The Traitors producers broke their silence on whether Danielle Reyes told Britney Haynes off screen that she wasn’t a Faithful.
During the Thursday, February 27, episode of Peacock’s hit competition series, Danielle recruited Britney as a fellow Traitor, but the build-up to the plot twist felt too predictable to some viewers. Traitor Carolyn Wiger, who was banished on last week’s episode, has since accused Danielle of spoiling the game for Britney, 37, which would go against NDAs signed in the castle.
“I find that theory mad, if I’m honest. We listen to absolutely everything that happens in the castle. We’re with them 24/7, they’re either filming or in their rooms,” executive producer Mike Cotton told Variety on Thursday, February 27. “There was never a moment where any of us ever heard Danielle reveal to Britney or whoever else that she was a Traitor.”
Cotton noted that ruining the reveal for Britney wouldn’t have helped Danielle, 53, adding, “Also, that would be an absolutely crazy move, because you’re then out of the game, essentially. I can’t see any reason why anyone would actually ever do that.”
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There are also Non-disclosure agreements to think about.
“They sign a lot of paperwork, and the Traitors sign their own oath and agreement with us,” Cotton revealed. “There’s lots of things like that, but there was never a moment that we heard when anyone revealed their identity and honestly, it wouldn’t make any sense.”
Reality fans have tuned in each week to watch stars from different franchises play in a mafia-style game with a prize of up to $250,000. The guidelines are simple: most people are Faithfuls while a select few become Traitors, whose mission it is to get to the finale and steal the earnings from the Faithfuls.
In the past, the Traitors have worked together for the sake of a common goal. This season, however, Boston Rob Mariano changed all expectations when he accused fellow Traitor Bob the Drag Queen at a roundtable meeting, which caused the latter’s banishment. From there, Danielle and Carolyn used the same tactic to try to get the other person out of the game. (Boston Rob himself was banished and exposed weeks later.)
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“The whole idea of the show is Traitors vs Faithfuls. I think the Traitors were quite a harmonious group, until Rob went for Bob the Drag Queen, and it unraveled from there,” Cotton explained to Variety. “Is that terrifying? Yeah! The roundtable between Rob and Bob was slightly heart-stopping for us, because it could have blown everything up. But that is also what makes it great. I really like the fact that this season is different. I like the fact that those turrets have been fascinating to watch, and it’s given the whole season a different feel.”
Cotton admitted there were concerns that Traitors would accidentally out each other in the heat of the moment, saying, “And we didn’t put those Traitors together thinking that they were all going to argue and that they weren’t going to get along. We actually thought it’d be really interesting to see the gamers’ strategic minds work together, and how they played. It just so happened that they, at times, imploded instead of working together.”
Luckily, the contestants stood by the rules provided to them.
“The Traitors take an oath with [host] Alan [Cumming], where they promise to murder every night and they promise to keep the identity of their fellow Traitors a secret. The rules say that they can, at the roundtable, accuse a fellow Traitor of being a Traitor, but only from the guise of being a Faithful themselves,” Cotton detailed. “What they could never do is say, ‘I know that he’s a Traitor because I’m one as well.’ Or ‘Because I’ve been to the turret.’ They have to be acting as the Faithful when they accuse another Traitor.”
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He continued: “So, it’s quite terrifying to watch when two Traitors are going hard at each other. It’s also a risky move. We say to any Traitors, of course you can accuse another Traitor, but you have to be aware of how that might affect your own gameplay. Rob went in there, bold, and took out Bob. And he actually carried on for quite awhile longer. Perhaps, if the Traitors had been more of a harmonious group after, he would still be in the game. You just don’t know.”
New episodes of The Traitors are released Thursdays on Peacock.
