Sam Asghari Believes The Traitors 'Made a Mistake' Targeting Him
Being vocal doesn’t always pay off in the castle.
Sam Asghari entered The Traitors with very little experience on reality competition shows. Instead, the model-actor decided to “take the risk” and “go a little bit outside [his] comfort zone” while in between acting jobs. Though his experience ended in Episode 9 after the Traitors chose not to recruit a player to join their murder club, resulting in Sam’s ouster, he made his voice count (even if he was sometimes wrong). As Season 3 progressed, he became an outspoken Faithful at the roundtables, laying out his theories and identifying the players he believed to be suspicious — proving to be a thorn in the Traitors’ side.
To discuss his time in the Traitors castle, Sam hopped on Zoom to talk about his expectations going into the season, whether his belief in the coffin theory did him in, and why he thinks his murder led to Carolyn’s downfall in the game.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How was The Traitors experience for you? Was it everything you expected?
I went to The Tritors because I wanted to have a good time, and I wanted to make good TV, and I wasn't expecting to have so much fun while doing it. [I had] a lot of great moments there, and I made great memories that I'm going to remember for the rest of my life. It was just a cool moment for me. I had some time in between acting stuff, and I figured let's take the risk and go a little bit outside my comfort zone. There was a lot of pressure as far as the gossipy factor of what reality [TV] could be, but [The Traitors] wasn't at all that. Once we got there and everything was comfortable, it was just such a cool experience.
The Traitors decided to murder you in the latest episode. What do you think led to that decision and did a part of you expect it?
I expected it because when I had some ideas of what really happened and it was legitimate, Carolyn felt threatened. But watching them make a decision of what to do, they kind of made a mistake in murdering me because that's what really murdered Carolyn. She should have went for recruitment instead. There was just such mistrust that they had going on, confusion, and they couldn't really make smart decisions. Danielle was forcing Carolyn to make bad decisions. And I think she fell into the trap. I didn't have fear for [being murdered], obviously because I'm not gonna actually die. But yeah, I expected it. I wanted to go out [of] the game with pride, and I think that's what happened.
You laid low in the beginning of the season and had begun speaking up at the roundtables with your facts and theories. At your last roundtable, you were vocal about closing out the coffin theory, which led to Ciara Miller's banishment. Do you think that played a role in your murder? Would you have done anything differently?
You know what? No, because it worked. It got me far in the game as far as it could have without [me] trying to slide to get to the end. I think I was useful, but at the same time I made mistakes. I didn't say much; I wanted to sort of listen and get to the endgame. But it's very hard to be vocal at the beginning with strong personalities [around], people that live for reality [TV]. They know what to say at the confessionals. I never had a confessional my whole life, so I didn't know what exactly it was going to be. Now I have some experience. I had this to my advantage, to play dumb, to play the person that could fly under the radar. It gave me time to adjust.
Had you been spared and the Traitors ended up recruiting another player to join the turret, what was your next move?
My next move would have been definitely going after Carolyn if she was still alive. The game was sort of getting easy. You knew Danielle was going to be the next [target]. This was a repetitive thing that kept happening, the Traitor-on-Traitor fights at the roundtable. It was giving that obvious Boston Rob vs. Bob the Drag Queen [energy]. At the beginning, it was very hard because you don't know if people are [really] crying [or] fake crying. But I was the least experienced person in the castle.
I wasn't having a breakdown in the castle, so why would [Danielle, who’s] so experienced in the reality space and [was on] Big Brother, and good at it, why would they be shaking and crying and all that? I'm not doing that. I was doing that when the cameras were off. Just kidding! It was a matter of the right timing. The coffin theory was something we needed to find out [the answer to] and it was sad because we got rid of great personalities, but it was just a game.
Were you surprised the Traitors were Carolyn and Danielle?
Carolyn, I was surprised. Danielle, I wasn't.
Would you play this game again? Would you want to try your hand at being a Traitor?
I think I would play it again [but] no, not necessarily [as a Traitor]. I don't think they got a lot of sleep. I already struggled to sleep there because the sun does go down at one o'clock in Scotland, so I definitely don't want to just get three or four hours of sleep. I wouldn't be able to fake going so hard at the missions.
Stream new episodes of The Traitors every Thursday at 9p ET on Peacock.
