Don’t hate the player, hate the game.
That’s how four “Big Brother” winners feel about the backlash that Danielle Reyes — considered the greatest player to never win the show — is getting from fans online for her gameplay on “The Traitors” Season 3.
“Cyberbullying is ruining reality TV,” Xavier Prather, who won “Big Brother 23” and also played with Reyes, 53, on “Big Brother: Reindeer Games,” exclusively told The Post.
“Critiquing her gameplay is one thing, but many of the comments online have gone far beyond that, which is deeply upsetting,” Prather said. “In my opinion, the participants in the game and Danielle’s family are the primary people who may be justified in feeling some way about Danielle’s gameplay. Everyone else who feels they ‘hate’ Danielle is allowing themselves to become a victim in something that has nothing to do with them.”
Prather added of the online hate, “Seems like a very toxic response for something that’s intended to be a guilty pleasure.”
Chelsie Baham, who won “Big Brother 26” last year, is also turned off by the intense reaction to Reyes.
“The outrage over a woman playing the game she was assigned is beyond ridiculous,” Baham told The Post.
“Is she playing the cleanest game? Maybe not,” Baham said. “But she’s playing a strong game, a bold game, and that deserves respect. And let’s be real—if she were a man or fit a different mold, she’d likely be celebrated for it.”
Josh Martinez, winner of “Big Brother 19” who was also on “Reindeer Games,” told The Post that he’s enjoyed watching Reyes “owning her villain ways” on “The Traitors.”
“These people signed up to play a game and she as a Traitor not only entertained, but played her heart out,” Martinez noted. “As a TV personality she makes you feel something. You’re passionate about loving or hating her. She didn’t go on to clean her image or boost her career. She’s there to win.”
Recently, Reyes has been accused of swearing on her grandkids and lying during the game by several of her eliminated castmates, including her fellow Traitor Carolyn Wiger.
“That triggered me,” the “Survivor” alum exclusively told The Post last week of Reyes’ alleged actions. “And again, everyone is different with how they play and what they feel is morally okay.”
Prather told The Post that he “wouldn’t put it past” Reyes if she did swear on her family to stay in the game.
“The lines between right and wrong in games of deception are always blurry because they are subject to what each game player can tolerate morally,” Prather said. “Danielle is willing to push the envelope between what’s right and wrong, which is why she is so polarizing.”
Taylor Hale, who won “Big Brother 24” and came in second on “Reindeer Games,” told The Post she finds the online hate for Reyes “disgusting, frustrating, and unfortunately, unsurprising.”
“There are certain boxes the public expects Black women to fill when they’re on reality TV. When you don’t fit in those boxes, or when your presence reflects that of your white counterpart, the backlash is vile, heinous, and unjust,” said Hale, the first Black woman to win “Big Brother.”
Hale is also unbothered over the debate about Reyes allegedly swearing on her family. “Her job is to lie and be convincing in her lies. I understand swearing on anything may carry weight for other people, but a core truth of these competition games is that not everyone plays by the same moral compass,” she said.
Reyes has yet to confirm the family swearing allegations herself — though the topic will surely come up at the reunion that follows tonight’s Season 3 finale.
In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Reyes admitted she played a “ruthless” and “cutthroat” game.
“I had to change the way I was perceived, because if I came in like myself—calm, cool—they would’ve automatically assumed I was a Traitor based on the fact that I was from ‘Big Brother,’” she said. “I was going to have to play this crying, nervous Nellie.”
Reyes did, however, acknowledge that some of her dramatic actions — specifically how she fell to the floor in hysterics after Wiger revealed herself as a Traitor — were “so cringey.”
“But I’m just cracking up,” she said.
The Season 3 finale of “The Traitors” airs tonight at 9 p.m. ET on Peacock.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
