The following article contains spoilers up to Episode 4 of The Traitors Season 3.
We’re only four episodes into Season 3 of the US version of The Traitors, and the show arguably dropped its most shocking episode to date. The highlight was an electric roundtable showdown between Boston Rob and Bob The Drag Queen, which included everything from direct traitor accusations to mean-spirited comments about Zac Efron’s acting abilities. Whether they were happy with the outcome or not, fans hit up social to rant and rave about what happened, and not surprisingly, many of the reactions centered around Boston Rob.
At the risk of oversimplifying, many of the reactions fell into one of two camps. On the one side, many fans talked about what a reality television legend and gameplay genius Boston Rob is. They talked about how he swayed everyone to vote out Bob The Drag Queen, even though he wasn’t on most of their radars, and they talked about how he’s a fantastic reality show contestant. Some non-Survivor fans even vowed to go back and watch his seasons of Survivor.
On the other side, other fans talked about how Rob’s big move, as flashy as it may have been, was actually terrible long-term gameplay. Had he said nothing, Ciara or Nikki would have gone home, and he could have set Bob up down the road. Instead, he got his adversary out, but he also put a big target on his back very early in the game, a concern fleshed out by the post-roundtable scenes that included Wes telling a few people he thinks Rob is a traitor because of how sure he was at the roundtable.
Some fans even took it a step further and accused Rob of losing on purpose, or at least making a move because he knew it would be great television, even if it torpedoed his long-term game. Popular analysts The Survivor Specialists talked about this same thing during their episode round-up and took it a step further by saying he may have eliminated fellow Survivor players Tony and Jeremy, not because it was good for his game but because he wanted to outlast them specifically.
As someone who has watched every season of Survivor, plus Rob’s adventures on The Amazing Race, I’m pretty familiar with his gameplay, and I have a lot of thoughts about what happened/ is happening on The Traitors Season 3. First, Boston Rob is clearly great television. This roundtable will go down as one of the most memorable in the show’s history, and it’s all thanks to Boston Rob. He has a fantastic ability to be able to really rally other people to his viewpoint at any given moment, and he’s just relentless if he has a goal he’s going after. He might be twenty or so years older than when we first saw him on reality television, but that spark is still there. There’s a reason why he’s arguably the most sought after reality television contestant for all these games, and it’s the same reason he’s now hosting the Deal Or No Deal Island Aftershow each week. He belongs on television.
So, do I think he realized he was creating good television while he was creating it? Yes. Do I think he saw a chance to make a moment and maybe, in the back of his head, thought it might be good for his personal brand and his chances to continue appearing on all the prime reality television competition shows? Sure. He wouldn’t be nearly as good of a contestant or a consistent name to bank on for producers if he wasn’t aware of what he’s there to do. So, I’m sure that played a role in what happened.
To be honest though, while Boston Rob is arguably the most famous and watchable contestant in Survivor history, he is definitely not the best player in Survivor history. Sure, he won once and arguably should have won a second time, but he’s also been eliminated relatively early the three other times he’s played. More often than not, it was for playing too hard too quickly. That’s kind of just who he is. He’s not a dude who blends in with the background or is able to sit in the corner and watch bigger threats be eliminated. His personality and now his reputation don’t allow him to coast along, which is why no one wanted to put him in the game when they were given the choice at the start of the show.
Boston Rob is a fantastic and imperfect reality competition contestant. He’s repeatedly shown the ability to wrangle his fellow competitors and get them to vote in a certain way. That’s who he is, and fans are right to call that out and celebrate it. His history, however, also shows that he often plays way too hard, and he doesn’t always think out the long-term consequences of his big moves. Fans are right to call that out too.
I don’t think he’s trying to lose The Traitors on purpose. I think he’d love to win this season and add that title to his already lofty resume, but I also think he can’t help himself. He saw the chance to get out a threat and create a fantastic reality television moment, and if he has the opportunity to do that, even if he knows it might hurt him long-term, his history says he’s going to do that. It’s why he’s an all-time reality contestant and also a very frequent loser.
