@lizburrito Published Feb. 27, 2026, 2:00 p.m. ET Where to Stream: The Traitors Powered by Reelgood “Just think about the first day, and now look at us,” Natalie Anderson says early on in The Traitors Season 4 reunion episode, to which Rob Rausch responds jokingly, “We all hate each other!” It’s a funny exchange because while most of this season’s competitors seem largely okay with each other, you can’t help but wonder how much ill will they harbor toward the winner, a man who befriended them all, while lying to each and every one of them. Andy Cohen hosted the special, where Rob humbly attributed his win to luck (that did not appease his fellow Traitor, Candiace Dilliard Basset). Though the show celebrated Rob’s win and most would agree he’s one of the best Traitors to ever do it, there was an energy in the air that felt like his betrayals still lingered.
Rob’s Traitors win is controversial because the man never took the game personally and he was able to separate emotion from game play. It’s why he voted off Lisa Rinna, it’s why Candiace called him a snake, it’s why he sacrificed Eric Nam in the end game. At the reunion, some people haven’t forgiven him. When Andy congratulates Rob on his spectacular game, Lisa and Candiace give each other a LOOK that says it all.
Candiace eventually acknowledges that it was a “combination of smarts and luck” that led to Rob’s win, adding that “this group of Faithfuls need to go to Faithful school.”
While Lisa seems to have an okay relationship with Rob, Candiace still clearly harbors a lot of ill will. She thinks Rob only ever intended to make it to the end of the game by himself, which he denies, but Candiace is the one person throughout this whole season who keeps ignoring the fact that this is a game of strategy. I truly loved her as a Traitor, but ever since Lisa’s elimination, she keeps forgetting that the way Traitors win this game is not by loyalty but by lying. Early on she wants to get Rob to at least admit that he never had any intention of maintaining a Traitor alliance, and she tells Rob, “From the minute you were tapped on the shoulder, you said, ‘This is my game and I’m gonna win it,’ and you did, so just put your big girl panties on, Rob, and own that.”
One thing that Candiace won’t let go of during the reunion is that she thinks Rob was colluding with Faithfuls, specifically Colton Underwood, to win. “From my perspective, it looked as if you were feeding information to Colton,” she says to Rob, who immediately declares, “That’s crazy.” But then Candiace backs that up, saying, “[Colton] shared something with me that really fired up my grits,” and when Colton comes out, she says, “You said to me that Rob told you that I was a Traitor.” From backstage, Porsha Williams gasps loud enough to cause a slight breeze to befall the set.
Colton explains that what had happened was, during a conversation where he was bouncing potential Traitor names around with Rob, “Lisa was still in the game, I said, hey, we’re getting Lisa out tonight, one hundred percent, he said yes, and he said, alright, next up is Candiace.” “I don’t feel like I said that. I feel like if you said it, I would have went for that but I don’t think I would have said that,” Rob says. “It just so happened that what Colton was doing was good for my game so I just supported him.”
“I actually found it hard to watch,” Maura says of the moment Rob told her he was a Traitor, thereby betraying her trust. “Seeing my face, like, I was genuinely shocked.” (Rob denies breaking his pinky promise to her – he says he only ever promised to vote Eric out, which her did.) Maura adds, “The reason I couldn’t speak is that I was actually waiting for Rob to say ‘Just kidding!'” When Maura says she was embarrassed for herself, Candiace tells her, “Perhaps it was a lesson in discernment.” I honestly don’t think Candiace should be telling Maura about teachable moments in a game where they both were bested by a liar?
Andy also brings up Rob and Maura’s undeniable chemistry. They admit that they might have had a little flirt here and there, but from Maura’s perspective, they were just good friends. Even though he screwed her over, things seem okay between them now that he has apparently promised to buy her a Birkin bag as a consolation prize, and she tells him “You get my Birkin, you’re forgiven. We’ll go from there.” (Rob says he’s not single, however.)
Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir – joining via satellite from Milan – are then asked how it felt when Maura cast votes to banish them both. Tara admits it hurt, she really thought they were “buds.” Watching it back, Maura says, “I am so dumb. I am so dumb,” and it really does feel like she’s scarred from this show, she put so much trust in the wrong people and it has messed with her.
One of the boldest moves of the season came when Colton attempted to broker a deal with Lisa, telling her he wouldn’t vote for her banishment if she would keep him safe in the turret. It was his way of getting her to confirm she was a Traitor (although she didn’t), and, he explains now, it was his way of hinting that he wanted to get recruited as a Traitor himself. Lisa then asks, ” What did you mean when you said you wanted to take me hostage as a Traitor?” “Instead of banishing you to get you out of the game, I would have rather kept you in it to see if you would’ve flipped on another Traitor.” This all seems like a reasonable explanation, but Lisa takes issue with his use of the word “hostage.”
“Hold on, I totally hear you [but] you were in the turret and you said you wanted to slit my fucking throat. It’s in the context of the game so it’s not fair for you to look at me and say – ” Colton says, and Lisa gets very testy, interrupting and saying, “I can look at you any way I want and I can say anything I want, actually.”
Colton is then given the chance to explain the negative fan reaction to his appearance on the show and he explains, “I had an incredibly difficult couple years and I’ve grown and I’ve changed,” he explains, referring to the time in between his appearance as a contestant on the Bachelor until now. In the time since, he’s come out of the closet (and faced controversy around stalking an ex) and he says, “I never really thought that the way that I would show up and play Traitors would be linked to one of the darkest and most horrible moments of my life.” (It’s interesting that after Colton gives this speech, there are no reaction shots from his fellow cast members, no sympathetic nods, it’s curious given just how controversial and polarizing he’s been.)
The most dramatic moment of the season without a doubt was when Alan Cumming shouted, “It was YOU , Yam Yam!” at the Black Banquet, revealing that Yam Yam Arrocho was murdered in plain sight by the Traitors. Yam Yam then called out on his way to the other side, “It was Lisa! Lisa kissed me!” While it was Lisa, it wasn’t a kiss on the cheek that did him in, so Andy asks Lisa and Yam Yam to reenact their smooch in the name of science.
“I don’t kiss. I just don’t,” she adds in her own defense. Still, it wasn’t the kiss that killed him so why are we still on this?
The lack of enough salmon at breakfast was an ongoing hot topic for several episodes of the show, and when Andy brings it up, Candiace hilarious refers to the fish as “the 24th cast member” of the show. But breakfast in general receives the most animated reaction of almost all the topics this cast covered. “I’ll vote for bacon!” Porsha Williams yells. “It was the only thing! It was boiled eggs or salmon,” Tiffany Mitchell adds.
It seems pretty obvious that Candiace holds the biggest grudge on the show against Rob. But the funny thing about this reunion is how some of the most contentious relationships on the show have healed (Michael Rapaport apologizes to Colton and they seem cool, Ron Funches doesn’t even address his issues with Dorinda Medley.). But then there are some relationships that were not as obviously contentious on the show that have become much more antagonistic at the reunion.
Porsha Williams, the first person to be banished on this season, holds a grudge against her fellow Housewife Lisa, who cast a vote to banish her. Porsha – who brought props! – holds up a Ziploc baggie willed with pink good, declaring that when she returned home, she smashed all of her Rinna Beauty lip glosses and lip liners out of spite. “Porsha!!” Candiace says in shock.
“That’s alright, it went out of business anyway,” Lisa cracks.
Porsha also feels a way about Michael, who came into the show being the Housewives’ number one fan, but who voted her off at the first round table. “You were like, oh, I love you so much, Porsha, it’s like you used me knowing that you cared about the Housewives in order to make a scene and turn around and vote for me.” Porsha ignites something fierce in Michael, who tells her, “You need to figure out a way to use your words,” and when Porsha tries to interject, he yells, “When I’m talking, you’re not talking.” I can’t believe this grown man is speaking to a woman this way, or even allowed on TV. “This is not a Housewives reunion,” Andy says as they bicker, before cutting them off completely.
And Michael, while apologizing to Colton, takes a weird shot at Johnny, referring to him as “Olympic silver medalist Johnny Weir,” and when Johnny interrupts to tell Michael he actually never medaled at the Olympics, Michael goes full rage monster and yells, “When I’m speaking, you’re not speaking,” adding, incredibly, “I’m quoting the great Hilaria Baldwin.” There are SO many things one could parse from that one sentence, but I don’t have the time.
Overall, The Traitors reunion addressed most of this season’s biggest moments, but there are a few things I wish we would have gotten into more: I wish Ron had more time to explain himself and his strategy, because that drama still feels undercooked. There was no reference to all the times Natalie freaked out about shields, daggers, potions and other forms of self-preservation. No a peep about Tara and Johnny’s strategic plan to not reveal their friendship. Save for a few unexpectedly feisty moments like Michael being Michael and Porsha bringing out her lip gloss baggie, there were no huge revelations, but at the very least, for old’ time’s sake, everyone was able to do one last conga line together.
Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Massachusetts. Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.
