Boston Rob says hardest thing about “The Traitors” is the sheer volume of players

Boston Rob Mariano is very familiar with competing on an island. Whether it was his five times as a contestant (and another as a mentor/coach) on Survivor or last year’s final four run on Deal or No Deal Island, the guy has more experience than anyone when it comes to strategizing in your bathing suit. But now the Robfather is taking his special set of skills to the Scottish Highlands to see if he can be as successful in a castle as he was on an island, and those skills were in full display when he murdered one of his fellow Survivors who was on to an ally, and then orchestrated the banishment of fellow Traitor Bob the Drag Queen.

Entertainment Weekly spoke to the reality TV veteran in Panama last summer, where he was filming his new Deal or No Deal Island After Show. Rob was also fresh off of filming on The Traitors season 3, so we asked the veteran of both games how they were similar and different. “They're both similar in that there's a challenge or excursion component to the game, there is a social or camp component of the game, and then there is the Temple or the Roundtable,” says Rob. “So they have similar components.”

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But that’s apparently where the similarities end. “What's different is how much each of them matter in the different games," he continues. "In Deal or No Deal Island, the excursion part of the game is very important,” explains Rob. “It's where you can get an advantage, where you can get a leg up, and where you can keep yourself safe. In The Traitors, the sole purpose of the challenges is to add money to the pot, which at the end of the day doesn't really have any bearing on whether you're a Traitor or a Faithful or whether you stay.”

Boston Rob also notes that his latest reality adventure is in many ways closer to his first one in terms of the social and strategic elements at play. “Part of the game on Deal or No Deal has an element of luck and risk in it that is different from any other game that we play. There's also a mathematical part of it that you have to understand how to play correctly or optimally. On The Traitors, with the Roundtable, it's a lot closer to what a Survivor Tribal Council is, where you have to think about what you say, how you say it, listen to what other people are saying and be able to take in that information and put the pieces of the puzzle together and figure it out. The social parts of the games are similar on both shows. The alliances don't matter as much on Deal or No Deal Island, but on The Traitors, you really don't know.”

Related: Boston Rob Mariano to host Deal or No Deal Island After Show

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When it comes to what separates his new show the most from the previous two, Boston Rob says it is a matter of volume. “The main thing that's different from Traitors than Deal or No Deal Island, and Survivor for that matter, is the sheer number of people involved. Even on Survivor, even if it's a season where there's 20 people, they're split into two camps, so you’ve got to manage 10 people. On Traitors, there's 22 people. I mean, just trying to talk to that amount of people in the amount of time that you have before you go to the Roundtable or challenge or anything — it's almost impossible. And it's definitely impossible to have a one-on-one conversation with anyone.”

Especially after you have been exiled and forced to hang out in a locked cage suspended in the air.

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