Janelle Knew Dan Was a Traitor...But Wanted To Keep Him Anyway
She was called "selfish." She was called "weird." She was called "the biggest f*cking Traitor here." But Janelle Pierzina cannot ever be called "bad TV." Big Brother fans rejoiced when the show's legendary four-time player was announced as a cast member for Season 2 of The Traitors.
The return of Janelle, however, came with a little extra spiciness baked in, for her former Big Brother 14 castmate Dan Gheesling would also be arriving at the Traitors mansion. Having orchestrated her demise once upon a time, would they bury the hatchet and move forward or would The Traitors lead to another showdown?
As luck (or Alan Cumming) would have it, the two were placed on opposite sides of the battle with Dan as a Traitor and Janelle as a Faithful, and their gameplay couldn't have been more different. While Dan shrunk into the background (to the point it where it became suspicious), Janelle served as one of the Faithful's chief witchhunt leaders. She constantly found herself in feuds (with John Bercow over asthma, with Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu over a Shield, with Larsa Pippen over the word "cheers", with Sandra Diaz-Twine over sipping water) as she tried to root out the Traitors.
In Episode 5, however, the Dan/Janelle battle once again reached a boiling point with her (accurately) accusing him of being a Traitor, while he, forced to give the Faithfuls a new target, aimed at her. In the end, Dan sent Janelle packing for a second time, as she was banished from the Round Table and proclaimed herself a Faithful.
After her elimination Parade sat down with Janelle to discuss her strategy going into the game, her viral internet moments ("Yeah, drink that water. You're nervous, aren't you?") and why she didn't make a move on Dan earlier.
Matthew Huff: To start, what was your relationship like with Dan post-Big Brother and coming into The Traitors? Did you have any lingering ill will towards him from what happened on Big Brother 14?
Janelle Pierzina: I never take anything personally in these games. And Dan and I, we've been friends for a long time. At least once or twice a year, I talk to Dan, so there's obviously no ill will. Unfortunately, we were placed on opposite sides in the castle. So that was a different dynamic to our friendship, but I talk to Dan all the time.
Euan Cherry/Peacock
What was your strategy coming into the game? When you got the call, what sort of prep did you do?
I've watched many different versions of The Traitors. I've watched Australia. I've watched the UK. I've watched the US. My strategy was: I wanted to find a Traitor or Traitors, and I wanted to work with them for as long as I could. Because I knew they would keep me safe.
I always thought there were four Traitors. I don't know why that was in my head. I think it was the amount of people. There were so many people, and so by process of elimination, and based on the fact there was a recruitment already, I was like, "There's got to be at least three."
Right away, I knew that Dan was a Traitor. And I was like, "I'm not gonna say anything. I would like to work with him, actually. We're friends, he won't murder me or he'll have my back in the turret. If I hear his name, I'll tell him." And I did, I worked with Dan and Parvati [Shallow] in the beginning of the game very much. I always told them who was coming after them. And we worked together as long as we could, but it was a fine balance because I was also growing really, really close to the Faithfuls, especially Peter [Weber], Trishelle [Cannatella] and [Carsten] "Bergie" [Bergersen]. But it got to a point where after the Larsa thing, I couldn't get Dan to give me a name. At some point Dan needed to lead me to an actual Traitor. I just couldn't sit there and wait to be murdered or banished, like I'm not gonna do that.
So I was like, "Okay, if he's literally not going to give me a name, like one fucking name, he doesn't want to work with me." You know? Because I had given him so much information. Dan wasn't really socially connected to a lot of the Faithfuls. So I was annoyed, and I got really, really angry with Dan.
I was really upset with the Ekin-Su poisoning because there was already heat on me from Ekin-Su. And Kevin [Kreider] and MJ [Mercedes Javid] wholeheartedly believe that I have poisoned Ekin-Su. I'm like, "Dude, now there's two people in the castle that think I've poisoned Ekin-Su." And I kind of blamed Dan for that. Turns out, he didn't even do that. It was Parvati. But I did blame Dan because I knew he was a Traitor and it was a setup or at least that's how it felt to me.
So that night Larsa was voted out, the Faithfuls basically decided we have to get a Traitor because if we miss a Traitor the next day, they've won the game. So we have to get out a Traitor. Dan was not willing to give me a name. He's the most obvious trader. We had to make a move at Dan.
Euan Cherry/Peacock
Why did you believe Dan was a Traitor so strongly?
I know Dan. I've lived with him. I played Big Brother with him. It's like playing with a friend. I wouldn't say Dan's the best liar. I think Dan's skill is being sneaky. Like, he's like a backstabber, not this amazing liar. I didn't even have to ask him, "Dan, are you a traitor?" He was just acting different to me. He was hiding, and asking me who I thought were the Traitors. He wasn't saying anything or giving anything back. So I was like, "Okay, you're a Traitor." That's fine. And Parvati, she played similarly in the beginning. She wouldn't give me any information. She wanted a lot of information, which I gave her, but very, very sneaky.
Dan and Parvati never participated in Traitor hunting, which is the goal of a Faithfuls. So it was very obvious to me. But Phaedra [Parks] was always throwing names to me. She was like, "Ooh, girl, what do you think of this one?" So she was so off my radar because of that.
Related: Who Was Eliminated on 'The Traitors' Season 2 This Week?
So was Phaedra's name ever brought up?
So the day that I was banished, Peter and John came to me and they told me Phaedra and I was like, "It's not Phaedra. I think it's Sandra," and then we thought CT [Chris Tamburello] was a recruit.
John would bring up, John was the one that was always spinning why it's Phaedra. He would say, "She runs a business. She's a lawyer. She can always deflect and she knows her way around a courtroom. Like you need to keep your eyes on Phaedra. She's a fucking lawyer."
On the day you were banished, your name was floating around. Going into the Round Table, did you think you were going to be eliminated? How much of the Round Table is live vs. people knowing who they're going to vote for going in?
Oh my God, those votes are so locked. I'm sure there's some banishments where people are undecided, but my banishment was so obvious to me. I had been working a little bit with the gamers alliance. I had voted with CT and Sandra every single vote, and they didn't come to me asking how I was going to vote so I knew. I've played these games before. Duh, I don't have CT and Sandra, so I'm going home
The Traitors has become like the water cooler show of the moment and there's so many memes going around. Was that something you recognized in the moment or has it been surprising for you how much moments like you and Sandra with the water have took over the internet?
I knew that the show would be a hit by the cast because when you put that kind of cast together, big things are going to happen. There's going to be fireworks, screaming, lies, allegations, all that stuff.
With Sandra, in those moments, you don't know. Sandra and I fought like we were sisters. That's just me and Sandra. We're both very very alpha. And that's just how we talk to each other.
Peacock
If they have an all stars season, which hopefully they do, would you go back? If so, what would you do differently?
Yes, I would love to do an All-Stars. I love playing Traitors.
You know, I was so mad at myself, because I did want to play a more laid-back game. I really wanted to go with the flow, but the Faithfuls I was working with were always looking to me like, "Who do you think?" I never wanted to be the leader, but I was always in that role. And Peter was always in that role too. We were both the leaders on things, and that's definitely a way to get banished or murdered. So if I played again, I would try and be more quiet, not go for Shields, obviously, but every single Shield I went for, I absolutely thought I needed. But moving forward, just be more quiet and observe more.
You were serving fashion on this season. How did you put together your looks for the show?
I watched a lot of Scooby-Doo growing up and Gossip Girl as well. And I was like, "What would a really hot detective look like?" And I just went with that. I was like, "Yeah. Tweed. We're in Scotland. Throwing some like yellow gloves for mystery." And that's just how I did it. I just went with like fall colors and like a Scottish vibe.
