Reality Recap: The Traitors Season Four Returns with Three Episode Premiere

Two-time Emmy-winning reality show “The Traitors” kicked off its season four premiere, releasing the first three episodes on January 8 on NBC’s streaming platform, Peacock.

“The Traitors” is a reality competition show that combines social strategy and alliances with physical challenges. At the beginning of the season, the host, Alan Cumming, secretly chooses a few “traitors” from the cast. The rest of the cast is then deemed as “faithful”. At stake is a $250,000 prize.

Every night, the traitors convene to decide which of the faithful they will “murder”. Following that, the cast has a roundtable discussion of who could be a traitor, and they vote to eliminate them.

Physical competitions are held to add money to the earnings. It is the goal of the faithful to vote out all of the traitors by the end of the season, or else all of the money earned will go to the traitors. 

Season four’s cast consists of stars from the Real Housewives franchises, infamous players from Big Brother and Survivor, Olympians, and more. 

Episode One: “Let The Cards Fall as They Will”

At the start, Cumming’s, as theatrical as ever, revealed that a secret traitor will be picked immediately upon arriving at the castle, but not even the audience will know who it is yet. Later, Cumming had individual interviews with each contestant to influence his choice.

Following that is the roundtable meeting where everyone is blindfolded, and Cumming then chose the three main traitors.

The Traitors:

• Candiace Dillard Bassett (“The Real Housewives of Potomac”)
• Lisa Rinna (“The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”)
• Rob Rausch (“Love Island 5 & 6”)

The night ended with the traitors revealing themselves to each other in the meeting place of the turret. Cumming joined them to share that the secret traitor will have the responsibility of creating a shortlist of players to be eliminated, and the rest of the traitors can only choose a faithful from that list to murder. 

The next day, the contestants arrived for their first competition. They separated into groups of three to fit inside row boats and were tasked with rowing their boats to the floating caskets in the water. They then had to find the caskets with a money sign on top and bring those caskets to the grave of a fellow contestant. Thus, earning more money.

Whoever’s grave is full by the end of the challenge would put them at risk for murder, and players with an empty grave would receive a shield for the week. 

The following night of the competition, the traitors met in the turret to decide the first murder of the season. They received the shortlist created by the secret traitor and are only left with four options to “murder.”

Up for “Murder”:

• Ian Terry (“Big Brother” winner)
• Mark Ballas (“Dancing with the Stars”)
• Eric Nam (Singer)

Rob Rausch was also on the list, but since he is a fellow traitor, he can’t be murdered. The episode ended before revealing their victim. 

Episode Two: ” The Death Conga”

Episode two opened following the night of the first murder. First, they reveal each of the surviving contestants in small groups entering the dining room for breakfast. All of the contestants who were not shortlisted entered.

Finally, the last group enters, revealing Ian Terry was the first murder of the season. Leaving the rest of the cast shocked and sympathetic, but not surprised. Terry won his season of “Big Brother” by flying under the radar and being highly strategic, which posed a threat to this cast. 

At the second competition, they’re told that they must pull three thrones all the way back to the castle, collecting gold along the way to add it to their prize pot. The players who collect “shield tokens” along the way get to sit on the thrones (players who find subsequent tokens can force the current occupant out of their seat), and the three players seated will earn immunity for the night.

Shield Token Recipients:

• Caroline Stanbury (“The Real Housewives of Dubai”)
• Colton Underwood (“The Bachelor”)
• Rob Rausch

Quickly following is the roundtable, where the cast must choose a contestant they believe might be a traitor and “banish” them from the competition. Porsha Williams (“The Real Housewives of Atlanta”) is accused due to an accidental slip of the tongue after breakfast, where she told fellow member,s “After I killed Ian last night”. Even after explaining the misunderstanding, the cast votes her out.

Following the vote, they must reveal if the cast made the correct vote before they leave the competition. Williams reveals she was a faithful, leaving the faithful at a loss. 

Afterwards, the traitors learn they must murder in plain sight. They have to find hidden cards inside the castle with the faces of each shortlisted member and then burn the card of whoever they choose to murder in the fireplace.

Candiace thinks on her feet of the most efficient way to distract the faithful from the act and starts a conga line. The faithful are confused but join anyway to alleviate the energy of the house. She leads them around the castle, away from where the actions of the traitors need to take place.

Rinna and Rausch take advantage of this and can murder in secret. Once again, leaving it on a cliffhanger of who is the victim of the night. 

Episode Three: “Show Me Your Faces”

Audiences pick up where they left off, wondering who has been the second murder of the season. After the contestants trickle into breakfast, it is revealed that Rob Cesternino (“Survivor”) was the next victim.

This begins to raise hairs for the remaining “gamers” of the cast, such as the “Big Brother” and “Survivor” players. Cumming reveals the banishment roundtable will be held immediately following breakfast, unlike how it usually follows the competition.

In the roundtable, Colton Underwood reveals his suspicion of Donna Kelce (mother of Travis and Jason Kelce). She is so unsuspecting that it makes her suspect, and many begin to believe his intuition as well.

Once the voting begins, she soon receives the most votes and will no longer compete. Before she can leave, she must state her status. She reveals she is in fact a traitor.

The cast members erupt in cheers at their success. Now, the audience and remaining traitors are made aware that Kelce was the secret traitor who was making the shortlist, but the faithful still do not know this. 

For the players’ challenge, they must first pair up with the one person they trust the most in the group. The teams of two are led into the woods, where one teammate is placed in a locked cage, and the other is tasked with finding ten animal skulls hidden in a watery marsh.

The skulls must then be stacked perfectly so they don’t fall, after which point the cage will unlock. Not only will the group earn $5,000 for every cage that’s successfully unlocked, but both partners will be shielded from that night’s murder. Anyone inside a cage when the challenge ends will be on the shortlist to be killed.

Up for “Murder”:

• Eric Nam
• Caroline Stanbury
• Kristen Kish (host of “Top Chef”)
• Ron Funches (comedian)

They also must be left outside, tied to a tree, and will be murdered face-to-face, unlike the typical letter that the victim receives. Viewers are left with bated breath for next week’s reveal of the third murder of the season.