While Jeff Probst might doubt whether Rob Rausch can handle Survivor, he played the most calculated game of The Traitors yet, which is why he’s one of Us’ Reality Stars of the Year honorees.
“I was surprised at how heavy it really felt and how much my emotions really were starting to affect my gameplay,” he exclusively tells Us about his time on The Traitors. “At first, it’s fun. I’m a Traitor. I’m lying, I’m cheating. But you’re there for three weeks, and by the end of it, it’s like, ‘Man, I really like these people.’”
Rausch’s gameplay was cutthroat, from voting out fellow Traitors to flipping the script on anyone who questioned him and deceiving his closest allies, Eric Nam and Maura Higgins. Fans couldn’t get enough — but it wasn’t easy on him, especially the nail-biting finale.
“It wasn’t all good feelings at first. The initial feeling was bad because I just told Maura [and] she had just left, and I just felt bad. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh!’ And I had just gotten Eric out of the game; I just saw his face, he was so upset, and I was just like, ‘Dang! Like this is brutal,’” Rausch, 28, explains. “It was a flood of emotions for sure.”
Maura Higgins, Rob Rausch Euan Cherry/PEACOCK
With his blue eyes, signature overalls and handsome grin, Rausch charmed a castle full of Traitors. He finished as the sole winner of season 4 and walked away with $220,800 — although he did use some of the prize money to buy Love Island UK alum Higgins a Birkin bag.
Rausch is no stranger to reality TV.
He appeared on Love Island USA in 2024 before competing on The Traitors. But one reality TV show you might never see him on is Survivor, despite his interest in the competition series.
“Jeff Probst, he said that I couldn’t do it. He said I couldn’t be on the show,” Rausch tells Us. “I’m really not sure what happened, but I just heard somewhere [or] I ran into someone, and they said, ‘Yeah, I saw Jeff Probst talking in an interview, and he said that you couldn’t be on the show.’ I was like, ‘Well, that’s crazy. OK, well, I guess I can’t do Survivor.’
Earlier this year, Probst, 64, gave his honest reaction when asked about fans’ requests to cast Rausch on the next season of Survivor.
Are you a Faithful or a Traitor — or just obsessed with Peacock’s latest reality TV megahit? Here at Us Weekly, we’re 100 percent faithful to the only game show that pits Housewives against “gamers” and actual Olympians, with hosting duties carried out by the ever-glamorous Alan Cumming (who’s won four Emmys for his trouble). […]
“You know, Rob Rausch has got a good committee, a good PR team out here,” the host told Virtual Realitea in March. “All I know is — he’s kind of like a, ‘maybe I’d do Survivor.’ I just want to say to Rob: it’s gonna take a little more than just casual interest to do our show.”
While Probst called Rausch a “very compelling guy,” he explained, “We just try to look at everything and step back and say, how does it fit? Does it fit this season? What does it bring?… The Traitors is bringing up some really interesting people and the gameplay is revealing some really compelling people.”
He then teased a crossover, but not the kind that fans were hoping for.
“Who knows? There may be a future collaboration,” Probst added. “Rob on Survivor and then Alan [Cumming] and I will host together. I don’t know, maybe that happens!”
For now, Rausch is basking in his victory and gearing up to cheer on his Love Island costar JaNa Craig when she appears on the next season of The Traitors.
“She’s gonna win,” he says of Craig, 29, adding she has the skill set to play either side.
“She’s very kind, but she’s really good at keeping track of people and keeping tabs on people, and I think she would be an asset to the Faithfuls. Just you know, taking note on people’s actions and just keeping people accountable. That’s something that she’s really good at is just noticing behavior, and I think that’s massive for the Faithfuls. But also could be useful as a Traitor too,” he tells Us.
“The No. 1 thing” to being a great Traitor, he says, is staying true to yourself. “I tried not to change myself at all,” he explains, while “simultaneously bending the truth.”
And that strategy paid off.
“It was surreal,” Rausch adds of his Traitors win. “If you told me a year ago that I was gonna be sat down at a round table with a housewife, a Drag Race star, and a Survivor winner, I’d be like, ‘That’s crazy!’ I think it’s cool.”
