If you’ve missed Deal or No Deal as much as Howie Mandel has the past few years, you’re in for a real treat — the hit game show is returning to TV in just a few days! Yes, the television series that previously helped launch Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle‘s showbiz career (read more about that here) will debut on CNBC on Wednesday, Dec. 5 and Howie, 63, is back to host his “favorite show.”

“It is my favorite show and I do everything!” Howie exclusively gushed to Closer Weekly at NBC’s annual Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in NYC on Wednesday, Nov. 28. When then asked how the Deal or No Deal revival compares to the original show — which ran on NBC from 2005 until 2009 — the TV icon replied, “What’s different? I think there’s more excitement and more electricity right now in people wanting to escape and see people’s lives possibly change for the better and this can happen for anybody, any age, any time.”

“So the simplicity is what’s great and there’s a couple of little twists, we’ve given more control to a contestant they have an opportunity to negotiate once in the game, there’s a new banker,” he continued. Not only is there a new banker, but this time around the banker is (wait for it) a lady! “She’s not stubborn, she’s just shrewd. She’s a really top businessperson,” Howie told Closer.

Though Meghan sadly won’t be returning to our TV screens to revive her past role as a Deal or No Deal “briefcase girl,” Howie still fondly remembers working with Prince Harry‘s wife on the game show back in 2006. “She was slightly Duchessy. That speaks to who we have now and who we had then. Not everybody will have an opportunity to meet royalty, but these are all accomplished people that have something substantial,” Howie previously told People of Meghan.

Meghan Markle 'Deal or No Deal'
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“They’re not just standing there holding a case — they have careers, they have hobbies, they have families, they’re entrepreneurial,” he continued. “So when somebody like Harry meets somebody who just happened to be on our show, there’s a lot to offer!” We can’t wait for Deal or No Deal to return on CNBC on Dec. 5!

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