Lisa Rinna made an audience cameo of her own at the Dancing With the Stars Season 35 premiere this week, sitting alongside Rob Rausch as her former Traitors co-star Maura Higgins made her ballroom debut. The moment doubled as a full-circle callback to one of the season's most talked-about accessory stories: the burgundy Hermès Birkin bag Rausch bought Higgins earlier this year, with Rinna's help, as an apology for betraying her on The Traitors.
Higgins, competing with professional partner Mark Ballas, performed a Traitors-themed Foxtrot to Alannah Myles' "Black Velvet" on the second night of the show's two-night premiere. As Ballas emerged from a coffin during the routine, he was seen holding Higgins' burgundy Birkin, with her voting details, "Text MAURA 21523," pinned directly to the bag, before tossing it into the audience. Cameras then caught the Birkin in the hands of Rausch, seated next to Rinna, sending the moment instantly viral on social media as fans connected the prop to the trio's real-life history.
Maura's dance referencing The Traitors and the Birkin bag. Lisa Rinna & Rob Rausch rooting her on from the front. She ate this entire dance down! #DWTS pic.twitter.com/8Zbjhyq51w
— Queens of Bravo (@queensofbravo) September 17, 2026
That history dates back to March 2026, when Rausch presented Higgins with the bag live on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, following through on a promise he made after his betrayal of Higgins during The Traitors Season 4 finale. Higgins later told Page Six Radio that Rinna played a key role behind the scenes, helping Rausch track down the specific bag Higgins wanted, a burgundy Togo Birkin 30 with gold hardware, estimated at the time to cost between sixteen and twenty-two thousand dollars. Rinna has since described helping secure the bag as "so magical," and Higgins has referred to Rinna as her "American mom."
Higgins and Ballas opened strong on the leaderboard, scoring 21 out of 30 from judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli for the Foxtrot. But it was the Birkin's surprise reappearance, and Rinna's presence beside Rausch to witness it, that dominated fan reaction online, with viewers calling out the bag's cameo in real time and celebrating the continued friendship between the three Traitors alums.
WAITTTTTTT WTF MAURA HIGGINS ATE THE HOUSE DOWN BOOTS MAWMA???
— Johann (@johanntimkang) September 17, 2026
OMG she went waaaaaaaaay beyond my expectations? I fully thought she was gonna be average??? Mark Ballas really is hands down the best coach. GREAT SONG CHOICE, GREAT DANCE, GREAT PARTNERSHIP!!!#DWTS pic.twitter.com/NecS0fHhO4
The moment underscores how accessory storytelling has become part of how reality stars carry storylines across shows. What began as a scripted betrayal on one competition series resurfaced months later as a deliberate, recognizable prop on an entirely different one, with the original bag, the original apology and two of the original cast members all back in the same frame. For Rinna specifically, the appearance extends a pattern of staying visibly connected to her Traitors castmates well beyond the show's run, this time from a ballroom audience seat rather than a red carpet.
Higgins, who also competed on Love Island and Love Island USA: Aftersun, is one of the higher-profile names in the Season 35 cast, and she and Rausch are separately set to co-host an upcoming Peacock competition series. Her Dancing With the Stars run is expected to keep drawing crossover attention from both the Bravo and reality-TV audiences that followed the Birkin storyline the first time around, particularly if the bag, or similar callbacks, resurface in future episodes.
