Whenever an unexpected twist saves a player in a reality competition series, fans are sure to cry foul, and The Traitors is no different.
After host Alan Cumming announced at the last minute that the banishment in last week’s episode would be canceled, The Bachelor’s Peter Weber was seemingly given a second life.
Peter found himself in the crosshairs heading into the show’s roundtable, which traditionally concludes with a vote to banish one player. Instead of voting to banish someone, the players were taken into the woods and given a chance to save each other one at a time by lighting another player’s torch.
Peter, who almost certainly would have been banished, survived the February 8 episode and is still going strong.
Entertainment Weekly caught up with The Traitors executive producer Sam Rees-Jones and asked about that moment specifically.
“The episode 7 twist [of the canceled banishment] was absolutely not done to protect anyone,” he said. “That was a twist that had been planned for that episode before we even started filming.”
Something else that Rees-Jones says was in the plan all along was for Peter to have the chance to refuse an offer to become a traitor. That offer came at the beginning of episode 7. Traitor Dan Gheesling had just been banished, so the remaining two traitors, Parvati Shallow and Phaedra Parks, had an opportunity to recruit one more. They secretly chose Peter, who refused the offer. Had there been only one traitor left, he would have instead received an ultimatum: become a traitor or be eliminated.
“The rules dictated at the point that when you’re down to one traitor, it’s an ultimatum. So that wasn’t a response to anything that happened before,” Rees-Jones said. “It wasn’t a knee-jerk to Peter’s [refusal]. When Peter turned down the letter, it was so brilliant to watch.”
It’s understandable that fans would speculate about production fixing the game when twists or previously unexplored rules favor keeping certain favorites in the game. But, as Rees-Jones points out, the unpredictability is part of the fun — even for production.
“We would never interfere with the gameplay because, well, one, we don’t need to,” he explained. “And two, it wouldn’t be satisfying … it’s exciting when they start getting glimmers of traitors. That’s the game, isn’t it? And that’s fun to watch.”
That fun will continue long after the season 2 finale airs. The Traitors is currently casting for season 3, and Rees-Jones said producers have not ruled out alumni from any reality shows.
