RECAP: The Traitors (U.S.) Season 3, Episode 4
I thought more happened in this week’s one episode of The Traitors than I felt happened in the three episodes all released the week prior. In Episode 4 we got to see most of the players at least engage with the game — at this point I think Sam Ashghari is the only one who has absolutely no point of view; his sole contribution to the series thus far has been his experiments with hair gel and headbands. And more than that, we shifted very clearly into the next phase of the season. What happened tonight felt both inevitable and pivotal, and while I’m bummed about it personally — I’m actually bummed over BOTH eliminations — it also needed to happen for the game to really progress.
Read on for my takes on Episode 4 of The Traitors Season 3. SPOILERS AHEAD!
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The Short List
We picked up with the cliffhanger from Episode 3, where the Traitors were forced to meet in plain sight and write down the names of three players who would be shortlisted for elimination. Last episode, it seemed as though Bachelor alum Gabby Windey may have clocked the Traitors conspiring in the secret room off the bar. This week it is revealed that Gabby only noticed Big Brother’s Danielle Reyes coming out of the room, and didn’t appear to overhear anything. This came up the next morning at breakfast, when Danielle deflected fairly well; several other Faithfuls were also exploring that secret room that night, and she could just write off that encounter as related to that.
The three short-listed players were, in fact, well picked by the Traitors: Jeremy Collins from Survivor, Ciara Miller from Summer House, and Nikki Garcia from the WWE. Alan Cummings did explain to the gathered players that there may be one or more Traitors among the short-listed, which immediately drew suspicion to anyone who survived the short-listing. So it was smart for the Traitors to not put one of their own in the boxes.
All three of the named were put into pine boxes, while the players were forced to bed. At that point, the Traitors were brought out in their cloaks for a deliberation, before they decided whose coffin they would nail shut. I assumed watching this that the actual short-listed players would have been removed from their caskets for this segment. For one, it was probably cold, and this whole sequence probably took more than an hour to film. That had to suck. But more than that, having them actually be present for the Traitors arrival, deliberations, and decision would give the surviving players incriminating information that they could take back to the rest of the Faithful. I was sure they weren’t actually in those boxes when Bob the Drag Queen drove in the nails that sealed the fate of the next victim.
But apparently they WERE in those coffins! At least, that’s what Nikki seemed to suggest at breakfast the next morning, when both she and Ciara returned, and the Faithful learned that Jeremy had been axed. This was the correct move on the part of the Traitors. Jeremy had already clocked Danielle and was starting to circulate her name, but more importantly, he’s an exceptionally shrewd player who would have been trouble for the Traitors going forward. It should be noted that Carolyn Wiger objected to murdering Jeremy, arguing that he was largely isolated from the rest of the group (presumably since Tony Vlachos’ elimination last episode), but the other Traitors — especially Danielle and “Boston” Rob Mariano — steamrolled her. This is a recurring theme among the Traitors, and will surely be a major issue at some point. You can just feel it. (Also, for the record: Team Carolyn.)
Back to the morning-after breakfast: when asked what they heard, Nikki shared that there were at least two Traitors, and that one of them had a soft footfall. This was immediately taken by multiple Faithful to mean that one of the Traitors must be a woman — one of them even explicitly said that meant it couldn’t be Bob the Drag Queen — and in short order, the Traitors’ plan worked perfectly as Ciara and Nikki ended up THE primary targets of the other Faithful.
The Challenge
Thus far the challenges in Season 3 haven’t really impacted the game much, aside from the Episode 1 challenge with its diabolical abandonment twist. Not so this game, which ultimately resulted in some critical information for both the viewers and the players of the game.
Tom Sandoval is fully Sandovaling, focused solely on his safety in the game and thinking about nobody else. He is completely oblivious to what is actually going on.
An emerging theme this season is the men ignoring the women. So many of the guys grabbed their heads right out of the gate and took them up the hill, not giving a fuck about what anyone else was doing.
On that point more broadly, there is no strategy being deployed regarding who is potentially at risk, and who needs protection. They’re not playing collaboratively at all. That’s a huge mistake on behalf of the Faithful.
It was difficult to watch Biggest Loser alum Bob Harper struggle with this physical challenge. As he alluded to, he had a massive heart attack seven years before filming this, and it has dramatically impacted his physical abilities. You could see how brutal it was for a man who was formerly at peak physical condition, whose life has been based around helping other people push past their limitations, acknowledge that was physically unable to do this task. It was crushing. I was glad to see other players helping him, to ensure that he got a shield. But from a human perspective, seeing him so vulnerable and grappling with his current health realities — that was heavy stuff.
I didn’t fully keep track of who ended up getting a shield and who didn’t, but I can tell you it was many of the dominant men (Boston Rob, Wes, Bob the Drag Queen among them), and the women were rightfully pissed that nobody was thinking about them. Bob the Drag Queen called this out during the challenge — although he still got a shield! — lecturing the group more than once about being disorganized and selfish.
Unfortunately, even after the challenge was completed successfully, Bob the Drag Queen kept talking, and he made the critical mistake of saying in front of the whole cast that “everyone” thinks that one of the three “new guys” (The Challenge’s Wes Bergmann, Big Brother vet Derrick Levasseur, Boston Rob) has to be a Traitor. It’s entirely possible that is true, that the players are saying that in the house. But stating that as fact in front of everyone was a huge unforced error, and one that Boston Rob did not appreciate at all.
The Round Table
Boston Rob immediately saw this as the moment to get rid of the Traitor least likely to follow his commands, so he got back to the house and immediately got to work lining up votes against Bob the Drag Queen. First he went to Dylan Efron, who was obviously already suspicious of Bob; then he started to shore up support with other alliances. He even went to Danielle and Carolyn to get them to flip on Bob, and neither one of them were interested. Danielle felt good about the plan to target Ciara to draw aggro on Nikki (or vice versa), while Carolyn thought it was too early to start cannibalizing Traitors. (Again: Carolyn was right.)
Meanwhile, smaller camps in the house focused on accusing either Nikki or Ciara — you know, the very good plan the Traitors had already put into motion — so by the time the Round Table commenced, there were several distinct voting blocks. At first, Boston Rob waited for one of his proxies to charge Bob (specifically Dylan), but ultimately just picked up the metaphorical knife and starting stabbing himself. You could see the look of shock and horror on Bob the Drag Queen’s face when Boston Rob came for him, forcefully, brutally. And you could see a different look on Bob’s face a few minutes later when he realized how fucked he was.
This is the thing about Boston Rob: there’s a reason he’s been on so many seasons of reality TV. He is very good at what he does, specifically, bending a group of players to his will. Once he gets established, it happens every single time. Remember that season of Amazing Race where Rob (and his wife, fellow Survivor winner Amber Brkich) broke the game by convincing EVERY OTHER PLAYER to sit out a challenge so that the penalty was basically rendered pointless? As soon as Rob was brought into The Traitors, it was only a matter of time before he took over the game. And that’s the swing that happened this episode.
I do think Bob the Drag Queen defended himself as well as he could. It was dramatic and loud, but that’s Bob. He got in a few good shots at Rob, noting that any accusations Rob made about him were also true of Rob himself. The Zac Efron dig was unnecessary — we love you, Zac! We’re still all in this together! But the damage was done. Rob’s assault was pointed, measured, and unwavering, and you could see the other players fall under Rob’s sway one by one. You could also see the other Traitors realize what was going on, and understand they had no choice but to vote out Bob, even if neither of them liked it.
I say “you could see” those actions, and yet a good 30 percent of the Faithful were seemingly oblivious to the takeover, because they are still playing this kid’s version of this game. A handful of Faithful continued to vote against Ciara or Nikki, seemingly clueless to the actual battle of wills happening at the same table. If these are the players that are supposed to crack the code on this mystery, the Faithful are truly screwed.
But not as screwed as Bob the Drag Queen, who was banished, and revealed that he was a Traitor. I hated to see it, I really did. I love Bob the Drag Queen, I was so excited to see him cast here, and beyond thrilled to see him as an actual Traitor. But Bob did this to himself. In his enthusiasm, he drew such a target on himself over these first few episodes. There are many different ways to play a Traitor, and being a focus of attention is surely one of them. But for that approach to work, you need to be very mindful of the accusations you’re putting out there, and Bob simply wasn’t. Bob was a loose cannon who was drawing attention on multiple fronts, including to his fellow Traitors. That’s a huge liability and I get why Boston Rob orchestrated this coup.
That said, I DO think it was too early to start offing Traitors. I suspect this is going to bite Rob back in a big way. Yes, he won the trust of many members of the house with that move, most notably Dylan and Real Housewives of New Jersey star Dolores Catania. But he also reminded people that he’s the biggest threat in the game, on BOTH sides of the aisle. At the close of the episode, Wes pointed out to a collection of Faithful that the only way to be 100 percent sure that a player is a Traitor is for you to be a Traitor yourself, and at least Ivar Montbatten seemed to get that penny drop. Meanwhile, Traitor Danielle was furious at her ride-or-die being yanked away, while Traitor Carolyn is wholly uninterested in being Boston Rob’s lackey.
So while Rob may rule the castle for the time being, I suspect that will be relatively short lived as he has to weather exposure as a Faithful (I still maintain he’s such an obvious pick that the players MUST be thinking it, and it’s being cut out), as well as furious fellow Traitors. To quote Bob the Drag Queen’s former judge, “I can’t wait to see how this turns out…”
NEXT: Rob tries to run the show while his fellow Traitors scheme against him.
What do you think of The Traitors Season 3? Drop your thoughts in the comments. The floor is yours!