Pop-Culturalist.com

In 2014, Derrick Levasseur cemented his place among Big Brother legends by winning Season 16 with a masterful game. Now, over a decade later, the former detective brings his strategic mind, investigative skills, and keen intuition to the Emmy Award-winning series The Traitors Season 3—the most chaotic and cutthroat season yet.

Set in a dramatic ancient castle nestled in the Scottish Highlands and hosted by award-winning actor Alan Cumming, The Traitors brings together reality TV’s most formidable competitors and famous faces for the ultimate psychological adventure. Contestants must work together to complete thrilling missions and build a prize fund worth up to $250,000—while secretly navigating the hidden threat of Traitors lurking in their midst.

Pop Culturalist had the privilege of catching up with Derrick to discuss The Traitors Season 3, his decision to target the “Coffin Queens,” the battle between emotion and objectivity, competing against legends, and more.

PC: As a past winner, you immediately enter a game like this with a target on your back. On top of that, you’re introduced as one of the “Cage Boys.” I’d love to know how that altered your game strategy going in and why there seemed to be more focus on those in the coffins than on the “Cage Boys.”
Derrick: First off, thank you for asking that question that way. I appreciate it. Obviously, coming in as part of the “Cage Boys,” there was an immediate target on our backs. It wasn’t the best situation. There were some logistical factors that forced us to come in late, but better late than never.

I’m so glad you asked it that way because a lot of people were like, “Derrick, why did you go after Ciara [Miller]? Wes [Bergmann], why did you go after Nikki [Garcia]?” We had a huge target on our backs. They didn’t show a ton of it, but everyone was saying, “One of these three is a Traitor.”

When the coffins happened, that was a gift from the Gods for me as a strategist because it allowed us to divert attention to the “Coffin Queens,” as I called them. They didn’t put that in the show, but I thought it was a great name. I wanted the focus to be on the “Coffin Queens.” So you see me go after Ciara—I didn’t really have a compelling argument against her because I didn’t know if she was a Traitor at that point, but I didn’t care. I wanted people to start hypothesizing about the “Coffin Queens” and whether one of them was a Traitor instead of focusing on the “Cage Boys.”

It worked, and that was by design. It was a combination of [Boston] Rob, Wes, and myself all individually pushing that narrative to shift the attention away.

PC: That was a smart game move. Also, “Coffin Queens” is a great name.
Derrick: I know, right? It’s probably trademarked. We had to do that. I love Ciara, I love Nikki. I had a better relationship with Nikki because we talked about our kids. But with Ciara, I said she swore a lot—even though I probably swore just as much, if not more.

At the end of the day, I didn’t care as long as they were talking about her instead of me. That was the goal, and I was happy with it.

PC: Great point. In the mission leading up to your murder, you said you wanted to go for the shield because you wanted to make a big move. What was the thought process behind not waiting for another roundtable when you had a shield? Did you make that plea to Carolyn [Wiger]? I feel like that may have swayed her in the other direction to give it to you.
Derrick: There were some variables I couldn’t account for or wasn’t aware of at that roundtable. If anything, I waited too long. Rob was targeting independent thinkers—starting with Dorinda [Medley], Bob the Drag Queen, Tony [Vlachos], Jeremy [Collins]—all the people who would have pushed back on him and seen what he was doing. If I had made my move sooner, more of those players might still have been in the game.

I didn’t talk to Carolyn much throughout the season. There wasn’t a lot of time for conversations, and I didn’t realize she and Danielle [Reyes] were fighting. Carolyn voting for Danielle instead of Rob that night was a key factor—it would have made it a tie vote. That was a variable I didn’t anticipate.

Another one was Wes not expecting the way he was going to be attacked. His defense wasn’t the strongest, and I couldn’t have predicted that. I also genuinely thought Britney [Haynes] and Dylan [Efron] would vote based on logic, but I didn’t realize they were voting more on emotion—Britney didn’t like Wes, and Dylan was completely loyal to Rob. Those were factors I couldn’t control, and they would have been just as true the next day as they were that night.

Ultimately, I think my murder is what really sank Rob’s ship.

PC: You’ve always been a calculated player. The roundtable where you went for Boston Rob—I know you must have thought you had the numbers. Whose vote were you most surprised went the other way?
Derrick: First and foremost, if you remember the episode before, I was looking for a cue that people were starting to catch on to Rob. I didn’t want to be the one leading the charge. If you go back to the previous roundtable, who mentioned Rob? It was Ivar [Mountbatten] and Sam [Asghari]. In fact, Sam even said, “If you’re still here tomorrow, I’m looking at you.” So I talked to them—you see a bit of that on the show. I said, “Hey, what you guys brought up last night was really, really good.”

At that point, there was no mention of Wes, so I thought I had those two. Before our interaction, I also thought I had Britney and maybe Dylan. Obviously, I didn’t have those two, but I only needed one more. It was seven to five—one more vote and we would have gone to a tie. At that point, I would have gone all in and really tried to sell it. I think I could have pulled it off, but unfortunately, we’ll never know.

That final tiebreaker debate between me and Rob would have been incredible TV.

PC: Yeah, we also haven’t seen a tiebreaker yet for this show. You brought up a really great point about emotion versus objectivity. How much of that is influenced by the fact that you have players who have experience in these games versus those who do not?
Derrick: Great point. You’re good at this.

You’re playing with people who don’t necessarily play strategic games. They don’t know how to separate their emotions from what’s right in front of them. That’s not something I’m going to be able to change in a single day of filming—it’s just not going to happen. The Bravo people, for example, are going to vote the way they want to vote. They’re not going to be told what to do. They’re strong, independent personalities, and they’ve been on TV way longer than me. They’re going to vote with their gut, and that’s how it is.

Then you have players like Britney, who’s a former gamer, and I really thought she’d be able to separate emotion from strategy. Dylan initially gave me that impression too, but he had a soft spot for Rob. It’s unfortunate, but all I can control is what I say. I thought I laid out a pretty solid case, including Rob’s origin story. I gave them all the information. It was just as true when I said it as it was the next day when they finally voted Rob out.

At the end of the day, it comes down to timing and a little bit of luck.

PC: You brought up a great point about Rob’s backstory. It’s also frustrating for people who love these types of reality shows and strategy games to watch all these rogue votes happen at the roundtable.
Derrick: There should be a penalty for it. There should be an incentive for getting the vote right. And for the people who get it wrong, there should be some kind of penalty. Tony’s actually brought that up in previous interviews.

You’ve got to get key people on track because right now, you have players voting for others who they know aren’t going home. That can be frustrating, but at the same time, it does create some great TV—sometimes you get that rogue vote that’s completely spot on, but no one believes them. So there are definitely pros and cons to it.

But The Traitors is doing a great job. I love this show. Honestly, going up against a legend like Rob—this is only my second show, and this is, what, Rob’s tenth or fifteenth? We talk a lot, and we’re friends now, but I feel like I held my own. He respects me, I respect him. Even though it didn’t work out for me, it’s funny—I think I actually enjoyed this almost more than Big Brother.

PC: We need you on another show. In a hypothetical world where you weren’t murdered that night, would that have raised your suspicion of Rob, or would you have shifted your attention over to Britney?
Derrick: 100% going for Rob. The only reason I brought up Britney was because I realized she was a solid vote for him. In the moment, based on her behavior throughout the day, I did think she might be a Traitor. But the reason I posed that scenario to Dylan at the end of the episode was strategic—how do you get someone to stop defending another person? By turning them against each other.

So by saying, “It’s Britney and Rob,” my goal was to get them both called out at the roundtable. Once Britney’s name was out there, she’d have to focus on defending herself instead of protecting Rob. It’s funny because that was the intent—it didn’t work by design, but in the end, it did play out that way. Britney and Rob eventually started going after each other, which meant one less vote for Rob.

It worked out, just not the way I originally planned. I would have loved to be there to witness it. But throwing them both under the bus was essentially me saying, “I’m certain Rob is a Traitor. Britney, you could be.” Either way, she had to worry about protecting herself instead of advocating for Boston Rob.

PC: I feel like your murder became a catalyst for the Faithfuls to really go after the Traitors. Even though you’re not in the game, you’re still having an impact. You and Danielle had an alliance, but she was also part of your murder. First, what was your reaction when you found out she was a Traitor? Was that a good or bad move on her part?
Derrick: For most of the season, I was on the fence about her being a Traitor, especially after the riddle competition. She was doing things that felt out of character, but at the same time, we were having a lot of personal conversations off the record, and I really thought we were on the same page. I’ve wanted to play with her for ten years.

It wasn’t until Episode 6 that I completely shifted gears and thought, “Oh my God, I’ve been wrong this whole time. It’s not Danielle, it’s Britney.” That was because of what Britney had done that day—I felt like she showed a little too much of her cards.

But listen, first off, Danielle and I are still friends. I have no issue with any of them. Looking at how it played out, she made the right move. She gave me up, which lowered Rob’s guard. He didn’t go after Danielle that night, and then he got sent home. Danielle even voted for him again after already voting for him the night before. Hats off to her. It was fair play.

She’s still in the game, she’s still playing, and you have to make sacrifices. I know she was worried about how I’d feel when I got murdered, but I’m okay with it. It’s a game. I went in there to play and to go after the Traitors. My measure of success wasn’t about making it far—I actually thought I’d be out on night one. So to make it as far as I did and to go out the way I did? I’m content. I’m happy with my performance.

PC: There’s a gamesmanship that experienced players bring to these competitions that’s compelling to watch. One of the reasons why I think this show has been so successful is that the creative team pays attention to online discussions to see who audiences want to see compete. From your respective franchise, who do you want to see in a future season and why?
Derrick: Oh man, there are going to be so many people mad at me if I don’t say them off the bat. I’m going to go with the people I’m close with—Tiffany Mitchell from Big Brother would be great. The franchise is getting so big that it’s going to expand a lot more.

Also, justice for Frankie Grande. I want to see Frankie Grande on there as well. But at this point, they’ve expanded to all different genres, and the pool of people is limitless. It’s only going to get better from here because the more people you have from different walks of life, the more interesting it gets.

I mean, did you ever think you’d see Bob the Drag Queen going after Boston Rob? When would you ever imagine saying that in a sentence? It’s a great opportunity.

Personally, getting the chance to play with legends—people who have won, people like Tony, Jeremy, Boston Rob, Wes, and Danielle—to be able to say I played a game against them? You couldn’t do that anywhere else but Traitors. That’s why the show is so successful.

To keep up with Derrick, follow him on X and Instagram. Stream The Traitors on Peacock today.

Photo Credit: Peacock