We Need to Talk About The Traitors’ Secret Traitor

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This article contains spoilers for the first three episodes of season four of The Traitors, which began streaming on Peacock on January 8th.

I never thought I’d say this, considering Donna Kelce is a wealthy mother whose sons are famous athletes, has her own sponsorships, and is friends with Taylor Swift. But honestly, The Traitors really wasn’t fair to her, was it?

The latest season of the game introduced a ‘Secret Traitor‘ role, and putting Kelce in that position wasn’t a good move. While she’s well-known, she doesn’t have much experience with strategy games. This role requires deception and working alone, which doesn’t play to her strengths and immediately puts her at a disadvantage. It also felt like an obvious choice – many viewers see Kelce as a trustworthy figure, so casting her as the traitor was predictable. This made it easy for the other players to figure out who she was, and ultimately, the whole idea felt like it didn’t work as well as it could have.

Season four of The Traitors continues to surprise, presenting unexpected twists for both the Traitors and the Faithful. Host Alan Cumming immediately ups the stakes, demanding a murder take place in plain view on only the second night, and introduces a midday vote to eliminate players. However, the biggest change – and one that could fundamentally alter the show’s format – is the introduction of the Secret Traitor. This player is tasked with creating a shortlist of potential victims for the main Traitors to choose from. Selected upon arrival, the Secret Traitor had to remain anonymous and wasn’t allowed to communicate with the other Traitors until instructed by Alan. This meant neither the contestants nor the audience knew their identity, and the show offered no hints. Aside from glimpses of their handwriting on the shortlists, the production team provided no clues, only showing shadowy figures of a hooded player wandering the castle. While this mystery seemed promising, it didn’t quite succeed in practice.

It’s hard to say how well Kelce would have done in the competition, as she started with no obvious allies, much like Michael Rapaport. While she did connect with a few other players who were on their own, including Rapaport and Ron Funches, she mostly had to try and win people over by expressing her fandom of the other contestants – a strategy that wasn’t likely to last long. Adding to the challenge was the worry about Taylor Swift’s devoted fanbase, with some players hesitant to upset Kelce for fear of backlash from Swift’s passionate supporters. And at 73 years old, Kelce might have eventually been uncomfortable with the show’s physically demanding challenges, like being buried alive or climbing cliffs. However, it’s all just guessing, because the show prioritized keeping Kelce’s identity as a Traitor secret over letting us see how she would have actually played the game. We simply didn’t get a chance to see her strategic side because the show didn’t allow it.

So, is the idea of a Secret Traitor completely off the table? Not yet, but it probably needs some adjustments to work well this season. It’s currently unknown if a new Secret Traitor will be chosen after the first one is eliminated, or if the role will disappear altogether. For now, let’s focus on how the concept has played out so far. Giving one person the power to decide who’s at risk of elimination, instead of using shields to protect players, is a big change. It gives the Secret Traitor a lot of control without clearly showing us their reasoning. We haven’t seen enough to know how the Traitors would have acted if they’d been stopped earlier. Kelce’s selections worked well for them, allowing them to eliminate two potentially dangerous players, Ian and Rob C., but it’s still too early to predict how this new system will play out – whether it will be successful or not.

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2026-01-10 18:54