Colton Underwood Defends ‘Traitors’ Game Play, Reveals Death Threats Sent to Him and His Family: ‘It’s Not OK’
SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from Season 4, Episode 8 of “The Traitors,” now streaming on Peacock.
Since Season 4 of “The Traitors” premiered in early January, Colton Underwood has been under fire. The former Bachelor, who came out as gay in 2021, played a very intense game — something he admits! — but in turn, made quite a few enemies inside the castle.
As the episodes rolled out, Underwood started receiving a torrent of online bullying. While not the first, nor the only one on the cast to be subject to backlash, Underwood drew comments about his past. That only intensified after Michael Rapaport attacked him at the roundtable, saying, “Nobody in this room would be better at holding a secret than you,” seemingly citing Underwood’s closeted history: He led “The Bachelor” in 2019 and went on to have a long-term relationship with winner Cassie Randolph. In 2020, Randolph filed a restraining order against him for stalking and placing a tracker on her car, a lawsuit which she later withdrew by mutual agreement. The following year, Underwood came out as gay.
The former NFL player has since married and has a son. And when he went on “The Traitors,” the hate he received wasn’t about the game he played as a Faithful: It became personal quickly, with internet commenters reviving the allegations against him. The toxicity directed toward Underwood was one of the things that led Peacock to release a statement, urging fans to be respectful.
At the top of the eighth episode, Underwood was murdered by the remaining Traitors, Rob Rausch and Candiace Dillard Bassett — something he saw coming. Below, Variety speaks with Underwood about his journey on the show, how he feels about his gameplay — and where he stands today with the cast.
I think at that point of the game, I knew the only way that I was going to make it to the end was to get recruited. So either I was getting recruited or getting murdered. If I was going to go out, I would rather have gone out murdered than banished, because I think part of the game and the fun of it is defending yourself at the roundtable and holding your own. And if you get banished, it means you didn’t do a good enough job at defending yourself. So if I went out, I always wanted to go out getting murdered.
I feel really proud of how I played the game. I was very intense. I get it. And I know people who are just meeting me for the very first time on camera were like, “Who is this dude?” I’m an ultimate competitor. I was also a superfan of the show. So there’s weirdly a part of me now that’s very excited to watch the rest of the season as a fan again, instead of the intensity in which I had to watch myself on that show. But I’m doing well. I’m in such a good place in my life where I’m happy and joyful. When I show up for my family, I’m not the same as what I am when I’m on television working. So I’m in a really good place.
First and foremost, I want to say I’m proud of Peacock for standing up for the cast — the people, the human beings who are putting on a show for these fans. I think what makes “Traitors” so successful is all of the cast who are entering that castle have their own fans, and they have their own groups that are rooting for them and cheering for them. I totally understand the intensity of rooting and being upset when your player goes home. I think for me, personally, there were a few lines that got crossed with messages sent to me and things that were brought up lacking context and also lacking accuracy of my past — which, I will always and have taken accountability for. That was something that I wasn’t fully prepared to deal with six years later and at this stage of my life. But I do understand there are new fans, people meeting me for the first time. There are also people who watched my “Bachelor” season six years ago and then forgot about me, and then all of a sudden, this is jarring. Who is this dude? A lot of life has happened for me in six years — a lot of growth, a lot of self-work, and I’m in such a different place.
I focus on the positive, but you know me well, and I’m gonna shoot you very straight: An example of a message that I had to send to Peacock is after the Michael Rapaport comment, somebody told me to stick a gun up my ass and pull the trigger and called me the F word in it. That’s crossing the line. If you don’t respect my gameplay, if you don’t like the character that I showed up as on “Traitors,” that is one thing, but to receive a message like that — to receive emails of my home address and referencing my child and my husband in it — that’s not OK. That’s too far. Like I said, I focus on the positive, but I also see comments. I see people, like I said before, that are saying things that just are completely inaccurate. And I have no interest in going tit for tat. I have no interest in fighting with people in the comments. But I think just understanding that there’s a lot of context left out in that part of my life.
I think that’s people trying to not give me credit for doing what I did. Was Rob my ally? Yes, he was my ally, and what I thought was a Faithful. The only mistake that Rob made that made my antennas go up was telling everybody that he had the dagger. That, for me, felt like a coverage play. And I was like, “Why is Rob doing this? Statistically speaking, one of us in this six is a Traitor. Why would he reveal his cards? Oh, he’s covering himself — for either somebody that’s not in this pack or somebody who is.”
So that was his only mistake in the game. I think Rob murdering me or allowing Candiace to murder me, was giving her her own shovel to dig her own grave. And I think it was brilliant. It was cutthroat. It was everything that “Traitors” is, and it was the best strategy move that I think I’ve ever seen in the game.
There’s a lot that always doesn’t get shown. What I would say about Michael is, I do feel like it was somewhat of a low-blow. When I came to the roundtable, I came with evidence, I kept it to the game. The furthest I would take it is, “Lisa is not the Lisa who I thought she would be.” I didn’t want to go into anybody’s antics or what I knew of them prior to the show. I just felt like that was inappropriate and not applicable to the game. I don’t think Michael’s a homophobe. He FaceTimed me after filming. We had a great conversation that I’m gonna let [him decide] if he wants to speak on it at the reunion. We moved past it. I forgave him. I’m someone who doesn’t want to hold grudges. I’ve also dealt with Michael Rapaports my entire life in locker rooms, where they’re fast talkers, they put their foot in their mouth and and they say things like that. I get it.
I love Lisa, and I think it was such an honor to go against her. I know she said this too, we were perfect nemeses for each other. I enjoy breaking the fourth wall a lot — we were making a television show. Of course, we’re playing a game. And I know people like to protect their bubbles, producers in “The Bachelor” hated when I always broke that fourth wall. But we’re there to entertain, and we get it; we’re gonna play heightened versions of ourselves. She said it, “You want a Housewife, I’ll give you a Housewife.” So I’m like, “Thank you! Let’s do this.”
It was fun for me. That’s when the adrenaline gets pumping. So, it was an honor, and we are in a good place, too. She said it on camera. She’s been in this industry for 36 years. I’m only 34, so I’m not super familiar with everything that she’s been in, but I do have so much respect for her career.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Since Season 4 of “The Traitors” premiered in early January, Colton Underwood has been under fire. The former Bachelor, who came out as gay in 2021, played a very intense game — something he admits! — but in turn, made quite a few enemies inside the castle.
As the episodes rolled out, Underwood started receiving a torrent of online bullying. While not the first, nor the only one on the cast to be subject to backlash, Underwood drew comments about his past. That only intensified after Michael Rapaport attacked him at the roundtable, saying, “Nobody in this room would be better at holding a secret than you,” seemingly citing Underwood’s closeted history: He led “The Bachelor” in 2019 and went on to have a long-term relationship with winner Cassie Randolph. In 2020, Randolph filed a restraining order against him for stalking and placing a tracker on her car, a lawsuit which she later withdrew by mutual agreement. The following year, Underwood came out as gay.
The former NFL player has since married and has a son. And when he went on “The Traitors,” the hate he received wasn’t about the game he played as a Faithful: It became personal quickly, with internet commenters reviving the allegations against him. The toxicity directed toward Underwood was one of the things that led Peacock to release a statement, urging fans to be respectful.
At the top of the eighth episode, Underwood was murdered by the remaining Traitors, Rob Rausch and Candiace Dillard Bassett — something he saw coming. Below, Variety speaks with Underwood about his journey on the show, how he feels about his gameplay — and where he stands today with the cast.
I think at that point of the game, I knew the only way that I was going to make it to the end was to get recruited. So either I was getting recruited or getting murdered. If I was going to go out, I would rather have gone out murdered than banished, because I think part of the game and the fun of it is defending yourself at the roundtable and holding your own. And if you get banished, it means you didn’t do a good enough job at defending yourself. So if I went out, I always wanted to go out getting murdered.
I feel really proud of how I played the game. I was very intense. I get it. And I know people who are just meeting me for the very first time on camera were like, “Who is this dude?” I’m an ultimate competitor. I was also a superfan of the show. So there’s weirdly a part of me now that’s very excited to watch the rest of the season as a fan again, instead of the intensity in which I had to watch myself on that show. But I’m doing well. I’m in such a good place in my life where I’m happy and joyful. When I show up for my family, I’m not the same as what I am when I’m on television working. So I’m in a really good place.
First and foremost, I want to say I’m proud of Peacock for standing up for the cast — the people, the human beings who are putting on a show for these fans. I think what makes “Traitors” so successful is all of the cast who are entering that castle have their own fans, and they have their own groups that are rooting for them and cheering for them. I totally understand the intensity of rooting and being upset when your player goes home. I think for me, personally, there were a few lines that got crossed with messages sent to me and things that were brought up lacking context and also lacking accuracy of my past — which, I will always and have taken accountability for. That was something that I wasn’t fully prepared to deal with six years later and at this stage of my life. But I do understand there are new fans, people meeting me for the first time. There are also people who watched my “Bachelor” season six years ago and then forgot about me, and then all of a sudden, this is jarring. Who is this dude? A lot of life has happened for me in six years — a lot of growth, a lot of self-work, and I’m in such a different place.
I focus on the positive, but you know me well, and I’m gonna shoot you very straight: An example of a message that I had to send to Peacock is after the Michael Rapaport comment, somebody told me to stick a gun up my ass and pull the trigger and called me the F word in it. That’s crossing the line. If you don’t respect my gameplay, if you don’t like the character that I showed up as on “Traitors,” that is one thing, but to receive a message like that — to receive emails of my home address and referencing my child and my husband in it — that’s not OK. That’s too far. Like I said, I focus on the positive, but I also see comments. I see people, like I said before, that are saying things that just are completely inaccurate. And I have no interest in going tit for tat. I have no interest in fighting with people in the comments. But I think just understanding that there’s a lot of context left out in that part of my life.
I think that’s people trying to not give me credit for doing what I did. Was Rob my ally? Yes, he was my ally, and what I thought was a Faithful. The only mistake that Rob made that made my antennas go up was telling everybody that he had the dagger. That, for me, felt like a coverage play. And I was like, “Why is Rob doing this? Statistically speaking, one of us in this six is a Traitor. Why would he reveal his cards? Oh, he’s covering himself — for either somebody that’s not in this pack or somebody who is.”
So that was his only mistake in the game. I think Rob murdering me or allowing Candiace to murder me, was giving her her own shovel to dig her own grave. And I think it was brilliant. It was cutthroat. It was everything that “Traitors” is, and it was the best strategy move that I think I’ve ever seen in the game.
There’s a lot that always doesn’t get shown. What I would say about Michael is, I do feel like it was somewhat of a low-blow. When I came to the roundtable, I came with evidence, I kept it to the game. The furthest I would take it is, “Lisa is not the Lisa who I thought she would be.” I didn’t want to go into anybody’s antics or what I knew of them prior to the show. I just felt like that was inappropriate and not applicable to the game. I don’t think Michael’s a homophobe. He FaceTimed me after filming. We had a great conversation that I’m gonna let [him decide] if he wants to speak on it at the reunion. We moved past it. I forgave him. I’m someone who doesn’t want to hold grudges. I’ve also dealt with Michael Rapaports my entire life in locker rooms, where they’re fast talkers, they put their foot in their mouth and and they say things like that. I get it.
I love Lisa, and I think it was such an honor to go against her. I know she said this too, we were perfect nemeses for each other. I enjoy breaking the fourth wall a lot — we were making a television show. Of course, we’re playing a game. And I know people like to protect their bubbles, producers in “The Bachelor” hated when I always broke that fourth wall. But we’re there to entertain, and we get it; we’re gonna play heightened versions of ourselves. She said it, “You want a Housewife, I’ll give you a Housewife.” So I’m like, “Thank you! Let’s do this.”
It was fun for me. That’s when the adrenaline gets pumping. So, it was an honor, and we are in a good place, too. She said it on camera. She’s been in this industry for 36 years. I’m only 34, so I’m not super familiar with everything that she’s been in, but I do have so much respect for her career.
This interview has been edited and condensed.