The only place where you’ll ever see Lisa Rinna, Donna Kelce and Colton Underwood interact is inside a Scottish castle. Coming off a second consecutive Emmy win for outstanding reality competition program, Peacock’s version of “The Traitors” keeps getting better — and not just because it’s hosted by Alan Cumming and his adorable dog Lala. A giant game of Mafia between reality TV stars is an inherently entertaining concept, and when your contestants include the self-proclaimed “best-looking, smartest, dopest” Michael Rapaport and “The Real Housewives of Potomac” firecracker Candiace Dillard Bassett, there’s bound to be drama.
This season, Cumming recruited four traitors to wreak havoc on the castle and evade banishment from the faithfuls at the roundtables. Housewives Rinna and Dillard Bassett, “Love Island” bad boy Rob Rausch and NFL mom Kelce all wore the cloaks. Heading into the finale, Rausch is the only original traitor remaining, following two heated roundtables where the cast voted out Rinna and Dillard Bassett. In episode eight, Rausch recruited singer Eric Nam to join him as a traitor, leaving just three episodes for the pair to outsmart the rest of the castle and remain undetected.
After countless crazy roundtables, face-offs and questionable fashion choices, the season four finale airs today at 9 p.m. EST. Just four faithfuls remain: “Love Island U.K.” veteran Maura Higgins, former Olympic skaters Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir and “Dancing With the Stars” professional Mark Ballas. Tonight, we’ll find out the final murder victim and see if the traitors are able to clinch a win — and the cash prize that’s accumulated all season. As two superfans, here’s how we think the finale will unfold.
Murders: Mark Ballas or Tara Lipinski
At this point, no one is more obviously a faithful than Ballas. Nobody has suspected him of being a traitor yet, meaning the real traitors have no reason to keep him around. Plus, at the end of episode nine, Ballas told Rausch he suspected Rausch’s fellow traitor Nam. In an effort to protect Nam, the traitors could very well murder Ballas. But perhaps the smarter play is to murder Lipinski. She is a good shield given that the faithfuls have been suspicious of her in the past, but she seems to have convinced her fellow players that she’s a faithful during the last roundtable. Also, she and best friend Weir will always vote together, and right now their targets are Nam and Rausch. By breaking up the voting bloc, the traitors have the best chance of winning the game.
Traitor bait: Maura Higgins
Ever since Rausch carried Higgins over his shoulder during the episode four stone-carrying challenge, she’s been his number one defender. Even when his other allies — like “Survivor” winner Natalie Anderson — started to get suspicious in episode 10, Higgins held firm in her belief that Rausch is a faithful. Unfortunately for Higgins, Rausch knows that he has her in his pocket. He’ll likely take her blind loyalty all the way to the end and then betray her when his traitor status is revealed, turning his number one ally into a loser.
Possible upset: An Eric Nam win
Nam had the misfortune of becoming a traitor in episode nine, leading to awkward roundtables where faithfuls like Ballas and Kristen Kish began to catch on. With only three episodes to ride Rausch’s coattails and fly under the radar, Nam’s been in a tricky spot, especially considering episode nine ended with him as a prime suspect. If he can take advantage of the suspicions leveraged against Lipinski and speak up in the finale, he may be able to clinch a victory. Let’s just hope his mouth doesn’t embarrass him like his ears did when he mistakenly banished faithful Tiffany Mitchell in episode four.
Winner: Rob Rausch
Rausch was destined to win “The Traitors” ever since his eye-rolling, pool-hiding days on “Love Island USA” seasons five and six. His undeniable Southern charm and famous overalls have allowed him to evade suspicion from most of the players. As Weir puts it, “He’s so hot, I can’t even look at him.” Beyond his dashing looks, Rausch has played a near-perfect game, the first U.S. traitor to do it since Cirie Fields’ game-changing season one win. Similar to Fields, Rausch cleverly aligned himself with players who won’t be able to fathom him being a traitor, specifically Higgins, who vehemently defends Rausch in episode 10. In a season full of infighting among faithfuls, Rausch has kept his cool and made himself indispensable to both traitors and faithfuls through challenge victories and razor-sharp strategy. We’re incredibly confident that this snake wrangler will slither his way out of the castle with the prize pot in hand.
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