Rob Rausch, a handsome snake-wrangler from Alabama, was standing a few feet away from Maura Higgins, the former Love Islander, next to the Traitors’ roundtable. Showing little emotion, he finally revealed that he had double-crossed her to win more than $220,000.
“I was so fooled by you, you absolute *sshole, you pinky promised,” Higgins says in the Peacock finale. “You’re never going to have a girlfriend after this; you’re such a good liar.”
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Higgins and the majority of the cast had been fooled all along.
“I wish I could sit here and say I knew he was a traitor, but I had no clue,” Higgins said at Deadline’s Contenders Television: The Nominees Studio. “He played the best game in that castle. I genuinely did believe he was a faithful, but you know what? It’s a game, and I was fine with it. I went through all the emotions very quickly, and then I was like, ‘You know what? Fair play.’ I genuinely was so convinced that me and him was winning the show together.”
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Higgins was joined by Rausch and fellow Season 4 contestants Monét X Change, Tara Lipinski, Lisa Rinna, Rob Cesternino and Eric Nam for the Deadline conversation. Watch the discussion below, and scroll down for photos from the event.
Rausch was cold as ice. “I was actually surprised in the edit. I feel like they made me seem a little more nervous than I was,” he said.
Rausch, who also became famous on the U.S. version of Love Island, did make it up to Higgins, somewhat, by buying her a Hermès Birkin bag.
Rinna, a fellow traitor and the person who helped Rausch secure the bag, had similarly been crossed by him, twice. “I just didn’t see that coming, so I was really genuinely shocked by that because I thought he was a better boy than that, but he wasn’t,” she said. “Everyone wanted him to be Mr. America, and no one wanted to believe that he could possibly be a traitor.”
It was a dynamite finale for the Studio Lambert-produced show, which scored six Emmy nominations this year including for Outstanding Reality Competition Program, after winning that category the past two seasons.
In addition to those on the Deadline panel, the series starred Ian Terry, Porsha Williams, Donna Kelce, Caroline Stanbury, Tiffany Mitchell, Michael Rapaport, Ron Funches, Yamil ‘Yam Yam’ Arocho, Colton Underwood, Candiace Dillard Bassett, Dorinda Medley, Stephen Colletti, Kristen Kish, Natalie Anderson, Mark Ballas, Johnny Weir and Eric Nam.
01Tara Lipinski and Maura Higgins
Anthony Avellano for Deadline
Rob Rausch
Anthony Avellano for Deadline
Lisa Rinna
Anthony Avellano for Deadline
Monét X Change
Anthony Avellano for Deadline
Eric Nam
Anthony Avellano for Deadline
Rob Cesternino
Anthony Avellano for Deadline
Nam, who became a traitor after being recruited halfway through the show, was also crossed by Rausch in the finale. “Rob was like ‘We’re going to win this together’ and I was like ‘Cool.’”
The singer-songwriter said it was difficult pivoting from being a faithful to becoming a traitor. “Emotionally, it was exhausting,” he said. “We had quickly become friends. I went to bed one night and three hours later, you have to go decide who to kill and that was such a stressful experience.”
One moment not shown on screen was when the whole group was going down the stairs: Nam shouted “Traitor,” and Rinna turned her head. She was subsequently banished in episode 7. But she was fine with that.
“I had no strategy whatsoever, but the plan that I had was I wanted to wear that Erik Charlotte Couture dress to the banquet, and I didn’t know when the banquet was because they tell you nothing. I was just holding out for that, and so once they got me after that, I was fine because in my mind I had won,” she said.
Monét X Change, a faithful murdered in episode 5, said that he had tried to send Higgins “messages from the grave” but she didn’t hear him.
Cesternino, a former Survivor star, was murdered in episode 3. He said that The Traitors is more “mentally taxing” than the CBS competition series.
Lipinski, an Olympic figure skater, made it to the end but couldn’t convince Higgins or Nam that Rausch was a traitor.
“He plays it so cool, at all times,” she said. “You’re constantly surveying everyone, and you just don’t pick up any type of energy of [whether] he even wants to be there. He just did a great job.”
Cat Deeley shows off toned legs in robe on holiday with her children amid rumours she’s ‘dating again’
Cat Deeley enjoyed a relaxing holiday to Canada over the summer break, showing off her toned legs in a comfy robe.
She also included a striking black bear sighting among the pictures from her summer holiday in Canada.
The This Morning presenter captured the animal across a lake while staying at Nimmo Bay Wilderness Resort with her sons.
Cat’s new pictures offer another rare look at family time with Milo and James. The trio travelled to the Canadian wilderness resort during the school break.
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Inside Cat Deeley’s Canada holiday with Milo and James
Cat, 49, and her boys appeared to stay in a wooden cabin during the trip. One photograph showed one of her sons tucking into popcorn, while another featured the resort’s robes and slippers.
The family also made the most of the outdoor activities on offer. Their holiday included canoeing, boating and swimming in the lake.
Away from the water, Cat explored the woodlands in a top, shorts and trainers. She added a baseball cap to shield her head from the sunshine.
The presenter shared more of the area’s wildlife too, including a photograph of a starfish. She also smiled for a selfie with two women who joined the family on the trip.
Cat took the holiday during her summer break from This Morning, which she has presented alongside Ben Shephard since 2024.
Cat Deeley and Patrick Kielty’s split
Cat shares Milo, 10, and James, eight, with her former husband Patrick Kielty. Cat and Patrick announced their separation in July 2025 following 12 years of marriage.
The former couple confirmed their decision in a joint statement and made clear that they would remain united as parents to their sons.
Cat and Patrick first met while presenting BBC talent show Fame Academy in 2002. Their friendship later became romantic, and they went public with their relationship in May 2012. They married in Rome that September.
The pair lived in California for around a decade before returning to the UK in 2020. Cat had previously hosted the US competition So You Think You Can Dance before taking over as one of This Morning’s main presenters.
Is Cat Deeley dating again after her marriage split?
Reports about Cat’s romantic future have also emerged since the separation. In May, The Sun claimed that she felt ready to consider dating again.
A source told The Sun: “She is open to dating again, definitely, but it has to feel right.”
The source added that Cat liked the idea of enjoying “a bit of flirting, a bit of fun, without any pressure”.
Read more: Cat Deeley stuns fans in tiny bikini as she enjoys This Morning break
MailOnline subsequently reported that Cat attended Lewis Capaldi’s British Summer Time Hyde Park concert with Charlie Coleman, an executive at Amazon MGM Studios. The pair reportedly laughed together during the event, while Charlie placed a hand on Cat’s shoulder.
No romance between the pair has been confirmed, however.
Cat’s Canada holiday post instead focused on the outdoor experiences she enjoyed with Milo and James during their school break.
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