Rob Rausch on Season 4, Murder, and His Game

MEN’S HEALTH: As someone who’s watched every season of Traitors U.S., U.K., and Australia, I can say with some authority that you’re playing a fantastic game. Did you think going in that you’d be this good?

ROB RAUSCH: I mean, I thought I’d be pretty good. But there are a lot of variables in this game. A lot of it has to do with the people you’re playing with and how much you can relate to those people. At the end of the day, that’s what builds trust: common ground. I was fortunate enough to find that common ground with a lot of my castmates and build genuine connections with them—to a certain degree. Obviously, I’m playing a character somewhat. But, yeah, I had a feeling I’d be pretty good.

MH: What gave you that feeling?

RR: I kind of have a knack for it—figuring out what someone needs and what you need to do to connect with them. You find something you have in common and build something together from that. I can make friends with anyone—my grandpa always says I’ve never met a stranger.

MH: But I imagine that can bite you in the butt when you’re a Traitor. You’re genuinely connecting with people who you also have to deceive.

RR: I constantly, constantly, constantly had to remind myself, This is a game. You’re playing it well. Just keep playing. You’re almost done. Keep going. We’re playing a social game, and this is part of it, you know? It doesn’t have to be a big betrayal because at the end of the day, we’re all playing the same game. You just hope the people you’re playing with get that and respect it.

MH: When you were on Love Island, you became close with Aaron Evans, who’d been one of the winners of the first season of The Traitors UK. Did you ask him for any advice or insight before your season?

RR: We did talk about Traitors when we were on Love Island. He told me about the show and his experience. But I didn’t ask him for much advice because, well, he basically told me that he’d won because he got lucky. He said the Traitors kept him around because he was bad at the game, but that in the end, the group managed to vote out their last Traitor, so he won. He just clutched up. So I didn’t really go to him for any strategic advice. But I did ask him about how the production worked and if I would have a good time. He said I would and that everyone involved in the production was lovely. And he was right—they were lovely. Everyone on the production team, they were all so kind and made it a very enjoyable experience overall.

MH: You and Maura Higgins had a connection on the show that we’re only seeing late in the season. In the way the gamers and the housewives often make alliances, did you guys ever make a Love Island alliance?

RR: Not necessarily. I think what connected Maura and I the most was that she was basically there for a good time. She had never seen the show, and she was just there to see what was up and to play the game and have a good time. And I was playing that exact same character. She’d always ask, “What’s going on? What happens if this happens?” I basically emulated her approach to the game in how I portrayed myself to the other players. And it’s true that I had never seen the show either, so I latched on to that. I was genuinely learning as I was going, to a certain degree. I mean, we knew all the rules, but there are some intricacies from past seasons that some of the players knew that we didn’t. So we both ended up having this attitude of, Well, we made it another day. Let’s see what happens next! We’ll just do the best we can. And I think that really bonded us, like we were in it together.

MH: And if the roles were reversed and she turned around and told you she’d been a Traitor the whole time?

RR: I’d say, “Well played.”

MH: To an outside observer, one of the reasons you’re such a good Traitor is that you’re generally even-tempered and calm, even in high-stakes situations. Is that what snake wrangling does to a person?

RR: I think it does have a lot to do with my lifestyle. Just earlier today, I was ripping wheelies down entire roads. I put myself in high-pressure situations where I have to remain calm. So when put into a situation like Traitors, where a lot of people might crumble, it feels to me like I’m playing Patty-Cake. My life isn’t in danger, I’ll be fine at the end of the day, it’s not a big deal. And I’m just kind of a chill guy, to be honest.

MH: You made a comment online about the kind of the anxiety and heightened emotions you felt on Love Island. Did your experience on that show help you stay mentally grounded in The Traitors?

RR: Oh, 100%. I do think being on Love Island was helpful, oddly enough. It felt like the end of the world at times in Love Island, like my whole world was falling apart. It was ridiculous! They just designed that game so well, and they designed it to make you feel like that. That’s why I have such sympathy for Tara [Lipinski]—because she really feels like she’s just crumbling. You get so close to the people you’re on these shows with, and when they get eliminated, you think, Oh my Gosh, they’re going to die! [Laughs] That’s actually how you feel. It’s crazy. But having had that experience on Love Island, I knew that once you get out, you get back to real life, you see your friends, you see your family, and you look back and think, What the hell was going on with me? So I learned to think: Okay, take yourself out of the game and put yourself back in reality. It may feel super emotional now, it may feel like you’re screwing this person over, but it’s just a game, and you’re just playing it to the best to your ability. To play the game, sometimes you have to take your mind out of the game.

MH: Before Candiace was banished, she did what some Traitors in other seasons have done when being ousted by a fellow Traitor: She tried to signal to the Faithful that you were a Traitor too. That can really be a parting kiss of death. Did it rattle you?

RR: I wasn’t very concerned at the time. Because of the rapport I had built with everyone and the way I had played the game, I had set myself up as the most faithful Faithful. I knew that trust would take me further and buy me some more time, but that [Candiace’s votes for me] would probably come back up at some point. Eventually, there would be a smaller group of people at the roundtable and, if all went well, I would be one of those people. So inevitably, I was going to get looked at and that was going to be brought up. I just had to make sure that when it did happen, it was too late.

MH: And what was your gameplan for that?

RR: I just needed to have the numbers. I had Maura and then I had Eric. That’s why I’m protecting Eric. I’ve seen a lot of people say, “He didn’t protect Lisa, he didn’t protect Candiace, but he’s protecting Eric. He doesn’t care about women, he just cares about the guys.” But no, I need Eric. He’s very, very important to my plan. At this point in the game, I need his vote bad. I didn’t need Lisa and Candiace’s votes back then. At that point in the game, if it came down to a choice between losing a fellow Traitor or losing people’s trust, I was going to lose the Traitor because I needed trust more than anything else. But now, trust is less valuable and votes are more valuable. That’s why I had to make sure Eric didn’t get banished.

MH: I think if you and Candiace could have found a way to continue working in tandem, the two of you could have gone to the end together.

RR: If Candiace could have seen that Lisa was a sinking ship and voted for her that first night, or even realized that it had been the right move by the next night, I guarantee it would be me and her instead of me and Eric. I guarantee it. Because she was playing a great game up until that point.

MH: What would your plan have been if you and Candiace had stuck together?

RR: What I was thinking was that me and Candiace would recruit a suspicious player, get them banished, and just keep doing that. It would have been an amazing strategy, and it would have been fun to do with her. But, you know, that’s just not how the cookie crumbled.

MH: In the first half of the season, there appeared to be some real interpersonal tension. For example, Michael Rapaport rubbed some players the wrong way—and then kept wearing them down. How do you mentally navigate the game when things get a bit too personal?

RR: I will say, there is a lot of confrontation—in this setting, with a bunch of reality TV personalities—that I do feel is somewhat performative. However, at times I did think, Oh, okay, this is real. Like when we voted out Michael. As a Traitor, I loved having Michael there. He was a great distraction. He shouldn’t have said what he said to Colton in the first place, whether he meant it the way it was received or not—but then he kept going. He kept going even though Colton, Johnny, Yam Yam, Kristen, and other people were visibly upset. It was just too far. At that point, we had to vote him out.

MH: Ron Funches also seemed to be having a rough time once the other players started—and continued—isolating him. It’s a shame, because he’s a fantastic comedian and should have been the life of the castle. It just seemed like another moment when gameplay got a bit too real. But it was nice to see the two of you putting that aside and building camaraderie.

RR: I’m going to treat everybody the same, always. I’ve always been partial to the people who get left out; I was the same way in high school, and I was the same way as a kid. I got that from my cousin—when I was really young, me and my cousin and a bunch of kids in the neighborhood were playing basketball, and there was this kid standing all by himself. My cousin went to up to the kid and asked him to come play basketball with us. He didn’t want to at first, but eventually he joined us, and he had so much fun. I asked my cousin, “Why’d you do that?” And he said, “You always do that.” So I always try to do that, even now. You don’t realize how far that goes for somebody who feels excluded. I have a sister with Down syndrome, and I’ve seen her get left out. Sometimes she just literally can’t take part in something. But other times, she’s being left out just out of habit. So you have say, “No, how can we include Bella in this?” Eventually, it becomes a reflex to treat everyone that way. Plus, I genuinely like Ron a lot. He’s a hilarious guy. I really got to know him, and I think we’ll stay friends.

MH: Psychological gameplay aside, how did you stay fit and energized for the long days and group challenges while sequestered in Scotland?

RR: Well, there was no gym. Or, if there was, it just had some free weights. And I will say, protein was scarce. There was a lot of fruit and a lot of carbs, but not a lot of protein.

MH: Is that why you were on camera popping whole hard boiled eggs into your mouth like Tic Tacs?

RR: I definitely had at least three hard boiled eggs a day.

MH: Did that make the challenges more grueling?

RR: Personally…I didn’t think the challenges were that hard! [Laughs] Like, the “mountain” we climbed? It was a big hill. The wagon challenge was pretty tough, but you’ve just got to keep going.

MH: You may have been in your element for the physical challenges. But when it comes to dressing to kill, you’re no Lisa Rinna. I understand that players bring their own clothes but production has some options for you as well. What did you bring with you versus what you wore on screen?

RR: I think I wore two of my own shirts the whole time we were there. Production saw what I packed and said, “Yeah, we’re thinking something else.” And that just meant, “You don’t wear sleeves anymore.” All the stuff I brought was Billy Reed—nice stuff, long sleeved shirts, jackets, warm clothes. I don’t handle the cold well. I belong in the heat. And they were like, “Nope, here’s a sweater vest.”

MH: Did you at least bring the corset you wore to the banquet?

RR: No, noooo. [Laughs] I went up to production, and they said, “So you’re wearing this.” And I said, “You’ve got me confused for someone else.” But they put it on me and they were so excited about it, so I just said, “Okay, let’s do it!” We’re only doing this once.

MH: Did you keep it?

RR: The corset?

MH: Yeah!

RR: No! [Laughs] Where would I even wear it?

MH: Halloween parties, Rocky Horror screenings, I don’t know!

RR: Maybe I should have kept it. I could have put it in a shadow box and auctioned it off for charity.

MH: See? Missed opportunity. Speaking of opportunities, why did you choose to recruit Eric to join you as a Traitor?

RR: I had to pick a guy because, at that point, the only known Traitors had been women and everyone was saying, “There’s got to be a guy up there. Alan wouldn’t put only girls in the turret.” So I picked a guy, and of the guys, Eric was the most medium-trusted. I wanted somebody that was trusted enough to avoid banishment but not more trusted than myself if it ever came down to him versus me. Initially I wanted Mark [Ballas] because I got along with him and I knew we’d play well together. Mark is like an encyclopedia when it comes to The Traitors. He’s so knowledgeable about it. I would quiz him on stuff and learn a lot from him about the potential curveballs Alan might throw our way. It was so fun to talk strategy with him—we still talk all the time about it. But I knew that if it came down to it, if one of us had to betray the other, he could beat me in that situation. So I chose Eric.

MH: You guys filmed the reunion episode a few weeks ago. How’d it go?

RR: There wasn’t a lot of game talk, not a whole lot of talk about strategy. There was just a lot of personal beef.

MH: So it’s safe to assume you’ve never seen a Housewives reunion?

RR: Never seen one.

MH: Yeah, maybe that format isn’t for you.

RR: Honestly, I think I fell asleep.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Nojan Aminosharei is the Entertainment Director of Men’s Health and the Special Projects Editor of Harper’s Bazaar. He was previously the Entertainment Director of Hearst Digital Media, and before that a Senior Editor at GQ. Raised in Vancouver, Canada, Nojan graduated from NYU with a master’s degree in magazine journalism. The late Elaine Stritch once told him, “What the fuck kind of name is Nojan? I’m 89 years old, I don’t have time for that shit.”