Yahoo Lifestyle Carolyn Wiger Reveals the Real Reason Why She Was Banished From 'The Traitors' (Exclusive)
Carolyn Wiger can't help but be herself, and while that has made her a fan favorite on both The Traitors and Survivor, it can also be painful.
"I know that being myself, yes, I'm underestimated. I'm looked at like I'm nuts," the exuberant star of The Traitors Season 3 tells Parade. "I know I can use it to my advantage, but it doesn't mean that it doesn't hurt my feelings sometimes when I do want to talk or speak or be heard or listened to."
Wiger, who was chosen as a Traitor in the season's premiere, has been on quite the journey this season as she shared the turret Bob the Drag Queen, Boston Rob Mariano and Danielle Reyes. From the start she was underestimated by her competitors and thought to be a quirky personality rather than a serious gamer.
"I know this is working for me. But I feel like the way that I communicate or because of who I am or how I come off, it's just not respected or taken seriously. And it sucks, to be honest," she says after her elimination, "But do I stop being myself? Hell no."
On last week's episode of The Traitors, it seemed like Wiger's demand to be heard overpowered her strategy and resulted in her elimination. After she seemingly made some overt moves in a chess-themed mission, she was ousted at the Round Table in an effort helmed by Reyes, her last remaining fellow Traitor.
Wiger, however, claims the show didn't show the whole story. When asked if she was banished because of the chess game, Wiger scoffs, saying she was banished, "Because they, [The Faithfuls], knew [Reyes] was a Traitor."
"When I say 'they,' I'm not saying Ivar [Mountbatten]. I don't even think Dolores [Catania]. Certainly not Tom [Sandoval], who I love by the way. But like, girl! Tom had no clue. But Britney [Haynes] and Dylan [Efron], yes, a hundred percent. I had felt that for a while with Britney. I'm like, 'Britney literally knows.' That's how I felt, and all I could think is 'She's going to bring her in.'"
If Faithfuls feel they know the identity of a Traitor, they can string the Traitor along so that the Traitor, at the very least, doesn't murder the Faithfuls in their alliance and, at best, recruits the Faithful to be a Traitor if given the opportunity. With Wiger's exit this week, Reyes did go ahead and recruit Haynes.
"I saw Britney kind of slide away from me," Wiger continues. "I saw them get close, because me and Britney were really close early on. And so I'm like, 'What is going on?' When I went to her and was like, '[Danielle] is making these lies up,' and she didn't come to [my defense], I was pissed. I saw them get closer. All I could think is, 'She knows she's a fricking Traitor, and she wants to be in that turret.'"
If Haynes and Efron were trying to avoid being murdered, siding with Reyes and voting out Wiger would be an optimal move.
Of course, Wiger and Reyes had been butting heads for weeks after their initial alliance soured when Reyes tried to execute a complicated maneuver that involved banishing Wiger to recruit a new Traitor to, in turn, banish Boston Rob.
"Danielle really was my number one out there from day one," Wiger says about Reyes' move. "So when Dylan tells me she's coming for you, I was shocked. I was literally blown away."
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It's not a stretch to think that other members of the cast had pegged Reyes as a Traitor given her theatrics early in the season.
"I know everyone's saying [Reyes is a Traitor]. And so early on when people were saying it right away, I was like, 'Yeah, that's just who she is,'" Wiger says about trying to defend Reyes' crying and emotions. "I was trying to protect her."
Wiger was confused as to why Reyes was crying so much, though. "My thought was, 'She's just trying to play it up for TV' because there's no way she's thinking these people are believing it," says Wiger. "Bob the Drag Queen. I completely expect somebody like him to be a performer, to be putting on a show. That's not a shock to me. But her, someone from Big Brother? I'm like, 'Girl, what in the hell is going on?' Of course, I was confused, but again, my name wasn't out there. So it was like, 'I don't give a shit. Keep acting.'"
Regarding her strategy, Wiger says it wasn't too complicated. "Be myself, have fun," she says. "I was accusing everyone of being a Traitor before we even picked them. I was just going wild because my thought is, 'I want to have fun.' I was like, 'Tony [Vlachos], you're definitely a Traitor.'"
But regarding the other Traitors, "I always thought I'm not going to go for them until there's so much heat on them that I don't have a choice. I don't even care if I don't get along with them."
This thought process caused friction with both Reyes and Mariano as Reyes targeted Wiger and Mariano targeted Bob the Drag Queen. Wiger has come around to Mariano's leading the charge on banishing Bob though.
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"When Boston Rob first came for Bob the Drag Queen out there, at the time, I was like, 'It's ego,'" she says. "Then when I watched it back, I'm like, 'Oh crap.' Because I don't even remember the comment about the cages. But I don't know how I would feel if my other Traitor [said that]. So was it justified? Now I see it as like, 'Oh shit.' Anyone who knows Boston Rob, that's how he is. But for Danielle, it was so shocking because I truly looked at this person as my number one in the game. Even watching it back, I'm like, what?"
While Reyes seemingly eliminated Wiger to replace her with Haynes, if Wiger had the opportunity to recruit a new Traitor she would have selected Gabby Windey.
"That was my fun. That was my sunshine. That was my joy," Wiger says of Windey. "I liked her even early on. She is somebody who was out there to have fun. But she's smart too. People would think she talks like a ditz. But she's smart as hell. You see it in the game. She really is like the total package, and I always sound like I'm like hitting on her. She was so fun, and I was just so glad that she was out there."
With Wiger eliminated, it seems like she's rooting for Windey to take home the prize next week in the Season 3 finale on March 6.
