The Traitors' third season has been defined by fierce rivalries — rivalries that have nothing to do with the cast's Faithful players. After a series of Traitor-on-Traitor battles that ousted Traitors Bob the Drag Queen and Boston Rob from the game, the inevitable finally happened: Danielle Reyes became the last Traitor standing in episode 9, "A Silent Assassin." She knew her actions to take out Carolyn Wiger would get people riled up. "Tomorrow's episode is going to be crazy. To my fans … I'm so sorry," the Big Brother legend tweeted on Feb. 19. However, the apology didn't stop people from making a lot of judgments of her character.
Some of the criticism is over Danielle crying in most episodes. It all started in Episode 1 with her tearfully reuniting with Britney Haynes outside the Scottish manor after she betrayed her on Big Brother: Reindeer Games. The tears were effective and Britney continues to be her most valuable ally in the game. Danielle also accused Carolyn of saying Britney's name to keep her close. This was risky since Carolyn said Britney's name for murder as a traitor and not banishment — but it paid off. Episode 9 showed Danielle cleverly asking faithfuls at the roundtable if she floated Carolyn's name for banishment. All of them said no and Danielle broke down crying again. She claimed she hadn't targeted Carolyn out of fear of being murdered. She stood firm in Carolyn saying Britney's name.
Carolyn was frustrated and told Danielle to stop crying. But that demand rings hollow when she cries to play the game in the same episode. The Survivor finalist cried to Dylan Efron about people treating her differently to convince him to target Danielle. There might be some truth to that, but it was also a manipulation tactic to stay in the game. It didn't work — and Danielle should get more credit because this method doesn't work for everyone. The Big Brother runner-up told Dash Katz that she wanted to be a "hot crying mess" on the Peacock show to throw off the cast: "I'm there to stir up mess, to cause chaos, and that's what I'm doing."
People had an issue with Danielle's comments at the roundtable. "You Forrest Gump a lot," she told Carolyn in reference to her acting "silly and dumb." The truth is they both have to act dumb to fly under the radar. Danielle acts like she doesn't know what's going on in missions and it gets her in trouble. Other people have wrongfully assumed Carolyn isn't capable of being a Traitor. This has worked in their favor since multiple banished Faithfuls said they were shocked to find out they were traitors.
But people wondered if Danielle was being ableist. To that, Danielle wrote on X: "Find the footage of Josh [Feinberg] comparing the fabulous Lisa [Donahue] to [Forrest] Gump in Big Brother 3. Yeah, she became our 1st female winner. Played a spectacular end game and whooped my a–! Carolyn played a spectacular game. Hats off(no pun intended) #TheTraitorsUS"
Most of the banished faithful said they were shocked Danielle was a traitor because of her acting. On the other hand, two-time Survivor winner Tony Vlachos suspected her emotions were a smoke screen in his post-banishment interview. Jeremy Collins regretted not saying Danielle's name at the roundtable. He didn't give a reason why he didn't go after her out in the open. Perhaps if Danielle was an easier target, then Jeremy would've called her out, but she was completely protected with Bob the Drag Queen and other Traitors.
She even pulled the wool over Derrick Levasseur's eyes. "She pulled at my heartstrings a little bit," he said in the YouTube video. "Obviously it was all an act now." This is the biggest indicator that Danielle's acting is great because Derrick was the only banished person to know her. The Traitors fans love accusing a player of being the "worst Traitor ever." Their mistakes seem obvious to us at home because we already know the biggest secret of the game.
The legendary houseguest isn't only giving us dramatic tears and references. She's also full of strategy. Carolyn fell into her trap when forming the answers for the chess board mission. She put Britney down for being the biggest threat to the traitors. The faithfuls immediately saw this as a trick. Carolyn also put her name down as the person whose voice is irrelevant. It's not a secret that the Survivor finalist has felt that as a traitor, but the faithfuls haven't witnessed her being outnumbered. Her volunteering that answer and it being correct sealed her fate. However, Danielle had to think three steps ahead for this trap to work. She also had to keep quiet and give a good reason for her silence to seal the deal.
Danielle is the first Big Brother traitor not to be banished first like Cody Calafiore and Dan Gheesling. She has tied with Cirie Fields by surviving nine roundtables. Her game shouldn't be up for debate with these points, but the hate train continues. Ciara Miller of Summer House told Us Weekly she was disgusted by her strategy because she swore on her kids and grandkids behind the scenes. However, Ciara admitted she doesn't normally play these shows so the concept was "ridiculous" to her.
Everyone plays these games with their own rules. Those rules don't always align with how other people are playing. This also isn't the first time kids were used to cloud people's minds. Season 1 ended with Cirie betraying Quentin Jiles and Andie Vanacore. Quentin and Andie explained how they felt like Cirie lying to them by talking about them winning money for their future kids was hurtful to them. Cirie is still applauded as the best to ever do it.
Hopefully, that means once the dust is settled down, people will also give Danielle her flowers. She's comfortable with being a villain from her previous seasons of Big Brother. After all, there is now a jury house because of how badly houseguests reacted to her confessionals about them in the episodes. If they didn't see that, then she could've beaten Lisa. It's 23 years later and she's bringing the same energy to The Traitors. The banished and murdered include other reality TV legends, so replicating success isn't easy. Danielle is playing a stunning game whether she wins or loses, and that's what should be the topic of conversation.
