The Traitors' Nikki Thinks Boston Rob Got in Chrishell's Head: "He Is So Good at What He Does"
The former professional wrestling legend was backstabbed by the Bambis...
This story contains spoilers for The Traitors Season 3, Episode 5.
For better or worse, all competitors who come together on Peacock's Emmy Award-winning competition series The Traitors to compete for a prize of up to $250,000 have their own agenda.
Be it the money, global fame, or just a test of their competitive nature, why they're there versus why their fellow competitors think they're there can make all the difference when it comes to the famed Elimination Round Table, where they have the power to banish each other from the game by way of majority vote.
For Nikki Garcia — the former professional wrestler and co-host of USA Network's Barmageddon alongside Blake Shelton and Carson Daly — getting cast on The Traitors represented an opportunity to throw her skills into the competition reality ring with some of its best players, including Boston Rob Mariano, Derrick Levasseur, and Carolyn Wiger.
Unfortunately, Nikki's intentions didn't line up with how many of her fellow players assessed her game, so she went home when she was incorrectly accused of being a Traitor at the Round Table in Episode 5.
"It was just very blindsiding," Nikki told NBC Insider in her exit interview.
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"I think coming from the perspective [of] an athlete, I came in there playing a game," she explained. "Other people come in thinking about whatever characters these people are and showmanship. At one point, I'm even like, 'Wait, is this about playing the game, or is it about how much attention [you] can get for TV? Because I'm here to play a game.' So, I felt like that made people feel like [I] don't care. And I'm like, 'I don't know how you guys play games, but I'm focused and in it!'"
Even worse, Nikki got backstabbed by the women she aligned herself with — the "Bambi" alliance of Nikki, Chrishell Stause, and Gabby Windey — and had to witness the "messy" gameplay that created chaos and confusion instead of sly strategy. We spoke to her about whether she thinks her alliance put a target on her back, why she was blindsided by her friends in the game, and who is playing this season wisely.
The Bambi Problem: "Our alliance became such a thing"
By Episode 3, the "Bambi" alliance was named and acknowledged at a post-Murder breakfast by Gabby. However, Nikki said she was surprised to be labeled as such because that name didn't come from within.
"I know Gabby said it, but I don't think she named us 'The Bambis,'" Nikki clarified. "From what I know, it was the Traitors naming us the Bambis and Ciara [Miller] originally was a part of those four. It was me, Chrishell, Gabby, and Ciara that they called the Bambis because in the beginning, us four would hang out and talk a lot. Then Ciara went off with Bob Harper and Dolores [Catania] a lot more. I remember someone saying it to us, and we all laughed, like, 'Bambis? That's what they're calling us? Like, cute. Fine.'"
However, Nikki said that she regrets that they were singled out for being an alliance early because it created strange social separations that hurt her game, especially when it came to trying to make alliances with the gamers in the cast.
"It was really weird because it became such a thing, almost as if we were leaving people out," she said. "I was confused how people took it more as, 'You're leaving me out of your group,' [rather] than realizing it was an alliance. It was strange."
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She said that gamers like Wes Bergmann, Derrick, and Boston Rob then decided to point their fingers at her.
"Derrick was very close with all three of us girls, and we trusted him a lot," she explained. "So I was just as shocked when he turned on me. I was like, 'Wait a minute, you said to my face how you knew 100 percent I was a Faithful.' So from what Wes did the night before, and then Derrick, I was like, 'Do you guys even know how to play this game? What's going on here?' It just made things really confusing."
She added, "People are looking at the wrong things. There's no communication. Alliances are good. Yes, when you get towards the end of a game, you want to start to break up alliances. But it was weird to me how our alliance became such a thing."
The blistering blindsides and Nikki's goodbye warning
Unfortunately, the "Bambi" alliance ended up betraying her, too. While she knew there was chatter about her being a Traitor after the coffin culling that sent Jeremy Collins home, she didn't really know she might be in trouble until shortly before the Episode 5 Elimination Round Table.
Nikki said she felt "defeated" when the majority of the table accused her of being a Traitor and then voted accordingly.
"When my character starts to get attacked — who I am — I just remember thinking inside, 'I'm so over this,'" she recalled. "I'm missing my son but I keep defending myself. But now you're not attacking me on the way I'm playing the game, you're just attacking me on who I am as a person. It was as if you're just getting bullied by everyone in the room, or everyone's throwing rocks at you, and you don't even have the fight left in you. With my exit speech, truly, I didn't know what I was gonna say, but it just came from the heart...from a broken heart."
Asked what possible excuse Chrishell and Gabby had to vote against her, Nikki theorized it was Boston Rob.
"That day, when we were traveling to the games, it was us three, and then Boston Rob wanted to join our van," she explained. "I think Chrishell, being a gaming fan, was in awe of him and I think he really manipulated Chrishell that day, like, 'Hey, you might be in alliance with her, but that's a Traitor.' I think she fell into that."
At the Round Table, Nikki surmised that Chrishell figured it was her moment to show her loyalty as a Faithful.
"I think she was probably thinking she was going to have that moment because Boston Rob is so good at what he does, in that way," she said. "And that's what got her."
And that goes for Gabby's vote too.
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How does she feel about the two ladies now?
"I don't take things personal, especially when it's in that atmosphere," Nikki said. "I understand people are just playing a game. Listen, I didn't think I was going to vote for Tony because I, for sure, didn't think Tony was a Traitor. And then, I got convinced by Boston Rob."
She considers Chrishell and Gabby amazing people who remain her good friends to this day.
"We've actually had really funny conversations since, because they just can't believe that they turned," she said, laughing. "Being in that atmosphere, I get it. The Round Table has energy like I have never felt before.
"You come in with such a plan, and then you enter the castle, and you're like, 'What just happened? I just journaled about this this morning!'" she added, joking about her big strategy left behind. "I wasn't fully prepared for that. If I ever did it again, I would come in so different: with a shield around my brain because people know how to get you."
Asked who she has her money on winning the game, she offered up Dylan Efron's name.
"He's befriending the Traitors in a great way, so I think it's giving him protection and he's not a full-on threat yet," she said. "And because he started the whole 'Bob the Drag Queen is a Traitor,' it made all the Faithfuls trust in him as a leader."
New episodes of The Traitors Season 3 premiere on Peacock on Thursdays at 9/8c, with the season finale and reunion premiering on March 6.
All episodes of Seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream right now on Peacock.
