Although Ian Terry’s journey on Season 4 of The Traitors was cut short, his insights into the season are anything but lacking.

**Spoiler Warning: This article discusses key events from the first three episodes of The Traitors Season 4**

In a conversation with DECIDER following his elimination in Episode 2, the former Big Brother winner shared his perspective on why his early exit didn’t come as a shock and how he quickly grasped the Traitors’ rationale for targeting him.

“I completely get it,” Terry remarked to DECIDER, his tone light-hearted. “I consider it a compliment. I know I’m a smart guy, and I can handle a loss.” Reflecting on the moment of realization, he added, “When we were standing by the graves in Episode 1, I sized up the competition. I exchanged a glance with Rob Cesternino, and we both seemed to silently agree, ‘Yeah, one of us is going home first.’

Despite the disappointment, Terry admits that the outcome was not entirely unforeseen. Entering the game as a “gamer” and previous show winner, he was well aware that he might be seen as an early threat.

He added, “That’s just how it goes. That was something that I had mentally prepared myself for as someone who wanted to be a Faithful and is perceived as intelligent.”

As for his reaction to the reveal of the Traitors’ identities, his thoughts on if he would ever return for a future season, and who should get the chance to play next, check out DECIDER’s full interview with Terry below.

DECIDER: I’ve seen a lot of fan reaction over your murder. And also Rob’s murder right out of the gate. Did you expect this reaction from the fans?

IAN TERRY: I honestly was pleasantly surprised. I didn’t expect the reaction that it got. I was very nervous the past 6 or 7 months, but ultimately, I kind of knew I probably got a little unlucky and there wasn’t anything at the time I could have done about it, so I’m glad that resonates with the viewers, and I totally appreciate it.

Being the first murdered in The Traitors Season 4. Were you able to understand it at the time? Do you understand it any more now?

I 100 percent understood why it happened. I said it, I take it as a compliment. I understand it. I’m a smart guy. I can take an L, it’s fine. I knew, I think when we were standing in front of the graves, I looked around and I saw the other options, and I looked at Rob C, he looked at me and it was like, “Yeah, it’s going to be one of us.” That’s just how it goes. That was something that I had mentally prepared myself for as someone who wanted to be a Faithful and is perceived as intelligent.

We saw in your intro that you did say being a Faithful is a nut that had yet to be cracked. Was there any part of you that was hoping to be a Traitor?

Before going out there, obviously, my wife and I talked a lot about preferred role. At first I said, well, I would want to be the Traitor because I have about five times the chance of winning and it’s just a better chance to win, you have more agency. The more that we chewed on it, though, we saw a reaction to some of the other Big Brother Traitors in previous seasons, who maybe didn’t get the best reception, and I thought about it. I said, “You know, actually, I think that I would have more fun trying to figure out who the Traitors are rather than hide deception.” It just seems from a reception point of view, it just seems like the Traitors are always going to be the ones that it falls back on. So I said, “Okay, Faithful seems fun. You can play from either side. I’m here to have fun.”

Take me back to arriving at the castle for the first time, getting out of the car and seeing all the rest of the players, but especially Tiffany [Mitchell].

When I saw her — and I have never seen her season of Big Brother, I will state, I had heard of her, and I had heard that she was a very good player — I thought to myself, “She’s someone who would want to be a Traitor.” That’s my first check, is to build a list of suspects as well. First off, who would want to be a Traitor? And I feel she would certainly want to be, she likes to play aggressively and that’s fine. I said is a great person to align with. She’s very sharp. And if she’s in the turret, that would mean someone that’s speaking to my interest at least somewhat. Right. So I was very excited to see her. And I was someone I was very happy to work with. 

Who else made your list of top suspects? People that you immediately clocked as potential Traitors?

Tiffany was certainly on my list, and I was obviously wrong. I did think Rob [Rausch] was, I will say that he was certainly on my list for a little while. And Yam Yam [Arroyo] also had kind of come up and maybe a little bit of Lisa, but not it wasn’t really fleshed out.

I have seen some people say that they really do need a gamer in the turret, because without one, it puts the Traitors at a disadvantage, thinking strategically. Do you think that there’s something to be said about that? 

I don’t necessarily see how it would be a disadvantage for the Traitors. I think that they made pretty reasonable choices. It’s a very powerful position; it’s kind of hard to take that advantage away. But I would say just from a balanced perspective, I think it would have been good to have had a gamer in there. Last year, there were no Housewives, it was mostly gamers. And I think it’s good for the long-term health of the show that they mix it up. Obviously, it was at my expense and that’s just how it goes.

Upon learning the identities of the Traitors, what were your reactions? Was there anyone that you were just completely shocked by? 

I will say, I was surprised at the Secret Traitor. I really didn’t think Donna [Kelce] would be one of the Traitors, that was probably the biggest shock to me. I didn’t really have a huge amount of time flesh out opinions or theories or suspicions, just kind of guesses at best, so I was surprised by that one.

If you had the opportunity to go back and redo this, is there anything you would have done differently right out of the gate?

I’ll be honest, I don’t know what I could have done differently based on the rationale that was given. I’m sure there’s probably a million microinteractions that I would change, right? But that’s just the minutia that is so small. I don’t think there’s any concrete situation where I’m like, “Man, I wish I did this or I wish I picked this move.”It was all very, very fleeting.

I’ll wrap with this: Who from Big Brother should play next? 

I really would like to see Eric Stein back on my TV screen.

Thanks so much, Ian. I hope we get to see you back. Maybe they’ll pull a Dorinda. 

I don’t know, we’ll see.

The first three episodes of The Traitors Season 4 are now streaming on Peacock. New episodes release Thursdays.

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