(Ed. remark: This post contains spoilers for season 2 of the US version of The traitors up to episode 5.)
The traitors season 2 was a delight in every aspect except one: Dan Gheesling, a Big Brother legend who looks like he’s about to be outed by Pilot Pete The Bachelor.
The traitors is a murder mystery whodunit game similar to Werewolf, Mafia and Among us, where a secret group of players known as ‘Traitors’ choose someone to ‘kill’ each episode. Along the way, the Traitors must avoid the suspicions of the ‘Believers’, who vote to banish one player from the game each round. The goal is to only ban traitors, because if a single traitor makes it to the finals, they walk away with the entire top prize, which has a potential pot of $250,000.
As in Big Brother (and even housewives, to be honest), social gameplay and manipulation are the key to survival. This is why I was so happy when Dan and former Real Housewife of Atlanta Phaedra Parks were the first two traitors recruited, before being joined by Survivor‘s dreaded Black Widow, Parvati Shallow. Besides Phaedra – who I knew would thrive in this cutthroat, unfair environment – Dan was the one I was most excited to see running absolute circles around the other players. But for five episodes in a row, his strategy seems “Go girl, don’t give us anything”, despite the bulging target on his back.
This is a shock to you Big Brother fans, who credit Dan for delivering the best moment in the CBS show’s history: Daan’s funeral. In season 14, Dan was eliminated along with his ride-or-die ally, Danielle Murphree. He devised a bizarre, multi-step plan to stay, which involved organizing a fake funeral for himself. During the ‘funeral’, he brought several houseguests to tears with his kind parting words – and he blindsided Danielle when he went after her for betraying him. The point is that Danielle had been nothing if not loyal to Dan; this was all part of his master plan to keep them both safe. When a tearful Danielle later asked Dan if he could at least give her a heads up the next time he planned to “humiliate” her publicly, Dan said with a cheeky grin on his face, “No, because then you wouldn’t to cry.’
It was cruel, brilliant, cruel, sophisticated – in short: perfect reality TV. This was the Dan I was expecting The traitors – not someone who sat back and refused to cast suspicion on potential traitors, but someone who took bold steps and used his closest allies as fuel for his own success and security. And whether Dan has any chance of surviving The traitors another week – or earn my respect back – he has to reconnect with his inner Judas.
In the fifth episode, several Faithfuls literally beg Dan to share a name or theory – anything that shows he’s playing the game with them – and yet he refuses, claiming he has a suspect in mind, but he’s waiting until he’s 100 % is certain. they are a traitor who shoots his shot. This continued attempt to keep a low profile backfires so horribly that when Dan joins the banishment roundtable, he is the name on virtually everyone’s lips. He barely skates through elimination (surviving only by helping to throw his). Big Brother buddy Janelle under the bus) and ends the evening with the promise of finally naming a name the next day. But even if he does, it may be too little too late to save his skin unless he’s willing to take some seriously drastic measures.
Before the most recent banishment, Peter lied to his main traitor suspects: Dan, Parvati and The challenge‘s CT – claiming that he and Janelle had shields to protect them from being murdered. Parvati immediately sees this as the trap, but Dan disregards Peter’s ability to strategize. Instead, he remains adamant about murder Love Island‘s Bergie, who openly refers to Dan and is one of two players who Actually has a shield.
Dan already faced an uphill battle next week to convince players that he’s a Faithful, and if he really falls into Peter’s trap and makes a failed assassination attempt on Bergie (which really seems like he will), the things look exponentially worse for him. The best way for Dan to save himself at this point is to give the Faithfuls a suspect with undeniable evidence against them – evidence that the Faithfuls can’t deny because it WHERE. What I’m saying is that he should throw Parvati or Phaedra to the wolves.
Image: Peacock
Coming up with a theory as to why a single player is behind the series of (somewhat incomprehensible) murders is a lot harder when you’re working purely from fiction. But like Daan once saidthe best way to end a lie is to surround it with truth, and the best way to convince the faithful that someone is a traitor is to accuse someone who actually is.
On last week’s episode, Dan and Parvati discussed the possibility of sacrificing Phaedra if they needed to throw people off their trail. And Parvati then cast suspicion on the Housewives Love Island‘s Ekin-Su was murdered, prompting an al iconic battle in the turret between the three traitors. At this point, accusing Phaedra of being a traitor at the next roundtable seems like Dan’s next play to cement his survival. (Although Parvati would probably make a better choice.)
I’m not even 100% sure this strategy would work, and I’m not sure I even want it to. But honestly, if it meant I would see the Dan I know Big Brother Back in all its brutal glory, I would be beside myself with joy. And even if he goes down, at least he would go down swinging and not sit on the sidelines. That’s what his legacy deserves.