Bob the Drag Queen Has an Ideal Ending for ‘The Traitors’: “I Want Danielle Reyes to Win By Herself”

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“I was really proud of myself, and I thought I did a pretty good job,” Bob the Drag Queen tells The Hollywood Reporter of his time on Peacock’s Emmy Award-winning competition series The Traitors.

The 38-year-old, a winner on another Emmy Award-winning competition series RuPaul’s Drag Race, surprisingly saw himself voted off during a roundtable on the fourth episode of season three that aired mid-January. In what will likely go down as one of the Alan Cumming-hosted show’s most iconic post-banishment Traitor reveals, Bob the Drag Queen tells the group earnestly and emphatically: “Faithfuls, listen to my words very carefully. I will tell a truth, but I will never tell a lie. All of you know, I’ve never lied. Guys, I said I swear to god. God.”

Then, of course, the big reveal. “And that was a lie because I don’t believe in god. I’m a Traitor,” he calmly tells the rest of the cast as they erupt in cheers for their victory, making his grand exit from the show’s Scottish Highland castle.

“I famously told my friends when they go on Drag Race, don’t prepare an exit line because you’re preparing to leave,” Bob the Drag Queen explains. “I didn’t go there and be like, ‘If I ever get eliminated, I’m going to say this.’ I’m pretty good off the cuff, to be honest.”

The Drag Race alum, who is preparing to publish his debut book Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert, says he didn’t have the now infamous line until almost when it was time. “I was kind of formulating it as it was very clear that I was going home. After it became clear that everyone had turned their backs on me, after all I had done for them,” he jokes.

“I did misspeak, though. I misspoke and I hate that. I didn’t say exactly what I wanted to say,” Bob the Drag Queen adds. “What I meant to say was, ’I swear to God, and that wasn’t a lie because I don’t believe in God.’ What I actually said was, ‘But that was a lie.’ I slightly misspoke.”

The dramatic’s of Bob the Drag Queen’s early exit certainly didn’t begin and end there. His fellow Traitor, reality TV legend and former Survivor contestant Boston Rob, was the one who changed Bob the Drag Queen’s perception in the minds of the Faithfuls (the players working to find and eliminate the Traitors in the Clue-esque game at the center of the show). Boston Rob suffered the same fate as Bob the Drag Queen in Thursday’s episode after a majority of the roundtable voted against him.

Bob the Drag Queen actually felt he pretty quiet during his elimination roundtable (the discussion between all of the contestants to vote on who they want to vote out because they are believed to be a Traitor). “I was having a very rough emotional day and I was like, ‘I’m just going to be chill. I’m just going to take it easy, give myself a break and then just come back with fire tomorrow.’ But tomorrow’s never promised, which I found out the hard way,” he says.

“I did not know they were going around plotting behind my back. That Rob spoke to the other traitors about voting me out,” he adds. “Obviously he persuaded them, which is so annoying because I think, [I’d have to] recount the number, but if Carolyn and Danielle [their fellow Traitors] hadn’t voted for me, I would’ve stayed.”

Dylan Efron, brother of Zac Efron, had been suspecting Bob the Drag Queen of being a Traitor from the beginning without much success. “He didn’t convince Boston Rob. Boston Rob knew because he’s a fucking Traitor too,” the drag queen and podcaster adds.

The Bob and Rob showdown was seemingly inevitable in Bob the Drag Queen’s eyes. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘I’m probably going to get him or he’s going to get me.’ But I didn’t think it’d be episode four,” he says, adding he thought the pair would be friendly a little longer. “Let’s go to episode six or seven, and then we’ll shake hands and all bets are off. But until then, let’s just get out some Faithfuls. I didn’t realize that he was gunning for me”

He also suspects there were other elements at play, noting that he has a “big personality” and was vocal throughout the show. “I think there might’ve been a little bit of a pissing contest that I didn’t know I was participating in,” he explains. “I was very loud presence in the house, a very dominating presence, and I guess there can’t be two big dogs in one doghouse.”

But he doesn’t fully blame off his fellow (fake) murderous pals. “The reason why the Traitors cannot get their shit together is because Boston Rob made it where Traitors can’t trust each other,” he says.

Despite the betrayal during the roundtable, Bob the Drag Queen is still heavily rooting for one of his former Traitors to make it to the end – a plot point he vehemently declines knowing, as he’s “incredibly anti-spoiler,” as he puts it. “I hope that Danielle Reyes goes all the way to the end. I want Danielle Reyes to win by herself alone. I want her to be the one winner of the season,” he says. “That’s my dream for season three.”

Traitors releases new episodes Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on Peacock.