Were the ‘Real Housewives’ at Risk after the First Mission in Season 3 of ‘The Traitors’?

If you enjoy watching Bravo shows, the initial three episodes of Season 3 of “The Traitors” are quite shocking. Tom Sandoval continues his scheming at Ardross Castle, and sadly two of the four stars from “Real Housewives,” Dorinda Medley from “RHONY,” and Chanel Ayan from “RHODubai,” were fatally attacked during the night. Traitors like Bob the Drag Queen from “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” Danielle Reyes from “Big Brother,” and Carolyn Wiger from “Survivor” showed no mercy in targeting our beloved female stars. The reason behind their actions became apparent when Bob the Drag Queen declared during Episode 2, “These Housewives are a real problem. They hold too much power.”

While Bob was correct about the Housewives being influential figures, Medley, Ayan, Dolores Catania from “RHONJ,” and Robyn Dixon from “RHOP” didn’t even get the chance to bond over breakfast before their group was abruptly dismantled. Could Phaedra Parks’ outstanding performance in Season 2 of “The Traitors” have sealed the fate of the Real Housewives before they even entered the castle? Was her clever, cunning gameplay an immediate target on their backs? Or were their actions during the initial mission of the season the final nail in their coffins?

The first challenge of Season 3 was intense. Host Alan Cumming led the participants to a picturesque Scottish lake where a dragon boat awaited them. Their task was to row the boat together across the water, stopping at floating pontoons to collect gold and containers of fuel in order to create a protective ring of fire on shore. The goal was for any player within the ring of fire by the end of the challenge to be safe from the Traitors’ first assassination of the season. Failure to light the fire meant no player would be safe, and the collected gold would not contribute to the prize pot.

With stakes so high, there was obviously a lot of tension among the contestants as the cast struggled to row the massive dragon boat across the loch. When they reached the first pontoon, they realized Cumming had a twist in store for them. “To take the fuel you must sacrifice two players, who must remain shackled on the raft until the end of the mission,” read Bob the Drag Queen from a wooden sign. “[They] will not be protected from murder tonight.”

As the group hems and haws about who will stay behind, Dixon almost immediately gets up and walks off the boat. “It sucks, but I’m a selfless person,” explains Dixon in a voiceover. “I sacrifice myself for murder so I expect the people on this boat to get all of the money and win this mission.” In the world of Real Housewives, reciprocity is everything. Dixon’s mistake was assuming the rest of the players had the same values as her.

The men in the group push for another woman to self-eliminate, and Ayan succumbs to thte pressure. As she gets off the boat, the clearly confused Ayan asks Bob the Drag Queen what this means for her. “It means you won’t be safe from murder,” he says simply. Not wanting to leave a fellow Real Housewife behind, Ayan continues her exit from the sea craft. “The problem is I don’t think, and I rush into situations,” explains Ayan in a voiceover. “That is dumb. Now I’ve doomed myself to die.” Both Dixon and Ayan acted impetuously—a classic Real Housewives move— but also got out of a physical task. Respect!

At the next pontoon, a similar scene unfolds. Catania, known for her loyalty and level head, immediately volunteers to sacrifice herself so that the team can collect the gold waiting for them. After seeing her friend’s selfless act (and probably tired from rowing), Medley jumps up to join her. “It’s the Real Housewives of The Loch,” exclaims Wells Adams (Bachelor In Paradise). While Bravo fans know Catania always puts the group before herself, the cast of The Traitors does not. “If you get off the boat, you’re not scared. And if you’re not scared, it’s because there’s no possibility of murder tonight,” explains Adams in his confessional. “Now I’m focusing on the Housewives.”

While Adams ends up being wrong, so very wrong, his reasoning is sound—especially since he was not familiar with the dynamics of the Real Housewives. As the women wave to each other across the water, Catania soon realizes what they’ve done. “Oh wait, now they’ll think we’re Traitors because we didn’t care about giving it up,” she exclaims in horror. “Now we’re targets.” In shock, Medley agrees and says, “See, generosity never works.”

Even though Bob the Drag Queen, Reyes, Bob Harper (The Biggest Loser) and actor/model Sam Asghari also sacrifice themselves, the other players end up with only half the gold in order to complete the mission. Afterwards, the stranded players are left on the pontoons for what feels like hours as the rest of the group goes back to the castle to eat dinner. As all Bravo fans know, drama happens in moving vehicles. There are no sprinter vans in Scotland, and the Housewives stew on the ride home. “I’m pissed,” says Medley in her confessional. “I’m feeling a little Housewife-y right now.” In the SVU, she says to Harper and Reyes, “If I’m not murdered tonight by the grace of God, I’m going to remember every one of those faces on that boat.”

While Medley is enraged by the group’s selfishness, and she and Ayan and Catania find more evidence of that back at the castle. Upon their entry into the dinner room, the cast-offs see that the others have already started eating. “They’re not dying and they ate all the food without thinking of giving us some,” complains Ayan. As an Italian woman, this slight is most offensive to Catania whose love language is food and quality time together. “We just sacrificed our lives for strangers, and they didn’t even wait for us to eat,” says Catania. “I’m actually pissed off at that.”

Medley shares in Catania’s outrage. “We are freezing cold and we’re starving,” says Medley in her confessional. “I was hoping at least we could all sit and have a little meal together.” Unlike Catania—who stifles her anger—Medley unleashes on the crew in the kitchen. When Dylan Efron (Down To Earth With Zac Efron) tells her they feel like “shit” for letting them down, Medley responds, “you felt so bad you sacrificed the money for our lives.”

In typical Medley fashion, she lets the other players have it. “I would have never have done what I did for the team if I knew you weren’t all-in,” snaps Medley. “When I saw Dolores get off, as a fellow Housewife, as a woman, as someone’s who’s loyal, protective, and who was working for the team,” continues Medley before she’s interrupted by Lord Ivar Mountbatten who says, “As someone who could be a Traitor.” Medley doesn’t suffer fools lightly and lets him have it: “If I do make it tonight, things change.”

Seeing the chaos a strong and powerful woman like Medley can cause and the ramifications her murder would bring for the group, Bob the Dragon Queen, Reyes and Wiger do not hesitate to make her their first victim. In Episode 3, they later kill Ayan to further quell the Housewife threat. While many players seem to be doubting whether Dixon is a Faithful (she is!), it feels like it is up to Catania to outlast and outplay her fellow contestants. Long live our Jersey queen!