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Warning: This interview contains Traitors Season 4 spoilers. After eight episodes, six banishments (both failed and successful), and one controversial blue sweater, Colton Underwood was officially murdered on The Traitors, thus ending the time of one of Season 4’s most controversial contestants.
Underwood—who’s best known for his appearances on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette and made history as the first former Bachelor to come out as gay in 2021—was selected as a faithful in Episode 1 and was a strong player from the start, leading the banishment that took out Season 4’s first traitor, Donna Kelce, in Episode 2.
However, as the episodes went on, the fans (and his fellow cast members) seemed to sour on Underwood, with many criticizing his aggressive and reckless gameplay. The negative reaction, which also led to fans resurfacing Underwood’s past legal controversies, got so bad that The Traitors had to issue a statement condemning the cyberbullying and harassment of the cast.
How I showed up on Traitors is not how I show up in my real life.
“One thing that people don’t understand is how I showed up on Traitors is not how I show up in my real life as a dad and a husband. I’m not that intense in real life,” Underwood tells StyleCaster. “I’m a very competitive person. It’s sort of in my blood to compete and play hard. There are a lot of people who are first finding out about me on this show, and I get it, I was intense, and I was competitive, but that’s really not who I am in my everyday.”
Despite his best attempts to make it to the end, Underwood was murdered in Episode 8 of The Traitors Season 4, which saw remaining traitors Candiace Dillard Bassett and (Underwood’s closest ally) Rob Rausch seal his fate in the game, which, in turn, sealed Dillard Bassett’s fate as the next traitor to be banished. Below, StyleCaster spoke to Underwood about his reaction to the negative response he’s faced on The Traitors; where he stands with Lisa Rinna, Michael Rapaport, Tiffany Mitchell, and more rivals from the show; and whether he plans to attend the series’ upcoming reunion, where he’s sure to be in the hot seat: “There’s going to be a lot said.”
Was this the first season you were asked to be on The Traitors?
This was the third season I was asked. The first one just didn’t work out logistically for my schedule. The second time I was offered was right around when Bishop was born, so logistically it wasn’t in the cards. But I was so appreciative and so honored to join this season. I think everything happens for a reason. It was a perfect fit for me.
What was your reaction when you learned who the traitors were?
It was brilliant. Lisa, Candiace, and Rob. It’s the perfect mix, right? You have someone to call the wild card in Lisa. You have the quiet, reserved Rob. Then you have what I would consider the leader of the pack in Candiace, and sort of the brains of the operation. It just made so much sense when I found them out.
We saw you suspect both Lisa and Candiace. Did you ever suspect Rob?
Rob was not on my radar one bit. The only thing that made my antennas go up on Rob is when he told everybody he had the dagger. It didn’t add up to me. Why would he do that? There’s six of us here, statistically speaking, one of us is a traitor in this group. Why all of a sudden, are you telling everybody you have this? I thought it was for sure a coverage play. I was like, “If you need coverage, coverage from who? Your name wasn’t brought up at all at that point.” That was his only mistake, in my opinion.
Do you think it was a mistake to murder you?
I think Rob’s playing a brilliant game. But part of me thinks it was a little bit of a mistake to kill me off. I had no suspicion of Rob. My loyalty was 100 percent with him. He and Natalie were my one and two. I was ready to go after Candiace hard, and I would have loved to have been recruited. I haven’t seen that episode yet, so I don’t know how it plays, but from what I’ve heard, it was sort of like there is no deal-making. There is no other name. It is Colton, and we’re not leaving this turret until you say it’s Colton.
You’ve received a lot of backlash for your gameplay this season. What has your reaction been to that?
At this point of my life and my career, anytime I’m back into the spotlight, it gives me a little bit of anxiety. People have watched me grow up in front of them through The Bachelor in my early days, and my journey has been one I’m extremely proud of, and it has not been perfect. I would be the first one to say that. Through my Netflix show and other various times, I’ve owned the mistakes I’ve made in my past, so I definitely understand it is challenging at times to read things that are either inaccurate or lack context. But I’m also proud of how I showed up and played the game. I made some great friendships with the people who were on this season of Traitors, and they’re gonna be memories I cherish forever.
I want to talk about the Lisa Rinna of it all. After your back-and-forth with Lisa at the roundtable a couple of weeks ago, she posted a comment about you on Threads, which she later backtracked on. What was your reaction to that, and what’s your relationship now?
Lisa and I communicate via text and message each other. We’re friendly. We also understand we’re on a television show together, and we were sort of nemeses. She is an icon and a legend, and one of the greatest to do, not only housewives, but her career in general. I think anytime you watch something back, it brings up the emotions and the intensity of what that game was. After that episode, you sort of leave the drama of the show to the show. There were conversations she and I had where we were just like, “Hey, we’re all for playing the game, but when it becomes more than that, that’s when we have to have a conversation as friends.”
Tiffany is also someone who’s had words for you on social media after she was banished from the show. What’s your relationship now?
I was wrong with Tiffany, and I’ll be the first to sit here and be like, “I messed up. I made a mistake.” But I went for Tiffany, how I went for Donna, and how I went for Lisa, and how I was planning on going for Candiace. I wanted to play this game with conviction and confidence. The moment you’re wishy washy—you saw that with my gameplay at the very first round table. I let somebody pull me off my gut to go with Donna, and I went with Porsha and made a mistake. From then on out, as soon as I said a name, I was sticking to it, no matter what. But it is a game. I think she understands that too, as a game player, and I’m sure she’s gonna have a lot of questions for me, too. But I respect her gameplay. I wasn’t as familiar with her game style from Big Brother until after the show. Hopefully, she’ll respect the game of it all.
Traitors is an individual game.
How do you feel about the reunion coming up, and do you plan to attend?
We’ll have to figure out and tune in for that. That’s what I’ll say there. Obviously, a lot of people are going to have a lot of things to say and get off their plates. This season definitely did not lack, not only gameplay, but drama. There’s going to be a lot to be said there.
At a few roundtables ago, Michael Rapaport made a comment that you interpreted as a dig toward your sexuality. Michael has since apologized and said that he didn’t mean it like that. What do you believe now?
What I’ll say about that situation is I believe it was a low blow. I always went into the roundtables with evidence from the game, and I never wanted to make anything personal about whatever I knew about these players. I just don’t want to create a bias when there’s not. I want to treat everybody as the same. I want to just gather information and present it. I think when that moment happened, you see me take a step back, and it took me out of the game where I’m like, “OK, that wasn’t cool.” Since then, he has called, and we’ve spoken on the phone, and he’s apologized. I am not somebody who holds grudges or wants to sit in that for very long. So of course, I forgave him, and we moved past it. I’m sure, if he is at the reunion and if I’m at the reunion, we’ll have to talk about it again. But after the show, he handled it I thought in a very respectful and good way.
If you weren’t murdered, do you think you could’ve won?
At that point, I played such a brash, bold game, and I was very proactive in seeking Traitors out that the only way I would have won the show is if I had been recruited.
At that point, you had a lot of suspicion on you as a traitor. If you were recruited, how would you have kept the suspicion off of you until the end?
If we’re speaking in hypotheticals, my first move, unfortunately, would have been to turn on Rob. Throw him right under the bus and be the solo traitor at the end, damn. That would have been savage, but Traitors is an individual game. Yes, there are traitors. Yes, there are faithfuls. And yes, you have to work together, but it is an individual game. It is a competition game show. And I will always respect people for playing the game hard and playing the game that they feel is best for them.
My journey has been one I’m extremely proud of, and it has not been perfect.
Do you consider yourself a gamer?
I definitely think I’m a gamer from other aspects of my life. I’ve been in the industry long enough now to understand certain things. You see this too, with a lot of relationship-based shows. Even Love Island. I’ve never experienced that. But there’s strategy involved. You have to make decisions about what is best for your life, what is best for your relationships. Yes, it’s a love and romance show, but there is some sort of competition. I don’t even know if you would call it a competition dating reality show, but there is a competition aspect to it. I’m proud of the representation from Bachelor Nation over the years. I think everybody who’s stepped onto the show from that franchise has done an excellent job.
I want to talk about the outfit with the blue sweater over your shoulders. Fans made a lot of memes of that look. What was your reaction to that?
I stand by all of my wardrobe choices. If I’m going to go compete on a television show with Alan Cumming in a castle in Scotland and do the most campy, theatrical murder mystery performance, I want to have fun with it. I worked with an incredible stylist to put together pieces that I felt comfortable and confident in and that I could wear on certain days that maybe I needed to feel good. My overall mood board was preppy jock. I was definitely feeling myself on the blue sweater that day. I saw the memes online. You film all day, and sometimes, you get hot, so you drape it over, and then it’d be over one shoulder. And then it would just be off, and then it would be fully back on. You’re going inside and outside. Your body temperature is changing. It was nice to have the option to either get warm or let it breathe.
Would you do Traitors again?
Naturally, the competitor in me screams yes. However, where I’m at in my life as a father and a husband, I’ve been through so much, and it takes a certain level of vulnerability to return in front of the camera. I sort of dip my toe back in, and then I’m like, “OK, I need a few years off again.” I would probably consider it. It just would be a larger conversation with my family the next time.
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Jason Pham
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