The Traitors Season 4, Episode 9
"Think Outside the Box"
Host: Alan Cumming
Cast: Natalie Anderson, Mark Ballas, Stephen Colletti, Maura Higgins, Kristen Kish, Tara Lipinski, Eric Nam, Rob Rausch, Johnny Weir
Not to just keep starting this weekly recap with“wow, Rob Rausch is pretty good at this game,” but “Rob Rausch might be really good at this game.” This week, he manages to add Eric Nam to his team while also adding at least three other people in front of him as shields for the Faithful to fire at first. At this point in the game, this is his game to lose.
We begin with where we left off: Eric is given an ultimatum. Either join Rob or die. He accepts his cloak and the two head back to the turret to decide who to murder. Eric is a little nervous that Rob might betray him as he did to Candiace and Lisa, but for now, he’s choosing to try to build trust with his partner. They begin to lay out their options for a murder. With Johnny Weir as the likely person to be voted out next, he’s off the table.
They could try to get rid of Natalie Anderson because she’s a strong strategic player. They could get rid of Dorinda Medley because she’s close to Rob, and it would throw people off the scent. Or they could go for Mark Ballas because it’s the most random option and would confuse the other contestants.
At breakfast, it’s revealed that the last Housewife has fallen, with Dorinda being sent packing. Meanwhile, while Johnny has his fair share of fingers pointed at him, there’s one other name that starts to get floated into the ether: Stephen Colleti. This is who Johnny thinks is a Traitor, as do Natalie and Tara Lipinski. When he’s the last person to enter for breakfast, the former Amazing Race and Survivor contestant, Natalie, doesn’t quite buy Stephen’s notion that he had his bags packed and ready to go. It feels a little phony.
Tara tries to get a gauge on how to save herself and Johnny. She asks Kristen Kish who she thinks might be a Traitor, and well, it’s you girl. This takes Tara a little by surprise, but the Top Chef host is playing a straightforward game.
The challenge ends up being a version of a game we’ve seen in previous seasons. The players will try to guess which player was selected by the Traitors for multiple questions about the game. Who is the most useful person to the Traitors? Who is the most manipulative? Who is the least deserving player to be at the end? It’s a fun set-up, and the show adds a unique twist that I think is really effective: the Traitors will be sneaking out of giant jack-in-the-boxes to make their choice while everyone else remains hidden in theirs. While it never really felt like anybody would actually get caught, it was fun to imagine Eric or Rob making too much noise and putting themself in the spotlight.
While I give Rob and Eric some credit for devising a fun strategy (just name Tara for every single question), it does result in a rather anti-climactic game. But alas, you can’t fault good gameplay! Tara seems genuinely annoyed that she was called out on every question. I truly hope they gave her a poor edit because as she kept getting answered, you have to think she must have realized that the Traitors didn’t actually think she was the person who was the real answer to the questions.
Alas, this seems to be the final straw for both Johnny and Tara, prompting them to reveal themselves as besties and really work together. The two of them, along with Kristen and Natalie, are shortlisted for murder that night.
The bestie plan does, somehow, keep them both alive for one more banishment, but likely has cost them both the game in the long-run. It’s perhaps their joint effort to point the finger at Stephen that saves them both from one more banishment.
With Natalie also locked into Stephen rather than Johnny, Rob wonders if this is a useful bandwagon to jump on. It would mean the elimination of another Faithful, while also keeping Johnny alive as a potential future roundtable target. It’s an incredibly savvy play from the Love Islander.
At the roundtable, Tara and Johnny declare their blind loyalty to one another. Kristen is sure that her being on the shortlist proves Tara is a Traitor, given that the Top Chef winner and host just told her she doesn’t trust her. While we don’t get a lot from him, we see that Mark votes for Tara as well.
With the Johnny and Tara votes divided, it takes Rob and Eric to vote Stephen off to seal the deal. It’s likely the smarter play. There is a good chance that had Johnny been banished and revealed himself as a Faithful, the heat would die down on Tara a bit. Instead, that duo now still looks like the most suspicious pair in the castle.
While things seemingly went very well for the Traitors, there’s one hiccup. After the banishment, Kristen confronts Eric about his indecisiveness. She sees it as hiding. Whether it’s built up frustration with him not voicing an opinion over several roundtables or a clear difference in play since becoming a Traitor, who’s to say, but one thing is for sure: Kristen is on the hunt against Eric.
In the turret, Rob and Eric now face a decision. The wise choice would be to get rid of Kristen or Natalie. Honestly, I think both eliminations benefit Rob more. Getting rid of Natalie would mean people might think Rob would never have gotten rid of her, as she seemingly trusts him a fair bit. That would then leave Kristen in the game, and Rob's eventual vote to get rid of Eric would buy him even more goodwill. On the other hand, getting rid of Kristen is likely great for Eric in the shortterm and devastating in the long run. She’s just thrown his name out, and so he’ll be suspect #1 if she shows up dead tomorrow.
All in all, we got another fun episode. This is a game that leaves a lot of people who feel like they aren’t super gamers, and in a way, that’s a bit refreshing. It’s not quite as cut-throat or as seamless as other seasons, but seeing a player as capable as Rob trying to dwindle down the opposition that could mount an attack on him (mostly in the form of Kristen) is pretty fun television. We have two more episodes to go, then a reunion that promises to be rather spicy, but I’ll leave you with one final thought: Rob Rausch seems pretty good at this game, huh?
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