Since The Traitors became a hit, the popular reality show has always kept fans guessing. Between “Boston” Rob Mariano breaking the show, Season 3’s controversial first “murder,” and Cirie Fields’ brutal betrayal, it has been hard to look away from The Traitors. Parvati Shallow explaining why “Boston” Rob turned on Bob the Drag Queen and Nikki Garcia revealing her game fell apart for a personal reason also made the show intriguing.

On top of everything else, there is no doubt that The Traitors’ unpredictable casting decisions have left fans shocked. For example, nobody could have predicted Stephen Colletti competing during Season 4 of The Traitors after he previously said he was done starring in reality shows.

Stephen Colletti Once Stated That He Would Refuse To Return To The Reality Show That Made Him Famous

Before the cast for The Traitors Season 4 was announced, fans an idea of what they could expect. As a result, it would have been easy for the biggest fans of The Traitors to make a lot of accurate predictions about the next season’s cast.

Virtually every The Traitors fan knows to expect each season of the show to feature Real Housewives stars and players from Survivor and Big Brother. Similarly, it has now become clear that the team behind The Traitors wants each season of the show to feature some out-of-the-box casting choices.

While looking at the cast for The Traitors Season 4, Michael Rapaport is the most obvious example of an out-of-the-box casting choice. Even though people may not realize it at first, Stephen Colletti also was a surprising casting choice, especially since he once ruled out making a reality show return.

In July 2018, Stephen Colletti was interviewed by Us Weekly about reality shows. During that conversation, Stephen was asked about the potential of returning for a reboot or revival of the show that made him famous years earlier.

In 2018, Stephen ruled out the possibility of returning for a Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County reunion, reboot, or revival.

From there, Stephen elaborated on why he wouldn’t want to make a Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County return.

Stephen explained that returning to Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County would be a step back for him.

While talking to Us Weekly, Stephen stated that he felt like it’d been too long since he starred in Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County to return. Furthermore, Stephen stated that he didn’t think the city the show is named after needed more promotion.

“We were so young back then. It seems like a lifetime ago. Laguna gets enough tourism as it is. We don’t need another show bringing more people around during the summer seasons.”

Of course, Stephen joining the cast of The Traitors is very different from going back to a show he’d starred in years earlier. However, what Stephen said next about his reality show history reflects on him joining the cast of The Traitors Season 4.

When Stephen starred in Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, people were a lot more ignorant about the reality of starring in a reality show. For example, at that time, the people who starred in reality shows at that time often spoke about being shocked by how the footage of them was edited. While talking to Us Weekly in 2018, Stephen told the outlet about how shocked he was at the time by how he was edited for Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County.

“But yeah, I feel like that is something, especially because we were such a unique time and such a unique show. There are aspects to it where, again, we really didn’t know exactly what was going on. And there was so much that we shot for a long period of time, and what it wound up being. It was so different. And there was a bit of a shock to what the show wound up being.”

After Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, Stephen went on to star in One Tree Hill. Between starring in Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County and One Tree Hill, Stephen must have a much better understanding of how editing can affect his portrayal.

Given everything he went through in his career, it seems likely that Stephen will be prepared to understand how The Traitors will portray him. On top of that, that wisdom is likely to allow Stephen to potentially do well in Alan Cumming’s castle.

Stephen Colletti Was Open To Specific Reality Show Appearances In The Past

Given his reluctance to return to Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, assuming Stephen Colletti wasn’t interested in reality TV would have made some sense. However, comments he made in the past, and his The Traitors Season 4 casting, show that Stephen is only interested in reality TV in specific circumstances.

During the same July 2018 Us Weekly interview, Stephen was asked about appearing on a different reality show. At that time, Stephen’s old friend and ex, Kristin Cavallari, was starring in the reality show Very Cavallari with her husband at the time, Jay Cutler.

Since Stephen and Kristin’s relationship was well-documented, Us Weekly asked him about whether he would make a Very Cavallari appearance.

In response, Stephen told Us Weekly that Kristin had already been asking him to appear on the show. Then, Stephen revealed that he told Kristin that he’d be willing to appear on Very Cavallari in a specific way.

“I was actually just texting with [Kristin] the other day about something. And she was giving me a hard time. She was like, ‘You’ve got to come on the show.’ A sports show that I listen to was talking about [Kristin’s husband] Jay Cutler, the way he is on the show. And I told her, I was like, ‘All right. Maybe, maybe in season 2.’ … If there’s a twelver and a deer stand and Jay and I are sitting there hunting, maybe I’ll come on the show.”

Since Stephen only wanted to appear on Very Cavallari if he could be true to himself, that indicates that he will likely want to be very true to himself during his The Traitors tenure. Based on past seasons of The Traitors, that could be the key to success or failure in Alan Cumming’s castle.