Kate Chastain Gets Candid About The Traitors Finale Drama: "I Would Have Played It Differently"
The Daily Dish unpacks The Traitors Season 2 finale with Kate Chastain, who reveals some regrets about MJ and overall strategy.
Spoilers for the Season 2 finale of The Traitors below!
Ask even the most loyal The Traitors viewers and not a one would have guessed the mayhem that unfolded throughout the Season 2 finale episode. From the Roundtable that did not go down as expected to the Fire of Truth stalemate that eventually blindsided MJ, all of it was edge-of-your-seat TV. Now, imagine living it and being Kate Chastain.
The two-time The Traitors player lived a very odd season, being brought into the game midway through, which put her at a disadvantage with gameplay. But she made it to the very end as the last Traitor standing. For The Daily Dish, Chastain exclusively breaks down her choices — good and bad — in the last episode.
Kate was surprised CT believed her for the final Roundtable vote
One of Chastain's moments of glory was clouding CT's clarity in the van returning from the last challenge. She worked him so well that she swayed him to her thinking. However, Chastain admitted to feeling completely vulnerable in that Roundtable, despite the outcome.
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"I think that's the thing with the game. I had already played one season as a Faithful and came in as Faithful this season. But even then, there are moments where, even when I was the last standing Traitor, I still left feeling like, 'I think he could be a Traitor?'" she said of the way the game messes with your mind. "I really thought they were onto me because I didn't think I was doing a great job. But this game, you feel insecure in every position. And you second guess everything, everybody around you and yourself. So I was not 100 percent on anything."
Kate explains why the Fire of Truth went down the way it did
Perhaps Chastain's most perplexing moment of gameplay came during the "end the game or banish" vote where she was the only player to vote to end the game, which pretty much gave away her Traitor status to CT, Trishelle, and MJ.
"Oh, I definitely did not think out the final fire thing because I think I would have played it differently," Chastain admitted. "But at the same time, I just felt like I knew I never planned on being the last standing Traitor. And I didn't think it was fair for somebody who came in halfway through the game to win the entire pot. My brain couldn't get to strategies...because that would be the ultimate goal. And it just didn't feel right.
"I wouldn't have minded winning as a group," she clarified. "I came here to help so I'll take a cut. But my brain and body could not get on board with, 'I got here halfway through and I'm taking all your money!'"
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When Chastain was banished, she left with nothing but graciousness despite MJ's shock at her Traitor status.
"I think the audience would agree," she said of her ultimate demise. "I would love to win. But I wouldn't want to win this way. It's kind of like when you find out a racing horse has been using performance-enhancing something, then you're like that win doesn't count. Let's say hypothetically, I managed to pull this off and win. It would have gone down as, 'Yeah, but you came halfway.' And it never would have counted," she said of viewers thinking she earned the win. "And in the process, I'd have to lie to MJ and steal her money. There was too much against winning that I didn't like."
Kate explains the final three conclusions from her perspective
After Chastain exited the Fire of Truth set, she walked back inside and expected the winner to follow shortly after. But that did not happen. Instead, there was a fraught face-off between old friends CT and Trishelle that left everyone breathless.
"I thought for sure, as soon I left, it would be shoot off the fireworks, pop the champagne, game over and they won," Chastain said. "Then I was in the castle and I was like, 'Where is everybody? What is taking so long?' And the longer it took and I did not hear that champagne and applause, I was like, 'Something is going down.' And it's not what I expected."
Even though Chastain wasn't present for the tension, she still holds onto some guilt about it.
"To be honest, I feel bad because that was my fault," she said. "Here I was trying not to take money from MJ. But had I murdered Trishelle instead of Shereé then that would not have happened."
Do any Bravolebs hold Kate's Traitor status against her?
While everyone comes into The Traitors knowing it's a game, you see how people can forget and let it become personal. While Chastain did her share of murdering and banishing in Season 2, she said the celebrity cast was pretty mature about the results.
"Shereé and I are still good, I'm happy to report," Chastain said with a smile. "She was the first person I wanted to see at BravoCon. I ran up to her and she's like, 'You murdered me!' She figured it out. And I was like, 'I'm sorry.' I think it's the more time away from the film experience, you kind of just laugh in the shared experience that you had. So everybody's good in my book."
Asked if she would ever come back for a third try, Chastain said she would love to...but only as a Traitor from the start. "Then I would be able to either recruit the people that I want so you could arrange the cards in your favor, but you've got the power. Coming into a turret with no plans is not the way.
"But I have absolutely no notes on the second season because the cast was so funny," she continued. "It was such a fun energy in the castle that I didn't want to leave. Last year I was voting for myself. And I think that speaks to what good casting they did. I mean last year trying to get sent home, this year, desperate to stay!"
Watch all of The Traitors Season 1 and 2 on Peacock.
