


Danielle Reyes is not feeling bad about swearing on the lives of her family members, including her grandchildren, in pursuit of the $250,000 prize on The Traitors Season 3.
Sitting down with DECIDER to chat about her near win on the Peacock reality competition series, the Big Brother alum shared that when it comes to her words and actions inside the Scottish castle where the show is filmed, she isn’t sweating too much of the hate directed her way. It is just a game, after all.
“Before I ventured to play this game, I had a lot of conversations with family. And so when I met with the producers, I really wanted to be a Faithful,” Danielle said, adding that it was her mom who urged her to lean into her devious side, but only if Britney Haynes also showed up to play. In that case, she had a hall pass to do and say whatever to win. “So my mom goes, ‘Dani, you’re going to have to lean all the way into it if you’re going to be a Traitor.’ I said, ‘Well, by any means necessary. I’m going to swear on Jesus. I’m swearing on you, mama. I’m gonna swear on everybody.'”
And Danielle did exactly that. While it was the strategy of a ruthless Traitor — one who made it further than any of this season’s other turret dwellers, we might add — it also ruffled some major feathers among fellow cast members. Prior to the Season 3 reunion, both Chrishell Stause and Ciara Miller spoke out about the situation, saying that it was part of the reason some players weren’t willing to convict Danielle as a Traitor earlier in the game, despite red flags.
To Danielle, a three-time Big Brother player who has never won prize money for her time on a competition series, nothing was too drastic for the chance at bringing home a quarter of a million dollars. It’s something her family knew, as well, she says. They encouraged her not to “pull any punches” if she had the opportunity to go all the way. Really, it’s only the Faithfuls who she thinks who have an issue with her stopping at nothing for the money.

“I know a lot of people are like, “Oh, how could you do that?” There have been people on other Traitors seasons who swore on their family and they were still banished. So at the end of the day, as human beings, you’re going to believe what you want to believe,” she said. “It’s not the fact that you’re upset that I did it. You’re upset that you believed it. That’s it.”
Check out our full interview with Danielle below.
DECIDER: We have to start with the swearing on grandkids. Gabby [Windey] defended you, but how did the people in your life react to that?
DANIELLE REYES: So before I ventured to play this game, I had a lot of conversations with family. And so when I met with the producers, I really wanted to be a Faithful. So bad. And my mom and I were talking, and she knows my history, and she goes, “But Dani, what if Britney [Haynes] is there?” And I’m like, “Oh, all right.” So I said, “Well, if Britney’s there, mom, I’m going to flip the script, I’m going to be a Traitor.” And so my mom goes, “Dani, you’re going to have to lean all the way into it if you’re going to be a Traitor.” I said, “Well, by any means necessary, I’m going to swear on Jesus. I’m swearing on you, mama. I’m gonna swear on everybody.” So my family knew I was going to not pull any punches if I was a Traitor to convince anybody I wasn’t a Traitor. And just to speak context to it, I know a lot of people are like, “Oh, how could you do that?” There have been people on other Traitors seasons who swore on their family and they were still banished. At the end of the day, as human beings, you’re going to believe what you want to believe. If you’re upset by it — and the Faithfuls, a lot of them weren’t — they understood it was a game. It’s not the fact that you’re upset that I did it. You’re upset that you believed it. That’s it.
I’m so intrigued by the concept of going in, thinking you want to be one thing and then getting recruited as another. Is there anybody from your season who you think maybe would have been better as a Faithful or vice versa?
I personally think Dolores [Catania] would have been an amazing Traitor. I didn’t know Dolores’ background. I did some research, of course, after this show, and I found out she was a correctional officer. I was scared of Dolores because when you spoke to Dolores, she studied your face. She looked at the back of your skull. You had to be on your P’s and Q’s with Dolores, I would love to see her as a Traitor. I think that Carolyn [Wiger] would have been an amazing Faithful. And I think Jeremy [Collins] would have been an awesome Traitor. And of course, Wes [Bergmann] is just, he oozes Traitor. Telling this Traitor to act like a Faithful was insulting to Wes. Wes should have been a Traitor. And then I think Boston Rob would have been amazing Faithful too, as well. Boston Rob is so charismatic in his way and people are like, “What is it with Boston Rob?” He’s charismatic. He knows how to dial into people. I think if he was a Faithful, gathering people around and bringing the receipts, I think he would have been amazing, Faithful. I would have been amazing Faithful — I am a human lie detector. A lot of people don’t know that about me. I think I would have been an awesome Faithful because I do read people. So I would love that if I had a chance to play the game again. There were times in this game where I would say, “God, I wish I was a Faithful.”
Did those human lie detector senses ever go off in the game?
So a lot of people don’t know this: In the turret, you guys were not privy to some of the conversations, Boston Rob lied so much in the turret. It was not even funny. I was playing two games cause it was Traitors on Traitor and then trying to play with the Faithfuls. So when we’d go to the turret, I’m still playing this game where I got to make this man believe he has all the power and succumb to him. He would go, “Danielle, Bob H said you were a Traitor.” And no, he did not. He goes, “No, he did. He did.” And I’m just like, “Oh my God, stop lying.” But I had to act like I believed him. But I didn’t.

Some people really did not like the Traitor on Traitor crime this season and have even suggested punishments or new rules for future seasons? Is there anything you would want to see changed or implemented going forward?
I think if you’re a Traitor, you’re a Traitor. The characteristic of a Traitor is to be treacherous, right? And so I have no problem with that concept of the game. I think it’s just all about timing. I wanted Britney and I to be at the final and have Traitors win together. What I would like to see is a shield for banishment. Because you want to see people eat each other alive trying to get that immunity. I don’t want to say immunity because it’s like for another game. But if they had a shield for banishment, like you cannot get banished that night, I think that would be huge in a game. And I would like The Seer to be introduced earlier in the game versus later, because it’s kind of not fair. Especially if you’re a Traitor and you’re doing your thing, and it might be a little suspicious and then they clocked you at the end because of that stupid game, I’d be pissed off. Quite frankly, though, I like the Traitor on Traitor. That’s what makes great TV. I’m all in for a bloodbath. Quite frankly, I loved it.
It does give us some of the best performances, like you after Carolyn’s banishment. I talked with Sam [Asghari] and he said you were a little over the top for his taste.
Well, you could say what you want, Sam, but Alan Cumming, an Emmy winner and Broadway performer, was so impressed with what I was doing. So I’m going to listen to Alan. Thank you very much, Sam.
Danielle, you might just have a career in this.
I just act, you know? People say, “How did you do it?” I really don’t I couldn’t tell you. I cannot cry now if you asked me to. It was just one of those moments. I made sure to be this character and I played it all the time. Even when I’m on breaks, if you were with me, I was in character, shaking, crying. It was just so over the top. But I had to do that because if I was myself, it would have been so sparse, right? Because Cirie [Fields, Season 1 winner] and I have similar mannerisms. Calm, cool, and collected, we’re very motherly and all that stuff. And I’m if I’m going to mirror myself, I’m going to act that way. So I went to the extreme just so that there were people off my scent.

Last question: For Season 4 of The Traitors, who do you want from Big Brother on there?
I like drama. Now, I know a lot of people are like, “Oh, we want the best strategist to play,” but I like people who are going to give me mess and drama. And there’s only two people that I have on my list. Frankie Grande, Ariana Grande’s brother, I think he’s so theatrical and Frankie is so good at lying. People don’t know this about Frankie, when I played with him, he would do that, lie, but it was so good. And and because he’s tied in with his sister. And then the other person is Big D from “The Cookout,” Derek Frazier. He’s the son of smoking Joe Frazier. These two people are Big Brother, but they have royalty, lineage, celebrity in their blood being related to big people. I think they will be amazing. I want to see people who are going to bring it to the Roundtable, because that’s what we live for, right? And I think Big D played in the most ultimate secret alliance with “The Cookout,” so I could see him as a Traitor or a Faithful. I could see Frankie Grande as a Traitor or a Faithful. Those are my top two picks.
I just said yesterday about Frankie, “Let him defy gravity… in the turret.”
Can you imagine him? He will be all over that. It’d be so deliciously wicked. It’d be so good. I would just love it. But even Big D at the banishment table because even if he’s wrong, he’s going to be so convincing. I think he’s such a good TV.
The entire third season of The Traitors is currently streaming on Peacock.