Maura Higgins stunned as Rob Rausch reveals himself a Traitor in explosive finale
Rob Rausch declared himself a traitor at the round table Thursday night, leaving maura higgins visibly shocked and securing the season’s top prize in a finish described as both triumphant and bittersweet.
At the round table: the moment that ended the game
In the season finale, two former Love Island contestants faced each other across the round table when Maura Higgins joked, "I'm sorry... I'm a faithful. " Rob Rausch answered first with an expletive—"Oh fuck"—and then told her, "Maura, I am and I always have been... a traitor. " The revelation wiped the light from her face; she stood with her mouth open while he explained that he had lied to her for weeks and shaped play around his decisions.
A Day on the Farm With Rob Rausch
Days earlier, on his family’s 200 acres in Florence, Alabama, the 27-year-old reality star and snake wrangler had been feeding cows in near-freezing temperatures, pointing out the herd’s only spotted cow and saying, "Her name's Darlin', because she's a darlin'. " Rausch, who made overalls famous during his time on Love Island USA season six, showed a reporter a wooden table he handcrafted, a vintage red Ford F150 his grandfather bought in 1993, and the bullet shells that litter the outside of the trailer where he and his sister run their clothing operation. He joked that the cow field was littered with landmines and pulled the reporter’s leg—an episode that the writer said helped explain how he deceived other players all season.
He recruited Eric Nam and stood by his move
Rausch acknowledged that he recruited Eric Nam into his game and double-crossed him to win. When asked about that decision, he said, "Can you imagine if I let a Traitor that was there for three days beat me in the game and win the whole thing? Hell no, I'm not taking that chance. I'm getting out of here with the money. " He also described the victory as complicated: "It was so weird, in that moment... it was very bittersweet. It wasn't like, Hooray!" Rausch added that he remains "super tight" with both Nam and Maura Higgins.
How the game gives traitors power and where Rausch ranks
The structure of the game gives traitors persistent control: players leave either by banishment at the round table—where a traitor can try to sway votes—or by murder, where the traitors make the decision. Amateur data compiled by a Reddit commenter counted 78 seasons and found traitors won 44 of them. Commentators singled out Rausch’s endgame as rare dominance; one comparison in coverage put him alongside Harry Clark from the 2024 U. K. season as a traitor who dominated without a slip-up.
Rausch’s reality-TV track record was noted as part of the arc: on Love Island he once hid under a water feature while crying; he is frequently described as tall, handsome, with a thick Alabama twang, and he often appears on camera wearing overalls with nothing underneath. The Traitors’ setting shifted across dramatic locales through the season, including a turreted Scottish castle and a villa in Fiji, places where Rausch said he felt less at ease than back home on the farm.
A provided headline lists the season’s prize at $220, 800; other coverage in the season described the jackpot as up to a quarter million dollars.
One item in the available coverage appears only as a placeholder titled "Just a moment... " and contains no additional text in the provided materials.
It is unclear in the provided context what public appearances or events Maura Higgins or Rob Rausch have scheduled next.
