The best running reality show on TV, The Traitors, hath returned. To commemorate this momentous event—and keep tabs on this absurd cast of characters—each week, we will be evaluating the power dynamics of the Traitors castle, determining who’s running the show, who’s playing the best game, and who’s avoiding the ire of the murder-happy Traitors and, even more importantly, the paranoia-driven Faithfuls. We’ll also be holding ceremonies for the players we lose along the way. Here’s where everything in the castle stands after Episodes 4 and 5.
In Memoriam
Caroline Stanbury (Murdered)
It is fascinating to see the Housewife hierarchy in action. Historically on The Traitors, the Housewives have been deeply loyal to each other—a bond that transcends even Faithful vs. Traitor. But apparently that courtesy doesn’t extend to The Real Housewives of Dubai, the youngest iteration of the franchise. With Caroline as the lone Housewife on the chopping block among non-Housewives Eric Nam, Ron Funches, and Kristen Kish in Episode 4, the Traitors/Housewives Lisa Rinna and Candiace Dillard Bassett eschew all sentiments of fealty and choose to murder Caroline as a way to keep the Faithfuls from thinking that any Housewives are Traitors. And honestly, they seem pretty pumped to do it!
Lisa Rinna is more or less laughing in Caroline’s face. And when Caroline says, “I’ll see you out of this, I’m sure. Somewhere, like BravoCon,” Lisa Rinna snaps back, “No you won’t.” Like, damn!
On the whole, though, I think this was a pretty shortsighted move on behalf of the Traitors, specifically the Housewife contingent. Yes, Caroline seemed to have already built strong alliances, and yes, you’ll probably throw the Faithfuls off the Housewife scent for the time being. But you might be better off keeping the Housewife pool as big as possible. Anyone who knows this show knows that they like to tap at least one Housewife to be a Traitor, and now, when someone puts that together, there’ll be one less Housewife to take the heat off of Lisa or Candiace. Point randomly at the Housewives, and you now have a 67 percent chance of hitting a Traitor.
Tiffany Mitchell (Banished)
The Tiffany Mitchell of Episodes 1-3 must have left Scotland, because the Tiffany Mitchell of Episode 4 didn’t resemble her at all. After lurking in the shadows early on, Tiffany pops out to declare that she suspects not just one Traitor but three Traitors. She suddenly decides it’s time to take control and mandate the Faithfuls’ plans for the next three banishments. This not only makes enemies out of the people she named—Ron Funches, Yam Yam Arocho, and Michael Rapaport—but raises suspicions about her. It also irks the dude-bros (Colton Underwood and Rob Rausch) who fancy themselves as the ones controlling the house. And so when Colton sets his sights on Tiffany at the roundtable, she’s basically DOA.
I had really high hopes for Tiffany. Her missteps are totally inexplicable.
Monét X Change (Murdered)
Quite simply, Monét made the grave error of letting the wrong person, Candiace, in on her totally correct suspicion of Lisa Rinna. A very important rule of thumb on The Traitors: If you’re gonna throw out an accusation, you gotta make sure you do it in front of multiple witnesses.
Michael Rapaport (Banished)
Ladies and gentlemen, our long, national nightmare is over.
Easily the most obnoxious and offensive person to ever be on this show, Michael bit the dust not really because anyone was convinced he was a Traitor but because everyone was sick of looking at his terrible face. As the target of Colton’s latest Traitor hunt, Michael responded to the heat by (a) saying that Colton is obviously a Traitor because a bunch of bad words also start with the letter c and (b) implying that Colton would be good at keeping secrets because he was in the closet for so long.
This, it may shock you to hear, does not go over very well. Not that everyone wasn’t already mostly there, but by this point, they all go, “All right, fuck off, man,” and overwhelmingly vote to banish Michael. When he reveals that he’s not a Traitor, no one even cares. A weight is lifted off the entire cast. And Michael is, in his final confessional, left to issue an apology to the gay community that sounds like it was written in the iPhone Notes app.
Good friggin’ riddance. From the second this cast was announced in June, it was obvious that Michael’s inclusion was a disaster waiting to happen. At least it ended quickly (although it’s a little shocking it didn’t end quicker).
I, for one, am psyched to never have to see this guy eat again.
Let’s get to the players who are still drawing breath in Scotland.
Tracking Season 4 of ‘The Traitors’
The Traitors Power Rankings
Power, in this context, is a measure of who is controlling the house, who seems furthest away from being banished, and who has the best odds to prevail at the end of the road.
1. Rob Rausch (Traitor, Last Week: 1)
Rob is playing this game better than everyone else, and it’s not particularly close. Noting that Colton is the one who gets the Faithfuls to pick up their pitchforks every deliberation, Rob has brokered an alliance with him. He’s extremely valuable during challenges; everyone trusts him; everyone relies on him.
Some stray Rob tidbits from these two episodes:
I think Rob is trying to date Maura. Have we ever had a romance during a Traitors season?
THESE FUCKING OVERALLS:
Just absolutely absurd. And even funnier if you watched his season of Love Island USA and remember how he wore overalls CONSTANTLY. He also wore them for his appearance on Call Her Daddy. The man must be constantly reminding you that he catches snakes for a living, lest you forget.
Rob on Eric Nam’s musicianship: “I’ve listened to his music. The man knows pitch.”
2. Natalie Anderson (Faithful, LW: 2)
On the Faithful side, there’s no one I’m more confident in than Natalie. Her Faithful bona fides are well-established—no one’s ever going to point their finger at her—but she’s also operating quietly enough to avoid the knives of the Traitors and excelling during challenges in order to stay off of the chopping block in the first place. Colton is the one driving the Faithfuls. Natalie is the one letting him drive.
3. Candiace Dillard Bassett (Traitor, LW: 7)
There hasn’t been a single roundtable this season where Candiace did not go out of her way to speak up. It feels like she’s in the middle of every single discussion. But at this point, I can’t really hate: Clearly people trust her and wouldn’t suspect her, so it doesn’t even really matter that she butts into every conversation. Monét confided in her; Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir confided in her. Whatever she’s doing is kind of working.
I do think she should slow her roll on gunning for Ron Funches, though. Sure, he’s an easy target because of all the ill will he’s built up to this point, and you may look like a good Faithful by leading everyone against him. But sending him home will only keep the heat off Candiace for a split second. When Ron inevitably reveals that he is not a Traitor—a thing Candiace knows but the others do not—the Faithfuls’ sights could turn to whoever was spearheading the charge against him (which is exactly what happened to Ron after he led the charge against Porsha in the premiere). She doesn’t seem to be thinking about the next step in this process.
4. Stephen Colletti (Faithful, LW: 12)
5. Maura Higgins (Faithful, LW: 10)
I’m not here to talk about how Stephen and Maura are playing the game. I’m here to bring attention to the Great Salmon Wars of 2026.
Surely we can ship in more lox for breakfast.
6. Colton Underwood (Faithful, LW: 4)
On the one hand, Colton is running the house: Every episode, he goes, “I think [insert name] is a Traitor,” and everyone goes, “OK!” After nabbing Donna Kelce, he is operating with the confidence that he will never be wrong—and the rest of the house seems pretty comfortable letting him steer. But on the other hand, these types never make it to the end. Colton is not even considering what might happen when, inevitably, he is wrong. As the one leading the masses against Donna, Tiffany, and Michael, Colton is now 1-for-3 (though I doubt anyone cares that he wrongly targeted Michael). If he keeps missing—and he probably will, because his hunches seem to be based on absolutely nothing at all—people will think he’s either a Traitor using banishments as pseudo-murders or an unreliable leader. Kristen Kish is already spreading his name to others by the end of Episode 5.
And the other consequence of loudly implicating others is that eventually you do correctly land on a Traitor—which Colton has done with Lisa Rinna—and then they just murder you because you’re causing too much trouble.
By banishment or murder, Colton probably isn’t long for this world. But at least he now knows that people like him more than Michael Rapaport.
7. Yam Yam Arocho (Faithful, LW: 5)
Yam Yam is crying a lot. From what I can tell, he did not cry a lot on Survivor. I think he’s playing a much smarter game than it looks right now.
8. Kristen Kish (Faithful, LW: 13)
Kristen says she knows Colton is a Traitor because she’s worked in kitchens—which, I guess, is exactly like being on The Traitors. (Just trust her on it.)
9. Lisa Rinna (Traitor, LW: 6)
Lotta smoke gathering here. FanDuel has set her odds as the second Traitor out at –250. First it was Monét throwing Lisa’s name out there—unfortunately, she only told one of Lisa’s fellow Traitors. But now Colton’s targeting her and already doing a pretty decent job of changing hearts and minds against her. It may already be too late: Even if the Traitors murder Colton before he can get Lisa out, someone’s going to remember that Colton’s last hunch was directed at her. At that point, it’ll be obvious that she’s a bad guy.
But until then, I’d just like to memorialize this moment from Episode 4, when someone toasts to the dearly departed Monét as the best-dressed person in the house and Lisa replies, “Yeah … one of the best dressed.”
10. Mark Ballas (Faithful, LW: 14)
Mark is killing it as the fourth-most important guy in an alliance. I’m making fun of him, but I’m also complimenting him: This archetype frequently makes it to the end of Traitors.
11. Eric Nam (Faithful, LW: 16)
Really tough break for the sterling reputation of Eric’s ears that he was wrong about hearing Tiffany laugh while the Traitors were doing a face-to-face murder at the beginning of Episode 4. “I’m a songwriter,” he says. “I listen to one song for 40 mixes.” Alas, this life experience does not translate to chuckles or chortles. If only Eric considered that sometimes people have similar-sounding laughs!
12. Dorinda Medley (Faithful, LW: 8)
Dorinda briefly catches some heat in Episode 5 because Ron Funches points out that she doesn’t seem to hate Michael Rapaport that much. Everyone is like, “Hmm, yeah. Ya know what, that is weird!”
We’ll see if Dorinda is a serious player or not when Lisa’s feet get held to the fire.
13. Johnny Weir (Faithful, LW: 17)
For the record: Johnny Weir continues to get out-mogged by Alan Cumming. And let’s be honest: That’s the real game that Weir came to Scotland to play.
14. Tara Lipinski (Faithful, LW: 11)
This week, Tara was described by the Traitors as “pretty valuable because she … doesn’t have any idea what’s going on.” That’s a tough beat.
15. Ron Funches (Faithful, LW: 19)
Ron, who dressed like Bill Cosby this week for some reason, is an odd character. Every episode this season, it’s seemed as though 90 percent of the cast has been prepared to vote him out—only to get turned on to someone else at the last second. It is such an upset that Ron has made it past five episodes. No one really likes him, and no one gives him the benefit of the doubt (they’re using his “Pity me” act as proof of his Traitordom, when in reality he’s sad because no one believes he’s a Faithful). But he’s also not doing himself a ton of favors: During the roundtable in Episode 5, when it’s obvious that the entire house is going to banish Michael, he butts in to cast aspersions on Dorinda and Maura, which only redirects the conversation back to him.
How much longer can this dude last? It wouldn’t be shocking if he went home next week. On the other hand, the Traitors aren’t gonna kill him—he’s too valuable as a Faithful whom the other Faithfuls are constantly targeting. And if the Colton vs. Lisa thing heats up, he might find himself surviving yet another roundtable—at which point people might finally accept that he’s a Faithful. On the other other hand, he’s decided that his best strategy is to alienate literally the entire cast. I probably would’ve advised against doing that.
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