Spoiler Alert: This story contains spoilers for “Traitor” Season 4, Episode 8, now available on Peacock.
Colton Underwood has been under fire since Season 4 of Traitor aired in early January. The former Bachelor, who came out as gay in 2021, played a very intense game – he admits it! – but he also made quite a few enemies in the castle.
As the episode unfolded, Underwood began receiving intense online bullying. Although not the first or only member of the cast to be the subject of backlash, Underwood has drawn comments about her past. That attitude was reinforced when Michael Rapaport attacked him during a roundtable discussion, saying, “There’s no one in this room who’s better at keeping secrets than you,” apparently citing Underwood’s hidden past. He headlined The Bachelor in 2019 and continued a long-term relationship with winner Cassie Randolph. In 2020, Randolph filed a restraining order for stalking and placing a tracking device in his car, but the case was later dropped by mutual agreement. The following year, Underwood came out as gay.
The former NFL player has since married and has a son. And when he starred in “Traitor,” the hate he received wasn’t about the game he played as Faithful. It quickly became personal, with internet commenters rehashing their suspicions against him. The toxicity directed at Underwood was one of the reasons Peacock released a statement asking fans to be respectful.
At the beginning of the eighth episode, Underwood was murdered by the remaining traitors, Rob Roush and Candace Dillard Bassett, which he foresaw was coming. Below, Variety speaks with Underwood about his journey on the show, his thoughts on the gameplay, and his current standing with the cast.
Were you shocked by the murder or did you see it coming?
I think at that point in the game I knew the only way to make it to the end was to get scouted. So I was either hired or killed. If I’m going to go out, I’d rather go out and get killed than be exiled. Because I think protecting yourself and defending yourself at the roundtable is part of the game and part of the fun. And if you get kicked out, it means you didn’t do a good enough job defending yourself. So I always thought that if I went out, I wanted to go get killed.
How are you feeling now?
I’m really proud of how I played the game. It was very intense. Understood. And I think people who met me for the first time in front of the camera were like, “Who is this guy?” I’m the ultimate competitor. I was also a big fan of that show. So, strangely, now, instead of the intensity that I had to watch myself on that show, there’s a part of me that’s super excited to watch the rest of the season again as a fan. But I’m fine. I’m in a very good place in my life, happy and having fun. The person I am when I appear in front of my family is different from the person I am when I work on television. So I’m in a really good place.
Peacock implored the audience to calm down, as there has been a lot of negative feedback from the fandom this season. What was that experience like for you?
First and foremost, I want to say I’m proud of the cast, the people who are putting on a show for the fans, and the Peacocks for standing up for human beings. I think what makes “Traitor” so successful is that every cast member in the castle has their own fans and their own group of people rooting for and rooting for them. I can understand how it feels to cheer and be upset when a player goes home. Personally, I think the message sent to me and the things brought up without context and without accuracy of my past crossed some lines. I am and will continue to be responsible for this. It was something I wasn’t fully prepared to deal with at this stage in my life, six years later. But I understand that there are new fans and people meeting me for the first time. Some people watched my season of ‘The Bachelor’ six years ago and then forgot about me, and now all of a sudden this is jarring. who is this guy? A lot has happened in my life in the last six years. There’s been a lot of growth, a lot of self-effort, and I’m in a completely different place now.
It’s not the first time you’ve received backlash online, but did it feel different this time around with people bringing up restraining orders? How bad could it have been?
I focus on the positive, but you know me well, and I’m going to shoot you very straight: An example of a message I had to send to Peacock was after Michael Rapaport’s comment, someone stuck a gun up my ass and told me to pull the trigger, and in it called me the F-word. That’s crossing the line. If you don’t respect my gameplay, if you don’t like the character I played in Traitors, that’s a different story, but to receive a message like that, an email with my home address and mention of my kids and husband in it, that’s not OK. That’s too far. Like I said, I’m focusing on the positives, but I also see the comments. As I said before, some people are saying things that are completely inaccurate. And I’m not interested in retaliation. I’m not interested in fighting with people in the comments. But I think just understanding that that part of my life is left out of a lot of context.
Caroline Stanbury, Colton Underwood, Rob Roush, Johnny Weir, Maura Higgins, Tiffany Mitchell, Candace Dillard Bassett
Ewan Cherry/Peacock
There is a theory that you knew Robb was a traitor. What do you think about it?
I think I’m trying to keep people from acknowledging what I did. Was Rob on my side? Yes, he was on my side and what I thought was a believer. The only mistake Rob made that got my antennae up was telling everyone he had a dagger. It felt like an interview drama to me. And I thought, “Why would Rob do this? Statistically speaking, one of these six people is a traitor. Why would he reveal his card? Oh, he’s hiding himself. Either for someone who’s not in this pack, or someone who is in this pack.”
So that was his only mistake in the game. I think Rob either killed me or had Candace kill me because he was giving her his own shovel to dig his own grave. And I think it was great. It was terrible. That’s what “Traitors” is all about, and I think it was the best strategic move I’ve ever seen in a game.
Rapaport says you guys have talked and it’s okay now. How do you feel when you look back at what he said to you?
There are many things that are not always exposed. What I mean about Michael is that I feel like it was somewhat sleazy. When I came to the roundtable, I brought the evidence, but I left it in the game. The furthest opinion is that “Lisa is not the Lisa I thought she was.” I didn’t want to get into anyone’s antics or what I knew about them before the show. It felt inappropriate and didn’t apply to the game. I don’t think Michael is homophobic. He FaceTimed me after the shoot. We had a great conversation and I’ll let him decide if he wants to talk about it at the reunion. We passed by there. I forgave him. I’m not a person who likes to hold grudges. I’ve been hanging out with Michael Rapaport in the locker room all my life, and they talk fast, they put their foot in their mouth, they say things like that. Understood.
What do you think about Lisa Rinna now?
I love Lisa, so I think it was an honor to go against her. I think she said that too, we were each other’s perfect enemies. I really enjoy breaking the fourth wall. We were producing a TV show. Of course we are playing games. And I know people like to keep to their bubble, the producers of “The Bachelor” always hated me breaking that fourth wall. But we’re there to entertain, and we understand that. We’re going to play an evolved version of ourselves. she said: “You want a housewife. I’ll give you a housewife.” And I’m like, “Thank you! Let’s do that.”
It was fun for me. That’s when the adrenaline rushes. So it’s an honor and we’re in a good position. She said so in front of the camera. She has been in this industry for 36 years. I’m only 34 so I don’t know everything about her career, but I really respect her career.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
