Since winning season 2 of The Traitors, Trishelle Cannatella has had to endure a lot.
Trishelle, 44, says she has received more than just backlash for her style of play — one that led to her and fellow MTV reality vet Chris “CT” Tamburello splitting the $208,100 grand prize. Trishelle told Traitors costar Dan Gheesling in an interview on his podcast that she has dealt with a rush of threats on social media since the season aired. And while some might want to sweep it all aside, Trishelle is using the reaction to learn about where she can improve.
“Seeing some of the comments made me realize I have some work to do that I didn’t even realize at the time but I do now,” she said via X on Friday, March 15.
Her comment came in a quote-repost of a video from Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen in which she told Andy, 55, that she plans to take unconscious bias classes in order to grow from the experience.
Unconscious bias training is meant to bring attention to the snap judgments that individuals make about others, often based on their race, gender identity, age, sexual orientation or other innate qualities.
Trishelle faced criticism on The Traitors for targeting Peppermint, the show’s lone trans contestant, for the first banishment.
Peppermint, 44, discussed her elimination on the season’s reunion show, saying, “I know that somebody has to be the first to go on a show like this, but with no proof, then people have to rely on the biases that they bring into the game, which end up targeting whoever’s the most different from the group. And in those situations, people like me don’t really fare that well.”
Trishelle has pointed to her history as an ally to the LGBTQIA+ community as evidence that she meant no harm in the moment, but she also recognizes Peppermint was trying to use the platform the show provided to tell her story.
“She explained how when she went there, her platform was going to be to educate people about the transgender community, I loved that,” Trishelle said in an interview with The Wrap published on March 8. “I felt super bad that I played a part of the 16 people that voted her out, but I felt like it was my own bad because I was so in game mode, and I saw everyone as competition, and I wasn’t thinking about platforms or anything like that when I entered the house.”
Trishelle and CT, 43, staying in “game mode” resulted in another controversial moment at the end of the game, where they chose to banish Mercedes “MJ” Javid rather than split the prize money with her.
CT said it illustrates the difference between the reality gamers and the Bravo contestants in how they approach a game of strategy, saying the gamers have a “tougher skin.” Trishelle, meanwhile, said she understands why MJ, 51, was upset, but she doesn’t think that the personal attacks were warranted.
