Michael Rapaport Had a "Very Good" Talk with Colton Underwood After Traitors Filming

Michael Rapaport: I wanted to be a Traitor, for sure. I did. They made the right decision. I’m not cut out to be a Traitor. My face is too red when… I have emotion, so they made the right decision, but I think everybody goes into it thinking or wanting to be a Traitor.

Historically, I feel like everybody says they wanted to do that, but I understood why they didn't make me a Traitor, and as soon they decided who were gonna be the Traitors, it was like boom. I was like, ‘Game on…’I felt relieved and I felt like, 'Let's go.' Now that you know who the Traitors are, and you’re like, ‘Oh, shit,’ it seems like a very, very, very unpleasant existence.

I would have gotten f***ing thrown out, man. They would have caught me right away. I'm not cut out for that. I am truly, for better or for worse, what you see is what you get person, and I have pale skin with red cheeks when I get emotional. They did the right thing by not making me a Traitor. I was like, ‘I'm sure they're gonna make me a Traitor,’ and I said I would be comfortable with being a Traitor. I said, 'I'd be comfortable being a Faithful, but I come here to compete at the highest level.' That is what I said, but once they took that pressure off of me being a Traitor, I was like, a shot out of a cannon.

Hell yeah. Yes. Yes, 100%.

Just a little bit. I didn't know him very well, and I actually didn't know his comedy very well, but I was aware of who he is, but I wasn't as familiar with him as I am now, obviously.

I found it funny. I will not defend myself. I am a shoveler. I am not a shoveler when I am around other people. I wouldn't say that I have the most incredible table manners ever, but I was alone. I was in that room. I was exhausted, my back hurt, and I was shoveling the food into my mouth. I was also bantering with the cameramen, which didn't make it into the show, obviously, but I cannot defend myself from shoveling food.

I can defend myself for the two-handed drinking of the water because earlier that morning, I had spilled water on my wardrobe because it is a show, and I didn't want to continue to spill water on my wardrobe. So, when I drink that water at that one blink of a moment that seems now it's etched in Traitor lore forever, it looks like I drink with two hands on a cup, that I don't do, but shoveling I do, do.

Yes... I didn't think that I was gonna get the heat that I got at the Roundtable the first night when we voted out Porsha — cause I got heat — and I knew that I had brought that heat on myself by accusing Rob Love Island of being a Traitor. I was right.

I'm the first person, up until this point, no one has said his name except for me, and I said it twice, two times... and I probably said it more than that. And of course I said that they Housewife Hunt and they hunt for Gamers and there was even something that I said to Donna Kelce the first night so there was definitely heat on me so I was like, I want to tone it down.

Then other players were like, ‘Yo, you gotta chill, like everybody's talking about you,’ and they were kind of looking out for me. Colton told me that, Stephen [Colletti] told me that, Mark [Ballas] told me that. Caroline Stanbury told me that… and I was like, ‘I know, I know, I know.’ Even Dorinda [Medley], I think, told me that…’People are saying your name,’ so I was like, ‘S**t.’

I went on an apology tour. I was like, ‘Rob, you know I was just talking, da, da, da, da, da.’ Although I had a funny feeling about him from the get-go and the Housewives, I was like, ‘Girls, I love you. I'm practically a Real Housewife myself. I was just letting you know that historically on this show, they hunt Housewives. And then the Gamers, I wasn't able to really wrangle them, and they started dropping like flies, anyway.

I'm such a sucker for the Housewives and that's why when I voted out Porsha, it was so hard. They're so gifted with the gift of gab. Because I'm such a fan I’m very aware of that, especially the great Candiace Dillard.

I'm seeing the comments like, 'She gave it away.' I didn't know what the hell was happening. I was literally having an out of body experience 'cause I was like, I'm in the Real Housewives right now, like, I'm in a mashup. Getting like a rinse spin cycle from the Real Housewives of Potomac and Atlanta... Like, I'm in it. I couldn't believe. That was going through my head while it was happening.

You know, that night before that Roundtable was the first and only time I let my guard down because I had heat on me as soon as I walked into the castle. I felt like I finally was able to get the heat off of me and the heat was starting to focus on other people. During the episode when we go into the kitchen, and Colton says to me, ‘What does Alan wear in the turret...?'

My guard was down and my reaction was like, 'I'm not [a Traitor].' I'm chilling. I ate my food. You all saw me eat my food, you saw me shovel, my back hurts, and then he started coming at me and I was like, ‘What are you talking about? Like, why are you even talking? Because last night you voted off Tiffany,’ all the stuff that I said and then by the time we got to the Roundtable, I was amped up. I was offended, and I was pissed off with Colton, the way he was playing the game. I was pissed off with the accusation. I was pissed off that he was sort of the ringleader of the failed attempt. The failed coup the night before to go after Tiffany.

And I just was riffing... it was part performance art and part unhinged. I was saying commiserate and cowardly and conniving, and I would have been saying it to anybody that was coming at me that night cause I was like, ‘F**k, man, I'm not gonna do this every single night.' That's my energy. When I saw that he was offended by me saying secret, I apologized in the moment on camera right there, and I regret that it turned into what it turned into, to be totally honest with you.

I did speak to Colton. I reached out to Colton as soon as production ended, and we had a very, very, very, chill, good grown man conversation that was not dramatic in any way, shape, or form. I felt very, very good about the conversation.

We laughed and he was very, very cool and very understanding, and we had a very, very, actually funny conversation.

The challenges were… challenging, but my one goal that I had was to not tear an ACL or break a thumb. I didn't do that. My other goal was to not stop moving, to not give up, so I did the best I could and I was proud of the way I competed in the challenges.

I will tell you that was performance art. I was very aware — well aware — of what I was doing.