Continuing to cement its status as queer camp, reality competition series The Traitors has added several queer women and nonbinary people from the reality television universe to the cast for season three, including Chrishell Stause, Carolyn Wiger, Bob the Drag Queen, and Gabby Windey. The season also adds gay dude Bob Harper from The Biggest Loser. Now, what planet do the rest of these new queer cast additions hail from in the reality universe? I’ll be your tour guide!
Chrishell Stause is from the long-running realty reality series Selling Sunset. She’s married to nonbinary Australian drummer and singer-songwriter G Flip, and she came out during the Selling Sunset season five reunion, suddenly injecting the hyper-heteronormative world of the series with some queerness. Her relationship with G Flip — starting from their meet-cute at a Halloween party — has been a delight to watch unfold, and she has only become more beloved within reality television fandom, especially queer viewers, during this journey of self-discovery.
Pansexual and nonbinary drag performer Bob the Drag Queen won RuPaul’s Drag Race in season eight and has gone on to make additional appearances in the Drag Race sphere while also acting in scripted series like Tales of the City and A Black Lady Sketch Show. I’ll be interested to see how Bob is treated on the show, especially since last season of The Traitors failed to properly grapple with the biases that came into play against Peppermint, who called attention to the problems with how her elimination went down in the season two reunion. Bob has been a politically outspoken figure in the Drag Race world, educating other queens on the importance of protest and direct action to queer history. I’m looking forward to seeing what Bob brings to the table in The Traitors season three and would be thrilled to see her read Tom Sandoval, who yes, has also joined the cast.
Gabby Windey is one of the many Bachelor Nation alums who have come out as queer through the years. In August 2023, she announced she was dating comedian Robby Hoffman on The View. She competed as a rose-seeking contestant in season 26 of The Bachelor, which ended on a twist when Clayton Echard rejected both finalists, including Gabby. Both rejected finalists — Gabby and Rachel Recchia — went on to be the first co-Bachelorettes in The Bachelorette‘s history, yielding a season that felt subtextually queer in and of itself but especially upon rewatch, given Gabby’s coming out after. It’ll be interesting to see Gabby participate in reality television for the first time since coming out!
Carolyn Wiger was one of the three queer women who competed in season 44 of Survivor. She became known for her emotionality and strategy during her tenure in the competition, and she finished out as the second runner-up, though our resident queer Survivor expert Anya Richkind was really hoping she’d win the whole thing. Will Wiger bring the same skills that made her a standout Survivor castaway.
The Traitors is set to just keep getting gayer and gayer with its casting every season, and that’s the way it should be on more reality competition shows! Bisexual icon Alan Cumming is of course back as host. Stay tuned for additional coverage of the season as it unfolds on Peacock. An official premiere date has not been announced.
Butches with hot gfs who have been reality star queens has been an awesome trend first parvarti who is with mae and now Robby Hoffman’s gf? Damn that’s cool!!!
OMG CAROLYN AND BOB i’ve gotta finally watch this show