Ranking Every Traitor From ‘The Traitors’

The Traitors has become a reality TV obsession across America since its debut in early 2023, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. Originally a Dutch television show called De Verraders, it now has popular adaptations in the US, UK, Greece, Australia, Canada, France, and Belgium.

For those unaware, Traitors is similar to Clue, Mafia, and Among Us. A group of contestants—mostly people who are famous from other reality TV series—arrive in a large Scottish castle to participate in various competitions to add money to the prize pot.

However, a small group of players are chosen to take on the role of the titular Traitors, and are tasked with ‘murdering’ their fellow players. Before or after each murder, all contestants vote on who they think is a traitor and banish them from the game. After the field of contestants has slimmed down to just a few, the prize pot is distributed equally among the remaining players—but if even one traitor remains in the last contestants standing, the traitor(s) will take home the entire pot.

The Traitors continues to dazzle audiences, and that’s mostly because of how fun it is to see players successfully (or unsuccessfully) deceive one another. Since season three of The Traitors has ended, here’s a ranking of every traitor in the entire series—although only for the American version, apologies to fans of The Traitors UK. Just know that Paul, Harry and Andrew would be at the top if this list comprised both shows. SPOILERS for all three seasons of The Traitors US follow.

N/A: Britney Haynes

It feels a little unfair to rank Britney considering she basically didn’t do anything. After being recruited as a Traitor, all she did was murder Tom Sandoval of Vanderpump Rules fame and then pretty much immediately get voted out, so we’re not going to rank her—although she should probably get some points for that kill on its own. In the end, Danielle should’ve chosen a different person to recruit instead of a player that already had plenty of suspicion on them.

12. Dan Gheesling

Seriously, you’d think a guy who is mostly famous just for being deviously cruel in reality competitions would be a lot better at this game. Dan was just one of many Big Brother disappointments, as Traitors players who made a name for themselves on that series often crash and burn in this one. His fatally stupid strategy was to play under the radar and refuse to speak with his fellow contestants, which immediately put a massive target on his back. He was then massively outwitted and outplayed by ‘Pilot’ Pete Weber (who was once the star of The Bachelor) despite several warnings from fellow traitors Parvati and Phaedra, who were eliminated in the blowback of his fatal mistake.

11. Kate Chastain

Oh, Kate. We’re sorry the game did you so dirty. The Below Deck alum and clear fan-favorite of any Traitors player ever—she played in season 1, returned in season 2, and recently had a guest host role this season—was well known for her witty one-liners and general dislike for everyone around her. But she never stood a chance in season 2, as she was forced to join the Traitors by fellow traitor Phaedra in the penultimate episode and floundered after the group realized there had to be one Traitor left. Sorry, queen. At least you looked great in that dress in season 3.

10. Cody Calafiore

Yet another Big Brother disappointment, Cody has the honor of being the first Traitor ever voted out on The Traitors. (Guess you could say he started the trend.) The Big Brother All Stars winner couldn’t crack it in this game and was suspected from the jump, before stupidly confessing to another player that Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte wanted him out of the game—right after he had murdered Lochte the night before. Not exactly the best strategy.

9. Bob the Drag Queen

RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Bob was basically eaten alive after trying to throw shade at fellow traitor ‘Boston Rob’ Mariano. Well-liked by the contestants and probably the most influential leader in the game, his big mistake was telling the group that he thinks one of the three late entrants (which included Rob) must be a Traitor. Boston Rob took that personally, and convinced the group that Bob had to be a Traitor secretly manipulating them all because of the influence that he wielded. He flopped at the round table in the face of Boston Rob’s argument, and was banished—the first of many traitor-on-traitor crimes in season 3. Seems like somebody should’ve told Bob that reading is fundamental.

8. Christian de la Torre

The only Traitor on the list to have not already been on a reality TV series, U.S. Army veteran Christian tried his best go up against so many Survivor and Big Brother stars. He performed admirably, but quickly got a bit too big for his britches. Christian drew major suspicion after he randomly started accusing other players of being recruited by Traitors, and got caught attempting to undermine his two fellow Traitors Arie and Cirie by mentioning their name to others. His two teammates decided that Christian had to go before he blew up their lead, and quickly convinced the group to banish the veteran from the castle. At least he ended up with a consolation prize: dating fellow contestant Geraldine.

7. Carolyn Wiger

Carolyn played a nearly perfect game, despite her constant beefing with all of her fellow Traitors—until the chess challenge, where she stupidly let Danielle frame her by allowing Carolyn to guide all of the game’s answers. Danielle later flipped that information on its head to vote Carolyn out. Prior to that mission, Carolyn almost felt untouchable, as no one suspected her until she was betrayed by her fellow Traitor and rival. You just know she had to be at home cheering when Britney backstabbed Danielle in the finale.

6. Danielle Reyes

Is it possible to fail upwards in The Traitors? Or was this all just a long con by Reyes? That’s the question audiences were asking themselves each week in this season of The Traitors, which featured Big Brother alum Danielle continuously making moves that looked completely boneheaded on the surface but might’ve actually been great strategy, as she somehow made it to the finale despite being called out as a “bad Traitor” by fellow player Boston Rob. Unfortunately, she was stabbed in the back by her bestie and recruited Traitor Britney in the eleventh hour. Guess her luck ran out.

5. Parvati Shallow

It’s tough to start the game and have everyone immediately peg you as a Traitor. That’s exactly what happened to four-time Survivor player Parvati, as the other contestants knew that there’s no way she wouldn’t be recruited for her dynamic gameplay. Parvati still managed to play an excellent game and make it halfway through the season by partnering up with rival ‘Pilot’ Pete Weber, but she was ultimately banished after Dan’s aforementioned mishap (see #11) led to her inability to convince others of her innocence.

4. Rob Mariano

Similarly to Parvati, Survivor legend ‘Boston Rob’—who has appeared on the series an astounding six times, in addition to appearances on The Amazing Race and Deal or No Deal Island—was immediately suspected as a Traitor. Despite that, he managed to murder five contestants (in a bold move, all five had expressed suspicion of Rob) and banish several others, including fellow Traitor Bob the Drag Queen. Unfortunately, the repeated deaths of his rivals proved to be too big of a red flag, prompting his fellow Traitors to sow the seeds for his elimination. At least it was fun to watch while it lasted.

3. Phaedra Parks

Of course the master of social gameplay is a Real Housewife. Phaedra, one of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, managed to avoid elimination an astounding number of times by flipping several votes with her expert rhetoric every time her name was brought up for banishment. She managed to avoid suspicion nearly the entire game until Dan mentioned her name right before his elimination as a last-ditch effort, which finally turned the contestants against her. If Dan wasn’t such an abysmal player, it’s likely Phaedra (and maybe Parvati, too) would’ve ran away with the entire season.

2. Arie Luyendyk Jr.

Bachelor contestants seem to do pretty well on Traitors. Other than Wells from Bachelor in Paradise, every other Bachelor or Bachelorette has made it past the final ten contestants. Arie is likely the greatest of them all, as he made it to season 1’s final showdown. He received a total of zero banishment votes across all of the first season—proving how likeable and generally unsuspicious he was—before being betrayed by his fellow Traitor in season 1’s finale and choosing to walk away from the game. Which leads us to our top spot…

1. Cirie Fields

Was there ever any doubt? The only Traitor to win the US version, four-time Survivor alum Cirie used her sound strategy and charming personality to sail to a solo win. She made as many allies as possible and protected them throughout the game, ensuring that everyone who trusted her made it as far as she needed them to. In addition, she nearly always deduced the correct time to cut off her allies—including her fellow Traitors. The season 1 finale saw fellow Traitor Arie Luyendyk tell her he planned to go to the end with her and they’d split the money… only for her to stab him in the back at the final showdown as a way to ‘prove’ she wasn’t a Traitor. It’s very likely both Arie and Cirie could’ve won the season together, which makes her final betrayal all the more delicious.