Janelle Pierzina says she and Sandra were 'being bitches to each other' on The Traitors

Janelle Pierzina is not one to keep her thoughts to herself. And she is not one to sit back passively either. The Big Brother legend came out of the gate hot on The Traitors season 2, immediately going for a shield that would keep her safe in the very first mission. And when it came to the roundtable, she was more than happy to point fingers at the folks she considered Traitors.

Janelle's finger was pointed squarely at fellow Big Brother season-mate Dan Gheesling last week, but she could not rally enough votes to her side. And when the actual Traitors (Dan, Parvati Shallow, Phaedra Parks) combined forces with other folks Janelle accused (Chris "CT" Tamburello, Sandra Diaz-Twine), it was enough to get the fan-favorite banished. That made Janelle the fourth straight Faithful to be mistakenly voted out by the group.

Why could Janelle not sway enough people against Dan? Is she upset Dan made Parvati a Traitor instead of her? What was up with her and Sandra cursing each other out? And what does she make of Larsa claiming Janelle voted her out because she was jealous about screen time? We asked the latest banished Faithful all that and more.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So, it took a few episodes but you figured out it was Dan who was a Traitor. You told the group that in no uncertain terms, so why didn't they believe you?

JANELLE PIERZINA: I think that the previous episode, there was a lot going on. I had actually a lot of blame for Ekin-Su's poisoning. People were like, "It's got to be Janelle, because she wanted Ekin-Su dead." They were still really hung up on that, and so going into the next day at breakfast, they were already coming for me.

So the only thing I could do was just work with the people I was working with, which was the Faithful alliance of Peter, Trishelle, and Bergie. They all wanted to go after Dan. I don't think I ever would've gotten MJ to believe me that Dan was a Traitor. Kevin? There's literally no way. I tried and I tried and I tried because Peter kept telling me, "You need to work on Kevin." And he was even working with Kevin, but he couldn't convince Kevin. No one was convincing Kevin or MJ of anything.

So unfortunately, before the vote, it was really just down to me and Dan that were on the chopping block, which is not the scenario that I really wanted to be in. I do have a friendship with Dan. I do actually like Dan. So it was pretty awful, honestly.

I get the sense not a lot of people there had ever watched Big Brother, but to me, knowing Dan's history on that show as well as you do, did part of you think at the outset, "Well, of course he'll be a Traitor. Kind of like Cirie, how could the producers not make him a Traitor?"

Yeah, I knew before the episodes led on. I knew that Dan was a Traitor right away, but for my game, I was like, I know that he'll keep me safe because if I go out as a Faithful, the eyes are really going to be on him then. So I didn't say anything. Right away, Bergie and Peter were onto Dan, but I kept saying, "No, it's not Dan. It's not Dan." And finally, on the evening of Larsa's banishment, I was like, "All right, Peter, you're right. Dan's a freaking Traitor." He was like, "We have to make a move because he's going to kill one of us tonight." And I was like, "I know. If I even make it to breakfast tomorrow, I'm willing to do that."

I thought me or Peter or Trishelle were for sure going to die. I was like, "We're going to die, but if we all make it to breakfast, we should really do it because of the numbers." And we were always thinking there were four Traitors. So just numbers-wise, I was like, "We're in a bit of a pickle. If we miss two more, we're really F'd."

Why do you think Dan didn't pick you to be a Traitor and went with Parvati instead?

I really don't know. I think Dan sensed that I would have his back to a certain extent. So maybe he thought I would, and I did. I smoothed things over with the Faithfuls that were onto him. I think that he just wanted to work with Parvati, for whatever reason. I really don't know.

Did you make a mistake by throwing out three names as Traitors in Dan, CT, and Sandra knowing the more people you call out is going make more people want to vote you out?

Well, CT and Sandra's votes were locked to get me out of the house. They were working with Dan, so it didn't matter. I was just trying to help the other Faithfuls that I was with because as you watch the show, you can see that Peter's honing in on Parvati and CT. And we had disagreements about Sandra as a Traitor. I believed that she could be. He was like, "No, she's a Faithful." So there was a lot of disagreements in our alliance, but the votes were locked for me. I needed actually three votes, not two. And the Bravo people do vote as a voting bloc, as well as the gamer alliance. So I was going home. I walked into that banishment table knowing I was going home.

What was going on with you and Sandra? I mean, you're telling each other to f--- off at the roundtable. Were you all having beef at the castle, or did that just kind of explode at the roundtable?

It’s like two sisters fighting at a table at dinner. "You're prettier. I'm prettier. I'm smarter." So it was just a lot of back-and-forth. We always have that kind of banter, and it is literally two sisters fighting. I actually love Sandra, and I know that she likes me too. So we were just being bitches to each other. We like each other. There's really not more to it than that.

Did you ever suspect Parvati or Phaedra as Traitors?

I always suspected Parvati, of course. My whole thing was, I'm looking for four Traitors. I knew Parvati was a Traitor. I knew Dan was a Traitor, but I was also working with them. So I was like, I need to find more Traitors. I got to get them out of here. So I was always asking Dan, "Who do you think the other Traitors are?" I wanted him to blow the other Traitors' games up, but he never did to me. He was not taking it.

So I never suspected Phaedra. She and I were really close. I never suspected her. There are people that I was working with though that did, and every time they brought her name up, I was like, "Oh no, it can't be Phaedra." I always was just trying to find someone in Bravo that could be it. That's why I was like, maybe Larsa. It was so difficult. I was always looking for four.

You mentioned Larsa. I spoke with Larsa last week and I know you saw where she said you were upset that she was getting a lot of camera time and that you wanted her off the show because she makes good television and you don't. What do you make of that assessment?

I mean, I do not have psychic abilities. I would never know what the editors are going to put into a show — that's just literally so crazy to put out there. I would never know. Do I think she makes great TV? Yeah! I think at this point she's just trying to get in the headlines and she wants to make sure that she's going to get some camera time at the reunion. Whatever.

It is interesting though, because there are Bravo people and there are the gamers on this show, and both groups probably look at this show differently because of that. You guys are like, "All right, I need to win. Here's how I need to win." And on Bravo shows, they are thinking more about storylines and airtime.

I'm thinking about alliances, and the alliances in this game, as you see, will be a thing. I was always looking at who's working with who and where do I fit in? And I always fit in with the Faithfuls group that I was working with, but I was also at the bottom of the gamers alliance.

So yeah, to navigate that was fairly easy to me to see the alliances, where Bravo people were more like, "Oh, okay, let's create something really funny here." Or they would just really hone in on something to just make good TV. And I think they do make good TV, and it's a nice mix of competitive people that are trying to win the game and then people that are just trying to last as long as they can because they want to make their fans happy. I think that's great.

What was going through your mind when Kate showed up at that roundtable? Because at first, at least from the edit, it seemed like you looked happy to see her, or maybe you were just surprised.

I was not happy to see Kate. She walked into me trying to save my life. I knew that I was never going to get her vote, so I was like, "F---!" I could have potentially tied it, but now I was like, I'm for sure losing, because I knew talking to MJ that her and MJ were friends in the outside world. So I was like, this is so bad. I wish she could have came after my banishment. I love her. She's fantastic. But that was just the wrong timing for me personally.

You went for the shields early and often. Were you concerned that would pit people against you?

Every time I went for a shield, I truly thought I needed it. The first shield I ever went for was because I had been vocal at the roundtable, I had singled out John, and I didn't know who the Traitors were at that point. I was like, "If John's a f---ing Traitor, he's going to murder me." So I was like, I'm going to get murdered. I need a shield.

The Ekin-Su thing, I had come in last to breakfast that day, so I know that I was up for murder because I was the last one in the fricking room. And so I was like, "Are you serious? I'm literally about to be murdered. I need a shield." And then the last shield I competed in, we had all decided at breakfast that Dan's name was going to be out there and that we had to go after Dan. I was like, if I'm going after Dan and if I do survive, I'm going to need a shield.

Finally, did you have trouble keeping a straight face at all when Alan Cumming would just be delivering some of those delicious lines and those awesome outfits? I would've been losing it.

Yeah. I was laughing my butt off. The last day that I was there and we played for shields and we were all fighting, he was like, "Woo! Wow!" He was so funny. He never comes out of character. And Romy and Michele's High School Reunion is actually one of my favorite movies of all time, so Alan Cumming's been in my life since as long as I can remember. To see him in Scotland and have him be the host to a game that I'm playing was just incredible.

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