This post contains spoilers for the first three episodes of The Traitors.
O come, all ye faithful … there’s a secret traitor among you.
Season Four of The Traitors premiered Thursday night, bringing together a new batch of celebrities ready to compete for a prize worth up to $250,000, all while trying to uncover the designated Traitors among the Faithfuls. Much like in past seasons, the premiere opened with host Alan Cumming greeting the cast and announcing his plan to select his Traitors — but with a new twist: One Traitor would be selected in plain sight, right then and there.
Joining him this time around are a mix of personalities, including actors Michael Rapaport and Stephen Colletti, Olympic figure skaters Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski, singer-songwriter Eric Nam, comedian Ron Funches, and Travis and Jason Kelce’s mom, Donna Kelce, alongside some reality show vets. The latter include Candiace Dillard Bassett (The Real Housewives of Potomac), Caroline Stanbury (The Real Housewives of Dubai), Colton Underwood (The Bachelor), Dorinda Medley (The Real Housewives of New York City), Ian Terry (Big Brother), Kristen Kish (host, “Top Chef”), Rob Cesternino (Survivor), Lisa Rinna (The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills), Mark Ballas (Dancing With the Stars), Rob Rausch (Love Island USA), Maura Higgins (Love Island USA Aftersun), Monét X Change (RuPaul’s Drag Race), Natalie Anderson (Survivor), Porsha Williams (The Real Housewives of Atlanta), Tiffany Mitchell (Big Brother), and Yamil “Yam Yam” Arocho (Survivor).
One by one, Cumming called the cast members up and opened a box that was either empty, meaning the contestant would remain faithful (for now), or a card that read “Traitor.” Only the person called up could see the card, with the rest of the cast — and the audience, for that matter — left to judge their reaction for any tells.
“Never before in my game has a Traitor been chosen in plain sight,” Cumming said. “So use this opportunity, study, and observe your fellow players’ every move.”
Someone was selected, but no one knew who.
“I’m looking around, trying to judge everyone as they’re going up, looking at their box, but it’s hard to read,” said Funches.
But the twist didn’t end there. Later that same night, Cumming picked his remaining Traitors at the traditional roundtable with the entire cast blindfolded. And after everyone else went to bed, they met in the secret chambers to reveal themselves to each other and begin scheming (murdering). Dillard Bassett, Rinna, and Rausch were selected as this season’s Traitors. However, none of them was the one chosen in plain sight.
That’s right, there is now a fourth, Secret Traitor hidden among the cast — and not even the main three Traitors know who it is.
“The Secret Traitor will not know your identity, nor you theirs,” explained Cumming. “The Secret Traitor will work alone. But don’t be scared, they are on your side. Each night, they will decide which players are on the shortlist for murder. You must select who to murder only from this list.”
“This is twisty,” said Rinna, “big time twisty.”
“The Secret Traitor could really mess up our game, depending on who they put on the short-list,” added Rausch.
And it didn’t take long for Secret Traitor to do just that. After the first challenge, the Secret Traitor short-listed Rausch for murder.
“I’m pretty fucking mad they wanted to vote me out,” said Rausch. “I don’t want them ruining my game. It’s a matter of survival, simply.”
Naturally, the three Traitors just chose someone else on the list (which included Terry, Ballas, and Nam) to murder, ultimately killing off Terry.
After another challenge and the banishment of Williams, the Traitors were tasked with a murder in plain sight. They had to slyly retrieve a deck of cards from behind a picture frame hanging in one of the main gathering rooms that would reveal which of the Faithfuls were up for murder, as chosen by the Secret Traitor. Then, they had to burn the card in the breakfast room — all without getting caught by a Faithful. If they succeeded, they were promised the opportunity to meet the Secret Traitor and uncover their identity.
“This is so insanely tense right now,” said Rinna. “I am thinking that right now we could get caught.”
Thanks to the art of distraction via a congo line and a chess game, Rinna and Rausch managed to murder Cesternino (who, mind you, predicted the murder in plain sight earlier in the night! Too bad he’s still dead).
But before the cast had time to mourn Cesternino, Cumming alerted the group that they were going into an immediate banishment roundtable. While no specific reason was given, the cast jumped at the opportunity to finally root out their latest target: Kelce.
Over the first two episodes, several people expressed concerns about Kelce’s lack of engagement with the rest of the group, noting that her failure to accuse another player of being a Traitor was suspicious. She barely squeaked by during the first banishment, and with heat on her, she tried to save face by claiming that she was simply too starstruck to form bonds with anyone.
“I know people are after me,” she said. “If the only reason is that I didn’t have a chance to talk to all of you, I’m fangirling on every one of you, forgive me. I tried today.”
But it wasn’t enough to save her (even Medley, who openly expressed her fears that Swifties would come after her if she voted for Kelce, eventually gave in), and the group voted to banish her.
“You got yourself a Traitor!” she said, causing the room to erupt in cheers and applause.
So, with that, the Secret Traitor was gone — though keep in mind, the majority of the cast was not aware there was a Secret Traitor at all, and they thought they got one of the main three.
It was a short-lived and perhaps ultimately useless twist, but a twist nonetheless. And it remains unclear if Cumming will enlist another Secret Traitor, or leave the rest of the game in the hands of Rinna, Rausch, and Dillard Bassett.
