Stephen Colletti Blasts Natalie Anderson's 'Gut Feeling' After 'Traitors' Banishment: 'I Was Pissed' (Exclusive)
Stephen Colletti is less than thrilled with Natalie Anderson after becoming the latest player banished from The Traitors Season 4 castle. While it seemed like most of the remaining players were laser-focused on Olympic skater Johnny Weir—except for Kristen Kish, who was busy building a case against his best friend Tara Lapinski—a major push from the Survivor winner helped seal the Laguna Beach star's fate.
“You blew it,” he told the rest of the Faithfuls after revealing his identity. Stephen later told Men's Journal in his exit interview that he “was pissed” and joked that Natalie’s “gut needs to get checked.” Her suspicion revolved around Stephen’s authenticity (or lack thereof), which was a theory only fueled by the fact that former Traitor Lisa Rinna strategically gave him all her gold in a previous mission.
While they were initially targeting Johnny as well, Traitors Rob Rausch and Eric Nam quickly pivoted to vote with the majority. The move effectively took Stephen out while leaving a clear path to the end if Johnny remains the group's biggest target (though it seems Kristen may already be on to Eric now).
Fresh off his banishment, Stephen sat down with Men’s Journal to discuss the "chaos" of that roundtable, his frustration with Natalie’s gameplay, and why he’s finally ready to embrace his Laguna Beach roots.
Scroll down to read the full interview with Stephen.
Men's Journal: Hi Stephen! So how are you feeling today?
Stephen Colletti: Ah, you know, I'm getting the castle dreams the last few nights of sleep even leading up to the episode. But now, having just done the reunion and seen the episode, we're back in the game going, man, you know, what if Johnny and I could have just spoken together a little bit more before going to the roundtable? Maybe we would have shared some breadcrumbs with Candiace [Dillard Bassett], and we've actually connected the dots, and then it would be a different ball game. But yeah, at this point, there's the frustration of being a little bit over my skis and being convinced that Johnny was a Traitor. And I settled in that, and we got a little comfortable, and then got caught off guard by a couple Olympians. They were able to take me down. Hats off to them–that moment and playing the game together and really convincing Natalie, because once they got Natalie, then the Traitors were like, okay. You got to tip your cap to them at that point.
Men's Journal: You told them on your way out, "You guys blew it." How annoyed were you?
Stephen Colletti: Yeah, 100 percent. It was difficult because there was a lot of movement towards Johnny, and because of the way Tara was sticking up for him, then you've got Mark [Ballas] and Kristen shifting, and it really just—there was a chaos that was spun on the table. And folks are questioning their votes. They're believing Johnny, which credit to him. He did put up a great case. They also believe me, but now they're left with, like, we have no idea who it is, and so there's no real strong case being put up–except for Tara has been doing certain things that caused some suspicion for her, but nothing was really that strong. I mean, there's, like, the stuff that was coming out of the game, because her name was being put up in the mission, not strong evidence at all. I think that the strongest evidence to that point was on Johnny. And even though we put up a good case, we should have stuck to that at that point. So, yeah, that part's frustrating. I think Natalie leading the charge there. I'm questioning her fitness–not, you know, physically. She's a very fit woman, but I don't know if she's got prebiotics and probiotics in her life. That gut needs to get checked, because she had a very strong gut feeling and was digging deep there, and boy, was she way off. So I was pissed in the moment. And I love Natalie dearly. She's great. I thought we had built up some good trust to that point.
Men's Journal: I mean, you guys were the challenge people, right?
Stephen Colletti: We were good in the missions. We were partnered up a few times. She tried to bury me at the banquet by accusing me. So she turned on me. We had a good couple conversations, and I'm like, you got to earn your trust, but I do feel like I could trust you. And we had some good conversations, and then she totally stabbed me in the back there, just because of her gut feeling, without ever talking to me about it, besides at the roundtable, and for that, yeah, the "you blew it" is really aimed toward her.
Men's Journal: We have to talk about Rob. Did you have any inkling that he was a Traitor? And why didn't you mention the fact that Candiace and Rob wanted to speak alone when you were in the room with them?
Stephen Colletti: I was already stressing about myself for that moment, because there was already some heat on me. And then Candiace pulling me into a room and wanting to talk one-on-one. I was like, "Oh, this is so sketchy. I got to get out of here as soon as possible." And then Dorinda [Medley] comes in with Johnny, and they're like, "Okay, yeah, we'll leave." And I knew that they're immediately going to go tell everyone that Candiace and Steven are speaking privately. So I'm so focused on my own survival at that point, when Rob came in, it was like, "Yes, like, I'm out of here. I don't have to sit in here with Candiace anymore." I thought Rob—because Candiace threw that vote his way, and she really sold the throwaway vote. She said she just looked across the table. She really didn't present anything. And since she was already on thin ice at that point, we really felt like she was just reaching. And we didn't sense any sort of Traitor-on-Traitor crime up to that point at all. It was just okay, Candiace was trying to save Lisa, so she's desperate. She needs to try to deflect, but she's not going to throw it on another Traitor. We had no idea what was going on up in the turret, so, yeah, I just had to get out of there and go tell everyone that I'm cool, Candiace is still being a Traitor, and she's trying to turn me, I'm not going to do that, I'm a Faithful. So that's where my focus was. In hindsight, yeah, after seeing everything I know now, Rob creeping in there, man, I really wish I could have thought about that a little bit more, and had Johnny and I spoken together more, we probably would have done that.
Men's Journal: Do you wish Rob maybe had recruited you instead of Eric? How would you have handled being in the turret?
Stephen Colletti: Yeah, you know, that was something I was always hoping would happen in the game. I wanted to get recruited late. I put forth—I did not want to be a Traitor from the jump. And I needed to kind of feel out the game. And I just wanted to try to let the game come to me a little bit and learn about everyone in the castle before I jumped in and took the pressure of being a Traitor. So, yeah, I was a little like, you know, the ego was a little bit hurt the fact that I wasn't in one of the three. I thought I would have been a good Traitor. But I think Rob would have thought that I probably would have done the same thing that he did to the other Traitors. You know, if you brought me in there, I would have found a way to stab him in the back.
Men's Journal: So no one really brought up the fact that Candiace voted for Rob on her way out too?
Stephen Colletti: Yeah, and I wish that we looked at that even more. It didn't happen right after that. There was no conversation on that day. There was a lot of, well, Candiace had been buddy-buddy with Johnny. They had an alliance. She was trying to get Johnny in the gallery for a shield in that mission. And in hindsight, it's too obvious, yeah, of like, "Oh yeah, this is my buddy Traitor." And watching it back, I'm like, man, you're really jumping on some cues, because you're looking for really anything to give you an edge on somebody. And there were points where we were ignoring a cue or an edge, and we figured it out. We're like, "Oh, we can't ignore those. Like, look, we got to focus on the clues that are being left for us." So we really locked in on Johnny and Candiace's relationship, and she—again, she sold the throwaway vote, didn't have heat on Rob, and then she just decided to jump on it more and more in the second roundtable. So again, we just felt like it was a desperate play.
Men's Journal: What's been the most surprising thing that you've learned from watching the show?
Stephen Colletti: How much fun the Traitors have. I thought it was going to be more of a stressful role, but I'm seeing that—I mean, it is stressful, of course, but I think they're having a lot of fun up there. And just in talking to Rob and Lisa and Candiace—I mean, they killed it. I think the casting for the season from the beginning, even Donna [Kelce] as well as a Secret Traitor, which that could have lasted longer. And what a great role that that would be, to be able to be the Secret Traitor. So yeah, I think just understanding how much fun they're having, even some of those tense moments where, you know, Rob's having to grab a card out of a picture frame, people are doing the conga line over there, and you're just laughing like, "These idiots, look at them over here, like they have no idea." I think when you're in that position, you're like, "This is pretty badass."
Men's Journal: I know you were hesitant about coming back to reality TV. Did you have fun? Were you happy that you did the show?
Stephen Colletti: Oh, 100 percent. There's a competition reality beast inside of me that's awoken, and I'm like, "I want back in the castle." We need to run it back at some point. So hopefully, if they ever do another season, if I ever get asked back, I would definitely do it. So I had so much fun. And yeah, really, really grateful for the opportunity to be able to be on that show.
Men's Journal: I'm so happy to hear that. Last thing before we go—I'm sure you saw the feedback of people asking, "Why does your chyron say One Tree Hill instead of Laguna Beach?" I'm a huge fan of both shows, but what were your thoughts on that?
Stephen Colletti: Oh yeah. You know, it's so funny because, I mean, I knew I was doing a reunion for Laguna up at that point. First, we're filling out some information. And actually, I wrote down, Everyone is Doing Great, because that's my most recent project. And I just thought it would be funny, also, if it said my name and everyone was doing the chaos of the castle, and most people would be like, "What? What the hell is Everyone is Doing Great?" So, and of course, that's when they came back to me like, it's not necessarily as recognizable. So can we go with either One Tree Hill or Laguna Beach? And, yeah, look, I just did more seasons of One Tree Hill. It's more recent. I've been an actor for almost 20 years now, after my little days in Laguna Beach. So I understand the impact that Laguna has had, and I'm very, very proud that I got the opportunity to be on that show and the mark it's left on folks, and we get to celebrate that with the reunion with Roku. But yeah, you know, One Tree Hill was the pick for me, and I did not expect to get the blowback, but in hindsight, maybe I should have done like, "One Tree Beach."