You’d think the winners of The Traitors season 3 would remember their time on the back-stabbing, murder mystery Peacock game show as a time of stress. But not Dolores Catania. After all, she is used to being on The Real Housewives of New Jersey.
“It was the most peaceful thing I've had in eight years,” she tells Glamour about her time in Scotland competing in the game. “I cried when I left.”
Catania spoke to us along with fellow season 3 winners Dylan Efron (travel influencer and Zac’s brother) and Lord Ivar Mountbatten (member of the British royal family), who along with former Bachelorette Gabby Windey decided to split the game’s prize money rather than turn on each other.
And according to Catania, that’s the kind of friendly vibe that differentiated her time in host Alan Cumming’s Traitors castle from her usual Housewives gang.
“It was less stress. It was nice,” she says. “It was a breath of fresh air to me to be there, so it would've taken a lot to get me riled up. Everybody, even though they were traitors and they were stabbing everybody in the back and everybody's lying—they were nice to each other at most times.”
Catania and her fellow the winners of The Traitors chatted with us about why she voted multiple times to banish Tom Sandoval and how the unlikely foursome made it to the end.
The Traitors - Season 3
Peacock
One of the biggest dramas right out of the gate this season was that the Housewives were immediately being targeted. Dorinda (RHONY) was killed first, and then the rest fell pretty quickly. How’d you make it to the end?
Dolores Catania: Right away they wanted to pick us off. I think they got a little excited to kill Housewives. Like [contestant] Bob the Drag Queen, as much as he'll say no, it wasn't personal. It was a little, because he got excited to get rid of Housewives, which was stupid because I really don't know how to play the game. It was a big mistake for them.
Why didn't they come for me? Well, I think Dorinda made a point to yell at everybody when she got there. So that put her on a target on her back. But I got lucky, that's all. And then by the time they wanted to kill me, I guess it was too late. They had to kill people that were really boisterous.
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Lord Ivar Mountbatten: One of the reasons why the Housewives were in the firing line was because there were four of you. So there was probably a bigger percentage likelihood that one of them might be a Traitor. And I think that was where it started from.
DC: That's why you voted for me that one time.
IM: Yeah. Well, I mean you were the prettiest.
Dolores you also voted several times for Tom Sandoval to be banished as a Traitor, even when no one else did. How come?
DC: I don't regret that. Not one day or not one vote do I regret because Tom was coming for me all the time. Even when you didn't see it. He was trying to make cases against me and I had just had enough. So yeah, I mean that's what you do. You vote for people that are coming for you, right?
I would say all three of you guys had times you sat back and played in the background. Was that the secret to your success?
IM: I was kind of playing the gray man. I didn't know anybody and I didn't have so many alliances. They had so many big characters that clearly that the American public knew they didn't know me, so why the hell would you give me time?
Dylan Efron: You said before you learned real quick how the Real Housewives argue. He got in an argument with Dorinda and they showed it on TV, but it was much worse in person and he got sat down. I think he realized quickly, which is smart, to not get in that situation again and take a step back. It was a good strategy.
So what you’re saying Ivar is that you don’t want to be the next Housewife.
DC: I'm going to show him a clip from Housewives. He's never seen it before. A clip from the last clip of the fight I had with Margaret.
Dolores, do you think any of the New Jersey Housewives would be good on Traitors and if so, who would you pick?
DC: All of them would be good on Traitors. I wouldn't hand pick one because they're so strong. New Jersey's so tough. They can handle it,
Personally, I would love to see Teresa.
DC: Yeah. Teresa could handle it. Teresa could handle any freaking thing. But I think if you've seen our world, you've seen how we fight. You've seen how we stick up for each other when we, when we stand by somebody. So it's all the things you need to play the game, but you have to know the game. That's where there's a problem. I don't think any of them are gamers. You have to think. They have to learn how to think like a gamer.
