Spoiler Alert: This story contains spoilers for Episode 7 of Season 4 of “Traitor,” now available on Peacock.
Lisa Rinna played the role of Traitor in Season 4 of The Traitors for seven episodes. She wore her coveted dress at the Black Banquet and was long enough to record an impressive body count. While she was in the game, Traitors successfully killed “Big Brother” star Ian Terry, “Survivor” legend Rob Cesternino, “Real Housewives of Dubai” star Caroline Stanbury, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” winner Monet X Change, and “Survivor” winner Yum Yum Arocho.
For fans accustomed to Rinna’s chaotic, scene-stealing antics on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Traitor revealed a different side of Rinna: calculating, strategic, and surprisingly stealthy. She remained out of sight of the Faithfuls for several weeks until Yum Yam, whom she had just killed at the Black Banquet, was taken away screaming her name and sealed the deal.
“I literally killed him, and when he was taken out, he screamed my name,” she told Variety. “That’s good TV…he kind of sunk you.”
The “RHOBH” alum was chosen as one of the original traitors, along with Candice Dillard Bassett and Rob Roush. In episode 7, Rob leads the charge to have her removed, voting against her and convincing Congress to remove her despite trying to cast doubt on “Survivor” star Natalie Anderson. Lisa admitted that she had no idea that traitorous allies were plotting her downfall until the episode aired.
It took some time to recover from the intensity of the experience, but she has no regrets. There are also many opinions about Faithful Player’s detective skills. “Faithfuls is really bad,” she says. “They really are, they’re terrible.”
Below, she talks to Variety about Rob’s betrayal, that infamous Yum Yum moment, her relationship with Colton Underwood, and why she “loved killing people.”
Participating in “The Traitors” seems very stressful. Your daughter told Variety that she needed time to “heal” after filming. What was that process like?
It took about a minute to readjust. It was an intense experience, so it took some time. And now I’m great. My husband and I were watching the show, and he was watching the roundtable with Michael[Rappaport]and Colton, and he said, “Okay, I understand what you’re going through. There’s a lot of psychopaths around this table.” You finally understood what I was going through.
It’s like Rob voted against you and led the charges to get you kicked out —
Seed? Seed? Hello!
Ewan Cherry/PEACOCK
Yes, it was him. When did you realize he was going to sacrifice you?
I had no idea. I mean, he voted for me the night before, so my spy senses were already awake. But little did I know that the next day he would be in the lead. Surprisingly, that’s the game. He’s smarter than me. Because everyone thought it was me who would fight the traitor, but it wasn’t. You can’t blame him for that. That was sad because I love the little traitor group, the little traitor family. It’s great to be a kiki and have fun, but at the end of the day, it’s called a “traitor.” This happens all the time, a traitor-versus-traitor crime. I happen to be a traitor to traitor criminal. I’m kind of glad it wasn’t me who did it. He’s getting a lot of credit for that and I think he deserves all of it.
Let’s talk about Black Banquet and Yum Yum Screaming Your Name. Did you actually kiss him differently?
I gave everyone an air kiss. If you watch the tape, he comes to kiss me first. Not me. And I don’t kiss people — I air kiss people. He also has a beard. I’m not going to go in and kiss his beard. I knew it was about charms, so it was frustrating that it was all about kissing. But I can’t say that…The moment he yelled my name, I thought, “Oh, Rinna, it’s sunk. It’s sunk. That’s it.” If nothing else, his beliefs were so strong that I can see why Rob was like, “Okay, well, she’s a sinking ship. I might as well literally sink her.” He’ll have a little karma for that, but that’s okay. he is young He’ll understand that.
So what was your first reaction when Yum Yum shouted your name?
My first reaction was, “Did he just say your name?” And I thought, “Oh my god, he just said my name.” Inside, I’m laughing and thinking I can’t write something like that. I literally killed him and when he was taken out he screamed my name? It’s good TV. In my head, it’s like the producers are like, “Wow, this is really cool.” The moment he screamed my name with such conviction, I sank. I thought that no matter what, I just needed someone to give me a cigarette.
You and Candice almost flipped the vote on Natalie. Do you think you would have survived another round if Rob hadn’t chased you around the round table?
that’s right. I think it would have been good to have one more episode. It was already heading towards Natalie, but Rob must have wanted to keep her. I don’t know what his game is, but there’s a reason why he followed me, so I’ll ask him about it at the reunion. “Why did you ultimately make that decision?” Because I’m curious.
Although Colton carried it for the majority of the match, he has received a lot of negative attention online since the show’s premiere. You joked about him being a “stalker”, as if you were referring to his past, but later apologized. How is your relationship with him now?
I didn’t know anything about his past. In my defense, he wanted a housewife, so I gave him a housewife moment with my sassy response to a message in the thread. That would be like adding gas to a fire, and I didn’t want to do that. That’s not what I’m trying to do. Listen, he was a big nemesis to me. I understand that and I thanked him during the game. That’s why I watched it. It’s sad when someone gets hateful online. Because I’ve experienced it too. You certainly don’t want to contribute to someone’s hate online. That’s why I didn’t like it.
Did you enjoy being a traitor?
I liked killing people. It was a lot of fun. I loved being a traitor. I loved every second of it. I wouldn’t change anything. I had the best time of my life.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
