‘The Traitors’ season 3 cast adds more players in premiere twist

Warning: This article contains spoilers about the three-episode season 3 premiere of The Traitors.

Apparently, 21 contestants simply were not enough. The Traitors season 3 cast expanded beyond maximum capacity during Thursday’s three-episode premiere on Peacock when two more reality TV veterans were revealed in dramatic, suspended-in-the-air fashion.

The casting hijinks began when 20 players arrived via cars to Alan Cumming’s Scottish mansion, only to see an army of “followers” clad in black capes and masks. Cumming eventually dismissed the followers, but one stayed behind. The host beckoned the remaining masked man to reveal himself, and it was none other than Survivor (and Amazing Race and Deal or No Deal Island) legend Boston Rob Mariano.

Cumming informed the cast that if any player walked up and shook his hand, that Boston Rob would enter the game and the player who did so would be able to exile another contestant immediately. When no one chose to, Boston Rob was instead taken away. But savvy reality TV viewers would note that Cumming said the Survivor veteran was “exiled” and not “eliminated.” Savvy reality TV viewers would also realize there was a zero percent chance producers would bring Boston Rob all the way to Scotland and not actually let him play.

Sure enough, at the end of the first episode, it was revealed that Rob would enter the game as a Traitor. That meant he would be joining the three other Traitors already hand-selected by Cumming: Big Brother’s Danielle Reyes, Survivor’s Carolyn Wiger, and RuPaul’s Drag Race’s Bob the Drag Queen, But it was also revealed that Boston Rob would be joining the game along with two other players — as all three were then put in cages and raised above the ground. And at the start of episode 2, we learned the identity of those two other mysterious hooded figures.

Big Brother champion Derrick Levasseur and The Challenge star Wes Bergmann were the two other later additions to the game. Derrick is considered one of the best Big Brother players ever, winning season 16, and avoiding the nomination block all season long until the final three — a feat also accomplished by fellow Traitors castmate Danielle. Wes was originally a cast member of The Real World: Austin and parlayed that appearance into way too many Challenge seasons to mention, winning The Duel, Rivals II, and All-Stars 3.

With the addition of Derrick and Wes, that makes the full season 3 cast list of Traitors as follows:

• Bob Harper (The Biggest Loser) 
• Bob The Drag Queen (RuPaul’s Drag Race) 
• Britney Haynes (Big Brother) 
• Carolyn Wiger (Survivor) 
• Chanel Ayan (The Real Housewives of Dubai) 
• Chrishell Stause (Selling Sunset) 
• Ciara Miller (Summer House) 
• Danielle Reyes (Big Brother) 
• Derrick Levasseur (Big Brother)
• Dolores Catania (The Real Housewives of New Jersey) 
• Dorinda Medley (The Real Housewives of New York City) 
• Dylan Efron (Down to Earth with Zac Efron) 
• Gabby Windey (The Bachelorette) 
• Jeremy Collins (Survivor) 
• Lord Ivar Mountbatten (British Royal) 
• Nikki Garcia (Professional Wrestler) 
• Rob Mariano (Survivor & Deal or No Deal Island) 
• Robyn Dixon (The Real Housewives of Potomac) 
• Sam Asghari (Actor & Model) 
• Tom Sandoval (Vanderpump Rules) 
• Tony Vlachos (Survivor) 
• Wells Adams (Bachelor in Paradise)
• Wes Bergmann (The Challenge) 

Eventually, after Real Housewife Dorinda Medley was murdered by the Traitors, the remaining players had a mission in which they had to free Rob, Wes, and Derrick from their cages before time expired, with the three newbies each being able to give a Shield to the contestant of their choice. After Wells Adams became the first Faithful to be incorrectly banished by the group, Wes gave his shield to Jeremy Collins, Derrick gave his to Dylan Efron, and Boston Rob gave his shield to fellow Survivor champion Tony Vlachos.

That last one was turned on its head by the end of the three-episode premiere after folks started coming after Bob the Drag Queen at the Roundtable ceremony. Needing to protect his fellow Traitor, Boston Rob flipped on Tony and joined the group in voting him out of the game. This led to some drama as Tony pointed to Boston Rob after his banishment, proclaiming “You’re a sell-out, bro.”

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Earlier in the episode, Real Housewife Chanel Ayan was the second player murdered by the Traitors, which means four of the original 21 players are gone, but two more have been added. That’s Scottish math for you! The third episode ended with the Traitors meeting secretly to “shortlist” three contestants who would all be placed in coffins, with the Traitors returning later that night to murder one of them. It appeared that Jeremy and Bob Harper would be two of the three selections, while there was some disagreement as to whether a Traitor should be in the third coffin to throw others off the scent.

We’ll find out next week the full list of victims… as well as any more possible additions to the cast.