The Traitors US has reached its fiery conclusion, with a showdown involving UK Love Island favourite Maura Higgins that feels eerily similar to the final betrayal between Harry Clark and Mollie Pearce on the British version of the show.
The Irish reality star, who rose to fame on Love Island in 2019, was a contestant on the fourth season of the US Traitors, having found fame across the pond as the host of the American version of Love Island's companion show Aftersun.
Higgins was not chosen as a Traitor by host Alan Cumming, but kept under the radar and made it to Thursday (26 February) night's final. Her making it so far in the competition was all the more impressive given that Higgins, 35, had never watched the show before and admitting that she was learning the rules of the show as she went along.
In the final, the model was joined by Olympic figure skaters Tara Lipinski and Jonny Weir (both of whom were Faithful), Love Island US star Rob Rausch and K-pop Eric Nam (both of whom were Traitors).
In the final episode, Rausch, who was considered the heartthrob of the season by many, got Higgins on side, leading to Weir, then Lapinski being banished. Then, with Rausch having convinced Higgins that they were both Faithful and could split the prize pot, they banished Rausch's fellow Traitor Nam.
The final scene saw the pair reveal their identities, with Higgins shocked to learn that 27-year-old Rausch – a snake wrangler in his past life – was a Traitor and had robbed her of her split of the pot. "You pinky-promised," she told him, then cutting him off with a “don't speak" when he tried to console her.
For British fans, the final result was remarkably reminiscent of the second series of the UK Traitors, when Traitor Clark convinced Pearce that he was Faithful and would split the money with her. When Clark revealed that he was a Traitor, Pearce was in shock, and ran off crying.
At the time, viewers had suggested that Pearce's judgement had been clouded because she'd had a crush on Clark; something fans this week said about Higgins and Rausch.
But speaking in an interview with Vulture days after The Traitors finale, Higgins insisted she hadn't been "d***-matised" (a Love Island-ism playing on the word "hypnotised") and wasn't a "pick-me".
Pointing to a segment in the reunion, when Rausch said that he and Higgins had flirted in the Traitors castle, she said. "Did you see my face? Did everyone hear what he said at the very end of the show to Alan Cumming? Alan says he hopes Maura doesn’t get him in the dark because she’ll do bad things. He went, 'I hope she does.' Was he p***y-matized?" she asked.
"If the tables had turned and I was the Traitor and he was the Faithful, I guarantee the audience would be hating on me because I’m the woman. They’d be all crying, “Poor Rob!” I’m getting the brunt of it. Sorry, hello, Rob was flirting. But it’s fine. I’ll take it. I’m OK with it."
