The Traitors Cast & Audiences Will "Meet the Real Danielle" in Reunion Special: "Cold-Blooded"
Traitor Danielle Reyes talks playing it up for the camera ahead of The Traitors Season 3 reunion special on Peacock.
As the last remaining OG Traitor of Season 3, Big Brother alum Danielle Reyes has been on the front lines since Day 1. But whether or not Danielle's newly crowned fellow Traitor Britney Haynes votes her out or not at the top of The Traitors Season 3 finale, her gameplay will likely continue to dominate online chatter, just as it has all season.
"People are going to be shocked on how it’s going to end," Danielle recently told Vanity Fair in a first-look preview ahead of the finale and reunion special on March 6.
The story, which pulls from interviews with several Season 3 cast members, partially focuses on how Danielle has been perceived throughout the season — by her fellow cast members and audiences alike.
Danielle Reyes accepts her "villain" status headed into The Traitors Season 3 finale & reunion
"I don’t have any regrets about what I did on the show," Danielle said. "People say swearing on the grandkids — that’s awful. I had no regrets because I’m playing to win."
"Swearing on the grandkids" is in reference to some criticism from some fellow players that Danielle, during the game, did just that to prove she wasn't a Traitor.
Danielle's response?
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“Damn straight I did. I needed them to think I was a Faithful,” she said. “I think it was Dolores [Catania] who swore on her kids first. She looked at me, and I said, 'Well, I swear on my grandkids.' Before I left, I had conversations with my family, and said, 'Listen, I’m going to go into this game and leave it all out on the table.'... I’m a Traitor — I’m there to crush people’s dreams, take their money, and do treacherous things. And that’s what I did.
“If you look at the history of reality TV, people have sworn on stuff,” Danielle added. “Jonny Fairplay [of Survivor] said his grandmother was dead. I’ve seen people saying their spouses are ill. It’s what gamers do — we play hard, by any means necessary. It’s not necessarily that I told the lie. The fact that they believed it is what’s upsetting them.”
Playing it up for the camera: A faux "nervous Nellie"
While Danielle has outlasted fellow Traitors Bob the Drag Queen, Carolyn Wiger, and "Boston Rob" Mariano this season, that time on camera has also led to plenty of online criticism about her gameplay. Danielle hasn't been afraid to turn on the waterworks this season, even going so far as to tremble for the cameras from time to time.
“I had to change the way I was perceived because if I came in like myself — calm, cool — they would’ve automatically assumed I was a Traitor based on the fact that I was from Big Brother," Danielle said. "I was going to have to play this crying, nervous Nellie."
Danielle added that she "must’ve burned so many calories shaking."
“It’s so cringey,” she added of her play-acting. “But I’m just cracking up... This is not my first rodeo. In 2002, I was, and I’m doing air quotes, 'the villain.' Of course we didn’t have social media as prominently, but I’m good. The fans are entitled to their opinion, and I appreciate their passion.”
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And what about the reunion? Will we see any of that "nervous Nellie" we've gotten to know all season?
“In my real life, I’m not a crier. People call me cold-blooded at times,” Danielle said. “So I will not be crying at the reunion. I think the cast are going to finally get to meet the real Danielle.”
The Traitors Season 3 finale and reunion premiere on Peacock on Thursday, March 6, starting at 9/8c.
