{"id":370135,"date":"2026-03-06T01:57:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T01:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/370135\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T01:57:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T01:57:10","slug":"rob-rausch-on-the-traitors-win-sudden-fame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/370135\/","title":{"rendered":"Rob Rausch on \u2018The Traitors\u2019 Win, Sudden Fame"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n He had his fun on The Traitors, but he really just wants to go home: \u201cI\u2019ve answered a lot of questions \u2014 a lot of the same questions \u2014 and it\u2019s been a lot.\u201d
\n Photo: Euan Cherry\/Peacock\n <\/p>\n

Rob Rausch didn\u2019t want to do this interview. The Traitors<\/a> winner and reluctant heartthrob has been on a mad publicity tour since his victory aired on Peacock on February 27: He gave Maura Higgins a Birkin<\/a> on Watch What Happens Live, joked around with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, and lent his overalls to Lisa Rinna<\/a> during an appearance in New York. Through it all, he has appeared largely bemused, tired, and unconvinced that any of it was a good use of his time. I caught up with him on an afternoon when he was scheduled to promote Kind bars, and he spent the entire interview lying down on a hotel couch. On someone else, this nonchalance could seem ungrateful. On Rausch, it plays like charming skepticism of his own fame.<\/p>\n

Before The Traitors, Rausch was known as a contestant on Love Island USA<\/a>, where multiple women fell deeply in love with him because of his mysterious (or is it withholding?) personality. On The Traitors, he gained both admirers and haters for his wily gameplay. Though he was cast as a Traitor from day one, nobody in the castle seemed to suspect him because he was so sweet and low-key. He betrayed his fellow Traitors, Housewives Rinna<\/a> and Candiace Dillard Bassett<\/a>, in the middle of the game, then recruited Eric Nam<\/a> and betrayed him, too. Ultimately, he went to the end with his fellow Love Island\u2013er Higgins but had to tell her to her face that he\u2019d been lying the whole time. Her moment of realization was heart-wrenching (and funny) and turned both into reality-TV heavyweights. Now, Rausch is overwhelmed with opportunities, but does he want any of it? \u201cI\u2019ve gotten the opportunity to do a lot of things that I never in a million years thought I would do,\u201d Rausch says. \u201cNot really things I wanted to do, but still I got to do them.\u201d<\/p>\n

You\u2019re in the middle of a press day. As a press-agnostic person, how are you feeling today?<\/strong>
I\u2019m exhausted. I\u2019ve answered a lot of questions \u2014 a lot of the same questions\u00a0\u2014 and it\u2019s been a lot. But I\u2019m grateful, and I\u2019m excited to do this with you.<\/p>\n

Doing all this press, have you thought about who you are as a public figure?<\/strong>
No, not really.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t think about that at all?<\/strong>
Not really. I hired a publicist for the first time ever recently, so that\u2019s good. But I guess that\u2019s her job. I haven\u2019t really thought about it personally.<\/p>\n

What do your conversations look like with your publicist?<\/strong>
I mean, she\u2019s great. I love her as a person. But she\u2019s always thinking about that kind of stuff \u2014\u00a0what you should do, what you should not do.<\/p>\n

When you were deciding to go on The Traitors, you knew that press and partnerships could end up being part of it. What was that calculus like?<\/strong>
I didn\u2019t want to do it. I said \u201cno\u201d a few times. But I was really good friends with the person that was talking to me about being on the show. I\u2019ve known her since my early Love Island days. She was like, \u201cIt\u2019s a game. You love games, Rob. You would do so good. You might as well go play and see how it goes.\u201d And I was like, \u201cYou know what? Okay. I\u2019ll give it a good try.\u201d<\/p>\n

You had not watched The Traitors at all before going on?<\/strong>
I started the first episode of season three, but I didn\u2019t finish it.<\/p>\n

What skill set were you drawing on, then?<\/strong>
I played a ton of mafia growing up. We used to play in high school and at Christmas parties. It\u2019s essentially the same game. I did watch some OG Survivor from way back in the day. It had been a while since I\u2019d seen it, but I feel like I used some of that knowledge.<\/p>\n

Did you know any of the players you were in the game with?<\/strong>
Nah. In 2020, they put three seasons of Survivor on Netflix and I watched those.<\/p>\n

I know you\u2019re a Settlers of Catan person, and a Risk person. Did you approach Traitors in a similar way?<\/strong>
I\u2019m never going to play a game that I\u2019m not going to try to win. It was game night for me. It was \u201cgame on\u201d from day one.\u00a0I said that on the first day: \u201cI\u2019d like to win. Let\u2019s go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you think everyone else there had the same mentality?<\/strong>
A lot of people did, but some of them were there for fun and the opportunity and experience.<\/p>\n

Who approached the game similarly to you?<\/strong>
Natalie was there to win. Mark was there to win for sure. Rob Cesternino, Tiffany, and Ian were there to win.<\/p>\n

So mostly gamers. <\/strong>
Those people were playing this game to the best of their ability, and I respected that a lot.<\/p>\n

Did you want to work with those people or were you scared of them?\u00a0<\/strong>
It depended. With Mark and Natalie, they were both playing hard, but they trusted me, so I wanted to keep those people in the game because they\u2019re going to end up helping me without knowing it. But then with Ian and Rob, I knew they were very capable and were there to play, and I didn\u2019t really have that relationship with them. So I got them out of the game.<\/p>\n

Did you approach Love Island as a game, too, given that it had a winner?\u00a0<\/strong>
I definitely was not on Love Island to play a game. They asked me if I wanted to do it, and I didn\u2019t really know what it was. They prefaced it as, \u201cLook, it\u2019s a free vacation in Fiji. There\u2019s going to be pretty girls there. Come on.\u201d I was like, \u201cOkay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did you watch the show beforehand?<\/strong>
No, I\u2019d never seen it. It wasn\u2019t super popular in America when I went on it, so it didn\u2019t really feel like a big deal. It wasn\u2019t supposed to change my life. It did, but I wasn\u2019t expecting that.<\/p>\n

You knew Maura because she hosted Love Island: Aftersun. Anyone else?<\/strong>
Michael Rapaport<\/a> looked familiar.<\/p>\n

Was there a group you gravitated toward?\u00a0<\/strong>
Natalie, I immediately gravitated to. She and Maura were the people that were very nonchalant. They were not there for theatrics. They were there to play and hang out. Maura was there for the experience. She also had not watched the show, and she wasn\u2019t trying to do anything crazy for screen time. Natalie, Mark, and Kristen<\/a> were the same way. But after a while, I became friends with everyone. I love Dorinda. I love Lisa.<\/p>\n

Dorinda was head over heels for you.<\/strong>
I adore her. She\u2019s wonderful.<\/p>\n

Do you consider yourself on any level to be a performer?<\/strong>
No. I wouldn\u2019t use that as an adjective to describe myself, no.<\/p>\n

I mean it as a noun. Is that your job?<\/strong>
Maybe I\u2019m entertaining. But a \u201cperformer\u201d implies that I am putting on a show, which is just not true.<\/p>\n

How was it interacting with people who do see that as their job?<\/strong>
It\u2019s fine. Lisa Rinna is one of my favorite people I met. I love her, and she\u2019s very much about putting on a show and giving her all. But she\u2019s an amazing woman.<\/p>\n

As a Traitor, there are a lot of moments on the show that call for high drama, like when Alan Cumming is asking you to take the Traitors\u2019 Oath. People like Candiace, Lisa, or last season\u2019s Bob the Drag Queen really played into that. What was that like for you?<\/strong>
I was just myself. I didn\u2019t watch the show before I went, so I didn\u2019t realize that people played into that. I thought you were just supposed to be you. It was funny watching it back and seeing them do that bit. He\u2019s like, \u201cAre you ready to murder?\u201d And I\u2019m like, \u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is there anything about your time on Traitors that you think there is a misconception of publicly?<\/strong>
Probably the stuff about how I didn\u2019t stick with Candiace and Lisa because they\u2019re women. That was crazy to me. And then everyone\u2019s like, \u201cHe picked Eric because he likes men.\u201d I was like, \u201cNo, I picked Eric because he can make it to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also, the two Traitors that had already been found were women.\u00a0<\/strong>
That\u2019s why I picked him. Even if I didn\u2019t pick him, I would\u2019ve picked a man. Not because I wanted to be working with a man, but because if another Traitor did get out, it would\u2019ve been helpful for me if it had been a boy. There were only women Traitors so far!<\/p>\n

Is the meta level of \u201cwhat would production do?\u201d something that people discussed in the castle?<\/strong>
A hundred percent. It\u2019s definitely talked about. That\u2019s why I brought up Jonny and Tara being an interesting choice if one of them is a Traitor. You could see where that would be interesting television.<\/p>\n

So, if Candiace had managed to stay under the radar, the idea that her fellow Housewife Lisa was already a known Traitor would have helped her? <\/strong>
If Candiace had not jumped on the Lisa bandwagon, she would\u2019ve been in the end game with the way she was playing. She was doing really well.<\/p>\n

Would you have cut her? <\/strong>
No, I don\u2019t think so. I think if any Traitor from day one made it to the end, I would\u2019ve been like, \u201cYou deserve this money just as much as I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

In season one, Cirie got rid of Arie because he was a recruit who didn\u2019t have to do as much as she did. <\/strong>
Eric was a Traitor for three days and they caught onto him immediately. They all knew. Love that guy though. It was so funny. He\u2019s a Traitor and Kristen\u2019s like, \u201cYou\u2019re a traitor, aren\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n

As you reached your end of the time in the castle, I could tell you were getting giddy about your prospective win. Did you ever worry about giving up the game? <\/strong>
Not really. I got excited with Maura, because it was like, I\u2019m actually going to win this game. They didn\u2019t really show it onscreen, but she thought we had the game on lock before that.<\/p>\n

From when? <\/strong>
Before our kitchen conversation of, \u201cWe\u2019re going to win this game.\u201d She told me all the time. She was like, \u201cWe\u2019re going to win this game, bro.\u201d I was like \u201cShh. Quit saying.\u201d It was my plan to get Johnny and Tara out. It was her plan to get Eric out, and she told me that a while before that moment. She trusted that I was going to do that, and I was going to do that. They were probably the only times I would get excited and I could actually show it because she thought she was going to win too.<\/p>\n

There was a moment where she pretended she was a Traitor for a second, and you gasped. <\/strong>
That just shows you how deep in my mind I was playing, because even in that moment, I was like, \u201cWhy did you do that? You don\u2019t have to act anymore.\u201d I was so into keeping that fa\u00e7ade up even in that moment when it was over.<\/p>\n

I talked to Maura<\/strong><\/a>, and she said that you won because you\u2019re the same in real life as you were on The Traitors. Eric, when he became a Traitor, changed his personality. What do you attribute that ability to? <\/strong>
I\u2019m literally always basically the same. The only difference I had to have in myself throughout the game was that when people asked if I was a Traitor, I just said, \u201cNo.\u201d I know I\u2019m lying and scheming the whole time, but I only needed to lie to Candiace and Eric. For the most part, I\u2019m not really lying. I\u2019m just trying to act like I\u2019m a Faithful. I built relationships with people. I talked about myself and asked them questions about them.<\/p>\n

What do you think of as the public perception of Rob Rausch? <\/strong>
A lot of people think I am just a guy from Alabama who happens to be conventionally attractive and has been cast on reality TV and done well for himself. That\u2019s probably what I would say.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the whole thing? What I\u2019m trying to figure out is your relationship with the idea of \u201cRob Rausch\u201d as an entity that is separate from your literal self. <\/strong>
My relationship with the public opinion of myself is that I try my very best to ignore it. In the sense of mental health, it\u2019s important. People say really great things about me and it\u2019s cool, but it\u2019s not real. It\u2019s the same thing with all the people that say really negative things about me. At the end of the day, they don\u2019t know me. They have a perception of me, and they\u2019ve seen a bit of me, but I brush it off my shoulder. I let the people that truly know me and have relationships with me reflect on me. That\u2019s how I gauge my perception. I choose the people in my life that love me as the ones to provide that insight if I\u2019m looking for it.<\/p>\n

A lot of people in your position have a harder time maintaining that mind-set, but you seem to do it with ease. <\/strong>
Living in Alabama is a huge help. I\u2019m completely out of the loop. I\u2019m out of the public eye for the most part, and I\u2019m treated very normally. I\u2019m not a celebrity. My friends and family there keep me humble. It is something I don\u2019t think about when I\u2019m home because it\u2019s so easy to forget, and that\u2019s the way I like it. It keeps me grounded. But yeah, I feel like that was my attitude from the get-go with Love Island. I was like, I\u2019m not going to let this get to my head. I\u2019m not going to let this show change me. And I think that\u2019s easy to do: staying home and being where I\u2019m from and being around people that love me and actually know me.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re spending today promoting Kind bars. You have an erotic story that you\u2019re reading coming out. Those aren\u2019t down-to-earth things. How do you choose brand partnerships? <\/strong>
With Kind bar it was really easy. It\u2019s a brand that I\u2019ve been a fan of for a long time, and I love Kind bars. The Protein Max has 20 grams of protein. What better way to supplement your diet than with a delicious Kind bar? Also, they\u2019ve got the granola with 15 grams of protein \u2014 great for breakfast, great for a snack here and there. What more can I say? Kindness is the way to go.<\/p>\n

Sure. What about the erotic story? <\/strong>
I think that was a cool thing. It\u2019s a women-owned, women-run business, which I think is super-empowering. It was cool to work with them and support that.<\/p>\n

What would you say \u201cno\u201d to?\u00a0<\/strong>
Not a lot of money.<\/p>\n

Would you go on another reality show? <\/strong>
Maybe. Never say never. But right now I\u2019m trying not to think about it. I\u2019m trying to get home, get recentered. I\u2019ve been doing a ton of press this past week and leading up to this. It\u2019s been a lot.<\/p>\n

Have you liked any part of this week? <\/strong>
I did Jake Shane\u2019s podcast, and I actually love him. He\u2019s so funny and genuine.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m trying to gauge your competitive nature. Do you want to do Dancing With the Stars?\u00a0 <\/strong>
Yeah, I mean, that would be tough for me. I can\u2019t dance.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a limiting factor. <\/strong>
However, if I did do it, I would try my hardest.<\/p>\n


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