Love Island heartthrob to master strategist: Rob Rausch crowned victor of “Traitors” season four

Megan Dougherty | Writer

March 6, 2026

The finale of the 4th season of the hit game show “Traitors” aired this past Thursday and shocked watchers around the nation. 

First released in 2023, the show involves a group of 23 players competing for a grand cash prize of around $200,000. Contestants are taken from various reality TV and game show universes–Survivor, Big Brother, The Real Housewives, Love Island, and more–and thrown into a Scottish mansion where they spend the following weeks attempting to find out and banish the “traitors.”

The traitors are selected at random by host Alan Cumming, and their job is to meet in a turret each night and decide which player to “murder,” all whilst keeping their identities a secret. The rest of the cast are the “faithfuls,” and their duty is to uncover the traitors’ identity and vote them out of the game. 

If the final four consists of only faithfuls, they are able to split the cash prize. The past two seasons of “Traitors” have seen this trend in which the last group standing was entirely faithful.

However, if a traitor still remains in the mix, they get to pocket all the money. Love Island’s Rob Rausch, a traitor since the very beginning of this season, managed to pull this off in the finale.

Rausch’s playing style sparked controversy in the fandom, as he assisted in the banishing of all 3 of his traitor partners and fooled his closest ally Maura Higgins into staying by his side until the end.

Still, the cleverness and deception displayed by Rausch this season was applauded by some. Ms. Shick, an avid watcher of “Traitors,” thought “[Rausch] deserved to win.” According to her, he did “what he needed to do” to reach the end.

Others frowned upon his lack of concern for both his fellow traitors and his allies. SCHS senior Isabella Macchia had seen Rausch previously on Love Island season six. She commented on how she was “disappointed but not surprised” with his strategy because he was “prone to lying in Love Island.”

Whether or not you agree with the morals behind Rausch’s gameplay, it was clear that he had his mindset on the win.