Let's Talks About Rob, Michael Rappaport, and "Commiserating" on The Traitors
Episode 5's Roundtable turned into a high school English class.
SPOILER WARNING: This story reveals major plot points from Episodes 1-5 of The Traitors Season 4.
In the first episode of Season 4 of Peacock's The Traitors (now streaming), amongst the all-star cast of 23 contestants stood Rob Rausch (Love Island USA), the muscled playboy from the world of reality dating shows.
But Rob is an apt reminder not to judge a book by it's shirtless cover. Ever since the 27-year-old was anointed by host Alan Cumming as a Traitor alongside Candiace Dillard Bassett and Lisa Rinna, the man has been revealing the brainy side of himself over and over again.
In just five episodes, there's already been a plethora of "Rob the Wise" examples. Whether he's playing it cool in the turret, suggesting incredibly strategic "Murders" victims from the pool of Faithful, or dominating challenges with precision while keeping an ever-watchful eye on his social game, Rob's a thinker.
Or, there's the most recent episode, "If You're Gonna Come For Me, I'll Finish You," where Rob laid an exasperated etymology lesson on a fellow player. Let's break down this intellectual mic drop below.
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What caused Rob Rausch to lose it on Michael Rapaport?
During the Elimination Roundtable, a war of accusations dominated the debate as Colton Underwood confirmed to Michael Rapaport's face that he think he's a Traitor. Upset at the accusation, Michael spent the first few minutes of the voting debate passionately defending his Faithful status while trying to poke holes in the reliability of Colton's accusations in light of his Banishment of Faithful Tiffany Mitchell.
Michael yelled across the table, "His behavior is of a Traitor. His behavior is secretive. It's conniving. It's chirping. It's commiserating. It's cowardly."
After repeating several alliterative mash-ups of those same words, Rob blurted out his frustrations and interrupted Michael mid rant.
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"Commiseration means to feel sorry for someone!" Rob challenged Michael.
To which a puzzled Michael countered, "No, it doesn’t!"
"It does!" Rob asserted with annoyance. "I’m sorry. It’s driving me nuts!"
Rob breaks down the meaning of "commiseration"
Rob Rausch's elementary school and high school English teachers should be proud because he nailed its correct use in a sentence.
According to Dictionary.com, the definition of commiseration is: "the act of empathizing, or expressing sympathy or sorrow for someone about something."
Perhaps, Michael was trying to think of a word that starts with "C" like covert or clandestine, implying that Colton was having discrete conversations away from others about his Traitor theories. Regardless, commiseration does not mean what Michael implied that it does, and Rob corrected it in real time.
Tune into The Traitors Official Podcast to find out if Bob the Drag Queen or Boston Rob Mariano bring it up to the latest Banished cast member.
