Rob Cesternino On His Early Exit From ‘The Traitors’ Season 4 And Why The Faithfuls Need To Vote Out Michael Rapaport: “You Can’t Have A Productive Conversation With Michael In The Room”

There is no mistaking how Rob Cesternino feels about The Traitors Season 4 fellow Faithful Michael Rapaport, even after his own exit from the castle.

Sitting down with DECIDER for a post-mortem interview, the two-time Survivor castaway opened up about watching the chaos Rapaport caused in Scotland during filming. While Cesternino — a reality competition series expert who became the second murdered player of The Traitors Season 4 during last week’s premiere — knows that the comedian is someone the Faithfuls should be able to trust, he believes that Rapaport’s proclivity for theatrics is risking the fate of the entire team.

“I think that the Faithful really need to get Michael Rapaport out of the equation, because I think that Michael Rapaport — even though I tried to tell anybody who would listen — is not a Traitor. I think that there would be addition by subtraction to taking him out of the mix, because you can’t have a productive conversation with Michael in the room,” Cesternino told DECIDER.

According to the Rob Has a Podcast host, it’s worth it as a Faithful to take out another player on your team, especially if the Traitors are using that player as a shield or a diversion to keep their own devious plans and schemes under wraps.

“He’s somebody who he’ll just sidetrack a conversation and start ranting about something that has nothing to do with what you’re talking about, and then everybody is just all worked up and out of sorts,” Cesternino said. “The Traitors are using Michael Rapaport to really great effect.”

Check out DECIDER’s full interview with Cesternino below.

---

DECIDER: Rob, the fan outcry to your murder has been loud. Were you expecting people to be so upset at your exit?

ROB CESTERNINO: I didn’t know how they were going to put everything together, and I thought they did a really great job, but I didn’t know what was going to be on TV, and I didn’t know how people were going to receive it. I was just really happy with what they showed. And I’ve been really just blown away by the support that I’ve gotten over these last couple of days, and I really feel really great about the whole experience. I had the best time getting to do it.

There seem to be a lot of people who want you to get the Dorinda Medley treatment. Would you be down to come back for Season 5 or beyond?

I love what they did with Dorinda this season, people were so happy that she came back this season, and she’s off to such a great start, so I thought that was brilliant. As far as I’m concerned, what’s the worst that could happen to me? What’s the downside? They murder me again?

Well, would you want to play again as a Faithful? You’ve gotten one side now, would you want to come back as a Traitor?

I’m not sure I would be a good Traitor. I wanted to be a Faithful. I think that if I were a Traitor, I think I’d probably still be in the game right now. But I just felt like that was what I wanted to do, I really wanted to bond with people and figure things out. I think it would be hard for me to play as a Traitor. I love the idea of being a Faithful and being one of these people when the players are figuring things out and putting the Traitors on the defensive a little bit. I think that it’s a really exciting part of the game, and I’m just disappointed that I didn’t get to do more.

You did pull off one of those moments, though, you immediately clocked the murder in plain sight. What was it about that situation?

It was just a super late night where, when you watch the show, they have the roundtable and then people have a drink and then they go to bed. And this was a night that was just a very late night. And I didn’t really understand, like, “What are we doing here? I feel like they should send us to bed.” And I just then started to think it’s the time of the season where they do a murder in plain sight — [typically] in those first couple of episodes — and I thought, “Oh my God, what if it’s tonight?” And so I tried to warn the people that I was close with. Tiffany [Mitchell], I wanted to warn her […] And I had felt very close with Mark Ballas, and also, I was really close with Candiace [Dillard Bassett], and I mentioned the murder in plain sight to her, not to try and confront her about it. I was trying to warn her.

Did you have a list of people you were starting to suspect at that point in the game?

I thought Dorinda [Medley] was a Traitor, because I thought it would make so much sense to bring Dorinda back and then let her be a Traitor this time. And especially the thing that really made me think about Dorinda was that she got the casket in her grave, and she was so calm about the whole thing. And that was not the Dorinda that I remembered from Season 3, where they didn’t save any chicken satay for her last season and she went off this season, they mark her for murder again, and then she’s like, “Well.” I was like, “Are you kidding me?” I also thought there would be a gamer who was a Traitor and so I thought it was Yam Yam [Arroyo].

Do you think it’s a disadvantage not having a gamer in the turret?

One, I don’t think it’s a disadvantage to the Traitors because I think the Traitors are doing great. I think that the Traitors on our season, I’ve actually been really proud, even though they took me out of the game, I’ve been very proud of how they’ve played the game. They’re playing really, really smart. Candiace and Lisa [Rinna] and Rob [Rausch], so far, and they seem like they’re all working together. I don’t think that not having a gamer is holding them back. I think that for the health of the franchise, I think they needed to do this. I just wish they didn’t do it on this season because I think a gamer would have kept me safe. That was another thing that was in the back of my mind, that I thought if there was a Survivor or Big Brother person that was a Traitor, I think that they would have kept me around for a while.

I saw Dylan Efron yesterday say he thinks the Traitors have it on lock, that Rob R is flying under the radar so well, do you agree? Do you think there’s anything the Faithfuls should be doing right now?

I think that Rob is really doing a great job of that; he just gives you nothing. And I knew that he was a smarter guy than you might think, just from like, the profile of somebody coming off of Love Island. But I was actually really impressed getting to watch him in these first couple of episodes. I think that the Faithful really need to get Michael Rapaport out of the equation, because I think that Michael Rapaport — even though I tried to tell anybody who would listen — is not a Traitor. I think that there would be addition by subtraction to taking him out of the mix, because you can’t have a productive conversation with Michael in the room and listen to him. He knows how to get camera time, he definitely does. But I thought that he was a very bad Faithful. And I feel like if you don’t know if someone’s a Traitor or not, you can’t go wrong with taking out a bad Faithful.

Who was it that said he’s either a really bad Faithful or an equally terrible Traitor?

That was me. Either he’s, like, the greatest Traitor that there’s ever been — and I don’t think that Michael Rapaport, with all due respect, is playing this next level game — or he’s somebody who he’ll just like, sidetrack a conversation and start ranting about something that has nothing to do with what you’re talking about. And then, everybody is just all worked up and out of sorts. The Traitors are using Michael Rapaport to really great effect.

Have to ask you about the “so fucking hard” reaction when Alan [Cumming] was selecting his Secret Traitor. People have gotten a good laugh out of that. Have you seen that reaction? What was going through your head?

I have no idea, I don’t know why I said that. I had not been on reality TV for 22 years and then I got asked one question, and I just started cursing. I don’t really know what happened. I was very, very nervous, but I was also just bursting, like my heart was so full that I got to go and do this. It was pouring out of me that I was so pumped up to be there.

Typically, the Traitors get a chance to recruit someone to their side. Who do you think it should be if they get the opportunity?

There’s definitely some really good options to recruit from the Faithful. I’ll say Natalie [Anderson]. I think that she’s somebody who, I think, would have been a really good Traitor, and I think that she’s somebody who could handle it. And I would not want to be one of the Faithful if Natalie was also up in the turret.

I almost wish Natalie had been the Secret Traitor, I think she would have killed it.

Yeah, she would. I mean, she’s doing a great job as a Faithful, but Donna [Kelce] was, I think, in over her head in that role. I thought she could have pulled off being a Traitor, like in the turret, where people Candiace and Lisa or Rob could have been there to help her, but I think it’s sort of a very lonely role to be the Secret Traitor. That was a tough spot for her.

I’ll wrap here, my Survivor-loving sister told me to ask this: I didn’t know Jesus had a vested interest in Survivor, do you think Jesus has a vested interest in The Traitors?

Obviously not. I would say.

Because you’re not there anymore?

That’s bold of me to say that Jesus would be rooting for me over anybody else, but there’s way too much murder, and there’s cursing. I don’t know necessarily if this is the show that Jesus is watching.

The first three episodes of The Traitors Season 4 are now streaming on Peacock. New episodes premiere Thursdays at 6 p.m. PT.

Peacock currently offers two subscription types: Premium with ads and Premium Plus ad-free. Peacock Premium costs $10.99/month, while Premium Plus costs $16.99/month.

You can save a bit by subscribing to one of Peacock’s annual plans, which give you 12 months for the price of 10. These cost either $109.99 with ads or $169.99 without ads.

Peacock Premium Plus is also available to subscribe to via Prime Video with a seven-day free trial that you can’t get by subscribing directly on Peacock.