“The Traitors” is the gift that keeps giving for Kate Chastain. The former “Below Deck” star left that long-running Bravo franchise after the completion of season seven in 2020 so her inclusion in the initial U.S. season of “The Traitors” was slightly unheralded compared to “Survivor” legend Cirie Fields or “Real Housewives” star Brandi Glanville. In a surprise to anyone who hadn’t watched “Below Deck,” she stole the show and won over a ton of new fans (even if she didn’t make it to the finale). Her unexpected return for season two almost halfway through the season threw many for a loop but she’s brought a much-needed perspective to a competition full of even bigger personalities and strategic alliances.
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One of the genuine surprises of season two, so far at least, is just how well the Bravo “celebrities” have fared compared to, in theory, their more experienced “gamer” counterparts. The cast includes a former “Big Brother” winner in Dan Gheesling, a “Survivor” queen in Parvati Shallow, two-time “Survivor” winner Sandra Diaz-Twine, and seven-time “The Challenge” winner Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio. But by episode seven, there were more Bravo alumni players in the game than CBS veterans (not to neglect discounted “Bachelor” and “Love Island” vets too). That fact has not escaped Chastain who spoke to The Playlist following a panel at the TCA Winter Press Tour in Pasadena on Wednesday, a day before episode eight dropped.
“I was so pleasantly surprised at how many of my fellow Bravo peeps were still there,” Chastain says. “I do think the gamers underestimated the Bravo people, and I think that was actually a huge advantage for the Bravo people. I mean, they didn’t expect them to be threats, but we’re not at CBS anymore. You were at Peacock and I went in there and I was like, “Girls, we have got to bring it home for daddy, Andy [Cohen]. They’re in our house. This is Peacock. This is our house.”
Over the course of our conversation, Chastain explains the shocking phone call requesting her return, how she thinks having a strategy for this game isn’t the best idea, how long those roundtable discussions and votes really are, her surprise at two “Challenge” alumni’s “friendship,” and much, much more.
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The Playlist: I was a huge fan of you on the first season and so were my friends. In fact, two of them went back and watched your earlier seasons on “Below Deck” for the first tie because they loved you so much on it. Have you heard that from anyone else?
Kate Chastain: You know, I did hear about that on Twitter, people saying exactly that, and it was shocking to me because “Below Deck,” I did it for six years. There’s so many spinoffs. So, to hear that Traitors introduced people to a new audience for “Below Deck” was so exciting.
After the first season of “The Traitors” you had your baby and your life was moving forward seemingly without any “Traitors” return in the works. And were you shocked when you got the call? How did it happen?
Completely shocked. I got a call and I didn’t know what they wanted to talk about, but that was the last on my list. And I think they said, “Do you want to come back?” And I said, “Did you watch the first season?” [Laughs.] But then they said, “No, I think it’d be fun.” And they gave me the weekend to think about it and I’m so glad I went back. It was such a different experience than the first time.
When they asked you, did they tell you, “Listen, we’re thinking about having you come halfway through.” Did you know that beforehand?
Oh no, I knew. I think the game was already underway when they called.
Oh, wow.
Or no, actually I take that back. It was not, but I needed time to get everything in order, to arrange like a nanny and stuff. So yeah, the fact that I wasn’t arriving straight away made me able to go.
Were you nervous going into the show, having not been there at the beginning? Or did you see that as an advantage?
I certainly hoped that I would miss some of the more disgusting or arduous missions by the time I got there. But if my experience serves me correctly, I am pretty sure the missions got more difficult as they went on. So, I was nervous because I felt like it’s such an intense experience in the castle. Somebody coming in mid-season personally, and every day they’re looking for two people to send home. And I certainly would be like, “How about the person that just got here?” Kind of like most recently hired, most recently fired kind of idea.
One of the more interesting aspects of this season is that there are so many more participants who were on strategy shows before such as “Big Brother” and “Survivor.” You missed the first day when they went in and immediately started forming alliances. Did you feel that energy when you came into the room, did it feel very different than the first season?
It felt very different than the first season. There were so many more strong personalities, and I did know who was from a more competition game show background. And certainly at my first round table while the non-game show people were speaking their minds. It was really “Big Brother” people that were really dominating the table for the most part, which didn’t surprise me.
Did you have your own strategy going in the second time around?
I think the thing with this game is you can’t really have strategy because you can’t predict the changes that are going to happen every day with people going home. So, you kind of have to think on your feet pretty quickly and it’s hard to have a strategy, but I really did want to get in there and show the competition, show gamers that this is a different game. And having one season under my belt, I guess technically that makes me a competition gamer now too.
At least on that first day, did you feel like there was any sort of pushback from the second season contestants since you already had experience? Was there anyone who sort of annoyed you were the new player?
Shockingly, no one seemed annoyed and it was quite the opposite. They were looking to me for advice and answers and I’m like, “Did you not watch the first season?” So kind of like I had Castle cred, so I kind of walked in and I was like, they looked up to me almost, which was not what I was expecting.
As we conduct this interview, you are safe in theory. At least another episode or two, maybe. Wait, I’m trying to remember what happened last week.
Phaedra and Parvi are in the turret and they’re deciding who to murder.
Yes. But you’re not. I don’t think they can murder you.
They can, I am up for murdering.
Did you go to sleep stressed? Did you think you were safe? How did you feel?
You’re never safe in the castle. You never feel safe in the castle. And it’s such an immersive experience, which is great. You really forget about life outside that castle so quickly. It’s unbelievable. So, I felt every night nervous.
When Dan Gheesling got eliminated, he did a Twitch and Instagram live where he was talking about what had happened on the show. One of the things he said is that in the round table rooms John Bercow, the former Speaker of the British Parliament, was always very vocal and Dan was surprised how little he was in the edit. Now that you’ve watched the season up until now, are you surprised at what they’ve cut?
This also happened on “Below Deck,” and I think anybody on any reality show will tell you the same. It’s only, I don’t know what our total minute count is, 48 minutes, 52 minutes, and we are at that castle breakfast to round table banishment. That’s a long day in the castle with the mission in between. So there’s only so much they can use. And yes, of course, to no surprise at all, the Speaker of the House of British Parliament was a very talented and lengthy speaker because you know, bird’s going to fly and talker’s going to talk.
And, because we aren’t there, how long do those sessions go, like those roundtable debates? Is it 30 minutes? an hour?
I would say it’s definitely over an hour for sure. I would say 90 minutes probably. Which explains why you don’t see everybody’s speeches because we’re at the table for 90 minutes and the show is less than an hour. You got to make some cuts.
Was there more tension this year at those round tables or was it sort of comparable to season one?
Well, considering last year I was always voted for at the round table they always felt pretty tense, which it was a nice change for me. I felt like coming in mid-season [helped]. Last year I was on the defense and this year I got to play a little more on the offense, which was fun.
Did you feel knowing Alan before gave you an advantage?
Knowing Alan from prior did not give me advantage, but I totally wanted the other contestants to think it did. “Hi Alan, we’re good friends, me and Alan.” I would use whatever I could to my advantage.
Just out of curiosity, when they called you the first time, did you request, “Hey, I want to be a traitor this time, or I want to be a faithful”? Did you even bring that subject up?
My first season I did not request either way. I think I said I don’t know that I’d be a great traitor. And this year I was certainly open to it, but by the time I got there, traitors had already been selected.
Did you know any of the cast before you got there?
I knew MJ [Javid] from “Shahs of Sunset.” I had come out to LA for some “Below Deck” work and she was so nice and came and picked me up at my hotel with her new baby in the backseat, took me to Mexican food. LA is huge. She drove very far.
Nice.
And it was so friendly. She knew that I was in a city where I didn’t really know anybody, and so I’ll always remember her for that. But then other than that, I don’t think that I did know anyone. I think Trishelle had DMed me months, months and months before when she first found out she was going to do the show, kind of for advice. And I always loved watching her on “The Real World.” So if I felt like one of my old heroes was DMing me, I was like, “Ah.” But I didn’t know them. I was just like, “Yeah, the missions are hard and you won’t talk to anybody for about three weeks or so.”
Obviously, you were very busy, you were preparing for the birth of your baby, but while they were sort of working on casting season two, had you heard rumors through the Bravo world of people who were trying to get on?
No. I certainly heard rumors of who was potentially being cast and then there was some pretty strong rumors that never came to fruition. It’s fun to speculate and people are doing it about season three already, who they want, who their dream cast would be. So I was very pleased with the group of Bravo personalities that were still there. So when I was going into season two, I knew who had been selected, but I didn’t know who was remaining. I was just hoping that MJ would still be there. I was still hoping that Tamra [Judge] and Shereé [Whitfield] and Phaedra [Parks] would still be there, but I didn’t know until they opened the doors and first thing I see is MJ looking at me and I was like, “Yes!”
I don’t know if you heard this while you were there because I think it was a storyline before you returned but many of the non-Bravo contestants, the CBS “gamers,” etc., underestimated the Bravo participants’ skills at playing the game. Was that a pleasant surprise when you showed up? Almost all of them I think were still there at that time. Maybe except for Larsa [Pippen].
Larsa was not there anymore. But I was so pleasantly surprised at how many of my fellow Bravo peeps were still there. I do think the gamers underestimated the Bravo people, and I think that was actually a huge advantage for the Bravo people. I mean, they didn’t expect them to be threats, but we’re not at CBS anymore. You were at Peacock and I went in there and I was like, “Girls, we have got to bring it home for daddy. Andy. They’re in our house. This is Peacock. This is our house.”
My last question before you go, Trishelle Cannatella and CT Tamburello had that moment last episode that literally provided Paramount and MTV with a new storyline for the next “The Challenge: All Stars.” Did you notice the tension between any of the other contestants from the other shows who knew each other beforehand?
Well, I would say that CT and Trishelle didn’t seem like that good of friends at all. So I was surprised that they had that. But it’s kind of like a sister-brother when you’ve been doing the same show together for 20 years, it’s like you have a bond, but you don’t necessarily need to be around them all the time. But it’s like family more than just friends.
“The Traitors” season 2 is available on Peacock with new episodes launching every Thursday at 6 PM PT/9 PM ET.