Holly Madison is finally ready to embrace her inner “traitor”, but only after a hilarious misunderstanding ruins her chance in the show’s first season.
While chatting with Page Six’s “Virtual Reali-Tea” about its new partnership with Seeking.com and its national breakup campaign, the former Playboy Playmate revealed that she was actually approached to appear on the first season of the popular reality competition “The Traitors” in 2023.
But at the time, Madison said she had no idea what the series was about and thought producers had called her for a specific reason.
“Scottish castles definitely speak to me!” Madison jokes. “But the funny thing is, I was asked to be on the first season and I turned it down because I didn’t really understand what it was about.”
The reality star’s confusion stemmed from a complicated public story surrounding the show’s name and her past relationship with the late Playboy founder Hugh Hefner.
“I thought I was chosen to be on ‘Traitor’ because I wrote a book about Hef and people thought I was a traitor,” she explained with a laugh. “And I thought, ‘Well, I’m not going to fall for this.'” So I said no. ”
Madison famously detailed her experiences living at the Playboy Mansion and her eventual breakup with Hefner in her 2015 memoir Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Shouldary Tales of a former Playboy Bunny, which became a bestseller and sparked widespread conversation about life behind the mansion’s gates.
But now that she actually understands the premise of “Traitor,” Madison says she would definitely reconsider joining the show, especially if she had a very specific casting request.
“Yes, I will!” she tells us. “Especially if they cast me and Trisha Paytas in the same season. That would be my favorite.”
Of course, Madison is no stranger to reality TV. Fans first learned about her on the long-running show E! The Girls Next Door is a series that follows life at the Playboy Mansion. She then starred in her own Las Vegas-based spin-off, Holly’s World, which aired for two seasons from 2010 to 2011.
Looking back, Madison says that period remains one of the happiest of her life.
“That show was so much fun,” she says. “There’s been a few different times in my life, and I look back and think, ‘That was one of my favorite times.’ That was definitely that time. When I had just come to Las Vegas and I was doing a show on the Strip, and I was doing that show, I had so much fun through it all. It was amazing.”
The experience also left her with lasting friendships.
“And[former Holly’s World co-star]Angel[Porrino]also came on[my]Girls Next Level[podcast]today and we’re recording together,” Madison continued. “We are still friends and that is one of my fondest memories.”
Lately, Madison hasn’t been actively pursuing another reality show, but she hasn’t ruled it out completely either.
“I never miss drama,” she admitted. “If someone suggested a unique concept that I would be into, I would consider it. But I feel like I’m at a crossroads in life. I don’t want my kids on camera and I want to have a relationship off camera.”
She added, “If that’s something I was a part of and I went out to do something, then so be it.”
For now, Madison is focusing on her latest collaboration with Seeking.com and its national farewell campaign. This partnership feels especially appropriate given her own outlook on heartbreak.
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“You know, I’ve been reflecting on the various breakups that I’ve gone through in my adult life, and I feel like good things happen right after that. So I felt like I was the perfect person for this campaign,” she shared.
“We should say that breakups are… I mean, feel how you feel, but you shouldn’t be sad forever. And you should look at breakups as a beginning or an opportunity for a new beginning.”
In fact, Madison says breakups are often the beginning of her best chapters.
“As you get older, you can look back on past breakups and go, ‘But this was really good,’ and you can move on to the next stage of your life. So it gets a little bit easier each time,” she says.
“It still hurts. And it definitely takes a little bit of time to like it and feel it, whether you want to like it for a few days or not. But really good things usually come after that. From an expression standpoint, right after a breakup, I feel like I’m really magnetic.”
