Former 'Survivor' Contestant Carolyn Wiger Is Having a Repeat Experience on Reality Show 'The Traitors'

While reality television is filled with cutthroat competitions, few shows are as difficult to win as CBS' Survivor. Created by Charlie Parsons, this historic series has astounded viewers with its stories of people battling both the elements and their competitors for the grand prize of $1,000,000. It has yielded some of the genre's biggest stars and most renowned strategists, with the way these individuals manipulate others creating examples of brutal success for other contestants to try and follow. With these kinds of stars on it, it's no wonder that Marc Pos' The Traitors constantly draws from the series' alumni to fill its own casts.

And this season was no different; this intense game of social intrigue has featured at least one Survivor player each season, with its current one featuring four. These are players so acclaimed that many of today's biggest shows hope to recruit them, with the people they're playing against rightfully recognizing them as the deadly tacticians they are – well, most of them. Because, unfortunately, there is a player whose brazen confidence and quirky personality means that people have discounted her skills on not only one, but both of these reality shows. It's disappointing that she is constantly left without the respect she deserves, but luckily for the viewers (and unluckily for everyone around her), Carolyn Wiger knows how to use other's doubt in her to dominate the competition.

Making the 'Survivor' Top Three Is VERY Hard To Do

While Survivor's recent installments have offered fans countless new icons to love, few players have become as popular as Season 44's Carolyn Wiger. From the moment she stepped on the beach she began charming watchers with her oddball personality and the hilarious candor she was proud to bring to the island. She was a genuinely silly person – a refreshing change of pace in a show where everyone proclaims themselves a hardcore strategist – and she paired that goofiness with an amount of social awareness that shocked many of the people around her. While things like her story of sifting through her son's poop made it hard for some to take her seriously, Wiger was a part of this season's dominant alliance and was instrumental in some of its biggest moves. This meant that her place in the final three was a deserved one, but despite so many fans rooting for her after seeing everything she'd accomplished, her fellow castaways couldn't look past Wiger's demeanor, with not a single person voting for her to win. It was a disappointing turn for a lovable yet immensely skilled character, making viewers thrilled to learn she'd be joining The Traitors to flex her strategic talents once again...and made it that much worse to watch the past repeat itself.

It's a lesson taught to almost every elementary schooler yet is so often forgotten in competitions like these: never judge a book by its cover. Like they did on Survivor, this season's cast of The Traitors have constantly discounted Wiger's calculated plans because they feel someone so quirky could never possibly have a keen mind. Even in a setting where she's been picked as one of the titular backstabbers, Carolyn finds herself being questioned at every turn, mirroring the way so few people actually had faith in her thoughts on Survivor and unfortunately forcing the woman to silently watch as people make plans around her. Luckily, this isn't a show where people vote on you to win in the end – and Wiger has learned exactly how valuable others' doubt can be in a shady game like this one. Because the "Faithful" members of this cast are discrediting her just as much as her fellow Traitors are, with nobody seriously suspecting the woman, since they don't believe such a bombastic personality could actually be capable of ruthlessly slaying others (an activity that Carolyn has expressed her excitement to do). It's unfortunate how closely her experience here mirrors the way people counted her out on Survivor 44, but luckily, Wiger knows how to soldier on – and in this new arena, she recognizes how that doubt will let her silently massacre her way to the very end.

‘The Traitors’ Need To Keep an Eye on Carolyn Wiger

While it's never smart to completely ignore someone on either Survivor or The Traitors, it's not as though Wiger is coming into this new show with a sterling reputation. While she did do extremely well on Survivor, there were multiple times when her unchecked emotions led the player astray, with her core alliance often dragging her back to the right path when she threatened to overthrow their plans. These few moments, though, don't erase the many times she contributed to the season's winning strategy – making it so confounding why a group of reality veterans can only seem to focus on her missteps. Underestimating Wiger is not only superficial, but illogical; both the Traitors and the Faithful understand how precarious this setting is, so completely discounting one person's abilities could only serve to hurt someone in the end. Thankfully for Wiger, though this situation is a dark flashback, it doesn't compare to the stresses and physical challenges she faced on Survivor. And if that previous show taught her one thing, it's this: people's ignorance always comes back to bite them. And it's people doubting her on The Traitors that might just clinch this underrated competitor the win.

The Traitors is available to Watch on Peacock in the U.S.

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