Note: This story contains spoilers from “The Traitors” Season 4.
After making a name for himself on “Love Island USA” before moving into Alan Cumming’s Highlands castle for “The Traitors” Season 4, Rob Rausch knew he wasn’t there to make friends.
His time on the Peacock dating show did prepare him to woo his Faithful competition, ultimately blindsiding his fellow Traitors and runner-up Maura Higgins to claim the $220,800 grand prize all for himself.
” ‘Love Island’ was a tense, crazy, emotional experience where my emotions got the best of me multiple times. But it did give me the opportunity to go into this show and be like, ‘It’s OK. These people aren’t really dying, they’re getting eliminated.’ So I think it was a lot easier for me to stay calm, cool and collected, because it’s not that big of a deal, we’re just playing [on] a show,” Rausch told TheWrap. “Especially in this game setting. ‘Love Island’ was, I guess, technically a game, but no one’s really there playing a game. I went into that castle in Scotland and I had no intentions of making friends. I was just there to play the game to the best of my ability.”
However, it was his savvy social gameplay that kept him off the roundtable’s radar.
“I presented myself as someone who wasn’t necessarily smart, someone who wasn’t necessarily there to win the game, just kind of there for the experience. I had never watched the show prior to going, so I played into that. Like, ‘What the f–k is going on?’ I was asking questions all the time, even when I knew stuff. I’m a very fast learner, so I had an understanding, but I would still ask. So I played into that,” Rausch explained. “And then on top of that, I built real, genuine connections with a lot of people in the castle and that was huge. I think that made them trust me.”
The Islander started Season 4 as a Traitor alongside “Real Housewives” Lisa Rinna and Candiace Dillard Bassett — as well as secret Traitor, Donna Kelce — before choosing Eric Nam to join him in the turret halfway through the game.
“I basically needed someone who was trusted, someone that could get to the finale. However, I needed someone that wasn’t more trusted or as trusted as myself. So I was picking between him and Mark, really, and Eric just made more sense,” Rausch shared. “If it came down to it, if it was me or him, I felt like I would have stayed and he would have been vanished, which is what eventually happened.”
“I did work with [Lisa and Candiace] a lot. The only reason they went is because it was their time,” he continued. “Candiace could have stuck around for a long time had she had gone after Lisa. There were several people talking about Lisa and thinking Lisa was a Traitor. She was eventually going to go, so it was better to just go ahead and vote for her and be on that side of the voting history. I think Candiace, up to that point, was playing a really good game and probably could have been there maybe even to the end. But she stuck with Lisa and kind of got in the grave with her, because that next day I heard Candiace’s name from everyone.”
So what did he think of the reunion special? “I blacked out. I was half asleep the whole time. It was just a lot of yelling and talking about stuff that, to me, was not important.”
And while that was a lot of Bravo boss Andy Cohen’s doing, Rausch enjoyed his time with host Alan Cumming. “We had a good rapport, we have some chuckles here and there. It’s his job to stay in character and not really give any type of validation or negativity in either which way,” he said. “Technically, that could cause a bias in the game if you think that Alan is encouraging you or if Alan is thinking you’re not doing good — it’s like an outside influence. So I think that would be against the rules, honestly, for him to show emotion.”
Ahead of “The Traitors” Season 5, the winner also revealed which of his fellow “Love Island” co-stars would do well on the show — even if he admitted “there was no chance in hell I was going to be on ‘Beyond the Villa,’ ” having chosen “Traitors” over reuniting with his cast mates.
“I would probably nominate Serena (Page) for someone who I think would do really, really well,” Rausch concluded. “She has all the social skills and intelligence to make a great Traitor, or even a Faithful. I think Kaylor (Martin) also would be very entertaining.”
All four season of “The Traitors” are now available to stream on Peacock.
