‘The Traitors’ Season 4 Is the Rare Example Of A Reality-Competition Series Ending the Way It Should

By Hope Sloop

Sometimes, in a game like The Traitors, all the stars align and things go the right way. Season 4 of the Peacock reality series is a perfect and rare example of that happening.

**Heavy spoiler alert for The Traitors Season 4 finale, now streaming on Peacock**

After 10 episodes of lying, cheating, and murdering, Season 4 Episode 11, “Leap of Faith,” ended with a new winner being anointed and taking home a prize pot of over $220,000. That person? Day one Traitor, Love Island heartthrob, and snake in the grass: Rob Rausch.

It’s hard to remove my own feelings on the situation and look at it purely analytically, but I think so many of my opinions on this season are derived from a strategic position, and Rob just played a superior game. That’s not an opinion, that’s a plain and simple truth.

While the Faithfuls spent the majority of the game floundering and throwing anything at the wall just to see what would stick, Rob carefully examined each decision, roundtable, and banishment week after week to see what move would best serve him in his pursuit of the finish line. He played the game like chess and removed emotional elements that could have cost him.

Candiace Dillard Bassett signed her own death certificate a few episodes back when she let her emotions get the best of her and played too cocky, resulting in her banishment a few episodes short of the end. Lisa Rinna played it over the top and that, too, led to her demise.

It’s a cool head and a clear vision that gets someone all the way to the final Circle of Truth, and that’s exactly how Rob landed himself in the finale alongside Tara Lipinski, Johnny Weir, Eric Nam, and Maura Higgins. He couldn’t exactly control “the skating twins,” a.k.a Tara and Johnny, but he did have a solid grasp on Eric and Maura, who would follow him anywhere.

Photo: Peacock

Ahead of the finale’s release, I actually said that in order to save himself from suspicion that was thrown on him last week, he should throw Eric under the bus and pretend to be the most Faithful among the bunch, but it didn’t even come to that. In line with what the Faithfuls looked like the majority of the season, they had no direction and couldn’t even keep Rob’s name on their tongue going into the last banishments.

In the end, it all came down to Rob formulating a plan and sticking to it, telling Maura that they needed to get rid of Johnny and Tara, and Tara suggesting that Eric could also be a Traitor. While it clearly affected him to vote out a fellow Traitor, Rob thought about it mathematically and realized that the biggest and most surefire win would come from holding onto Maura until the very end. She was his ticket to a win and a $220,00 paycheck and I respect the hell out of it.

The sad truth about the matter is that Eric was expendable but necessary. Rob had to recruit a Traitor after losing both Lisa and Candiace, but I think if he had been given the chance to spare another innocent person, he would have done it. Eric was nothing more than a vessel to help him get to the end, albeit one whose tenure as a Traitor was short-lived. Had he gone to the end as Rob’s one true ally, splitting the pot between them would have been entirely unfair.

If Britney Haynes had somehow managed to bamboozle the Faithfuls in Season 3 after being chosen by Danielle Reyes in her eleventh hour, I think I would have actually been a little pissed about her getting all the money for none of the work. That’s kind of how I felt about Eric this season, so you can’t get me to feel bad or shed tears over him being booted. Oh, and he was a bad Faithful to begin with so I stand by my argument.

Photo: Peacock

Had the Faithfuls at any point in Season 4 made me feel like they had even a slight plan in place, I think I would have been rooting for them to discover Rob’s dastardly deeds, but their utter cluelessness is exactly what made me stand behind Rob. I’m not alone, either. Faithful after Faithful who have been banished this season have stated that being booted by their teammates and seeing Rob play with compassion and grace has made them feel like he deserves the win.

Let me be perfectly clear: If I had watched Rob murder it week after week only to see him fall at the last minute, I would have been devastated in a way that would have felt dramatic to any casual viewer. Ironically, I had to have faith that he would have a plan and execute it to perfection, carrying Maura to the end and blindsiding her, no matter how awful he felt about it.

Truth be told, I do think Maura’s reaction was better than I was expecting, as she seemingly got over it faster than I get over losing a sock in the laundry. I think she had too healthy of an attachment to this whole thing being a game and I aspire to be that removed. Perhaps I’m overestimating Rob with this last one, but I do also believe that part of him knew that Maura would be blind to the last moment and the least likely to hold a grudge. I could be wrong.

All in all, I think Rob was always meant to win this game and win it alone. He goes down in Traitors history as one of the best among the best, giving even Survivor legend Cirie Fields a run for her money. In short, Rob’s place in an all-tar season is secure and I will be front row when he arrives back in Scotland for a second go.

The entire fourth season of The Traitors is now streaming on Peacock.

Peacock currently offers two subscription types: Premium with ads and Premium Plus ad-free. Peacock Premium costs $10.99/month, while Premium Plus costs $16.99/month.

You can save a bit by subscribing to one of Peacock’s annual plans, which give you 12 months for the price of 10. These cost either $109.99 with ads or $169.99 without ads.

Peacock Premium Plus is also available to subscribe to via Prime Video with a seven-day free trial that you can’t get by subscribing directly on Peacock.