From Grimy Graves to Burning Betrayals, The Season 2 Finale of THE TRAITORS CANADA Doesn’t Disappoint

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede The second season of CTV’s THE TRAITORS CANADA concluded with triumph and trauma at the Fire of Truth. Heading into the finale (available for catch-up on CTV.ca and the CTV app, with extended episodes streaming on Crave), seven players remained: Cedric, Kevin, Lauren, Laurie, Neda, Nick, and Tranna. But which combination of Faithfuls or Traitors had the guts and guile to persevere? SPOILER ALERT: Details about what happened follow. It was no surprise to anyone that Nick was murdered in his sleep, cutting the field to six. Then a funeral procession honouring the dead – a.k.a., all those who had been banished or murdered previously – led to a mission that literally involved digging up graves. In the messy and macabre process, the prize pot got bumped up to $72,000. In the final Roundtable of the season, Kevin was banished, followed by Cedric. The final four proceeded to the Fire of Truth. As the flames danced, Laurie was dispatched, followed by Lauren, leaving only Neda and Tranna, who had been intensely close allies during the game. Then came the dramatic moment, when a teary Neda had to reveal that she was, in fact, a Traitor. “I’m so sorry – I really do love you,” Neda said to Tranna, who later described herself as a “dum-dum Faithful, that’s me, I will own it.” If a single Traitor makes it to the end, they are declared the winner, and are awarded the entire prize pot. Here’s what Neda – a previous two-time houseguest on BIG BROTHER CANADA – had to say about her victory on THE TRAITORS CANADA: Q: First of all, congratulations. NEDA: “Oh my God, thank you. I still can’t believe it.” Q: I loved the moment when you blurted out, “I finally won something!” NEDA: “Finally! It took three tries, but I finally got one.” Q: What was the key to victory? NEDA: “I did so much planning going into this show. I actually shared a little snippet of it on Instagram. I had put together a document of different strategies, based on different casts that I might get. So the strategy I went with was just playing really naive, innocent, dumb, and then building relationships. Yeah, this game is Traitors versus Faithfuls, but really, most people just want to get to the end, and they want to get there with people who they don’t think are a threat. So I just made sure no one ever saw me as a threat to their game, which means they would keep me around longer, even if they suspected I was a Traitor. So my relationships really got me there, and then also acting like I was so dumb and naive.” Q: How would you compare THE TRAITORS CANADA and BIG BROTHER CANADA? NEDA: “Oh, I actually think THE TRAITORS CANADA is a million times harder than BIG BROTHER CANADA. I wasn’t expecting it to be as hard, but it really was harder. It’s a much quicker-paced game. If you have a plan, you need to do it immediately. You don’t have that much time with people, so you need to get those relationships right away. You don’t have time to build them up.” Q: Merely based on the fact that the Traitors know something that the Faithfuls don’t, is it easier to be a Traitor? NEDA: “Oh, 100%, there is definitely an advantage to being a Traitor. I wanted to be a Traitor right off the bat. You just have better odds. I can’t remember what the saying is, but it’s something like, ‘an educated minority always has a leg up over an uneducated majority,’ because you know what’s going on, and you can set your plans. Whenever I watch a season of THE TRAITORS from anywhere in the world, and the Traitors don’t win, I’m always like, ‘how could you lose?’ ” Q: Was there ever a moment when you thought you were in peril? NEDA: “I think just in general, in life, I’m not a very confident person. So at every moment in the game, I was like, ‘somebody knows!’ I always thought I was going to be gone the next day. But the moment in the game when I really was worried was going after (fellow Traitor) Kyra (at the Roundtable in the second-last episode), because to me, it makes the most sense for the Traitors to stick together till the very end. But when she started going after Michael John (another Traitor) … both times when I played BIG BROTHER CANADA, it was always my closest ally who took me out. So I was just hyper-aware of it from the very beginning. I was never going to make a move on the other Traitors unless there was actual evidence they were going to come after me. So I knew I had to make that move against Kyra, or my game was done. I didn’t want to, because it was so risky. I had played so under the radar up until that point. But I had to do it, because even on the show, you saw her say my name before I had even started mentioning her name. So I’m glad I was at least a step ahead of that. But I was very, very nervous that I had finally put myself in the spotlight.” Q: There seemed to be real emotion when you had to reveal to your close friend Tranna that you were a Traitor. NEDA: “It’s such a bittersweet ending. You feel so good to win, but to be betraying your best friend in the game … and Tranna and I had such a genuine friendship while we were in there. She’s still the person I’m closest to after the show. When you win as a Faithful, you’re winning with your team. And even if you win with two Traitors together, it feels good. But to win alone, and having to backstab someone while you’re doing it, yeah, it doesn’t feel good. You want to celebrate, but you’re very torn. Tranna has been more than amazing. She has been so supportive of my win, and I’m so grateful for her. When it got down to, ‘okay, us four girls (Neda, Tranna, Lauren, Laurie), we’re gonna go to the end, we’re gonna win this together,’ I just felt so bad. In that moment, I genuinely wished I had been a Faithful, that we were all Faithfuls, and we could all just win this together. I’d be more than happy to split the prize pot with four people, because you feel good winning with your friends. So yeah, it’s hard.” Q: Is there any more reality competition in your future? NEDA: “I feel like I need to just end it on a high. There’s no chance that I could ever play another reality TV show, because people would just come after me right away. I had done well on BIG BROTHER CANADA, but the reason I was able to downplay that on THE TRAITORS CANADA was because I had never actually won before. So whenever I would talk about my game, I’d be like, ‘oh, I was betrayed by my friends. I never won.’ So maybe I’ll be ending it on a high. But, you know, I never say never. I do love these strategy games, but I wish I could play somewhere, somehow, where people just don’t know me. I do genuinely feel it’s much easier playing the game as a newbie. I’d have to play somewhere where their memories are wiped.” Q: What are you going to do with the $72,000? NEDA: “It’s definitely going for my mom’s retirement. That was always the plan. Even when I was on BIG BROTHER CANADA, that was the plan for it. I was there to win the title, but the money was always going to be for my mom.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv