It took an ungodly amount of deception, deceipt, and downright trrrreachery to get here, but on Thursday night, The Traitors Season 2 came to an end with a gut-punch of a finale and a very salty reunion. From a murder most foul (RIP, Shereé) to a long-standing alliance dying and then coming back to life, this ending had everything.
But how have our winners, The Challenge alums Trishelle Cannatella and Chris “CT” Tamburello, been doing ever since they walked away with $104,050 apiece? Do they feel any regret over cutting Shahs of Sunset star Mercedes “MJ” Javid out of the deal? (Because based on the reunion, at least, she still seems pretty pissed.) Have Trishelle and RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Peppermint made nice yet? And most importantly, what does CT think of all those “castle daddy” memes and reels of himself running in his wetsuit? The Daily Beast’s Obsessed caught up with our champs over Zoom to find out.
So, let’s dive right in. Was it always going to be just the two of you in the end, or was there a world where you would have kept a third person?
CT: I just think it came down to the end. I personally was just at a point where we’d been through so much, it wasn't anything personal. It was just more of, I don’t even want to take any chances. And then, the person that I thought was safe [Trishelle] tried to send me home at the last minute!
Just when we felt like everything was going smooth, Sandra’s saying my name. And they didn’t show it, Trishelle, but remember, we were at the bar in the end... And you’re like, “Wait, I just gotta say this. I’m just gonna say it out loud. I think CT’s working with Kate.” And then all of a sudden, I was like, great. Now everyone’s after me.
Trishelle: You were mad at me that day! Oh, God. You were like, “What are you doing?!”
Wait, you said that, Trishelle?
CT: Yeah! You just get to the point, you’re burnt out, you’re at the end. It’s just like, “You know what? Screw it. Whatever.”
Trishelle: The game paranoia can get to you. And Alan is so good at his job. It could be a room full of people, you know are Faithfuls, and he’ll be like, “One of you still could be a Traitor,” and I’ll believe it! I’ll believe anything he says.
CT: When we had that one on ones with Alan at the very end, I said to him, you’re [Trishelle] the only one I’m gonna trust. And he goes, “It’d be wise to not...” Something along the lines of, don’t trust anybody in the game. I just thought it was a formality, but then when you voted for me, I was like, “Oh my God...”
CT, I have to ask, were you aware before this season that you’re apparently one of reality TV’s most crushable characters? There’s the “castle daddy” thing with Phaedra, the ending with Trishelle, and now I’m seeing all these memes freaking out over you backpacking Johnny Bananas like, 20 years ago.
CT: No, I honestly... I will say that, you know, since I’ve been sort of turned over a new leaf in the last year or two and started this new chapter in my life, I’ve become more active online—you know, with social media and Cameos and stuff like that. I never realized how much love was out there for me.
I did just enough on social media just to, like, let people know I’m still alive and that I wasn’t in jail or anything. But... we grew up in an era of like, MySpace, and back when Facebook, in order to sign up, you had to have a dot-edu at the back of your email. You know what I mean?
It’s been a pump-up for sure. The other day, we were talking to—I forget his name—but he was saying that he’s a part of gay Twitter, and one of the things that I guess everybody kind of talks about is me being “caked up” or something. I didn't know what that meant before. Because I knew I was “castle daddy,” but now I’m “caked up” because of the swimsuit, from when we had to jump over the rafts. It’s like Stella getting his groove back, you know?
Trishelle: I send him screenshots of stuff. because I follow all like, the girly Bravo accounts that CT has, like, no clue about. Now he does, because of the show.
CT: Yeah, now I do, because you send me all the reels!
Trishelle: Yeah, I’ll send him stuff. And I'm like, you successfully crossed over into like the Bravo fan base. This is so huge. And he’s like, “Really?”
CT: That's how you know you made it, I guess. When you’re on Cocktails and Bravo—something like that.
Trishelle: Yeah, Bravo and Cocktails! Yeah.
Amazing. So, I spoke with Kate Chastain a few weeks back, and she mentioned that, CT, you and MJ had maybe a closer bond than we saw on screen, or formed some kind of friendship. Is that true, and if so, do you think that informed her frustration with you at the reunion?
CT: You know, I’d like to think. I mean, to an extent with everybody, we developed as friends. But you know, okay, at the reunion, we were talking about the difference between gamers and non-gamers, right? Trishelle, we can attest to this... As a friend, as much as I can be upset because [her game] doesn’t work in my favor, I can't hold it against Trishelle. Because she's playing the game. She wants to play her game how she wants to play her game, even if it’s not in line with mine. Because I’m still her friend. I'm not gonna try to degrade or hurt her in her personal life or anything like that.
I mean, MJ, yeah, I thought we were getting along, but at the same time, we weren't exactly playing the same game. ... I’d like to think we were friends, but we were also playing kind of a different game. From the voting to just, I don’t know, I don't have anything against her. I’d like to think we’re all friends, but again, I don’t feel like I owe her anything.
You know, I said this to Trishelle: When we all had that three-way Spider-Man meme, after it had stalemated, if it had gone back to the red bag or the green bag, I don't want to speak for you, Trishelle, but I think we would have picked green and shared it.
Trishelle: Yeah, if we had a second round, but we didn’t.
CT: We felt like there was still another after Kate. And I think that's when the paranoia started coming back into play, Trishelle, because that's when we all started looking at each other again.
Trishelle: CT and I both thought that there could be another. He thought it could be MJ, and I, at first, thought it could be CT. And that’s just kind of how it was.
And to the extent that you have a plan for it already, I wonder, what are you each planning to do with the money? Any thoughts?
CT: [Leans into camera, lowers voice] None of ya business!
[Laughs] That’s fair!
Trishelle: I don’t even have the money yet. So it’s like, I have trained my brain not even to think about it. I don’t know.
Totally. And Trishelle, we didn’t see any response you might’ve had for Peppermint at the reunion after she talked about how she felt about being eliminated. I wondered, did you say anything to her on or off-stage? Was there any kind of conversation?
Trishelle: So, onstage, I just wanted Peppermint to express what she wanted to and kind of say her piece and get everything out. And so I was just respectfully taking back so she could have her moment to do that. But I did speak with her afterward. We had everyone on over to Pilot Pete’s mom’s house. Good old fashioned family fun.
Ah, yes—Barb!
Trishelle: Yeah, everyone kind of went over there. A lot of the cast did, and I got to speak with Peppermint over there. And basically, we had a short conversation, and I’m gonna respect her to not say everything that we talked about, but I think that we’re gonna have a longer conversation in the future whenever she’s ready. I respect her boundaries. And when she’s ready to talk, I would absolutely love it.
Got it. And do you guys have any other reality shows that you would really like to go on?
Trishelle: Big Brother! I'm a huge fan.
CT: I don’t know. You know, it’s funny. I believe something just landed on the table, so to speak. And I believe, was it Worst Chefs in America? I think that’d be kind of funny, you know?
Trishelle: Yeah, I would do a cooking show, too. That would be super fun, but CT, you’d be good at that.
CT: Yeah, something a little less physically strenuous.
