The Traitors host Alan Cumming is used to announcing shocking twists and turns (in that shockingly ridiculous brogue) on the popular Peacock reality competition, and last night's surprise was one of the biggest so far this season: no, not Beyoncé (sorry, Alan!) but an over-the-top cameo by Big Brother legend Will Kirby. And he ruffled the feathers of several of his fellow Big Brother alums in the process with less-than-complimentary critiques about their gameplay.
Widely considered the best Big Brother cast member to ever play that game thanks to his ruthless strategy and controversial behavior, Dr. Will showed up on the February 15th episode of Peacock's The Traitors to host a Fear Factor-esque escape-room challenge involving maggots and other creepy crawlers. But it was what the reality star said about The Traitors Season 2 cast afterward that really left a chill up their spine.
In a post-ep interview with EW, Kirby pointedly called out the poor performances of his fellow Big Brother players in the past two seasons of the Peacock program. He even suggested that their lack of success in The Traitors' castle might have damaged their reality TV reputations:
Well, I don’t think it’s any secret that the four Big Brother contestants on the first two seasons of The Traitors have done poorly, and I hope the fans don’t chastise me making that factual statement. See, I think some Big Brother players went on The Traitors to show that they 'still got it'— only to realize that they actually ‘never had it.’
The "four Big Brother contestants" that Kirby was criticizing are The Traitors Season 1 castmates Cody Calafiore and Rachel Reilly — neither of whom won that season — as well as Season 2 players Janelle Pierzina and Dan Gheesling, the latter of whom was chosen as a traitor this season. However, both of the latter players were banished mid-game.
Kirby said that he's not surprised at their lack of success in the game, as he noted it takes "an extremely unique skill set to do well on these type of shows:"
It takes an extremely unique skill set to do well on these types of shows, and anyone can get lucky once, but it’s really hard to repeat that success, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t openly wonder if the Big Brother contestants who appeared have really hurt their reality television legacies because of their poor gameplay in this series. Kind of strange to consider, but it is possible that we never see any of them on our televisions ever again. The reunion show might end up serving as their wakes.
Dr. Will might have been worried that fans would "chastise" him for making "that factual statement," but he really should have worried about the reality stars that he was publicly calling out. Several of them took to social media to confront the Big Brother alum. Rachel Reilly wrote on Twitter about "overrated" Kirby's comments:
No I’ll call it like it is -will doesn’t have the ___ to go on this or any show and throws shade at us who do - he knows he’s 1st out-tell me you don’t have time off, your the owner of your practice- overrated-The Traitors guest star Will Kirby https://t.co/Xeq6Ty7jvh via @EWFebruary 16, 2024
And Janelle Pierzina joined in, praising her, Cody, Dan and Rachel for putting themselves out there "for the fans," unlike "terrified" Dr. Will:
Says someone who is terrified of participating in another show because they know they’ll be the first out. 🤣At least me Cody, Dan and Rachel put ourselves out there for the fans. All you’ve done is showed up on set in a bathrobe and acted like a creep. https://t.co/LrGyUt6ResFebruary 16, 2024
There will undoubtedly be more Big Brother personalities joining in the castle-set competition in the future (The Traitors has officially been renewed for a third season), but whether that will include Dr. Will Kirby himself or whether a BB alum will actually be successful on the show remains to be seen.
In the meantime, you can catch up with both seasons of The Traitors with a Peacock subscription, and you can watch new episodes on the 2024 TV schedule every Thursday at 9 p.m. ET.
