SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from the seventh episode of “The Traitors” Season 4, now streaming on Peacock.
Lisa Rinna made it seven episodes as a Traitor on Season 4 of “The Traitors” — long enough to wear the dress she wanted to to the Black Banquet and rack up an impressive body count. During her time in the game, the Traitors successfully murdered “Big Brother” star Ian Terry, “Survivor” legend Rob Cesternino, “Real Housewives of Dubai” star Caroline Stanbury, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” winner Monét X Change and “Survivor” winner Yam Yam Arocho.
For fans accustomed to Rinna’s chaotic, scene-stealing antics on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” “The Traitors” revealed a different side of her — a calculated, strategic and surprisingly stealthy one. She kept off the Faithfuls’ radar for weeks until Yam Yam, whom she had just murdered at the Black Banquet, screamed her name as he was escorted out and sealed the deal.
“I literally kill him, and then as he’s being taken out, he screams my name,” she tells Variety. “That’s good TV… like, he just sunk you.”
The “RHOBH” alum was selected as one of the original Traitors alongside Candiace Dillard Bassett and Rob Rausch. In Episode 7, Rob led the charge to banish her, voting against her and convincing the house to eliminate her despite her efforts to redirect suspicion toward “Survivor” star Natalie Anderson. Lisa admitted she had no idea her Traitor ally was orchestrating her downfall until after the episodes aired.
The intensity of the experience required recovery time, but she has no regrets — and plenty of opinions about the Faithful players’ detective skills. “The Faithfuls are so bad,” she says. “They really are; they’re terrible.”
Below, she spoke to Variety about Rob’s betrayal, that infamous Yam Yam moment, her dynamic with Colton Underwood and why she “loved murdering people.”
‘The Traitors’ seems very stressful to be a part of. Your daughter mentioned to Variety that you needed time to “heal” after filming. What was that process like?
It did take me a minute to kind of recalibrate. It’s an intense experience, and so I needed a little time. And now I’m great. My husband and I were watching the show, and he was watching the roundtable with Michael [Rapaport] and Colton, and he goes, “OK, now I understand what you went through. There’s a lot of psychosis going around this table.” Finally, you understand what I went through.
Rob voted against you, and kind of led the charge to get you banished —
Kind of? Kind of? Hello!
Euan Cherry/PEACOCK
Yes, it was him. When did you realize he was willing to sacrifice you?
I never knew. I mean, he voted for me the night before, so my spidey senses were already up. But I had no idea that he was leading the charge the next day. That’s surprising, but that’s the game. He’s smarter than I am, because everyone thought it was going to be me going against the Traitors, and it wasn’t. I can’t fault him for it. It was sad, because I love my little Traitor group, my little Traitor family. It’s great to kiki and have fun, but at the end of the day, it’s called “Traitors.” This always happens — Traitor-on-Traitor crime. I happen to be the Traitor-on-Traitor crime. I’m kind of glad it wasn’t me doing it. He’s getting a lot of shit for it, and I think he deserves every bit of it.
Let’s talk about the Black Banquet and Yam Yam screaming your name. Did you actually kiss him differently than anyone else?
I air-kissed everyone. If you look at the tape, he comes in to kiss me first. It’s not me. And I don’t kiss people — I air kiss people. He also has a beard. You’re not going to go in and kiss a beard. It was frustrating that it was all about the kiss because we know it was about the amulet. But you can’t say that… The minute he screamed my name, I was like, “Oh, Rinna, you’re sunk. You’re sunk. That’s it.” No matter what, his conviction was so strong that I can see why Rob was like, “All right, well, she’s a sinking ship. I might as well just literally sink her.” He’s going to have a little karma for that, but that’s OK. He’s young. He’ll figure it out.
So what was your first reaction when Yam Yam yelled your name?
My first reaction was, “Did he just say your name?” And then I was like, “Oh my God, he just said my name.” Inside, I’m laughing because you can’t write that. I literally kill him, and then as he’s being taken out, he screams my name? That’s good TV. The producer kind of thing in my head is going, “Wow, that’s really good.” I was sunk the minute he screamed my name with such conviction. No matter what, I was just like, someone should just give me a cigarette and I’ll just go.
You and Candiace almost flipped the vote onto Natalie. Do you think you could have survived another round if it weren’t for Rob coming after you at the round table?
I do — I think that I could have gone one more episode. It was already going toward Natalie, but Rob must have wanted to keep Natalie. I’m not sure what his gameplay is, but there’s a reason why he went after me, and I’ll ask him that at the reunion. “What made you finally make that decision?” Because I’m curious.
Colton had it out for you for much of the game, and he’s received a lot of negative attention online since the show premiered. You made a joke about him being a “stalker,” seemingly referring to his past, but you later apologized. What’s your relationship with him now?
I didn’t know anything about his past. I will say, in my defense, he wanted a Housewife, so I gave him a Housewife moment in my sassy response to a thread message. Then it was like putting gas on a fire, and I didn’t want to do that. It’s not what I’m out to do. Listen, he was a great nemesis for me. I can see that, and I thanked him for it while we were in the game. I saw it for that. It makes me sad that anybody gets hate online, because I’ve been through it, and I certainly don’t want to be a part of somebody else’s hate online. So I didn’t like that.
Did you enjoy being a Traitor?
I loved murdering people. It was so much fun. I loved being a Traitor. I loved every second of it. I wouldn’t change anything. I had the best time of my life.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Leave a Reply