Let\u2019s be charitable and call Michael Rapaport<\/a> a multi-hyphenate. At various times in Season 4 of \u201cThe Traitors<\/a>,\u201d the actor and reality TV podcaster alleges himself to be more of a Housewife than a Real Housewife<\/a>, \u201cthe best looking, smartest, dopest, faithful Faithful,\u201d and a \u201ccr*p trash talker.\u201d<\/p>\n At least the third claim is true. He is a cr*p trash talker, in the sense that he\u2019s terrible at it.<\/p>\n Champion trash talkers are heckle masters. You never want to be their target, but watching their vicious crowd work from a safe distance mainly places you in danger of wetting yourself with a spit-take. Rapaport wishes he were armed with that caliber of wit. When he announces in the premiere, \u201cI feel like there\u2019s an inner Housewife in me, like, a Housewife who\u2019s trying to get out!\u201d he leave out that his inner Housewife is a Jersey-bred table flipper: All screeching, no sense. The best he can muster against fellow contestant Yamil \u201cYam Yam\u201d Arocho is to bray like a donkey in labor distress that Arocho is full of \u201cbig, thick, \u2018Traitor\u2019 doo-doo.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t play games!\u201d Rapaport barks in the same scene, forcing teammate Ron Funches to deadpan, \u201cYou\u2019re playing a game right now.\u201d<\/p>\n What\u2019s sad is that Rapaport is playing \u201cThe Traitors\u201d better than Funches. While he hurls baseless accusations and complaints in that episode, Funches presents a compelling case against another player, Atlanta Housewife Porsha Williams, at a banishment debate. He succeeds in turning the crowd against her, only to discover he\u2019s knifed an innocent woman \u2014 and worse, one of those Housewives everybody loves and fears. Now, the rest of them are rejecting the nice guy while Rapaport continues to run amok.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Traitors\u201d is an unscripted competition for people who say they don\u2019t watch reality TV. You really don\u2019t need to know much about its Bravo-lebrities and gamers to enjoy it. Spending a little time in a grocery store checkout line is all it takes to absorb the highlights of \u201cThe Real Housewives\u201d or \u201cLove Island\u201d by osmosis. The rest is basic psychology in action. Even the snobbiest TV snoots can\u2019t resist Alan Cumming<\/a> as the playfully sadistic laird of Ardross Castle, emceeing what is essentially a closed circle murder mystery.<\/p>\n (Euan Cherry\/Peacock)<\/span> Michael Rapaport and Tiffany Mitchell in \u201cThe Traitors\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The cast may be new, but the essential rules remain unchanged. While most of its players are innocents, dubbed Faithfuls, Cumming surreptitiously chooses several to be Traitors.<\/p>\n The Faithful contingent includes several Bravo and MTV stars; veterans of \u201cSurvivor<\/a>,\u201d \u201cBig Brother<\/a>,\u201d and \u201cLove Island<\/a>\u201d; a \u201cBachelor<\/a>\u201c; a singer-songwriter; two Olympic figure skaters; Jason<\/a> and Travis Kelce<\/a>\u2018s mom; <\/span>a \u201cRuPaul\u2019s Drag Race<\/a>\u201d winner; a \u201cDancing withe the Stars<\/a>\u201d pro; and Rapaport, the star of \u201cZebrahead\u201d and \u201cHigher Learning,\u201d whose career peaked in the aughts.<\/p>\n OK, he\u2019s done plenty of other things since then, including directing the 2011 documentary \u201cBeats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest.\u201d Somehow he managed to hang around the New York hip-hop scene without taking to heart the message conveyed in Run-DMC<\/a>\u2019s \u201cYou Talk Too Much.\u201d<\/p>\n More recently, he appeared in \u201cFallout<\/a>\u201d just long enough for his character to be mauled to death by a mutant bear<\/a>. But New York may be hearing a lot more from him in the future, since he announced he\u2019s running for mayor<\/a> in the city\u2019s 2029 election.<\/p>\n Nobody is convinced that he\u2019s a Traitor, and if he were one, as a couple of folks have whispered, his chaos would either be genius or as idiotic as it looks to the rest of the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Other game shows have launched lesser boobs to greater heights, and Rapaport has no place to go but up. Here and now, he\u2019s this round\u2019s minor celebrity, akin in prominence to the likes of second-season also-ran John Bercow, the former Speaker of the House of Commons, and Season 3\u2019s Lord Ivar Mountbatten, cousin to the crown.<\/p>\n (Euan Cherry\/Peacock)<\/span> Michael Rapaport in \u201cThe Traitors\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n They won us over with their mild pomposity and aloofness, whereas Rapaport\u2019s annoyance wreaks collateral damage like a chronically unbathed person\u2019s odor assails bystanders. Faithful ally Eric Nam sternly points out to him that his rants are throwing off everyone else\u2019s game. And the Traitors love it.<\/p>\n This season is an especially unfortunate one for the Faithfuls to have a malfunctioning fog machine on their team, because producers added a secret Traitor, a murderer whose identity was kept secret from everyone, including the other Traitors and viewers. That mystery lasted for all of three episodes, although most players clocked Taylor Swift<\/a>\u2019s soon-to-be mother-in-law, Donna Kelce, on the first night. Fear of Swiftie retribution held them back from acting on their instincts.<\/p>\n Kicking him out will not win the war, but damn it if we won\u2019t keep watching until that happens.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But it\u2019s a good thing the innocents already felled one devil, despite Kelce\u2019s overwhelming sweetness. Every day that a Traitor remains in the game, a Faithful gets murdered. If one remains hidden among the remaining players at the end, he or she walks off with the entire jackpot, which could be worth up to $250,000.<\/p>\n However, that also means that every Faithful banished by the majority vote of their peers takes a fall that could have eliminated a Traitor. And this puts everyone besides Rapaport in an irksome if intriguing position. Nobody is convinced that he\u2019s a Traitor, and if he were one, as a couple of folks have whispered, his chaos would either be genius or as idiotic as it looks to the rest of the world.<\/p>\n So the question becomes, is ousting a two-faced killer more valuable than removing the enemy of your enemy who has all the charm of a raging, snot-dripping bout of the super flu? What\u2019s more important, winning or prioritizing peace?<\/p>\n Is this not the conundrum of our time, and aren\u2019t we fortunate to have this boor reminding us of this with each new episode?<\/p>\n Ugh.<\/p>\n As the show established last season, the people we\u2019re conditioned to view as villains and heels are not necessarily Traitors. Unless, of course, they are.<\/p>\n Season 3 launched former \u201cVanderpump Rules<\/a>\u201d star Tom Sandoval<\/a> in the mix, and while he entered in disgrace, he exited as slightly more likable. This was not the case with \u201cBoston Rob\u201d Mariano, a wildcard mid-season addition who immediately set about backstabbing everyone in his way, including other Traitors.<\/p>\n But Mariano excels at coming across as trustworthy. Hence, he survived much longer than he should have by convincing his prey, including Zac Efron<\/a>\u2019s wide-eyed brother Dylan, that he\u2019d be too obvious an assassin.<\/p>\n And this is why Rapaport is such a well-played torment. He\u2019s telling the truth every time he screams, \u201cI am the most faithful Faithful!\u201d and yet, every time he opens his mouth, a small corner of the planet perishes from the emissions. Kicking him out will not win the war, but damn it if we won\u2019t keep watching until that happens.<\/p>\n (Euan Cherry\/Peacock)<\/span> Rob Rausch in \u201cThe Traitors\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Rapaport may be Season 4\u2019s obvious pain point, but it has its pleasures too. He isn\u2019t the only thespian in the cast. Lisa Rinna, a survivor of \u201cThe Real Housewives of Beverly Hills<\/a>,\u201d is acting her glutes off. So far, neither she nor former Potomac Housewife Candiace Dillard Bassett nor \u201cLove Island<\/a>\u201d alumnus Rob Rausch is on anyone\u2019s Traitor radar. But they should be.<\/p>\n Dillard and Rinna are a little too mirthful about slitting throats at nightfall and lying to the remaining sheep over breakfast, while Rausch is a silent slaughterer, saying little and capitalizing on the rest of the group\u2019s assumptions that he\u2019s just another F-boy<\/a> from \u201cLove Island.\u201d Those who appreciate a little chiaroscuro interplay in their trashy TV ensembles might fall for this guy, if only for being a potent, balancing opposition to Rapaport\u2019s windbaggery. Asked by Cumming how he intends to use the power of his Traitor\u2019s cloak, our himbo hero shrugs and answers, ever so simply, \u201cI\u2019m just gonna kill some people.\u201d We don\u2019t appreciate the quiet ones enough.<\/p>\n Want more from culture than just the latest trend? The Swell highlights art made to last.<\/i> What about Rapaport\u2019s resentful Faithful companions? In the third episode, a challenge requires half of those remaining to be caged while a partner stacks animal skulls into a tower to free them.<\/p>\n Rapaport volunteers to be kenneled while \u201cBig Brother\u201d contestant Tiffany Mitchell takes it on herself to fight for him. It was the perfect opportunity to place him on the chopping block. But Mitchell is a team player, so in the end, Rapaport survives to squawk another day and probably complain about life\u2019s unfairness over that evening\u2019s pasta buffet.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, levelheaded \u201cTop Chef<\/a>\u201d host Kristen Kish<\/a>, Nam, Stanbury and Funches, this season\u2019s Charlie Brown, finish the day blindfolded and tied to a tree in the dark as ax-toting hooded figures lurk nearby.<\/p>\n An apt metaphor for how everything\u2019s going these days, wouldn\u2019t you say?<\/p>\n But take comfort in knowing the loudmouth will eventually get his \u2014 maybe soon, but probably later than we\u2019d like. Even if you are of the mind that reality TV should be devoid of anything that makes you grit your teeth, anticipating the relief of Rapaport\u2019s eventual exit is a sweetness worth savoring. Until then, let\u2019s enjoy each week\u2019s momentary rescue delivered whenever Cumming intones, \u201cPlayers, the time for talk is over.\u201d It\u2019s the only phrase with the power to shut this man down.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Traitors\u201d streams Thursdays on Peacock.<\/em><\/p>\n Read more<\/p>\n about reality TV<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/traitors_01495.jpg\")
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