because the actors, and I have nothing but immense respect for that profession. You have to be really, really smart to be an actor, because you have to not just memorize written material, but you have to emote it. And that’s something that doctors do the opposite of. We cut ourselves off from emotions when we’re dealing with patients. It was really coming from two completely different angles. I went into it with a reality television background, knowing that I wanted to use the tools available to me to be competitive. I thought that the actors were going to kind of do that as well, because they all know each other, and they’ve all worked together before. But what I didn’t anticipate was that they’re also just sweet and sensitive, so when they were eliminated, you could tell they were actually kind of hurt. So, I felt really bad about it, because if you go on Survivor or The Amazing Race or Deal or No Deal Island, and you get eliminated, well, that’s the nature of the game. And I just kind of felt bad because they all seemed shocked, and they didn’t catch on until it was too late what we were doing.

You said Dr. Pimple Popper asked her to work with you, but she cut you off at the final three. Did that surprise you?

You know what? I wasn’t surprised at all. I mean, they really didn’t have a choice. She’s a super smart person, and you don’t get to her level or Dr. DuBrow’s level without having that level of just cleverness. So, I went to her, and I said, “Hey, I got you. Do you have me? Like, are we going to do this?” I didn’t want to be too in her face or too aggressive, for fear of her not wanting to be in an alliance. And I could tell she looked at me, and I was like, “Oh, no.” Then I went to Dr. Dubrow, and I was like, “Hey, what do you think about this last round or two, and then it was just hard to read.

So, when I was eliminated, I wasn’t shocked. I mean, I was, of course, disappointed, but it’s the type of show that all you can do is try to answer the questions to the best of your ability, and ironically, as you answer more and more correctly, you’re going to hurt yourself. And so it’s a fascinating format, because you want to do as best as you can from an intellectual perspective, but you also kind of have to hold your cards a little bit so that you don’t appear to be too big a threat. I think what kind of hurt me was that I was doing very well initially, and I truly felt that if I had made it to the final round, I would have really done well. I think they sensed that too.

I take no offense at all, and I wasn’t surprised at all. I’m never surprised, because I’ve been doing this for so long. But number two, in many ways, getting eliminated is flattering. That’s all you can do. Again, it comes down to those three elements: the IQ, EQ, and KQ. I really tried to rely primarily on the IQ, and then secondarily the EQ. You formulate a plan, and you float it out there, but luck is a big part of the competition shows.

You got every question but one, right, so…

Exactly. I think they were a bit intimidated by that.

Was there a certain category going in where you were like, “I really hope I don’t get a question in that?”

I’m a terrible speller. What you will find is that most doctors are. It’s really interesting. Doctors can be very technical and really great with their hands, and I think I’m am that, and some can be very artistic, and I think I’m that. But you’ll find a lot of doctors just really have a terrible command of language and how words are formed. So, I was afraid that there could be some sort of category that involves spelling. History is a terrible category for me, and sports is a terrible category for me. Pop culture, I can excel. Science and medicine, I definitely can excel. I feel very comfortable saying that. But in terms of sports, history, or spelling, those were going to be categories where I was really going to struggle.

You’ve done a lot of reality shows and game shows. Which do you think was the hardest— Weakest Link, Big Brother, or Deal or No Deal Island?

I actually love that you bring up those three in particular, because they go back to representing EQ, IQ, and KQ.. Again, EQ is really Big Brother where it’s socialization. On Deal or No Deal Island, although the emotional quotient is important, the show moved so fast that it was very difficult to build bonds. And then the Weakest Link is IQ.

My favorite is Weakest Link because you show up and some of your heroes are there and you’re competing against them, and it’s just humane and friendly and very fair, and it’s either you know the information, or you don’t. So I absolutely loved that,  but to actually address your question, each of those shows is very different. Big Brother is exceedingly difficult. And I am of the personal opinion that it is by far the most difficult show in the history of reality television, because it’s a marathon. It’s a slow burn.

It is so unbelievably difficult to be comfortable with who you are in this day and age. We live in such a loud world with so much noise. It’s so bright and colorful, and that’s neither good nor bad; it’s just factual. And when you go into the Big Brother house, the fans who watch the show diligently will tell you it is extremely, extremely hard on the human mind. It’s just very difficult. I have a ton of friends who have won Survivor and won The Amazing Race, and won Deal or No Deal Island. And I always tell them, “If you really, really think you’re good at this, go play Big Brother, because it’s just a whole other world in which very few people can excel, right?”

I know you announced your retirement from reality TV on Deal or No Deal Island, but are there any other shows you have not done that you would be interested in?

I’ve been doing this for 25 years, and I’ve had what I would consider to be an epic run. When I first started doing unscripted television, I never thought that a quarter century later I’d still be doing it. I just had such an epic run, and reality television is a young person’s game, at least unscripted television as we know it.

I’m in the sunset of my reality TV career. I’m very comfortable and at peace with that. But, there are two shows I would want to do. My dream is Celebrity Jeopardy!, and the other one is Celebrity Wheel of Fortune. Although if I’m not the best speller, maybe that’s not a good idea. The other one was Celebrity Weakest Link.

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Do you have any other projects besides Weakest Link coming up that fans can look forward to?

When I was on Deal or No Deal Island, I officially announced my retirement. Jane Lynch called me out on that, and she absolutely should have, because I announced my retirement, but I should have been more specific. I’m retired from competing in and competitive-based unscripted reality shows. So, being on Survivor, although I would love to do it, it’s just probably not in the cards for me. Or, if Deal or No Deal Island had come back, I probably wouldn’t have done all stars for that. Or, Big Brother, I probably wouldn’t do that. But, when you’re competing in a show that can focus on my talents, which at this point in my reality career is IQ, well, then I’d be remiss if I didn’t really try to participate and win some money for charity.

So I would love to do a Celebrity Weakest Link all-star version, and I know I can do well. You guys saw me. I know pop culture, I know trivia, and my brain works very quickly when I’m in the zone. I don’t have any other active projects right now, but if you put me on Celebrity Jeopardy!, that would fulfill my dream. I have a strategy and just a knowledge base that I think I could really make that an interesting episode.

Celebrity Weakest Link, Season 1, now streaming on Hulu