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Lisa Rinna is no stranger to dramatic television moments, but being asked not to murder a fellow contestant on The Traitors Season 4 by a former Bachelor star was certainly a unique experience for her.
Following her emotional departure from Alan Cumming’s reality show set in Scotland, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills veteran sat down with DECIDER. She shared her thoughts on Colton Underwood’s unexpected request for her protection against a potential murder plot.
“My initial reaction was, ‘Don’t trust this guy. No way,’” she recounted. “I wondered, ‘Where did he even get that idea? How did he come up with that?’ Then I thought, ‘Wait a minute, is he in cahoots with Rob? Do they have some sort of deal?’ It really got my mind racing.”
Ultimately, Rinna chose to play it cool, pretending she had no clue what Underwood was talking about. Although she repeatedly denied being a Traitor, she sensed that he was desperately trying to unmask one after several Faithfuls had been eliminated. Trusting her instincts, she kept her cards close and avoided falling into what she believed could be a trap.
“By then, he was clearly targeting me,” Rinna stated, “and I decided, ‘I’m not going to fall for that, no way.’”
Another situation entirely ended up being her downfall, though, and Rinna has a thing or two to say about it. Keep reading to find out about her reaction to Yam Yam’s theatrics upon his exit in Episode 7, why she thinks everyone is rooting for the Traitors this season, and more from her time in the castle.
DECIDER: We have to start with your elimination. You got a little emotional on your way out of the castle. You talked about your time on Housewives and how that was hard for it to all end, what hit you so hard about that?
LISA RINNA: The game is so intense and I just broke open. I don’t really know. I know that it was like a big release for me. It cracked me open. I hadn’t felt my feelings like that in a really long time. And I think, you know, the grieving process of losing my mother was really very difficult. And I think people saw that and I don’t know what traders did to me, but it broke me open and in that moment I was able to feel and be vulnerable. And I’m so grateful for that, I really am.
I think I did a good job of showing the full spectrum of who you are as a person. You talked about how you were someone before Housewives, you were someone before Traitors. Why was it important for you to say and get that message out there?
My last year on Housewives was so brutal and I think I was really labeled a villain and something that of course, I’m part of, but not it’s not my full being. And that was really frustrating to me to be labeled a villain and evil. And I’m like, “That’s so not who I am.” And I thought maybe Traitors would give me the time to be able for people to much more of myself. Do you know what I mean? And thank God it did that. It really did. And I’m grateful for that because I was so much more than my last year on Housewives. Do you know what I mean?
And you had so many iconic moments in the show.
I did, it was so fun. I had the best time.
As somebody who’s not new to being a meme at all, I’ve already seen so many memes like the one of you with the sunglasses in the cage. Do you get in those moments and think, “This might end up blowing up on the internet?”
Absolutely not. Case in point, my couture moment in Paris. You couldn’t have written that. You couldn’t have said that that was going to be a meme. It’s so fascinating to me. You never know. It’s the thing that you least expect. Really. And so I just I have so many of them now I just laugh. I’m like, never in a million years what I thought that I would be in a cage with. I know, I knew my sunglasses were really cool, but the vision of what that look like, I just it’s it’s so funny. And of course, it went viral. You know what I mean?
Do you have a favorite meme of yourself, either from the Traitors or from just your everyday life?
I think it’s the, “It’s couture, honey, look at the tag.” I think that’s my favorite meme of all time at this point and I’ve had a lot of good ones, but that one I would say is really the most iconic.
I wanted to ask you about the moment when Colton came to you and said, “Hey, if you protect me in the turret, I’ll protect you at the round table.” What was going through your head in that moment?
I was like, “Don’t trust this motherfucker. No. Absolutely not.” And then I was like, “Where did you get that idea? How would you even know to say that?” Because I certainly wouldn’t like I, I then I was like, wait a second. Does he have that with Rob? Do they have that deal? You know what I mean. Then your mind starts going. But at that point, he was already coming for me and I was like, I am not falling for that, buddy.
Another moment that a lot of fans were watching and talking about was the banquet. Everyone thought you might be going for Colton. How did you land onYam Yam?
Well, I wanted to go for Colton, obviously, but it was too risky because Colton was watching every single move I made. Do you know what I mean? And you have one shot at it. So I thought I was going to drop the pin. But what if Colton didn’t pick it up? So I was like, who? Who would love my outfit? Who would easily help me if I said, “Oh, wait, my pin is sticking me.” And it was like, Yam Yam was really at the top. And I love Yam Yam, I didn’t want to kill him, but it just happened to be, in the moment, the easiest thing because he leaned in to kiss me.
And let’s break that down. I didn’t even kiss him, I air-kissed him. So the fact that he’s like, It’s Lisa, it’s Lisa, she kissed me.” I was like, “Oh, for God’s sake. Not only is that not right. I had you do the pin and I did it so brilliantly.” But I can’t say that, it was so frustrating, but it was also so funny. The fact that I killed him and then he screams out my name at the end, like, you can’t write that. I was even sitting there going, “Oh, fuck, that’s it, he just sealed my death certificate.” I knew that was it. But I was like, “Pkay, it’s kind of iconic, right?”
I’ve talked with Yam Yam, I’ve talked with Ron. They’re both rooting for the Traitors, Rob [Rausch] specifically to win? What is it about this man?
Have you looked at him, girl? Have you looked at him? He has hypnotized the freaking world. And I get it, he is a beautiful human being. And whether you’re gay, straight, non-binary, it doesn’t even matter if you’re a dog. Everybody loves Rob, he really has a magic about him. And he’s very smart. And so is Candiace [Dillard Bassett]. I love the Traitor game that Candiace is playing. It was such a joy to just be in the turret with both of them. I have to say I loved my Traitor family. It was very sad to have it break up, but, I knew that was going to happen sooner or later, somebody comes for somebody. It’s funny because everyone thought I was going to be me. Everyone thought, “Oh, Lisa’s going to go after Candice and Rob.” Well guess what? No.
Thanks, Lisa. We need to see Harry on the show next.
Harry would actually be really good. He’s very smart and he’s really tactical. And he would be excellent, actually. Excellent.
Traitor or Faithful, though?
I think Harry would be a very good Faithful. A very good faithful. I mean, he could do both because he’s a brilliant actor, but it could be interesting to have Harry be Faithful. I don’t know, you’d have to ask him if he would even do it. I don’t know, but he’d be good.
The first seven episodes of The Traitors Season 4 are now streaming on Peacock. New episodes premiere Thursdays.
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