{"id":262460,"date":"2026-01-28T20:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T20:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/262460\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T20:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T20:56:08","slug":"everyone-wants-to-be-a-traitor-until-its-time-to-betray-themselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/262460\/","title":{"rendered":"Everyone wants to be a Traitor until it\u2019s time to betray themselves"},"content":{"rendered":"

The moment Alan Cumming<\/a> taps Rob Rausch to join his secret circle of murderers in the fourth season premiere of \u201cThe Traitors<\/a>,\u201d a faint grin crosses what we can see of Rausch\u2019s half-obscured face. Since he and everyone else are blindfolded, Rausch is confident no one will notice that tell. Thus far, it has been the only diabolic flicker he\u2019s displayed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hard to read. I\u2019ve been told that by every girl I\u2019ve ever dated. And I\u2019m extremely competitive,\u201d Rausch says in the confessional interview that follows, where he says he\u2019s as happy as can be and knows he\u2019ll make a good Traitor.<\/p>\n

In the middle of a villain era, good people can feel like members of an endangered species reclassified as huntable and left to fend for themselves.<\/p>\n

By the sixth episode, Rausch has proven that by secretly executing several players, even in plain sight, without showing up on anyone\u2019s radar \u2014 including that of comedian Ron Funches, the season\u2019s instant underdog with whom he\u2019s struck up a friendship. Their closeness derails Rausch\u2019s \u201cthree steps ahead\u201d scheming.<\/p>\n

Funches came to Ardross Castle to play as aggressively as the other protagonists, called Faithfuls. But where they loudly announce their intentions, he keeps his to himself. Distrust is the topmost requirement to go the distance in this game, after all.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Rausch is making the most of people\u2019s low expectations of a \u201cLove Island<\/a>\u201d contestant, let alone one from Alabama who enjoys catching snakes<\/a> and quietly strolls around in denim overalls, bare-chested. The Faithfuls can barely look at him, and he likes it that way because he\u2019s perceived as a safe sponge for their secrets \u2013 including their kneejerk suspicion of Funches.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(Euan Cherry\/Peacock) Eric Nam, Ron Funches and Rob Rausch in \u201cThe Traitors\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Traitors\u201d is a social game, so when Funches\u2019 early big swing at another contestant misses terribly, the rest of the players instantly ostracize him. No matter what he does to help his teammates, his doom is common knowledge \u2014 compounded by \u201cThe Real Housewives of New York City<\/a>\u201d star Dorinda Medley\u2019s campaign to portray him as an aggressive Housewife hunter. (It seems his main sins are a lack of interest in her family and an ignorance of the Housewives franchise.)<\/p>\n

Those unfamiliar with Funches\u2019 reputation as a sweetheart might have easily swallowed that, but people who love Funches really love him and rose to his defense on social media. Once those viewers noticed that other players\u2019 outsized negativity was linked to Funches\u2019 personality as opposed to his actions, their observations gently prodded him to seek a possible autism diagnosis, which he made public via his Instagram page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Throughout these episodes, Rausch isn\u2019t any more aware of Funches\u2019 likely neurodivergence than the comic was when the season was in production. All he sees is Funches\u2019 discomfort, and that\u2019s enough to move him in an unexpected direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game is definitely getting harder for me,\u201d Rausch says later. \u201cThe Traitors\u2019 plan is to banish Ron, but I don\u2019t have that in me . . . This game sucks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of those selected to wear the killer\u2019s cloak in \u201cThe Traitors\u201d come to this conclusion, but not as woefully as Rausch. Others of his kind fail to go the distance because of a detail misspoken or a slip of the mask. What trips up Rausch, though, is his moral fiber.<\/p>\n

In the middle of a villain era, good people can feel like members of an endangered species reclassified as huntable and left to fend for themselves. The most principled may preach strength and survival in numbers, but there are always a few willing to sell out the pack for a chance to feast with the predators instead of sharing scraps with the rest.<\/p>\n

The empathic distance that reality TV affords still allows us to not only delight in the Traitors\u2019 impressive murder run but perhaps fantasize as to how well we\u2019d perform in their place.<\/p>\n

Life as we know it reminds us of this every day. Two American citizens brave enough to peacefully place their bodies on the line to help their neighbors were gunned down by masked ICE jackboots empowered by their president to flout legal constraints.<\/p>\n

That this government tries to justify these senseless killings by labeling the victims\u2019 actions as \u201cdomestic terrorism<\/a>\u201d isn\u2019t surprising. Neither are recent surveys showing that a majority of Republicans \u2014 54%, according to a recent Ipsos poll <\/a>\u2014 feel Renee Nicole Good<\/a>\u2019s shooting represented a necessary use of force even though the mother of three was unarmed and driving away from the gunman.<\/p>\n

True villainy is a matter of perspective.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(Euan Cherry\/Peacock) \u201cThe Traitors\u201d<\/p>\n

In contrast, the empathic distance that reality TV affords still allows us to not only delight in the Traitors\u2019 impressive murder run but perhaps fantasize about how well we\u2019d perform in their place. Every Disney movie raises us to recognize that villains always get the best lines, the edgiest wardrobes and, sometimes, the most darling pets. Cumming\u2019s host persona may not be evil per se, but he is wicked enough for his beloved pooch, Lala, to look absolutely angelic trotting next to him.<\/p>\n

Here, the evildoers receive sumptuous cloaks along with their metaphorical daggers. This week, Rausch\u2019s fellow Traitors, Housewives Candiace Dillard Bassett and Lisa Rinna,<\/a> get to peacock in a massive crown and, for Rinna, a brooch as bewitching as it is deadly. Their challenge is to lure someone to touch it, sealing their fate.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve also reached a point in the season at which previous groups of Traitors turned on each other for reasons similar to those that do in tyrannical cabals: mutual envy, paranoia and greed. We eagerly drink in the discord because the stakes are illusory, even if the high-strung emotions turn out to be real.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Traitors\u201d shapes its heroes and villains in the edit. As players frequently remind themselves and us, beneath the histrionics and interpersonal drama is simple gameplay. Nobody thinks Travis Kelce<\/a>\u2019s mother, Donna, is a terrible person despite being outed as a Traitor at the beginning of the season.<\/p>\n

Similarly, not all Faithfuls are gallant, as is confirmed by Michael Rapaport\u2019s rabid behavior. In the second week and fourth episode, his fellow Faithful banished him for hurling an accusation at former \u201cBachelor<\/a>\u201d Colton Underwood, Rausch\u2019s main ally, that was widely perceived as homophobic. (Rapaport denies<\/a> that he meant it to be taken as such.)<\/p>\n

Still, until Rausch gets to know Funches, he approaches the reality competition as simply something else to conquer. And as much as any broadcast reality competition can be legitimately considered to be an experiment, the twist Rausch delivered in this season\u2019s third week and sixth episode is remarkable for its common clarity.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(Euan Cherry\/Peacock) Stephen Colletti, Ron Funches and Maura Higgins in \u201cThe Traitors\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRon is an introvert, and I feel where he\u2019s coming from. I was always the odd man out, growing up: Quiet, did my own thing, kind of kept to myself. And it can be lonely,\u201d Rausch said. \u201cI mean, sometimes the loneliest place for someone like that is in a crowded room.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes time for the players to banish someone else, Rausch finds he can\u2019t stick with his fellow Traitors\u2019 agreed-upon strategy to push out Funches. As Funches later revealed on Threads<\/a>, Rausch knew that would negatively impact his friend\u2019s mental health. Neither can he turn against Underwood, to whom he\u2019s also grown close, and is another Faithful who has tossed out a slew of wrong names but, owing to his charisma, has evaded suspicion for the most part.<\/p>\n

So he joins a slim minority in accusing Rinna, Underwood\u2019s favored Traitor candidate \u2013 and the right suspect, finally \u2013 risking his trusted place among the small circle of the guilty. That doesn\u2019t save Funches, but maybe it preserves a shred of Rausch\u2019s values.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless: \u201cOnce more you drown one of your own in the inky depths of democracy,\u201d Cumming intones after Funches poignantly exits.<\/p>\n

Want more from culture than just the latest trend? The Swell highlights art made to last.
Sign up here<\/a> <\/p>\n

Striving for heroism is a common expectation of ourselves and others in a decent society. But recent events have proven how many would surrender to the dark side when doing so is financially or socially profitable. Our elected officials and the billionaires behind them make that choice easy by twisting the system to their benefit, trusting their faithful will do nothing to stop them.<\/p>\n

When possibly one of the best Traitors in the show\u2019s four American seasons remembers that winning a game driven by manufactured circumstances allowing him to lie and backstab to get ahead isn\u2019t worth selling out his real feelings for a sensitive person, we should pay attention.<\/p>\n

In this poisonous time, those who grin at the notion of playing a Traitor may think twice about the potential cost to their principles. Those who never would might draw solace from this tiniest dose of that antidote to evil called hope, and its evidence that basic goodness still endures.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, when a Threads user observed<\/a> that Funches is receiving as much love as he would have if he actually won the game, the comedian replied, \u201cFeels like I did. Stayed faithful to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Traitors\u201d streams Thursdays on Peacock.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/p>\n

of our reality TV coverage<\/p>\n