Jeremy Collins Says He’s Rooting For Carolyn Wiger to Win ‘The Traitors’: “She’s Just Playing a Great Game”

By Hope Sloop

Photos: Peacock ; Illustration: Dillen Phelps

Survivor alum Jeremy Collins is not letting his allegiances in The Traitors transcend to who he hopes wins the $250,000 at the end of the game.

**Spoiler Warning: This article contains details about the first four episodes of The Traitors Season 3**

After a rough elimination in the most recent episode of the Alan Cumming hosted Peacock series, Collins — a three-time Survivor player and one-time winner — says that he’s cheering for an unlikely candidate to take the title at the end of The Traitors Season 3. While he may have played the game as a Faithful, it’s Carolyn Wiger, a fellow Survivor grad who is playing as a Traitor, who he is rooting for.

” I would never suspect Carolyn to be a Traitor so I’m hoping Carolyn does well,” Collins told Decider in a post-mortem interview. “No one can play the way Carolyn’s playing except Carolyn. She’s just playing a great game because there’s no expectations on her, she’s kind of crazy. So she’s playing a wonderful game.”

While it may shock many to hear that Collins is openly cheering on someone who was part of his demise in the game — although it’s important to note that Carolyn was steamrolled by her fellow Traitors when choosing a Faithful to murder — it’s not the biggest surprise considering his final words to his fellow players. Just before stepping into his coffin alongside fellow Faithfuls Nikki Garcia and Ciara Miller (Summer House), Collins offered a death’s door quid pro quo to the Traitors, saying he would help them if they chose to save him. It did not pay off.

“I was just like, ‘Let me stay in the game. If you guys keep me, I’ll help you out. I’ll do anything you guys want just to keep me in,'” Collins said of his mindset in that moment. “I knew going back, if I did survive, a lot of conversations needed to be had because everybody would be like, ‘You’re done.'”

Peacock

Even so, he explained that if he had been saved from murder instead of Nikki or Ciara, he would have faced an uphill battle in gaining back the trust of the Faithfuls. It would have required “a lot of conversations” with his fellow contestants, although he maintains that he probably could have worked to re-establish himself as the Faithful to end all other Faithfuls.

“I think all the work that I did leading up to that with gaining everybody’s trust and everything, I think that I could have rebounded from that. I don’t know, it was just a Hail Mary. I just tried to try to stay in the game as much as I could,” he said.

Alas, his survival was not in the cards, and that was in major part to Danielle Reyes (Big Brother), one of this season’s four Traitors and the only Traitor who Collins was able to sniff out before his murder. Danielle, who is playing a complicated game marred by what some have noted as “overacting,” had it out for him due to his suspicion of her heading into his stint in the coffin.

The reality TV player says that it didn’t much help to find out that he was targeted because he was onto something — the Traitors previously targeted Dorinda Medley, Chanel Ayan, and Tony Vlachos strictly to create confusion and chaos among the players — but it did feel good to see Carolyn tear up after his elimination.

“I thought it was cool to see her a little emotional about it. We did have a really good relationship, but out there, nobody was listening to her. So I could see why when they’re in the Turret and they’re not listening to her, I could see why she’s getting frustrated and stuff. But that’s how it was out there,” he said.

Peacock

Ultimately, it only took his untimely demise and some heavy lifting from Dylan Efron (Down to Earth with Zac Efron) for the Faithfuls to suss out a Traitor in their midst. Episode 4 ended with Bob the Drag Queen being sent home thanks to Dylan getting a boost from Rob “Boston Rob” Mariano (Survivor), a Traitor, flipping on his fellow Turret dweller.

The reaction to Bob’s Traitor status cannot be overstated as the room of mostly Faithfuls lost their minds at Bob’s dramatic exit. Keeping his fellow players in suspense, Bob the Drag Queen yelled and even reminded his fellow players that he “swore to God” he was a Faithful, only to end his time in the castle by proclaiming, “And that was a lie ’cause I don’t believe in God, I’m a Traitor.” The room burst into applause and excited cheers, something Collins says he wished he could experience first-hand, rather than by watching with the fans.

“I wanted that reaction. I wanted to be there to see everybody lose their mind when we caught a Traitor. That was my main thing, I wanted to see the excitement,” Collins told Decider.

He continued, “And then I wanted to see how the game would change afterward. I only got to see the beginning parts of the game. There’s so much more to this game that I wanted to be involved in and experience. It was cool to watch on TV, but I wish I was there. I was one-off. I just needed one more day.”

Well, he’s played Survivor three times, maybe there’s a chance he’ll return to Scotland one day.

The first four episodes of The Traitors Season 3 are currently streaming on Peacock. New episodes drop at 9 p.m. ET on Thursdays.