But the fun in Let’s Make a Deal is the risk involved in making a bad deal or getting “zonked,” and contestants will face both those possibilities on the anniversary episode–and that’s where Head Zonk Maker Timothy “Jersey” Feimster comes in to play. He’s the man in charge of crushing dreams. Feimster, three builders and two assistants create the booby prizes, known on Let’s Make a Deal as Zonks, in their one-stop-shop, which is responsible for building, 3-D printing, graphics, editing and more. “A good zonk is something that host Wayne Brady will play with, so anything that entertains him and makes him smile is a great zonk for me,” Feimster told Parade in 2018 on a set visit to the hit CBS game show. “They’re not all winners. I have a couple of them that I put some pride and joy in and they’re like, ‘What is that?’ Throughout the season I do about 280 zonks, so they’re not all going to be winners.” Each episode requires between three and five zonks. The goal is to keep the contestants entertained as they lose, so many of them actually want to take their zonks home. But as tempting as that may be, it isn’t allowed. Instead, they go home with a $100 consolation prize. Feimster’s team puts a lot of thought into the zonks and they even reach out to the public via a contest on the CBS website. If their idea is built, the person who suggested it gets their picture up on Instagram or Facebook. But the majority of ideas come from the team. “Everything has an action or a motion to it, even the small-box stuff is either edible or something they can play with, interactive and all those fun things,” Feimster said. “It’s some crazy stuff that I’ve thought up and stuff I wanted as a kid. Now I get to build it as an adult, so I get to be a giant kid.” With such a large quantity of zonks required each season, once they appear on camera, they are stored in a 20,000-square-foot warehouse and recycled. Some as they first appeared; others are torn apart and the pieces used to create new zonks. “I’m in charge of my own budget here and I find a lot of stuff on Craigslist,” Feimster says. “I’m like a picker, so I’ll go out thrifting. On Craigslist, there’s a whole section that’s free. I find boats and stuff you have to normally pay for. I show up with a big five-ton and people are like, ‘What else can you take?’” One great deal that Feimster made was the purchase of a 1960s MG Midget that he picked up for $200. “We cut the rear end off and made it a little bit shorter, so it’ll fit in the big box and then we re-bonded and welded it,” he says. “We took like 18 inches out of it so it would fit. Since size does matter, Femister had to get creative for a boat he wanted to build that he tried to get approved for three years, but was turned down because it was too big for the bay. That is until Feimster literally chopped it down, making it into a low rider. Let’s Make a Deal airs on weekdays on CBS. Next, NCIS: Los Angeles is coming to an end.
