The Traitors Canada Season 3 (Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CTV.ca, the CTV app, and streams next day on Crave) is off to a shocking start, with host Karine Vanasse putting the Faithfuls and Traitors through first-time twists. But the first Traitor has been banished, and it’s someone that many fans of reality TV likely thought was going to make it to the end.
In this week’s episode, Kevin, who famously won Big Brother Canada Season 10, seemed to put a target on his back at the roundtable, leading to him being banished from the manor. While he was trying to make a move to have fellow Traitor Coco get out of the game, it backfired, but as Kevin explained to Yahoo Canada, there were “a lot of factors” that led to him being outed as a Traitor.
“After that first night, I said, OK Venus and Omar are my buddies in here. There is no chance I’m doing anything but trying to win with the three of us. So in order for that to happen, which is exceptionally unlikely, I needed Coco out, either at that roundtable or the next one,” he explained. “So it wasn’t about revenge, it was about getting a Traitor out.”
“Now, what would have to happen also, and I realize how insane this is, is that we would also banish a bunch of other Traitors and recruit Omar near the end. So, constantly doing that, because what happens is, if you banish someone and they’re a Traitor, that is so-called evidence, right? So someone goes out, let’s say Coco goes out, I can pin her as the gamer. … Then there’s a point where, OK maybe it is believable that all the people left are Faithfuls, and we get to the end. And I realize this sounds absolutely nuts, but given the amount of factors going on, which was Jericho had been throwing out Coco’s name, I felt like I was getting a little bit of heat at this roundtable. … This is such a hard game, I’m going to take a swing. I think I have about a 30 per cent chance of doing it here. And I sort of thought I was being Benoit Blanc, but I ended up being more so like one of the villains in a Knives Out movie.”
‘My worst moment on reality TV’
This came after an anticipated Big Brother Canada alliance between Kevin and Ty, the winner of Season 11, was squashed early. As fans will recall, Kevin and Coco were selected as Traitors, but they were put in the position to pick a third. While they had to choose between Survivor alum Venus and Ty, they ultimately went with Venus, meaning Ty’s time at the manor came to an end very early.
“From a personal standpoint, that first night was probably my worst moment on reality TV,” Kevin said. “I [knew] both of them from before this, so this wasn’t that simple of a decision, either way.”
“Game design standpoint, I’m actually a big fan of keeping the Traitors on their toes, because Traitors inherently have an advantage. … So forcing us to get screwed over on night one kind of evens the odds a little bit.”
“I knew that when I saw Coco and Kevin there that the biggest hurdle for me would be that Coco would be concerned about my relationship with Kevin and how that, rightfully, would put her in a third wheel position,” Ty said in a separate interview. “I had complete confidence in Kevin to … pick that up and then do what we expect him to do, and talk his way through the situation and get what he wants. But [it didn’t play] out that way.”
“I can’t knock him for that. I mean, it’s a stressful situation, and it’s a game. … It was an unfortunate twist that caught everybody off guard.”
Ty: ‘Making me a Faithful’ was the right call
Ty ultimately wanted to play the game as a Traitor, but doesn’t necessarily think it would have been a “fair” competition if he were given that position.
“I think it would have been great TV,” he said. “But to be honest, I think it wouldn’t be fair, if I’m being real.”
“If I had that level of power, …. I would have had a very fun time, and I wouldn’t have probably been stressed for a lot of it. So I think making me a Faithful was the right option.”
Ty added that having him alongside Kevin as Traitors would have been an “interesting dynamic.”
“I’m sure at some point one of us would have had to turn on the other. So that would have been a great little twist in the show … I think the viewers are robbed of what could have been.”
Curtis, another player eliminated early, became particularly close with Ty, which ultimately proved to be a downfall for his game.
“When Ty left the game, I was very worried,” Curtis said. “So now I had to build some bridges with other people, and tried to do that throughout the day.”
“I would say, sort of ironically, Ty, who I was most close with, was the one who gave my name to Omar, which ultimately was part of the reason why I left the game as well. So I think it really started with a little bit of bad luck. And maybe not having all the right conversations with the right people I needed to. … My strategy going in was to go deep with people. That’s why I went really deep with Ty. … I should have just talked to more people.”
Mackenzie on The Traitors Canada Season 3 (CTV)
Then you have Mackenzie, who left Traitors Canada after losing the grave challenge, unlike most players who leave after they’re murdered by the Traitors or banished by the majority of players in the manor.
“There’s also nothing like pleading for your life on national television and still going home, so that’s fun. I’m glad that it’s up forever,” Mackenzie said in jest. “I also think I, logistically, was the furthest grave. … It was a very physically demanding challenge. So I’m like, maybe people just don’t want to run all the way to my grave. … Not the way I thought I would go out on The Traitors, for sure.”
The Traitors Canada Season 3 (CTV)
‘It kind of feels like a fever dream’
Particularly for Traitors Canada players without reality TV experience, one of the challenges was keeping everything that happened on Traitors Canada a secret from friends and family when they returned home.
“It was so hard to keep the secret for sure, because … you’re not allowed [a] phone. You feel like you’re just locked away with these people,” Mackenzie said. “And then I exit out of the episode, and I’m just popped back into the real world. Not [allowed to] talk about it with anyone. … As time goes on, it kind of feels like a fever dream. You’re like, ‘Did this happen?'”
“The immediate response from all of my social circle and family is like, ‘Oh my God, you won. I know you got right to the end. You’re such a competitor, there’s no way that you’re going out early.’ And to have to kind of bite my tongue,” Curtis shared in a separate interview. “My phone’s just blowing up with people like, ‘What happened!?’ … So it was a relief to be able to tell them, but also very hard to keep a secret about what the outcome was going to be.”
Kevin on elimination episode: ‘I watched at home with my wife’
The morning after Kevin’s elimination episode aired, he admitted that he hadn’t been looking at his phone to see the responses from personal contacts, but also Canadian reality TV fans online.
“I was nervous for this episode, obviously,” he said. “I got some nice texts, I’m not too plugged in. Friends and family, that’s what I care about. They seem to have had a good time. I just watched at home with my wife.”
“It was fun for her to watch back. It was also a cool experience because Big Brother aired while you’re in there, so this was just really fun to watch with her and see her reaction to stuff. And also, she would notice things that either I was doing or that maybe were happening under the radar that no other viewer would experience.”
‘Things are not going to be simple’
Reflecting back on their time on the show, some of the Faithfuls did have suspicions about who the Traitors were.
“I was suspicious of Venus, and then to find out it was Venus, … I was so upset that I was right, in a way,” Mackenzie said. “Our first breakfast, I was kind of sitting close to Venus, and when she came in, that was the morning after having to choose between her and Ty, I just found her energy a little nervous. But I didn’t really bring it up to anyone.”
“I had some suspicion of Kevin. I think he was kind of an obvious choice, and I felt like it was maybe a little bit too on the nose,” Curtis said. “Kevin, he’s just a unique guy, and I was building a good relationship with him.”
“Coco was such an excellent choice. Coco had a little bit of suspicion at the beginning, but I think she did a really good job of flying under the radar, and also just great TV. Really fun to watch Coco in that role. So I would say, I wasn’t super surprised.”
But ultimately, there is one significant question for any Traitors fan at this point, and that’s how likely it is for the Faithful to keep up this momentum and banish all the Traitors.
“I think people have that sheep or herd mentality, which can be very detrimental,” Ty said. “But I do think that there are some strong-headed people in there that I don’t think will necessarily go with the crowd. And they might use their heads a bit and say, … I see what’s going on here, but we’re not going to make this another season like that.”
“When I left the game, I was upset. I was bitter. I’m a competitor. I wanted to come and win this game. So going out first roundtable is brutal. And so, my immediate thought leaving the manor [was], these Faithfuls are hopeless,” Curtis admitted.
“[I left so early], so I felt like the Traitors were still able to wear their masks,” Mackenzie said. “The more time goes on, the harder I feel like it is to keep your mask up.”
Kevin admits being ‘a little intimated’ by fellow Traitor Coco
Kevin also highlighted that Traitors Venus and Coco are particularly strong and “powerful” with their gameplay.
“Venus is, I think, an underrated strategic player. She has a lot of people who love her online, but sometimes it’s just about her serving looks and saying something funny, but Venus is actually someone with really good reads,” he said. “And Coco, part of the reason why I was so interested in Coco is because I picked up on little things that she was doing, where she would have conversations and be able to flip the switch to gamer. … I was a little intimidated by that.”
“So how likely are they to navigate this? Look, they both have a little bit of heat. I think they are both exceptional game players, and so I don’t know, but I’m excited to see how it plays out. Because after this roundtable with so many different people getting votes, things are not going to be simple, not only for the Traitors, but also for the Faithful.