‘The Traitors’: Shereé Is Shaken As Phaedra Lies To Her Face About Being A Traitor

If there’s one thing that some contestants on The Traitors seem to keep forgetting, it’s that this show is a competition, a game, and none of it is based in real-life relationships. When Trishelle threw a fit all those weeks ago – after CT failed to offer her immunity when he had the chance to – and she cited their two-decade-long friendship as the reason why he should have, it was odd to me because the woman clearly knows this is a game: strategy is not the same thing as real loyalty. Yet to her, she couldn’t get over the fact that his strategy was not to help a friend. (A friend that she actually kind of hated when they did The Challenge together, so I still can’t figure this one out.)

This week, we witnessed the biggest relationship test of the season when longtime actual friends and Real Housewives of Atlanta co-stars Shereé Whitfield and Phaedra Parks had to finally acknowledge that their time together in Scotland had been filled with lies and deception. Shereé, a Faithful, had been loyal to Phaedra and refused to believe it any time her friend had been put up for banishment or accused of being a Traitor. But after the most faithful of the Faithfuls, Peter Weber, who had been pitted against Phaedra in the closest banishment vote yet, was eliminated from the show, Shereé started to look a little closer at her BFF, and you could tell that her heart broke a little when she realized Phaedra had been lying to her.

“It keeps…piling up and piling up on Phaedra. I hope it’s not true but I need to talk to her,” Shereé said in a confessional, seeming a little down about the reality of the situation. “Anyone who knows me knows how loyal I am, and I hope I can trust her.”

When Shereé finally did confront Phaedra, Phaedra had become a much more serene and serious version of herself. She knew her banishment was near, and you could tell that she was trying to think of how she could stay in the game, while not lying to her friend.

“They are gunning, gunning, gunning for you,” Shereé told Phaedra. “So who else could it be if it’s not you?” Honestly, and this is besides the point, Shereé looked luminous in this moment, and even though she has been nearly non-existent all season, this is the moment this season needed, the emotional heft of this supporting character being the one to peel back the outer evil layers of the show’s #1 Traitor.

“It could be CT for all we know,” Phaedra responded weakly, selling out her castle cuddle-buddy. But she knew damn well it wasn’t CT, and so did Shereé.

“My job is to get Traitors out,” Shereé told Phaedra – notice she didn’t even say “our job” because by that point, the jig was up, right? “And we just have to find them. But I need you also, to help me help you. Honestly, like, looking at you, in your eyes, are you a Traitor?”

“Issawhat?” Phaedra responded weakly, because she obviously wasn’t expecting to be asked point blank to lie in her friend’s face.

“Are you a Traitor?” Shereé repeated.

“No, I’m not,” Phaedra said with a sigh, but for once, she couldn’t sell the performance, and she may as well have just said yes.

“I don’t ever want her to think that I would betray her,” Phaedra explained in a confessional, adding, “We’ve known each other for almost 30 years. Our relationship is way more important than this game.”

Shereé was then the very first person to cast her vote during the banishment ceremony, a calculated and clever move on the part of the producers, and she explained, looking Phaedra in the eye, “I’m so happy to have had this experience with you. I do love you. I don’t want to get emotional, I’ve enjoyed our time in this game, but I think you’re a Traitor.”

Phaedra reacted as a Traitor who knows they’ve been found out would, nodding and then bowing her head as if to acknowledge there were no hard feelings. Perhaps it was CT who put it best as he cast his own vote to banish Phaedra when he said, “I think you came on here to be the opposite of who you are in real life.” (I’M SORRY BUT WHAT WAS THIS SEXY SMIRK LOOK HE GAVE HER AS HE SAID THAT??)

“I think you’ve been the best traitor we’ve seen yet,” he told her. And with that, the unanimous decision to cast out Phaedra was made, leaving Kate Chastain as the final Traitor standing.

Of course, our queen kept everyone on their toes until the final moment when she stood in the circle of truth and admitted, “I am the most fabulous, faithful… TRAITOR.” There was some consolation when, as Phaedra finally admitted her truth, Shereé was able to smile as she watched her friend leave the castle.