[There are spoilers for The Traitors season 3 finale ahead.]
In one of the most wholesome and satisfying reality TV finales ever, four Faithfuls have emerged as the winners of The Traitors season 3: Gabby Windey, Dylan Efron, Lord Ivar Mountbatten, and Dolores Catania. After banishing castmember and Traitor Britney Haynes at the dramatic final roundtable, the four remaining Faithfuls decided to end the game early, winning the game as a group and splitting the prize fund four ways.
The day after the finale, we hopped on Zoom with the winners to break down those final moments, including how they all decided to trust Dylan after Britney made her case, how Gabby and Dylan got over their mistrust of each other in the helicopter challenge, and who they think should be on the next season of the show.
There was a lot of conversation this season about gamers vs. non-gamers. Obviously, the non-gamers emerged victorious. What do you think is the advantage to being a non-gamer in this game?
Dylan: We didn’t have the target on our backs like they did. So I think it really is a different level of playing field when you join the game and some people have a massive target on their back already. So we, in a way, had an advantage from the start.
Dolores: I think that not knowing the game the way I did made me not read into things, which didn’t make me a threat, which helped me fly under the radar until the end.
Ivar: I would echo that. I am a pretty straightforward character and don’t overthink things and therefore I just went with the flow much more, and again, flew under the radar.
What made you all trust Dylan after Britney decided to try to take him down?
Ivar: How you could not trust that face?
Dolores: I said, if he was a Traitor, he’s the baby face killer.
Dylan and Gabby, you were not exactly besties during the season, or at least that’s how it was portrayed to the viewers. What helped you overcome that distrust between one another?
Gabby: For the record, I never not trusted Dylan. This is one-sided, I don’t know, whatever the opposite of love is. So yeah, so let us know, Dylan.
Dylan: Yeah, I obviously didn’t trust her, and then I realized that I was wrong, and I judged her and I was able to learn from that. And then by the end, I trusted her more than anyone. So it was cool that I got to live that experience out and learn from it.
I do feel like something unlocked between the two of you in that helicopter mission.
Dylan: I was trying to get her out of the game for this whole time. And then during that final mission, now I’m in a position where I’m trusting her, my game’s in her hand, and she’s trusting me. She could have easily just thrown me out of that helicopter.
Gabby: I just wanted to die the whole time during that mission. And Dylan was a calming force. I just needed him for those seven minutes when my life really was in danger. I’m like, If we go down, maybe Dylan can land first, and that’s the only thing I’m thinking about.
Which banishment do you feel the worst about? Which one still haunts you to this day?
Gabby: Well, nothing haunts me because it is a game. I would say Nikki was bad, but it’s hard, because you kind of have to do what everyone else does in order to save your own ass. You do have to play for yourself. I mean, love you, Nikki.
Dolores: Every single person that I voted wrong haunted me until, like, I’m over it now. When that happens in that minute and that person stands up and goes, I’m a faithful, like, when Wells was emotional and got up and started clapping. He took it so bad, and he was shaking when they were going after him. I was like, Oh, this sucks. And that was the first banishment, and it was a hard one because he handled it so poorly.
Dylan: Ciara’s. The whole game, I voted by myself. I did whatever I wanted. I was voting for Gabby when no one else was. So at least, I believed myself that I was doing the right thing. Ciara, I didn’t believe she was a Traitor, and I was just trying to stay in the game, and following the herd sucks. I regretted that as soon as I did it.
I can imagine if you have to betray your own instincts and go with the flow, and then that person leaves, that’s especially hard.
Dolores: Exactly. And then if you think you could get a break and vote for a Traitor, that would be good, right? If you didn’t follow everyone and then you actually got a Traitor out, that would have been a dream for me.
The glory in that would have been incredible. Who do you think should be on the next season of The Traitors?
Gabby: I say Trisha Paytas, because she’s dying to go on, and I think she’s hilarious to watch.
Dolores: Who is that?
Gabby. Oh my god, she is an online YouTube sensation. She’s been doing it for 10 years. She’s very successful. You would have to do your own research. I’ll send you the links.
Yeah, it’s quite the rabbit hole.
Ivar: I think Jennifer Coolidge would be great.
Dolores: I would love to see Chanel Ayan come back. First of all, she would make an amazing Traitor. She could lie so well. Don’t underestimate her just because she didn’t really understand the game at all. But she's so smart, and she could pick a Traitor. She was the one of the first ones, besides Dylan, to pick out Bob the Drag Queen.
Ivar: She said something about, somebody farted and she knew they were a Traitor, or something.
Dylan, what about you?
Dylan: This last season of Love Island USA was so good. So I think Leah Kateb and Kordell Beckham would be hilarious.
