"Y'all Came to Our House to Play": Tamra, Larsa, Shereé & Phaedra Talk The Traitors Fashion & Competition
Larsa Pippen, Phaedra Parks, Shereé Whitfield, and Tamra Judge came to play (and win?) on Peacock's The Traitors Season 2.
This story contains spoilers for the first three episodes of The Traitors Season 2 on Peacock.
Peacock's The Traitors is a game that requires cunning, manipulation, and backstabbing. Meaning it's an environment tailor-made for any Bravo Housewife to thrive — but what about winning?
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When The Daily Dish spoke to the Housewives competing in The Traitors Season 2 — Larsa Pippen (The Real Housewives of Miami), Phaedra Parks (The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Married to Medicine), Shereé Whitfield (The Real Housewives of Atlanta), and Tamra Judge (The Real Housewives of Orange County) — ahead of the Season 2 premiere on January 12, they remained tight-lipped about the season's results. But the season's first three episodes are already rife with details to unpack.
Why was Tamra missing from the first challenge?
As he explains the rules for the first official challenge of the season, host Alan Cumming informs the 20 other competitors before him that Tamra would be sitting out for the day's challenge.
Luckily, it was nothing too serious, and Tamra was able to return quickly. But what really happened?
"I lost my voice because I got severely sick while filming," Tamra explained to The Daily Dish. "So I think that was God’s way of saying 'Tamra, shut the hell up. Just stop,'" she joked, noting that it isn't normally in her personality to keep quiet, wait, and watch as several other competitors were already doing from the top of the season.
RELATED: Tamra Judge Responds to Vicki Gunvalson Calling Her a "Traitor"
One such competitor was her fellow Housewife Shereé, who, during the same interview, said she was happy to demure a little more than the other Housewives in the moment.
The Housewives take on Scottish highlands fashion
Somewhere Shereé didn't compromise, though, was in her fashion choices. Cumming is beloved for his bold tartan, cape, and kilt combos, but with an all-celebrity cast in Season 2, he had some competition for best dressed.
Whereas Tamra noted she "leaned into the plaids and the berets and all those outfits," Shereé said she "kept it true to how Shereé would dress."
"Fashion is my thing. So going to Scotland, I didn’t want to be so traditional," Shereé added.
"And that was kind of the same for Larsa as well," Tamra agreed. "Larsa kept it to how she dresses on the Housewives. And then I’m like, “Oh my God.' I’m over here with 'She by Shein,' y’know, wearing the cheap, costume-y clothes and I’m like, 'Ugh, what am I thinking? I should have just worn my normal outfits!"
"You looked cute though!" Shereé reassured her.
"Yeah, whatever," Tamra said. "I looked like a boy most of the time!"
Larsa Pippen on competing with boyfriend Marcus Jordan
Even with her signature outfits on hand, Larsa's focus throughout the first few episodes of the season was on her boyfriend, Marcus Jordan.
"We were super excited to do this together," Larsa said, sitting beside Marcus during a joint interview. "I think it made it fun for us to go to Scotland together, stay at this castle together. But at the same time, we knew it was an individual game. So I think that if I was going to be a Traitor, [he] would have figured it out."
Marcus agreed: "I would have been able to tell for sure. She’s not a good liar and I would have been able to tell."
RELATED: Marcus Jordan Opens up About the Role He Plays in Larsa Pippen’s Kids’ Lives
While neither Larsa nor Marcus were chosen as Traitors, Marcus did fall victim to their machinations, becoming the second player of the season to be "murdered" during the night. When he was chosen by the Traitors, Marcus admitted to a moment of doubt: Was Larsa a Traitor? Had she killed him?
“I’m a student of the game. I like to win," Larsa said.
However, one Housewife was responsible for Marcus' "murder": Phaedra Parks, one of the season's three initial Traitors.
Did Phaedra Parks enjoy being a Traitor?
It probably wasn't too surprising to longtime Housewives fans that Phaedra was tapped by Alan Cumming as a Traitor. As a lawyer, Reiki practitioner, and longtime fan-favorite reality star, Phaedra was primed for a game like this.
"It was fun but it was hard. It was a lot you know? It was a lot of work. Literally!" Phaedra explained.
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"I mean you know I’m a glam girl so I’m getting in the bed and I’m waking up on two hours of sleep and I have to give you all this," she added, gesturing at her glamorous makeup and outfit. "But ... I’ve never been in a situation like this, and you really start to want to see people win and you get these connections with people."
She noted that everyone seemed to realize early on that there were "no facts behind who’s a Traitor or who’s not. You’re really making decisions based on nothing." In those cases, staying friendly with the others in the castle was paramount. "A lot of the time, it boils down to 'I like this person' or 'I don’t like this person,' y’know?" she said.
Were her previous connections with her fellow Bravolebs a complication? A benefit?
"I guess it helped a little bit but I think everyone came to win," she said. "But I think being from the same network — and [because] we knew [The Traitors] was on Peacock — we thought, 'Oh, it’s our network. Y’all came to our house to play so we should be able to win.'
"However, it was anyone’s game to lose or win," she added with a smile.
New episodes of The Traitors Season 2 premiere every Thursday. Episodes are available to stream on Peacock alongside The Traitors: Postmortem aftershow.
