Since The Traitors premiered, fans of Alan Cummings’ reality show have been amazed and impressed by many of the casting decisions. After all, there aren’t too many reality shows that have cast a British Royal family member, many former Big Brother players who flopped, and Tom Sandoval alongside his sweaty armpits. On top of all that, The Traitors featured Tony Vlachos feuding with Bob Harper, Real Housewives stars who have each other’s backs, and the show somehow made Tom Sandoval a fan favorite.

Given what The Traitors’ casting team has done in the past, it seemed like they wouldn’t be able to live up to their past during Season 4. Despite that, when the cast for Season 4 was announced, fans learned that The Traitors pulled off a casting coup that was perfect in two major ways.

The Traitors Casting Rob Cesternino Makes The Show Look Better Than Survivor

In an ideal world, people would spend their time focusing on making themselves better. In reality, however, the truth of the matter is that many people focus more on making themselves look better than their peers.

As cutthroat as regular people can be, the power brokers in the entertainment industry can infamously be brutal in their efforts to beat their competition. For example, there is no doubt that most people behind TV shows would be happy to see their competition fall behind.

With that in mind, the team behind The Traitors has to be excited about making one of the show’s most powerful competitors look bad. After all, the casting of Rob Cesternino during The Traitors Season 4 has made the team behind Survivor look awful.

When it was announced that Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans would feature all returning players, the show’s fans were overjoyed. Then, when fans learned they would get to vote on aspects of the season, they began thinking about who would join the cast.

However, fans later learned that they would have no control over who would play during Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans. While that was disappointing, fans believed the season’s cast would include a variety of players from Survivor’s past.

When the cast for Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans was announced, however, the cast was dominated by very recent players. In fact, three players from the season that most recently aired were chosen, even though it was an unpopular season.

As upset as fans were with Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans’ cast featuring so many recent players, that wasn’t the biggest problem. Instead, many Survivor fans were outraged that players from Survivor’s past were cut.

A May 2025 Surviving Tribal article revealed that Rob Cesternino had confirmed that he’d gone through the casting process for Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans. Since he is an extremely popular former player with a huge fan following, learning Rob was willing to play and had been cut was a huge deal.

After fans learned that Rob wasn’t going to compete during Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans, the outrage that was expressed on social media was palpable.

One fan on X went so far as to label Rob getting cut from Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans a blasphemy.

“Rob Cesternino not being on #Survivor50 is straight up blasphemy. He’s done so much for the survivor community he should be a guaranteed lock.”

Yet another Survivor fan argued on X that excluding Rob from the landmark season was disrespectful to the show’s viewers.

“I feel like not putting Rob Cesternino on the Survivor’s landmark 50th season is a pretty big slap in the face. RHAP has given SOOOOO much. One of many slaps we’ve received.”

Once it was announced that Rob would be competing on The Traitors Season 4 instead of Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans, another X post epitomized the reaction. One fan posted about how big of a mistake it was for Survivor’s team to give The Traitors the chance to cast Rob.

Rob Cesternino Joining The Cat Of The Traitors Season 4 Would Be Perfect Even If His Fans Forgot Him

Over the last 20 years, Rob Cesternino has been a media staple between Survivor and his podcast empire. However, it isn’t Rob’s fan following alone that makes him a wonderful casting choice. Even if everyone suddenly forgot about him, Rob’s casting would still be perfect for the show based on the attributes he has exhibited.

Over the last 20 years, fans have gotten a window into how Rob’s mind works. After he has spent years talking about a variety of different reality shows, it has become clear that Rob can see strategy in ways that very few people can.

Not only that, Rob has also spent the last 20 years building his connections with virtually everyone in the Survivor community. Considering that it seems like virtually every Survivor player is willing to spend hours of their own time talking to Rob about reality shows, that says a lot about his social skills.

In reality, Rob has been famous for 20 years and he certainly has an intimidating reputation. With that in mind, Rob could be targeted early on during The Traitors Season 4 and eliminated.

Still, simply based on what he could pull off if he catches some lucky breaks, Rob’s massive potential to be great during The Traitors makes him a perfect casting choice.