5 Signs You're Talking to a Traitor

Follow me on a journey through the Scottish Highlands as we start another season of everyone’s favorite new reality show, The Traitors! This show has quickly risen to the top of my reality TV list, and I recommend it to everyone. Between the mix of reality stars, the glorious castle, Alan’s clever wordplay, and the thrilling game of life and death, this show is so electric - every single episode. 

*Spoilers for the first three episodes of season three ahead 

Part of what makes The Traitors such a fun show is how difficult it can be for the players to find the Traitors. Sometimes the Faithfuls are like chickens running around with their heads cut off. It’s also exciting watching the Traitors successfully fool their fellow players. I mean, what’s more fun than watching THE Danielle Reyes cry over a murder SHE committed!? Or seeing Boston Rob sway an entire roundtable with one line!? We even get Bob the Drag Queen putting on his crown to rule this castle with lies and deceit. 

But… after the glee of all the murder goes away, I’m left with a bit of shame, guilt, and just one question. 

How fair is this for the Faithfuls? 

These first three episodes of season three have shown me just how much of an information disadvantage the Faithfuls truly have in this game. The first roundtable was absolute CHAOS. As a group, they accused ten of the 22 people in one sitting, while the Traitors went on to receive ZERO votes at the first roundtable. Even later on when Jeremy and Dylan were actually on the correct path - paranoia, suspicion, and fear of others - ended up saving the Traitors completely. There are four Traitors in that castle and they have only received 1 of the 39 total votes cast in the first two rounds. 

All of this along with the data from all U.S. and international seasons of The Traitors tells us… the win rate does currently skew towards the Traitors. 

Bob was right… these Faithfuls are “Miss Guided”.

So in the interest of trying to keep this raging war between Faithfuls and Traitors as interesting as possible, I’m here to give some expertise on the five signs you are talking to a Traitor.

(My traitors resumé: In high school, I would invite 20-30 kids over to play mafia in my basement REGULARLY. I wish I was making that up) 

#1 Overly Defensive

Faithfuls understand that other Faithfuls are just as confused as they are. Being overly defensive shows that you are probably hiding something. Gabby said it best, “Faithfuls should be open to all sorts of theories.” She’s right because Faithfuls don’t know the truth. Only the Traitors KNOW things for certain. A great example of this is when Bob the Drag Queen heard that Dylan was suspicious of him. He then got overly defensive when talking to Brittany and Nikki. They should have ended that conversation thinking they might be talking to a Traitor. 

#2 Quiet at Roundtables 

If you are talking to someone who is super quiet at the roundtables… you are probably talking to a Traitor. Who could forget the downfall of Dan “The Goat” Gheesling from season two. Not only was he quiet at roundtables, but he was quiet everywhere else. This is a lesson I learned from being a Catfish on The Circle. When you’re hiding something, like being a Traitor or a Catfish, you subconsciously feel like, “The more times I open my mouth, the more opportunities they have to catch me.” Every single time you speak, there is a chance you could say the wrong thing. So to fix that, you naturally want to say less. Now, that being said, Bob the Drag Queen is doing the opposite at roundtables, which I love to see, but it’s not the norm. Danielle, Carolyn, and Boston Rob each have only said one thing at the first two roundtables (that we have seen) and they were all VERY careful about not REALLY accusing anyone.

#3 Contradictions 

Faithfuls SHOULD have very little to lie about. The exceptions, in my opinion, are shields and withholding suspicions to not die early. So if you catch someone contradicting themselves, and it’s not about one of the aforementioned reasons, they are probably a Traitor. Traitors are way more likely to have shifting reasons for why people are guilty. Take RHAP Traitors 2 when Claire was targeting Tiffany most of the game and then once Claire was recruited, she stopped completely. Be on the lookout for inconsistencies and contradictions! In this sort of situation, I think it’s best to look out for people you might call a “sellout... bro”.

#4 Bandwagoning 

One of the surefire ways to tell if you’re talking to a Traitor is if they are quick to jump on the bandwagon with every idea you have. It’s a smart move for the Traitors to bandwagon onto ideas they know are wrong but also, ideas started by another player: just as Dylan so correctly pointed out. It’s also very important to be able to tell the difference between someone just gassing you up, or engaging with your ideas. Admittedly this can be hard for reality TV stars since the only people cast on reality TV are narcissists… don’t worry I can say that, I have friends that were on reality TV.

#5 Survivors

Are you talking to someone from the hit CBS television show Survivor? If so then you have a FIFTY PERCENT chance you are talking to a Traitor! Between all three seasons of the U.S. version, they have cast eight survivors and a whopping four have been Traitors. If you are going to roll the dice with a Survivor player, know your odds.

I mean like…. at some point these people have to catch onto this… right? Right?!

Big Brother players currently stand with 3/7 of them being Traitors. ALMOST 50% as well!

I feel strongly that the Faithfuls have a harder job. While we do follow the Traitors - it is the name of the show - they are the main characters. I’ve found myself drawn to the plight of the Faithfuls. Are they helpless until a Traitor makes a mistake? I don’t think so…and I want so badly to see these clueless Faithfuls put this puzzle together, even if they are blindfolded!

Where we are at currently in season three, I think we have a challenging game ahead of us with some reality TV titans battling it out. Some players are onto Danielle and Bob the Drag Queen, and with Tony being a Faithful, will eyes shift to Sellout Rob? I personally think those three need to be listening to CAROLYN a bit more (but hey, what do I know). Either way, I can tell we have an exciting season ahead of us!

Are these tips foolproof? No. There are always going to be shifts in the meta and the classic double bluffs, but this is a great starting place for when you put on your detective Faithful hat. I hope these tips can help you in any future games or even identify any Traitors in your real life! 

-Alex Brizard 

PS I’m back like Boston Rob, just to say that Ayan asking Wes if he does TikTok was hilarious. 

Alex Brizard was a contestant and a catfish/traitor on The Circle Season 4 on Netflix. @awildbriz on all platforms. 

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