Bob the Drag Queen Says Boston Rob Had ‘No Choice But to Respect’ Him on Traitors, Calls Danielle ‘An Absolute Icon’ (Exclusive)

Bob the Drag Queen is proud to have held his own against ‘Boston Rob’ Mariano at The Traitors roundtable.

PEOPLE caught up with the former RuPaul’s Drag Race winner at REACH LA’s 3rd Annual Celebration Gala on Saturday, Feb. 16 to talk all things The Traitors.

When told that Boston Rob said he eliminated him “out of huge respect,” Bob replied, “To be fair, I gave him no choice but to respect me.”

Bob was blindsided when his fellow traitor Boston Rob betrayed him and brought up his name for banishment in episode 4 instead of a faithful’s.

“I think there was a big dog eat big dog-type of vibe going on in there, and there could only be one king of the castle,” Bob told PEOPLE exclusively of his and Boston Rob’s dynamic. “And I think it gags him to see this queen ended up being the king. He was like, ‘This bitch is really running things!’ “

Despite his bravado, Boston Rob was ultimately himself banished in episode 7.

And as impressive as Rob’s five competitive appearances on Survivor are, Bob says another traitor is even more impressive.

“Danielle is an absolute icon in the world of reality TV,” Bob said of their fellow traitor Danielle Reyes, who remains in the game going into Thursday’s episode. “I don’t think y’all reading at home know how much Danielle Reyes has changed the game of reality TV. You literally don’t know. They do reality differently because of her impact.” (Reyes has competed on Big Brother three times and is often regarded as the greatest player never to win.)

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Speaking of impact, Bob was on hand at the event to honor Peppermint, the first trans contestant and Drag Race alum to appear on The Traitors, with REACH LA’s Trans Vanguard Award for her efforts in supporting and advancing the trans community.”

“Folks like me in the trans community are just like everyone else. We have the same wants and needs: access to fair housing, nutrition, health care, safety, job security, all these, these types of things,” Peppermint said of her activism.

“When you boil down the things that people are fighting for, no matter who they are or what their identity is, it boils down to those things,” the RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 9 runner-up continued. Responding to the current anti-trans political climate, she warned, “Things are so much more prescient, and the urgency is definitely here.”

REACH LA’s mission is to engage, empower, and celebrate LGBTQIA+ people of color and their communities through social enterprise, creative arts, personal development, and health and wellness.

“We are going to find ways to be less reliant on federal funding,” REACH LA CEO Miguel Bujanda told PEOPLE. “But more importantly, [we need] to get the community to mobilize. The gay community has done that for many years. We mobilized without the support of the government. We will continue to mobilize to ensure we continuously provide services needed by the community.”

 New episodes of The Traitors stream Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on Peacock.