Who Are the Season 4 Traitors? Here’s Who Was Chosen to Mastermind the Game (Including the Identity of the Secret Traitor!)

Another season of The Traitors is here — which means a new group of devious celebrities has been chosen to wreak havoc in the castle.

Season 4 of the Emmy-winning Peacock reality series premiered on Jan. 8, bringing a star-studded group of reality TV stars and other familiar faces into the ancient Scottish castle for a game of deception, strategy and survival.

As always, the players learned in the first episode whether they were a Faithful, who must avoid being murdered or banished through the season, or a Traitor, who has to work to keep their identity under wraps from the rest of the players while secretly eliminating them all. If the Faithfuls successfully take out all of the Traitors by the end of the season, they split the grand prize pot. However, if a Traitor makes it to the end, they take all the money for themselves.

This season also introduced a twist: a secret Traitor. After the cast gathered outside the castle, host Alan Cumming selected one player in plain sight to take on the role. However, as later revealed, the Traitor’s identity would remain hidden from both the other players and viewers until later in the game.

The secret Traitor initially operated alone, choosing which players to place on a nightly murder short list. Eventually, the remaining Traitors would be given the chance to join forces with them.

So, who are the season 4 Traitors? Here are the cast members who were chosen to be Traitors — including one whose identity remained a secret until episode 3.

Warning: The Traitors season 4 spoilers ahead.

Who are the season 4 Traitors?

During the first round table, Cumming tapped three players as Traitors: The Real Housewives of Potomac‘ Candiace Dillard Bassett, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills‘ Lisa Rinna and Love Island USA‘s Rob Rausch.

This marked the first time in The Traitors’ history that two Housewives were chosen to be Traitors.

What have the Traitors said about being chosen?

Bassett, Rinna and Rausch were thrilled to be chosen for the honor. Before Cumming tapped the Traitors, they each sat down with the host and pleaded their case for why they’d make a good player.

“I am sweet, and I am fun, but I can also be a killer with a smile and the dimples,” Bassett said, while Rinna told Cumming she was a threat to others because she is “Lisa f—— Rinna.”

After being tapped as a Traitor, Rausch said in a confessional that he was “happy as can be” and believed he’d make a good Traitor.

“I’m hard to read. I’ve been told that by every girl I’ve ever dated, and I’m extremely competitive,” the Love Island USA alum said. “I like to win.”

Bassett said in a confessional that she felt like she “just won Miss United States,” while Rinna said “it just felt right” and that she wished she could call her husband, Harry Hamlin.

“I’m happy I get to lie, deceive and kill people,” Rinna said, adding she wasn’t feeling nervous. “My skills of being an actress are gonna help me a tremendous amount.”

Who is the secret Traitor?

After the secret Traitor was chosen in plain sight at the start of the season, their identity remained a mystery through the first two episodes.

In episode 3, however, Cumming told Bassett, Rinna and Rausch that they’d be able to meet their fellow Traitor on one condition: They had to successfully complete a complex murder in plain sight.

The secret Traitor selected four players to put on a short list, which were represented on tarot cards hidden behind a portrait in the kitchen. Bassett, Rinna and Rausch had to retrieve the cards, discuss who to murder and burn it in the breakfast room. If successful, they’d earn the right to meet the secret Traitor the following day.

But, they never got to meet their fellow deceiver in the turret, as the secret Traitor’s identity was revealed after getting banished at the round table. The cast was stunned (but thrilled!) to find out that they successfully banished one of the Traitors when NFL mom Donna Kelce revealed her true identity before leaving the castle.

“I know I’m the sacrificial lamb, and I know that I had a blast meeting every single one of you,” she said. “On that note, I think I’m gonna go, but you’ve got yourself a Traitor.”

How are the Traitors chosen?

In the first episode each season, viewers watch as Cumming sits down with the players for one-on-one interviews, where they are asked whether they want to be a Traitor or a Faithful. While not everyone gets their wishes, those with no interest in taking on the deceptive — and challenging — role of a Traitor likely won’t be chosen.

Mike Cotton, an executive producer for the U.S. version, told Variety in January 2024 that each contestant must also take a personality test that is specifically used for choosing the Traitors, which is done by “a big group.”

“We see attributes that might make someone a good liar or particularly deceptive,” he said, going on to explain that the Traitors are not chosen until the team has had a chance to see how they interact upon arrival — and until their interviews with Cumming.

“Alan does these chats with them, sitting down and asking them if they’d like to be a Traitor and why,” Cotton explained. “That has a really big bearing on it, as does Alan’s opinion. It’s almost like a job interview to be a Traitor, and we take all of that into account and decide just before the pick who that should be.”

Cotton added, “We want to make sure we’ve got an interesting mix of characters that will bring their own unique skill set to it.”

Cumming echoed that to Entertainment Weekly in January 2025, when he explained that the behind-the-scenes team looks for a group with “a healthy mix of conflict and team spirit” to tap as Traitors.

He also told Today in January 2025 that circling the round table to choose the Traitors is “incredibly stressful.”

“I feel I could sort of screw up the entire show in one fell swoop if I got it wrong,” the host said, adding that he circles the room “hundreds” of times while the players sit blindfolded.