Yahoo Lifestyle 'The Traitors' Star Danielle Reyes Reacts to Her Controversial Fan Response: 'I Was Cringing Just As Much As You' (Exclusive)
Danielle Reyes always knew that she was going to be the villain of The Traitors Season 3. But she had to wait months for the rest of the world to learn that as well.
"When I got home, I had a conversation with my husband," the Big Brother alum told Parade after the Peacock reality TV hit aired its finale. "He goes, 'How was it?' I said, 'I became this character, and I was crying and shaking.' He goes, 'Oh, okay. So what? You cry,' and I said, 'No, no no, I did it all the time. I mean ALL the time. Even when we were waiting [off camera], I was still crying and shaking.'"
Reyes, an OG Big Brother villain who became a lauded legend for her cutthroat gameplay, became a lightning rod during this season of The Traitors both for targeting fan favorites like Dorinda Medley and Carolyn Wiger, but also for her frequent emotional outbreaks. One particular over-the-top moment after Wiger's banishment, where she collapsed to the floor, and viewers on social media were not particularly kind.
"I just became this role," Reyes said regarding the theatrics, "Like when you hear actors be like, 'I became that person.' I'm not naturally that person."
After relaying what happened to her husband, Reyes had to wait half a year before the episodes started to roll out weekly on Peacock. "I'm just like, 'Are they going to show all this?'" she pondered in the interim. "And yep, they sure did."
Reyes understands that the strong reactions from viewers, though, are what makes the show so popular. "It was amazing," she said of her character arc. "I loved watching it. It was highly entertaining. It was very cringy, and you wanted to throw stuff at the TV when I was doing it. You were cheering sometimes when I was doing it, but whatever, I got a reaction out of all y'all."
Love her or hate her, Reyes certainly will go down in The Traitors history as one of the most entertaining Traitors to ever do it. After the show aired, Reyes chatted with Parade about the fans' reactions, why she murdered Medley and where she got all those hats.
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The Traitors Season 3 is over. Everything has aired. The fans have seen it all. What has this experience been like for you watching this roller coaster of a season week to week?
You know my origin story, of course. I was a villain on Big Brother. So after I did Big Brother, it wasn't pleasant out there in them streets. But social media wasn't as prevalent, so it was more after the fact. I get out. I'm like, "Oh, a lot of people don't like me." It was so funny. This time as I'm watching the show progress, I'm like, "Oh my God, they're really gonna start hating me." And I'm watching the people's views and people can't keep my name out their mouth. It was interesting to watch this and listen to the fans' point of view. I was cringing just as much as you guys watching me on TV, but I'm laughing at the same time. It's a game. It's not that serious, but I appreciate the fan's passion for this show. I mean I thought Big Brother fans were on a different level. Y'all Traitors fans are on a next level. And I realized proper celebrities have certain people that they're committed to and loyal to. They get mad when you kill them!
I feel like the villains always age well though. People don't like them when the season is on, and then a couple of years later, they're like, "Remember how good it was when Danielle was on? Bring her back. She's the best."
Like when she was crying, shaking!
How did you get so good at crying?
It was so weird. I remember I said, "I got to make myself cry," and I would just go to a place where I was really hurt or angry in life. That's what I will focus on, and those emotions just pile up. If you asked me to do it right now, I can't, Vut I was so committed to that role. But I was exhausted. I was so glad to get finally banished. You see me going, "Ooooooooh", because I was relieved. I was so tired.
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When they picked you as a Traitor initially, what was your strategy before all the chaos set in?
When they picked me as a Traitor, the people that was worried me more than anybody is the Big Brother people. Derrick wasn't there at the time, but Britney knows me. I mean she knows me, and so I figured she's probably gonna clock me. At the time in the castle, I really stayed away from Britney a lot because I didn't want her to know. My strategy as a Traitor was to basically find a couple of Faithfuls that believe in you and drag them all the way to the end. That's the concept of the show, right?
In regards to murdering people, I always wanted to murder people that threw people off my scent. So I wanted the murders to not make any sense. It's a herd mentality. If they think someone's something, you want to throw something off just for the herd to disperse and get chaotic. That helped me in our game in the beginning, like killing Dorinda [Medley]. People didn't understand why we went after a Housewife, but I kept telling people there were four Housewives. They were a big force to reckon with, and you don't want to face a Housewife at the Round Table. You just don't. They're scary. They're not ones to be played with. They're smart. I know Dolores [Catania] voted wrong eight out of 10 times. But if they believe something, there was no way to make them think otherwise, and if they clocked one of us that was it. That's four votes. Plus Bob Harper, that's five votes. That's why I was like, "We need to get rid of Dorinda." Then Bob [the Drag Queen] was like, "Get [Chanel] Ayan." I didn't want to kill the Housewives. Dorinda was the one that was scaring me more than anything, and Robyn was super smart too on those Round Tables.
When Boston Rob Mariano leads the charge to get rid of Bob the Drag Queen, and you're trying to get rid of Rob, why didn't you just partner with Carolyn Wiger rather than trying to banish her first?
Great question. From my point of view, Boston Rob just took out our fellow Traitor. I am completely blindsided. That episode, he did try to tell Carolyn and me Bob's name. I'm like, "No, no, no, no, it's Nikki [Garcia]. And then after Nikki, we're gonna do Ciara [Miller]." I walk away and I'm like, "It's all good. Goodbye." I'm thinking we're about to go to this Round Table banishing Nikki. And when he flipped it to Bob the Drag Queen, I had to sit there. I had to just be numb because I was flabbergasted when that was going on. That's why I was crying at the end. He dropped that culture in the turret. It was hard.
So for me, I'm looking at Boston Rob like, "I need to get rid of him." But the Faithfuls are slurping on him; he had them. And so I was thinking, "Well, maybe him and Carolyn are teamed up." When I had the conversation with Carolyn, she was not giving me any reassurance. Give me something, girl! She's like, "He said he was gonna work with me." Okay, so he said that to you, but he didn't say that to me. What's going on here? My thought was I need to take her out of the equation to weaken him. I couldn't come after him because he had too much power. I take her out, any Traitor that comes in that turret with me is going to be teamed up with me because Boston Rob basically showed his true colors. Any Traitor in there, I've been like, "Listen. You see what he did about Bob the Drag Queen. You and I work together and get rid of this guy." That's what my mentality was. And I know people don't get it, but it made perfect sense in my world. I couldn't come after him because he had too much power, and I went after her because I wanted her removed so I can bring somebody out.
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Lastly, I loved all the costumes on the show and I loved your hats all season long. How did you decide to get those hats?
I'm not a fashionista at all. That's not me. That's not part of my world. If you know my origin story, I like to wear bandanas. I don't like to comb my hair, which I kept it up in tradition on The Traitors. I called my mother before going on this show. I'm like "Here's my credit card. I'm more of a lipstick kind of tomboy make it work." My mom gave me those hats. That wasn't me. She's like, "You wear this hat," and I'm standing there like, "I don't know mom." She's like, "No. No. It's gonna be great. You're gonna wear the hat." I'm like, "Okay." She's like, "You put these gloves on." I'm like, "I don't know mom." She's like, "No, it's gonna be great." So all those looks are for my mother.
Well, I loved them. They were great. It was so fun every week.
I didn't know if I wanted to be the Monopoly guy. I didn't know if I want to be a czar princess. It was great. All those looks.
