Maura Higgins: maura higgins Left Stunned as The Traitors Season 4 Winner Is Revealed
maura higgins found herself at the center of one of the season’s most dramatic moments as The Traitors season four wrapped Thursday night with Traitor Rob Rausch crowned the sole victor and walking away with $220, 800. The finale on Feb. 26 closed a run that included a Feb. 19 murder, last-minute pacts and a fire-lit roundtable that decided the game.
“He’s a bad man” reaction
“He’s a bad man. He’s a really bad, bad man. But good for him. ” That line summed up the finale’s mix of condemnation and begrudging respect as the contestants faced off. Well, he did it: Rob Rausch, a day one Traitor and a former Love Island contestant, played a long, strategic game and finished by reminding viewers some people had seen him as a “dumb hot person” while he nonetheless won the whole thing.
Traitors, original trio and Donna Kelce
Rausch began the season among an original trio of Traitors that included Lisa Rinna and Candiace Dillard Bassett. The season also introduced Donna Kelce as a newly revealed “secret Traitor. ” Over the weeks Rausch voted to banish Rinna and Dillard Bassett and later recruited K-pop veteran Eric Nam days before the finale — a recruit he ultimately turned on and backstabbed.
Final murder and Feb. 19 cliffhanger
It was revealed at the top of the finale that Rausch and Eric Nam had chosen to murder Mark Ballas following the Feb. 19 cliffhanger, making Ballas the Traitors’ last victim and leaving five players to contest the grand finale. A final challenge added $40, 000 to the prize pot before the eliminations resumed.
Helicopter jump and the roundtable
A last mission that saw an honest-to-god helicopter jump into the water preceded the final roundtable. After that mission, Eric Nam, Johnny Weir, Maura Higgins, Rob Rausch and Tara Lipinski moved into the last true roundtable. Weir was ultimately voted off in that round, a vote that split up the Olympic duo of Weir and Lipinski.
Fire of Truth and Maura Higgins’s final vote
The remaining hopefuls entered the Fire of Truth ceremony and voted by throwing red or green bags into the flame to indicate whether they believed Traitors were still in the group or whether they were confident only Faithfuls remained. All four players who reached that point chose red. Higgins, who had maintained throughout the season that Rausch couldn’t be a Traitor, cast the final vote to banish Lipinski. The Olympic gold medalist said she was “so devastated” after Higgins voted her out.
With Nam, Higgins and Rausch left, Nam was the only player to vote to move forward; Rausch and Higgins voted instead for another elimination. Higgins said in a confessional she tried to convince herself Eric Nam had to be the Traitor — “There’s something not right here. Eric has to be the Traitor. It can’t be Rob, right?” — and ultimately sided with Rausch. Nam voted for Rausch while Higgins and Rausch voted for Nam.
Final two and the reveal
Host Alan Cumming told the two remaining players that if they were both Faithfuls they would share the prize, but if a Traitor remained that Traitor would take the entire pot. Higgins smiled through what was described as the reveal that she was a Traitor only to become teary-eyed when Rausch revealed he had been a Traitor the entire game. Higgins reacted aloud: “Oh my god, I’m so stupid. ” She added in a later exchange, “I was so fooled by you, you absolute asshole. You pinky promised. ”
Higgins told Rausch to stop talking when he tried to explain. “You’re never going to have a girlfriend after this. You’re such a good liar, ” she said, then allowed, “You know what, fair play though. If I was a Traitor, I would’ve done the same. No hard feelings. ” She finished, “Rob, you’re a fucking snake. But well done. ”
Winner’s remarks and aftermath
Rob Rausch, who now finds himself $220, 800 richer, described mixed emotions at the end. “I have a weird mix of emotions right now, ” he told Alan Cumming, saying, “I’ve won but I’ve also betrayed the person I was closest to in the game. ” He said he “felt bad” for Maura Higgins, who called him a “snake” for lying to her throughout the game. On betraying Eric Nam, Rausch mused, “Would you give $100, 000 to someone you met three weeks ago? I wouldn’t. ”
Eric Nam made a final plea to the group and later said in a confessional, “If I had done that, I just wouldn’t be able to live with myself. ” Nam’s fate and the late recruit’s backstabbing at the finale underscored a season of shifting loyalties.
Rausch’s play across the season — described as tactical, highly performative and willing to betray any obstacle, including earlier O. G. Traitors Lisa Rinna and Candiace Dillard Bassett — made him a breakout frontrunner. He is identified in the coverage as a 27-year-old Love Island USA alumnus who at one point said he had to be convinced to join the trip, telling an interviewer, “I said no twice, ” and that he didn’t really want to be on TV again but that he loves games and competing.
The season closed with Rausch the lone Traitor victor and the final moments — the Feb. 26 finale, the helicopter mission, the Feb. 19 murder of Mark Ballas, the $40, 000 challenge boost and the bitter on-camera fallout — all part of a finish that left several players and viewers reeling.
“He’s a bad man. He’s a really bad, bad man. But good for him, ” was one final line that captured the finale’s mixture of condemnation and admiration toward the eventual winner.
Rob Rausch emerged as the show’s champion, Maura Higgins and others were left grappling with betrayal, and the season’s final episode delivered the full sequence of missions, votes and reveals that decided the $220, 800 prize.
