Meghan Markle's former co-star has hit out at her claims that she was "reduced to a bimbo" on Deal or No Deal.
The Duchess of Sussex has revealed she felt "objectified" during her time as a briefcase girl on the US edition of the game show, where she appeared on its second season 16 years ago.
And although she says she is grateful that the job helped give her a leg up in her acting career, she said the reason she quit the role was because it did not make her feel smart and she had to look a certain way.
But Claudia Jordan, who worked on the show for four seasons between 2005 and 2009, has contended they were "never treated like bimbos", and that it provided her with "so many opportunities".
The Real Housewives of Atlanta Star, 49, wrote on her Instagram story: "For clarity - yes getting a modeling gig on a game show isn't necessarily about your intellect, but every show the executive producers picked five models with the most outgoing and fun personalities to place mics on, who they knew would engage with the contestant.
"And Deal or No Deal never treated us like bimbos. We got so many opportunities because of that show."
She said that kind of opportunity "is what you make of it", and that the show provided her with a "step on the ladder".
Claudia made clear that her comments "are not an attack on Meghan", adding: "I've been defending this woman in the media for years and I still will but I just didn't want any misunderstanding about the climate and environment on the Deal or No Deal set."
Meghan had made the comments while chatting to TV star Paris Hilton about the labels "bimbo" and "dumb blonde" on her Spotify podcast Archetypes.
She explained: "Before the tapings of the show, all the girls, we would line up and there were different stations for having your lashes, put on, or your extensions, put in, or the padding in your bra.
"We were even given spray-tan vouchers each week because there was a very cookie-cutter idea of precisely what we should look like. It was solely about beauty and not necessarily about brains."
Meghan also revealed how one of the women who worked on the show would tell her to "suck it in" every time she went on stage and that she felt it was "all looks and little substance".
The Duchess recalled: "She couldn't properly pronounce my last name at the time, and I knew who she was talking to because she would go 'Markell suck it in, Markell suck it in'.
"I ended up quitting the show. Like I said, I was thankful for the job but not for how it made me feel, which was not smart.
"And by the way, I was surrounded by smart women on that stage with me, but that wasn't the focus of why we were there and I would end up leaving with this pit in my stomach, knowing that I was so much more than what was being objectified on the stage."
Later in the episode, she revealed her hopes that one-year-old Lilibet will want to have "higher aspirations".
She said: "I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on this idea because when I hear the word bimbo, I have a very negative connotation to it.
"I don't see that as an aspirational thing for a woman, I want our daughters to aspire to be slightly higher.
"I want my Lili to want to be educated and want to be smart and to pride herself on those things."
