{"id":267975,"date":"2026-02-04T23:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T23:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/267975\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T23:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T23:12:08","slug":"lisa-rinna-spent-3-weeks-in-bed-recovering-from-the-traitors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/267975\/","title":{"rendered":"Lisa Rinna Spent 3 Weeks in Bed Recovering From The Traitors"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n \u201cI\u2019m glad that I wasn\u2019t a Faithful. I really am. That\u2019s hard. And they\u2019re terrible.\u201d
\n Photo: Euan Cherry\/PEACOCK\n <\/p>\n

When she was ousted on the seventh episode<\/a> of The Traitors<\/a>, several of Lisa Rinna\u2019s fellow players called her a legend and an icon, words Rinna would most likely use to describe herself. She\u2019s earned them: as a soap star on Days of Our Lives, a standout on Melrose Place, and a fourth-place finisher on Dancing With the Stars season two. Not to mention her eight seasons of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills<\/a>, where she changed the game by dancing on tables<\/a>, breaking wineglasses<\/a>, and asking if people were doing coke in the bathroom<\/a>.<\/p>\n

During Rinna\u2019s last season on the show, when her mother, Lois, died during filming, she became something of a villain, engaging in nonstop fighting with her co-stars and trash-talking the show on social media. Fans booed her when she walked onstage at BravoCon in 2022, but her public image turned around after her delightful run as an actual villain on this season of The Traitors, where she murdered with so much relish that it could be spread on a billion hot dogs. Along with fellow Real Housewife<\/a> Candiace Dillard-Bassett and Love Island USA<\/a> star Rob Rausch, they were a tight band of Traitors until Rob turned Brutus on Lisa and sided with his ally, former Bachelor Colton Underwood, to pull back her hood in front of the whole group.<\/p>\n

I would like to start by talking about your Traitors journey at the end. You had this teary good-bye and you said that leaving Housewives was very difficult for you.
It was.<\/p>\n

Why was it so hard for you?
Hello? You saw every minute of it. You know what was hard. It was really a difficult season. I was grieving on-camera in front of the world. In hindsight, I should have said, \u201cYou know what? I\u2019m going to come back next season. I\u2019m going to go take a break.\u201d I didn\u2019t. I\u2019m a worker bee. I was like, I\u2019ve got to show up for work. And it was a disaster. At the end of the day, grief is really painful, and people don\u2019t want to see it on television, because then it triggers their own grief. So the release of the last moment of Traitors, it really broke me open. I\u2019m really grateful for it, because I hadn\u2019t cried like that in four years. It was a good thing.<\/p>\n

How did that mind-set at the end of Housewives affect you when The Traitors came along and you considered whether or not you wanted to go on the show?
Well, listen, I wasn\u2019t super-keen on doing another reality show. I was like, No, I\u2019d rather watch The Traitors. I don\u2019t really want to do it. But I\u2019m a businesswoman, so everybody comes to me and says why I should do it. And then I saw the value in it. I thought, Well, what do I have to lose?<\/p>\n

Was there a tipping point that made you decide: \u201cOkay, I\u2019m doing it\u201d?
I\u2019ll tell you, our neighbor down the street who was one of the girls\u2019 best friends growing up, I\u2019ve known her since she was 6 months old. She called me, and she said, \u201cLisa, you have to do this show.\u201d She\u2019s 27 and I respect her. She\u2019s really the one that made me go, You know what? I\u2019m going to do it. Sydney Bacco made me do The Traitors.<\/p>\n

Going into the game, did you have a strategy?
No, none. I mean, listen, I didn\u2019t even watch Survivor. I didn\u2019t watch Big Brother. I don\u2019t know anything about gamers. I just know they\u2019re brutal. And I was like, Okay, listen, I\u2019m just going to go and have really good fashion and be in the moment and see what happens.<\/p>\n

Tell me about the fashion. Did you have a stylist? Are all the designers sending you clothes? How did it work?
I had the time of my life. I knew I couldn\u2019t bring Couture Rinna to The Traitors, because that\u2019s Alan\u2019s world, right? He does the wigs and the hair. I thought, Okay, we can\u2019t do that, but let\u2019s find the right vibe. We had a fitting, and we tried on a bunch of stuff and came into something that felt right and comfortable and fashionable, but not trying too hard and not too costumey.<\/p>\n

So Alan makes you a Traitor. Did you start to formulate any plan? How did you approach playing the game?
I mean, once you\u2019re a Traitor, your job is to murder people. I think I did a good job of that. I really enjoyed it, and I was very good at it.<\/p>\n

How would you have played differently if you were a Faithful?
Oh, God. I mean, I don\u2019t know. As a Faithful, you\u2019re such a target. They\u2019re mice running on a wheel. I\u2019m glad that I wasn\u2019t a Faithful. I really am. That\u2019s hard. And they\u2019re terrible.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re not wrong.
I\u2019m not wrong. I even said to Natalie Anderson at the end, I was like, \u201cYou guys are terrible.\u201d She was like, \u201cI know. I know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you feel like your fellow Traitor, Rob, betrayed you by voting for you twice?
What do you think? Duh. But that\u2019s the game. I was sad because we had this great Traitor family, and I didn\u2019t want the family to be broken up. And the same with Candiace. I think we all felt that way except for Rob. And listen, he\u2019s playing a great game. I can\u2019t really fault him for it. But yes, he is a bad boy and he\u2019s getting heat for it, and I\u2019m glad, because he was untouchable the week before. The whole world loved him, idolized him. You were also right there<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yes, ma\u2019am.
I\u2019m glad that he got a little heat, because he needed it to be taken down a few notches.<\/p>\n

What was your relationship with Candiace like before The Traitors?\u00a0
I didn\u2019t know Candiace. I didn\u2019t know Porsha Williams. I knew Dorinda Medley and I knew Caroline Stanbury.<\/p>\n

Who you won\u2019t ever see again, according to her when she was murdered.
I won\u2019t see her at BravoCon ever again. That\u2019s all.<\/p>\n

When you said that, I was like, \u201cLisa won\u2019t see her at BravoCon because Lisa\u2019s never going to BravoCon.\u201d
Exactly. So when she said that to me, I\u2019m like, \u201cNo, you won\u2019t.\u201d Very honest. And I had my soap-opera hat. Listen, I went so over the top with that murder. It was so much fun. I was like, \u201cYou should thank me, because I gave you a great murder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking of great murders, your final murder with the amulet brooch was amazing.
Thank you.<\/p>\n

Did you get picked because the amulet looked best with your outfit?
I didn\u2019t get picked. I chose it, because, listen, I knew that I was putting myself out there, but I didn\u2019t care because I knew that amulet would look really good with my outfit and I knew I\u2019d be the center of attention. Obviously, it didn\u2019t serve me well, but it served me well because it was iconic.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen you in a lot of great things, Lisa Rinna, but I have never seen your acting skills on better display than when you were like, \u201cOh, it\u2019s sticking me.\u201d Did you have that plan all along? How did you formulate how you were going to get someone to touch it?
Well, first I was going to drop it and have Colton pick it up. And then I was like, I can\u2019t risk that. He\u2019s too onto me. He\u2019s watching me like a hawk. Everywhere I go, he\u2019s looking at me. So I\u2019m like, Who could I get to fix it? What if I go, \u201cOh, God, I can\u2019t close it. It\u2019s sticking me.\u201d I knew I could get Yam Yam to do it. I could get Johnny to do it \u2026<\/p>\n

All the gays.
I knew all the gays would do it, except for Colton, because he\u2019s eyeing me too much. So, I mean, honestly, I love Yam Yam. We had such a great time, but I knew in the moment when I got in that area, I was like, I got to do it right now. Because we didn\u2019t have a lot of time.<\/p>\n

Yam Yam and the producers have been taking some heat for when they dragged him out and he was like, \u201cIt\u2019s Lisa! It\u2019s Lisa!\u201d Do you think it was unfair he got to make those accusations on the way out?
I never thought of it that way. I was just so shocked when he said it. I was like, Uh-oh, I\u2019m sunk the minute he said it. Now online when I\u2019m seeing that, I\u2019m like, Oh yeah, he was supposed to be dead. You can\u2019t talk when you\u2019re dead. So I do like that people are trying to have my back. That felt good.<\/p>\n

Now that you\u2019re out, is there anyone left in the castle who you\u2019re really rooting for?
Really only Candiace, because those Faithfuls are terrible.<\/p>\n

The Housewives seem to get a bad rap in the game. They have that whole Housewives-don\u2019t-vote-for-Housewives thing.\u00a0
I\u2019m sorry. I voted for a Housewife right out of the gate because I\u2019m a Traitor. I was looking for a secret Traitor. That Housewife-alliance mentality is bullshit. I\u2019m not even a Housewife anymore!<\/p>\n

One of my other favorite moments is after Colton first comes at you and says, \u201cYou\u2019re not behaving like I thought you would.\u201d And you said, \u201cYou want me to be a Housewife, I can turn it on like that. But that\u2019s not really me.\u201d Was that game talk, or do you feel like that in real life?
Both. Because my last year on Housewives, I was really labeled something that I\u2019m not. And it has taken me three years to be on a show that people go, \u201cOh, that\u2019s the girl we love. She\u2019s back.\u201d And I\u2019m like, \u201cWell, no, I never left. You just had a different opinion about me.\u201d That was a real moment in telling him, \u201cListen, expectations are resentments waiting to happen.\u201d If you say to me, \u201cI expect you to be like this,\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cFuck you. I\u2019m not that. I\u2019m Lisa Rinna. Been in the business for 37 years. I\u2019m an actor.\u201d That was real.<\/p>\n

Anyone who watches Housewives knows that the person behaving differently was Dorinda. I mean, she\u2019s been so calm, cool, and collected.
She is so calm and quiet. But again, I think I came in with more of a target on my back. Well, she might\u2019ve too, but no one\u2019s noticing it. Dorinda\u2019s not being Dorinda at all, but what are you going to do?<\/p>\n

Are there any other Housewives you think would be great on The Traitors?
I think Erika Jayne would be great. I would love to see a big actor do it, not a Housewife but somebody like Julia Roberts or Jennifer Lawrence or Kate Hudson.<\/p>\n

How would Harry Hamlin do, speaking of great actors?
You know what? I think Harry Hamlin would be awesome. He\u2019s super-smart. He can be MacGyver and live out in the woods. He\u2019s got a little Rob in him. If there\u2019s a snake in the backyard, he\u2019ll put it in a trash can and then make the gardeners take it away. He won\u2019t kill it.<\/p>\n

Would you come back for an all-Housewives season of The Traitors?
No!<\/p>\n

Why not?
I don\u2019t want to be near those women. Hell no.<\/p>\n

How is playing a Traitor different from being on Housewives?\u00a0
It\u2019s not anything like being on Housewives. You\u2019re playing a game, and I always remembered that, so I never took it personally. I never had grudges against people. I was a Traitor. I did what I was supposed to do. Housewives was not a game. That\u2019s the difference.<\/p>\n

These gamers always say, \u201cIt\u2019s a game. It doesn\u2019t matter. Do whatever you want to do.\u201d But, for Housewives, being on a show is their real life. And I feel like they often approach the game like it\u2019s real life. We\u2019re seeing Candiace do that now, coming after Rob.\u00a0
It\u2019s a fine line, because you get triggered. We were watching a roundtable the other night, and Harry was like, \u201cWow, this is hard.\u201d Because everybody\u2019s psychosis comes out in these pressure moments. It\u2019s a lot to handle. That\u2019s why I would sit back and go, \u201cIt\u2019s just a game. It\u2019s not personal.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do your girls think of watching you on the show?
They knew how difficult it was for me to do it. It took three weeks for me to recover. They were like, \u201cWow, that really took Mom out.\u201d I think it was really just joyful for the whole family to see me have a truer moment in a show like this.<\/p>\n

Your three weeks of recovery \u2014 was it a physical recovery or an emotional recovery?
Mental, physical, and psychological, truly. I just had to go to bed for three weeks. Seriously. I\u2019m not kidding. I know you think, Oh, come on, girl. Truly, three weeks to recover. Maybe more.<\/p>\n

Well, Lisa, it was a pleasure watching you.
Thank you. I feel so good about it. I feel like I won. I really do. I don\u2019t need to go to the end. I won.<\/p>\n


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