Over four seasons, The Traitors has provided reality fans with some truly inspired all-star mashups — including this past iteration’s combination of Lisa Rinna, Colton Underwood, and winner Rob Rausch from Love Island.
For the last three seasons, a RuPaul’s Drag Race star has been an essential member of the mix. However, it seems one of Drag Race lovers’ all-time favorite queens, Trixie Mattel, won’t be adding her name to the cast list anytime soon.
In an interview with Benedict and Hannah Townsend of Talk of the Townsends, The Comeback producer Michael Patrick King revealed that while Mattel said 'yes' to doing a Traitors parody on the Lisa Kudrow-led comedy series, but she had turned down the actual reality show four times.
"We were thinking, 'Who would be on The Traitors?’ You know, they always pick a drag queen. I thought, ‘Well, if we have a choice, let’s ask Trixie,'" said King, while praising Trixie’s unique brand. “Trixie told me that she had said no to The Traitors four times in real life, and then, when we asked her to do The Traitors on The Comeback, she said, 'Of course' [and that] she loves Valerie."
The resulting scene, which aired in episode two of the long-awaited third and final season, features a memed moment of Kudrow’s Valerie doing a very bad job at hiding the fact that she’s a Traitor, while being only lightly grilled by Trixie.
The sequence was inspired by an unforgettable moment from season three of the UK version, where Linda Rands gave perhaps the least believable performance in the franchise's history. It perfectly suits the matured, but still fame-hungry, Valerie’s arc in season three of the mockumentary — which follows the B-list actress as she contends with new industry forces like AI writers, studio consolidation, and celebrity platforms like The Traitors and Hot Ones.
To make it happen, Mattel didn’t have to commit the kind of time Monét X Change, Bob the Drag Queen, and Peppermint had appearing on the real The Traitors. But, King did mention in the interview that Mattel cancelled her birthday trip in order to "sit across from Valerie and be on The Traitors her way."
Given that Mattel is a longtime fan of The Comeback and its irresistible protagonist, sacrificing her birthday plans to be on the show was probably an easy decision. Though, the same clearly can’t be said of a stint on The Traitors, which for undisclosed reasons hasn’t managed to tempt her away for other buzzy appearances and unpacking trending TV episodes with co-host Katya on I Like to Watch.
