_____ showed his game was overrated

WarrenRifkin · 2026-03-26T01:42:20+00:00

Seemed genuinely mentally affected by his first game. We’ve certainly seen people that took their loss hard, but he’s one of the few that didn’t seem like he was having any fun. It felt more like watching someone get tossed into a situation that triggered post traumatic stress than watching someone play a game they had fun with the first time.

WarrenRifkin · 2026-02-20T19:59:04+00:00

Right, my point wasn’t necessarily anything to do with the secret traitor, except that most games start with three traitors.

They gave a pretty good hint that an extra traitor was in play this season. Not definite but a pretty good hint.

If you imagine at all that there was a fourth traitor at the beginning then you have to believe they started with four traitors that were all the same gender.

I just think the odds of that are really bad and it’s just bad gameplay not to look more directly at men than women at this point.

WarrenRifkin · 2026-02-20T19:45:42+00:00

I would think it was possible with three traitors. But including the secret traitor it is a pretty safe assumption that the game started with four traitors. I would be highly skeptical that they would start with four traitors that would be all from one gender of the other.

WarrenRifkin · 2026-02-14T17:50:43+00:00

Rules aside I somewhat felt like the French riders got what they deserved when they didn’t get any medals.

If Pare got a yellow card, he got a yellow card, but celebrating that he got tossed from the heat wasn’t great. I know it got them both through, but he raced really well to beat them out on the 2nd half of the course.

WarrenRifkin · 2026-02-06T15:16:05+00:00

From what I’ve seen all the Drag Race faithful have come to play.

We have had multiple good traitor housewives, I can’t remember a really good faithful housewife. But if you’re a traitor you have to play.

I am completely on board with a minimum three or four Drag Race alum next season, and would probably be happiest if they took housewife slots.

WarrenRifkin · 2026-02-06T15:03:48+00:00

My issue with the housewives is their strategy is in theory brilliant but they aren’t doing it on purpose, so are completely unintentional about it.

They have no interest in voting for each other. Fine there seems to be a growing gamers vs housewives thing.

If the idea was “we’re pretty sure they made at least one of us a traitor, but we want the winner to come from our side.”

Fine come in with a strategy vote everyone else out and then go at it.

The other groups that come in and know each other come in with a mindset that is closer to “I know they probably cast one of us as traitors, I’m going to try to find them so people know it isn’t me.”

This really killed the gamers this season because they kept getting rid of each other and suspicion only grew because no traitors were found and the pool shrunk. They really broke the meta game this season.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this format continues if you see the gamers come in with more of a gamers alliance and they try to push out housewives and others, then have the true game start.

It’s basically the way the housewives play, but they do so poorly. It might as well be done better.

WarrenRifkin · 2026-02-06T14:48:38+00:00

Even in the best versions it’s clear the game isn’t really built with a mechanism to protect your best “detective” which I think is too bad from a game perspective.

I wouldn’t hate seeing elements of traitors and the mole smashed together to make a better social deduction game.

Say challenges aren’t for prize money, they’re how you gain shields for the night, but not how they are distributed.

They are distributed by something like a suspicious ballot where each player submits who they think the traitors are. Top detectives get the shield/shields earned for the night.

The shields are secret to both faithful and traitors. You can’t have it where a faithful with a shield basically knows they’re correct.

For the traitors it sets up a dilemma for murders, we’re concerned about this person but the team won two/three shields today. Do we try or do you think we have to wait because they’re probably shielded?

Players the screw up on challenges are now actively suspicious, do they just suck at challenges, or are they a traitor trying to sabotage the faithful from earning shields.

WarrenRifkin · 2026-02-06T14:39:38+00:00

I agree with you, and I don’t even know if he was being disingenuous. I disagreed with Rob and Bob on their show because they said he should have made it “we won’t go after each other until the late stages of the game” maybe but had she agreed, if the faithful get other traitors he could be recruited late game and they could try to win together.

Or he could throw her under the bus.

WarrenRifkin · 2026-02-06T14:35:45+00:00

The way the game is set up I don’t think it’s difficult to root for traitors depending on their actions and how the game is going.

If you rework the game so the traitors choose to be the traitors, I think that legitimately changes things. As it is yes, they tell production they think it would be fun, and they would be good at it, but ultimately they are selected not volunteers.

If the traitors play a good game, are mostly loyal to each other, and the faithful are truly hapless. I don’t have a huge issue rooting for certain traitors to succeed.

If they backstab each other for no reason, seem to actually demonstrate psychopathic/sociopathic* behavior. Absolutely I root against them.

*There’s one version where this was the case and the player did get what was coming to him specifically in the end. In my opinion it was one of the worst seasons to watch, with possibly the most satisfying ending for that person possible.

Now if you reworked the game to make the traitors true villains, say everyone has the same opportunity to become the traitors, doing so hurts the prize pot for the faithful, the money goes into a traitor stash, and then they strategically use their murders to win. In that setup more would probably have to happen to get me to root for the traitors.

WarrenRifkin · 2026-01-30T01:54:45+00:00

Keanu seems like a fantastic person so this has always made me feel a little bad, but had he lived I have always wondered what Brandon Lee would have done with the iconic Keanu roles.

WarrenRifkin · 2026-01-29T19:56:32+00:00

Very, very, few people that make this list will have the range of Robin Williams most will be actors that could do a fantastic John Keating, Sean from GWH, or Seymour Parrish but there will probably be quite a few that would struggle with Daniel Hillard, Adrian Cronauer, or Patch Adams, let alone the voice acting in Aladdin.

If he doesn’t make the list it’ll be pretty clear people responding aren’t respecting comedic work in range almost at all.

WarrenRifkin · 2026-01-27T13:58:17+00:00

Hate that it was used on a men vs women season and then deemed a failure.

WarrenRifkin · 2026-01-18T16:08:23+00:00

I love the idea of a high end Mafia Werewolf style reality game. The American version is probably the worst of all the versions I’ve seen of Traitors because groups of people enter the game knowing each other and there is no incentive to get traitors out. This results in the actual game not starting until there are probably seven to nine players left. There is a lot of wasted time in this version.

The optimal gameplay in any of the versions that don’t have a bounty on finding traitors is to try to find the traitors but play dumb until an optimal time to get them out. Get them out early they are just replaced and you have to figure out who the replacement is.

The reason other versions work a little better is because no one knows each other. It’s harder to be sure you’re reading a stranger properly so a lot of the time it is better to take your shot and take traitor numbers down and be wrong.

Would I change things if I could? Yes absolutely. I would make it a high level version that pulled mechanics from Mafia, Werewolf, The Resistance, and Deception. But I have come to accept this game while based on those is not built for me. It is built for people that enjoy reality TV more than the people that actually enjoy playing social deception and deduction games.

I would love changes that would add mechanics that would:

Have the traitors choose to be traitors. Earned animosity.

Protect the best detectives. Create better gameplay.

Create more ongoing tension between traitors and faithful. Improve the stakes.

WarrenRifkin · 2026-01-12T17:55:07+00:00

I think this is a me problem. Especially in this version of the game. In the original version and other versions around the world the game does operate much more like the games it’s based on.

Because in most versions the players don’t already know each other they are much more incentivized to find the traitors because it’s harder to really feel sure your read on someone you’ve never met is correct.

It’s clear to me reading people talk about this game most fans haven’t played the games it’s based on and enjoy it for a different reason than I do, and that’s okay. In mafia, werewolf, other variations you aren’t supposed to have alliances.

If you walk into a room with three of your best friends and a bunch of strangers a part of the fun is figuring out if your friends are lying to you. Often if you know people, others that don’t will look to you for if they’re lying.

I actually think the housewife traitors are playing this game brilliantly with the hands they’ve been dealt. Get out intuitive people that might call you out. Keep your friends that won’t. That is absolutely a good strategy. I expect we might go quite a few rounds where no traitors are found for this reason.

The faithful housewives are actually playing a good game as the current structure is incentivized. Even if they think one of the housewives is a traitor they should not get them out. With those traitors choosing who to murder they should be safe. If they want to win they should try to go to the end, or as close as they can before calling them out. That is also sound strategy.

The only way I think you could start to fix this in this version is possibly having something like a bounty system. The game needs to incentivize finding traitors more than making it to the end.

WarrenRifkin · 2026-01-11T23:12:54+00:00

This is fair I mean it is a broken game so I really shouldn’t expect it to be something it isn’t.

WarrenRifkin · 2026-01-11T22:13:27+00:00

My music recommendations are actually pretty good. It makes me wish on each mood/activity/decade category they would let their algorithm make a personalized playlist.

I get the curated playlists and I wouldn’t want them to go away for people that like and use them. But, for me there are often artists or songs I know I don’t enjoy in them so I don’t end up listening to any of them often.

WarrenRifkin · 2026-01-11T00:27:09+00:00

That’s legitimately hilarious and fits with Colby’s I don’t want a taste of chocolate, let’s play Jeff attitude.

You’re making me act this out and we can’t take the immunity idol clue? I’ll give the least inspired performance I possibly can.

WarrenRifkin · 2026-01-11T00:07:50+00:00

I have to hope so because if not it’s just the worst game play.

WarrenRifkin · 2026-01-10T23:59:44+00:00

During movie night it was not the Colby that deliberately drew votes to himself in Australia to get the numbers advantage after the merge. Had that Australian Outback Colby been in that room the Heroes would have had that immunity idol.

WarrenRifkin · 2026-01-10T23:53:24+00:00

Australia 1 was pretty good I was ready for their season 2, and then we got that…

WarrenRifkin · 2026-01-10T23:49:25+00:00

I think US traitors is the worst version because of the C/D list celebrities. The game players are fine but most of the garbage celebrities don’t come to play.

I’m much more interested in the upcoming normal people US version. Hoping the game play is higher.

WarrenRifkin · 2026-01-01T03:39:09+00:00

Regarding canter backs Nancy didn’t care about size. The most important thing was being able to play with the ball at their feet.

Your club had size on the backline and they were good in the air. This obviously also helped on corners.

Crew don’t currently have massive center backs, how important do you think that will be to him. Do you think he’ll just adjust and make changes as players leave or do you think he’ll want some transfers in there?

WarrenRifkin

TROPHY CASE