Derrick Levasseur responds to being called a 'dirty scumbag liar' on “The Traitors”

The private investigator cracked the case. Unfortunately for Derrick Levasseur, he could not get the jury to convict the right man. Derrick was murdered on the most recent episode of The Traitors after failing to get Boston Rob Mariano banished at the previous Roundtable. Adding insult to reality competition injury, Rob was then banished anyway after Derrick was already eliminated out of the game.

Why did Derrick take his shot at the Robfather, knowing he very well might be murdered if the charges didn’t stick? Why did he come after his fellow Big Brother alum Britney Haynes, who called him a “dirty scumbag liar” in response? And what does he make of the job Big Brother ally Danielle Reyes is doing? We asked the former “Hitman” legend all that and more.

Related: The Survivor vs. Big Brother war intensifies on latest Traitors episode

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Did you know going into your final Roundtable that if you took a shot at Rob and missed, that you would be murdered?

DERRICK LEVASSEUR: Yeah. I mean, I didn't plan on missing. I wouldn't have done it if I thought it wasn't going to work out, but I knew if in some world it didn't, the way Rob was playing up to that point, he was going to murder me. And in fairness to him, he had two options. One was to keep me in the game and go to a Roundtable with me again, or murder me and take his chances with the Faithful, who up to that point hadn't been really doing a good job.

So I don't blame him. It was the right move in the moment. In hindsight, I probably would've done something different. Probably would've kept me, maybe recruited me and then immediately banished me. Now you can put the heat on me. But yeah, I thought we had him. Sam and Ivar the night before had mentioned him, so they were coming for him if he was still there.

I had anticipated Britney and Dylan kind of being logical about it and saying, “Yeah, that makes sense. Let's do it.” But there were some things I didn't anticipate, some things I couldn't have planned for with Wes responding the way he did to the criticism, and also the fact that Danielle and Carolyn were actively fighting at that point, and Carolyn voted for Danielle opposed to Rob. So you think about it, one vote away from a tie, all those variables at play, it's amazing. If you play that scenario out 10 times, you probably get 10 different outcomes. But that's the game, and I don't regret doing it. If anything, I regret not doing it sooner.

When did the lightbulb go off on Rob?

It was immediately. I knew one of us was a Traitor, or at least I felt that way. How do you put three of us in a cage and not make one of us a Traitor? And the fact that they separated us and told us individually that we were Faithfuls, that just told me everything I needed to know.

Immediately after the Bob the Drag Queen vote and how certain Rob was, that was it. I knew it was him. And I was like, “Okay, I'm going all in on this.” And they show Wes say it, I had said it to Wes as well, but I really wasn't talking about it much. I didn't need any affirmation. I knew he was the guy, but you just don't have the numbers at that point. And everyone was really liking Rob, and frankly, you want to get your feet wet, you want to get a little bit further in the game before you take a shot like that.

But I could slowly see that Rob and the other Traitors were getting rid of all the independent thinkers. Anybody who could come back and say, “Hey, listen, this doesn't smell right” — they were getting rid of all those types of people, and I was running out of options. And so I decided at that point: We're at more than halfway through the game, it's now or never. And if this works, I'm in a great position. If it doesn't, I'm probably going home. But Boston Rob, what he's done, 10, 15 shows — this is my second show. To say that my final moments in there was against an absolute legend in that way… I know I didn't win, but man, that's a way to go out. It really is. I'm proud of it.

Related: Boston Rob did not ask Parvati for any Traitors advice before playing

All three players that were put in cages and started the game late are now out of the game. Was that a disadvantage?

I mean, yeah, I would think so.. There was an immediate target on us, and a lot of people are like, “Why did you go after Ciara?” That's why Wes and I went after Ciara and Nikki, because when the coffin things happened, that was a blessing for us.  I was actually calling them the Coffin Queens. It never made the show, but I thought it was pretty good. But we went after them and that was strategic in nature because we wanted to put the attention on them and not the Cage Boys.

So that was a combination of Rob, myself, and Wes going around planting that seed. So yeah, it was a disadvantage. People were automatically looking at us, and frankly, I kind of felt a little case of imposter syndrome. Because Wes is a legend. Rob is a legend. They've been doing this since I was in high school almost. And so I almost didn't feel like I deserved to be in there with them. And I thought that could hurt me. Maybe they would think that I was the Traitor because these guys are so great. But overall, it worked out. I think we made a good run at it, and the way we went out was kind of cool, I guess.

Related: Wes Bergmann reveals Boston Rob's unaired Roundtable argument that led to his threat on The Traitors

So, what is it like being told “You’re just a dirty scumbag liar?”

Yeah, that's a moment. I actually just made that my tombstone thing on social media. But yeah, listen, it's funny how that worked out. Britney and I are cool. Me and Danielle are cool. The game was over as soon as I left. I can separate the two. But it's unfortunate because up until that point, I know that Britney had basically figured out Danielle. I was onto Danielle. The riddle thing really threw us off.

Something just wasn't right with her. And we were good. I had gotten Britney a Shield during the tombstone head competition. I'd helped Danielle. We were all on a good page. And then that last day, that episode 6, something just changed in Britney. I think she really wanted Wes out. It wasn't that she a hundred percent was convinced about Rob, but she also was pushing for Rob very hard, not only before the Roundtable, but then during it.

So I was cool with it. I didn't have an issue with it, but then she calls me out in front of a group of people saying, “I got to yell at you.” And I almost felt like at that moment you just came off looking like a Traitor, but you're guilt tripping me in front of other people. You're using me as a tactic. So I wanted to kind of go back at her a little bit and I called her a Traitor, which to be fair, at that point I thought she could be a Traitor.

But the real strategy there was to say, “Okay, listen, you want to defend Rob. You know how I'm going to stop that if I'm still here, I'm going to pin you two against each other. So good luck defending him tomorrow night.” And although it didn't work out the way I designed, it did work out because the next night they went at each other instead of working for each other. So it worked out.

Me and Britney laugh about it at this point. It was our first fight caught on camera, but that's what happens in those games. It was just funny. She was calling me out, and she was the one that was wrong. She had just sent home one of the best Faithful in the house. So I was like, “How am I the bad guy here?” But it's funny. We laugh about it. It's all good.

Related: Danielle Reyes compares Traitors Roundtable with Carolyn to dodging bullets in The Matrix

What was the relationship like with Danielle in house?

Listen, she was not acting herself. And that could be paranoia, fear, or whatever. So something was off with her, but I had a lot of personal conversations with her off-camera. We talked about our kids, her grandkids, and I just really liked Danielle and I've been wanting to play a show with her if I ever came back, and I didn't know if I would. She was one of the first people to congratulate me when I won Big Brother. So she's an absolute legend in my mind, the best player to never win.

I was on to her to a certain degree, but I was also blinded by my love for her. I just really like her and I really like Britney too. But Danielle and I were super close. So when I go to my final interview at the end, they ask me, “Who do you think the Traitors are?” And I said, “It's either Britney or Danielle, and Rob. I don't know the third one.” And so when I see that it's Danielle, I'm definitely hurt in that moment because she's someone that I definitely would've protected to the end. But in hindsight, watching the show back, she made the right move. She got me out, and then it turned on getting Rob.

Well, you must've been doing the math. I mean, the way I figure it is every season there's at least one Survivor and at least one Big Brother player is going to be a Traitor. It's not you, so you know it's Britney or Danielle.

How great are Britney and Danielle as Traitors when you know their history? It'd be a travesty not to have at least one of them. So I'm going into it thinking, “Okay, one of them is a Traitor. The question is who?” And in fairness, initially I thought it was Danielle, but it was more so what Britney and I went through that changed my opinion rather than something Danielle did. I will say this: A lot of people are saying Danielle's playing a horrible game. You're seeing just the edited version. It wasn't as overt as they're portraying it on the show. I would say Rob was much more obvious than her because of the patterns based on the actual murders and banishment.

Related: Carolyn Wiger shares reaction to Britney Haynes' Traitors comments: 'F‑‑‑ you, bitch'

It was 10 years between filming on shows. What was it like knocking the reality competition rust off?

We've talked about coming back and playing, and I didn't think I would come back and play again. I was content with the first time. The Traitors was enticing because of the concept, because of where I was going to get to go, and most importantly, the duration and the ability to still talk with my kids while I was gone. There were opportunities to phone home and check in with them. And it just all kind of aligned. I almost wasn't able to go. I was actually at CrimeCon in Nashville. I took a flight from the award show — after losing, by the way — went to Scotland, and the day you see me on camera at the cage is right when I landed. I landed like three hours before that. So listen, I was very apprehensive about playing another show.

And I'm not saying this — you know me, I'm a pretty straight shooter — Peacock, NBC, and Studio Lambert, do it, right. And not only from a game perspective, but from a mental health perspective, because these shows can mess with you. They're still checking in with me to this day saying “How are you doing? Are you okay? Anything we can do for you?” That's how you do it. And that's why everyone's knocking down the door to be on the show. Not only because it's a great concept, but all the reality people are talking to each other and they're realizing how they were treated, and that goes a long way.

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