Michael Rapaport exited The Traitors after his campaign against Colton Underwood at the roundtable in Episode 5 backfired. Rapaport was voted out despite others believing that he was not a Traitor. Rapaport later addressed the circumstances surrounding his exit.
What Michael Rapaport said about his exit from The Traitors
Michael Rapaport has been a polarizing figure on The Traitors, but his campaign against Colton Underwood at the roundtable in Episode 5 led to his elimination. Rapaport claimed that Colton was the Traitor because “nobody in this room would be better at holding a secret.” Others interpreted this as a reference to Colton hiding his sexuality for much of his life, which led to backlash against Rapaport.
Rapaport spoke to EW after his exit and explained what he meant by the remark.
“Well, I thought that he was a Traitor, and I was riffing. I was going at him because he was going at me, and I felt defensive, and I was doing my best to deflect all of the attention, which had been on me the previous four roundtables,” he explained, “I was just flowing, I was just talking. I was talking about him being conniving, cowardly, and commiserating. Those words are thrown around a lot during this game: lying, secrets, dishonest, deceitful, betrayal. And that was just one of the words I used, and I would’ve used it towards anybody that I felt was coming at me, but I truly felt that he was a Traitor in that moment. I was dead set that he was a Traitor.”
He also explained his reaction when others believed he was referring to Colton’s sexuality. “I felt completely misunderstood. I felt gaslit,” he explained. He added, “I felt that they didn’t understand what I was saying. And I think that if the conversation had stuck to just me and Colton, it wouldn’t have gotten to the level that it got to, because I feel like I acknowledged it and apologized right there.”
He said, “I regret that it went to that point. I like Colton.” He concluded, “I actually had a great time with him on the set. I probably had the most intimate and personal conversations with him up until that moment. But I did think he was a Traitor. Just things got a little bit out of hand,” he added.
Originally reported by Sourav Chakraborty on ComingSoon.
