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 Episode 6.
In Memoriam
Ron Funches (Banished)
Oh, Ron. Sweet, sweet Ron. This was bound to happen. Frankly, it’s pretty impressive that you made it six episodes, considering most of the house had been saying your name since the premiere.
Can I just say, though? What a final roundtable performance from Ron. In past episodes, he skirted banishments because other names—Donna, Tiffany, Michael—suddenly gained more weight. Without an obvious player to take the fall for him in this episode, he instead took the tack of martyring himself, declaring that, as a good Faithful, he was willing to die so that his fellow Faithfuls could at least have confirmation that he was not a Traitor. He then went around the table saying goodbye to people, one by one, telling each of them what he liked most about them.
And this almost worked. A bunch of people started to be like, “What the fu—this doesn’t seem very traitorous,” and subsequently put down their pitchforks. Ultimately, not enough of them were swayed, but you gotta give the guy props for taking a big swing here.
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. Natalie Anderson (Faithful, Last Week: 2)
Honestly, putting Natalie in the top spot isn’t based on anything that happened in this latest episode. I still just think she’s playing the strongest game, placing her thumb on the scales just enough to sway momentum but avoid putting suspicion on herself. She’s also one of the few who vote for Lisa Rinna at the roundtable—the only decision based on any sort of circumstantial evidence and, not coincidentally, the only correct decision. Yet to this point, the Traitors haven’t even uttered her name.
It’ll be a major upset if she’s not in the season finale.
2. Candiace Dillard Bassett (Traitor, LW: 3)
Candiace certainly isn’t playing this game the way I would play it, but you can’t deny that her strategy has paid off to this point. It feels like she’s at the bottom of everyone’s list of suspects; her status as a Faithful is treated as a given.
With that said, she’s now at a turning point. For the first six episodes of the season, she’s been uttering Ron’s name to anyone who will listen. Now that he’s gone home—and revealed that he’s a Faithful—not only has she lost her easy button, but she stands out as someone who was very vocally against a Faithful. She’s also going to need to tread lightly and keep her cool when it comes to reacting to Rob’s decisions in this most recent episode, which, yeah, let’s talk about it …
3. Rob Rausch (Traitor, LW: 1)
For the first time this season, Rob made a misstep, and now things are about to be bad for Robby Bobby (his words, not mine). This stellar representation of the American South (Ron’s words, not mine) got a little lost in the sauce this episode. First, with the entire castle setting its sights on Ron Funches for the bajillionth time, Rob decides to step into the spotlight and go against the consensus—not for any strategic reasons, per se, but because he seems to really enjoy playing chess with Ron.
Locking himself so firmly into a pro-Ron stance only creates more problems: Not only does it force him to be a bigger figure in house discussions and put him at odds with the way the other Traitors want to vote, but it also raises the difficult question of: “Who are you voting for if not Ron?”
It seems that Rob is given the gift of an answer when Johnny Weir’s alliance (more on that in a second) zeroes in on Colton. Look at that, bro: You now have someone to vote for that’ll keep you in line with the Faithfuls, and it’s the guy you and your fellow Traitors have been wanting to murder for the past few episodes. But just as Rob didn’t want to send his chess buddy home, he also can’t renege on the alliance he has with Colton. And that’s how Rob ends up voting for his fellow Traitor Lisa at the roundtable.
Just gimme a sec: LET’S GOOOOOOOOO. Congratulations to us all—we finally have our first Traitor-on-Traitor crime of the season.
Now, Rob is right to point out to a very pissed-off Candiace and Lisa that once he publicly avowed his trust in Ron and Colton, it would’ve looked suspicious to vote for either of them. The question is whether he should’ve done that in the first place, and the answer is probably no—I know chess is fun, but maybe just ask Stephen Colletti if he wants to play?
Ultimately, voting for Lisa is probably a beneficial move for Rob’s standing among the Faithfuls. But it is horrendous for his standing among the other Traitors. That turret is now full of distrust, and he can’t guarantee that Candiace and Lisa won’t turn on him. His only hope at the moment is that Lisa gets banished next and Alan Cumming lets the Traitors recruit a Faithful, which might allow Rob to bring one of his besties (Colton or Maura) into the fold.
4. Johnny Weir (Faithful, LW: 13)
Well, well, well! Look who’s come to play the game!
With 15 people left at the start of the episode, Johnny does some quick math and realizes that if he has seven people on his side, they could control every roundtable from here on out. That is certainly a shrewd observation, even if it’s a little counterproductive. Sometimes people end up treating The Traitors like it’s Survivor, where the only thing that matters is strength in numbers. And that is a valid stance to take—but it’s a tactic that’s more focused on surviving than finding Traitors. Your job is to take down the people who seem legitimately suspicious—not simply vote against the people who aren’t on your team. Naturally, two of the people Johnny recruits to join his alliance are Traitors.
Of course, this so-called alliance dissolves immediately once they get to the roundtable: Half of them vote for Ron, and the other half of them split votes on Colton and Lisa.
Ultimately, it was probably a little too early to do something like this—but the fact that Johnny was willing, and at least temporarily able, to do it shows that he’s a bigger player in this game than he originally seemed.
5. Kristen Kish (Faithful, LW: 8)
6. Mark Ballas (Faithful, LW: 10)
7. Tara Lipinski (Faithful, LW: 14)
At this point, these three are more or less foot soldiers for Johnny Weir. They’re not exactly in danger of murder or banishment, but they’re also not running shit.
8. Colton Underwood (Faithful, LW: 6)
Colton grows more off-puttingly confrontational by the day. He’ll do this thing where he’ll say something accusational (and borderline offensive) and then look at you with this wide-eyed smirk. I find it to be quite unpleasant.
Every episode, Colton comes charging in with this combative nonsense, running around the castle and telling everyone, very gravely, that he’s figured out who’s a Traitor. He continues to do this despite missing his last few shots. Honestly, at this point, it seems like it’s more important to Colton to be the center of attention than to win The Traitors. And it does seem like the house is getting tired of him bossing everybody around. Johnny’s alliance coalesces so easily in part because they’re all annoyed by Colton. And they come pretty close to sending him home!
But targeting Lisa may be his savviest move yet. It’s at least the first time he’s been able to attach a compelling argument to one of his accusations, citing Lisa’s uncharacteristic quietness in past roundtables and her dubious vote against fellow Housewife Porsha Williams in the first episode—and that argument sways enough people to vote for Lisa, essentially saving Colton from sure banishment. Vocalizing his allegations against Lisa in the most public forum, meanwhile, makes it much harder for the Traitors to get rid of him—murdering him now would essentially guarantee Lisa’s banishment—so he’s probably bought himself a couple of weeks of safety from their ire.
All the Faithfuls still don’t like him, though. That’s kind of a biggie.
9. Maura Higgins (Faithful, LW: 5)
Just FYI, the Great Salmon Shortage of 2026 seems to continue to plague The Traitors.
10. Eric Nam (Faithful, LW: 11)
I apologize to Eric Nam, but I have absolutely nothing to say about him at this moment. Maybe that’s a good thing for him. Maybe it’s a bad thing. Keep giving us nothing, champ.
11. Stephen Colletti (Faithful, LW: 4)
This isn’t a gripe specific to Stephen (he, Yam Yam, and Dorinda are this low in the rankings because of the suspicion that might turn their way after they voted out a Faithful in Ron), but, bro, what is with the shield shaming? During this week’s challenge, there are two shields available in a marked grave, with the catch that if players opt to unearth the shields, they will sacrifice the opportunity to bank $3,000. And Stephen’s sweatered ass is immediately like, “Pfft, who needs shields? Let’s all agree not to go after them.” He literally says, “It worked last time.”
But hey, you beautiful idiot, last time there was a rule that if no one took a shield, then no one would be murdered. That rule doesn’t exist this time! Someone’s getting murdered whether you take the shield or not! So instead of having a quick strategy chat and figuring out which likely Faithfuls would most benefit from being safe from murder, or which people could be beneficially unleashed at the roundtable, free to accuse anyone with the safety of a shield on their chest, everyone just falls in line and makes the murder pool larger for the Traitors. They do all of this for the sheer benefit of $3,000.
You don’t deserve any salmon at breakfast, sir.
12. Yam Yam Arocho (Faithful, LW: 7)
Yam Yam is one of the few players who is at least tempted to go for a shield. Natalie is the other one. What do these two have in common? They were on Survivor—the show where immunity is paramount. If only Yam Yam could explain this to all the non-gamers.
Instead, I expect Yam Yam to start coming up in a lot of conversations. Of all the people who voted for Ron, he was probably the most consistent and most vocal. He also doesn’t seem to be part of any major alliances. Time to go get a shield, buddy.
13. Dorinda Medley (Faithful, LW: 12)
Dorinda was also staunchly in the anti-Ron camp, and now she’s caught between Colton and Lisa. I expect her to eventually side with the latter—Dorinda is truly a Housewife ride or die. That might keep her safe in the short term, but Dorinda’s only going to stay in this game as long as other people keep her in it.
14. Lisa Rinna (Traitor, LW: 9)
Responding to Colton’s criticism that she hasn’t been acting like herself, Lisa vows to “sprinkle some Housewife in.” In the immediate term, that manifests in two ways: talking about needing vodka and making more loud grunts and sighs than usual.
Very simply put, Lisa’s fucked. The first Traitor to catch heat basically never manages to get it off of them. Colton didn’t even whip votes against her—he mentioned her name briefly during the roundtable, and that was all it took for three other players to write her name down at banishment. She’s in a lose-lose position now: She can’t murder Colton because then it would be obvious that she’s a Traitor, but if she doesn’t murder Colton, he’s going to keep convincing others that she’s a Traitor. Rob is already making arrangements to rid himself of all semblances of a connection to her; Candiace will likely start to do the same (if she’s as smart as she seems to be).
Lisa’s only hope is this upcoming murder in plain sight, set to take place at a banquet next episode, wherein the first Faithful to touch an amulet on Lisa’s chest will be sent home. Maybe murdering in plain sight will allow her to tilt the table without people taking notice.
As for whether Lisa will be able to get someone to touch the amulet without drawing suspicion, I actually think she’ll be just fine—because LOOK AT WHAT THE FUCK SHE’S WEARING TO THE BANQUET.
What a jump scare, genuinely. Like, yeah, man, I don’t think anyone’s gonna think your amulet is weird—they’re probably going to be much more confused about why you dressed up like the motherfucking STAY PUFT MARSHMALLOW MAN.
