No one brings reality TV gold quite like queer people and the next season of The Traitors Canada looks like it’s going to give us plenty of LGBTQ+ drama.
In a teaser trailer released by CTV on Thursday, The Traitors Canada revealed its cast of upcoming manor mates, including notable LGBTQ+ celebrities like Canada’s Drag Race star Melinda Verga, who placed fifth on the show’s much-beloved fourth season.
https://twitter.com/traitorscanada/status/1831714440066064466
Though the crown eventually went to Indigenous nonbinary queen Venus, Melinda was another breakout star on the Canadian Drag Race spinoff. She walked into the workroom with a rainbow jumpsuit and a dream, and ended up becoming a meme queen after a workroom blowup went megaviral.
Melinda contemplated quitting after receiving negative critiques from the judges for a few weeks in a row, especially regarding her runways. She later got saved by the “Golden Beaver,” which the winner gives out each week to one contestant they want to save from the bottom two. After receiving the Beaver, some fellow castmates expressed disappointment that she had been saved, which caused Melinda to blow up — iconically. Her mother card only got more stamps as she went from the bottom to the top, winning Snatch Game for her impression of right-wing Filipino boxer and politician Manny Pacquiao. (You can watch more of her season-long mothering here.)
Melinda won’t be the only LGBTQ+ star in the manor, though. Joining the newly minted drag icon will be Tranna Wintour, a trans comedian, singer and previous contestant on the Canadian Big Brother Célébrités. Canadian outlet Journal Métro called her top-four run on the show one of the “best moments” on Canadian TV in years.
“I am obsessed with The Traitors and getting to be a part of this show was a dream come true,” Wintour wrote on Instagram. “I still can’t believe this is real!”
Joining Melinda and Wintour is Kirkland Douglas, the star of Farming for Love. Douglas, who is Indigenous, was the first gay and Two-Spirit farmer to be featured on the reality dating show.
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Traitors Canada has previously dipped into the LGBTQ+ celebrity pool for its talent: In its first season, the show recruited Canada’s Drag Race contestant Miss Fiercalicious. Fierce was banished on the season’s fifth episode.
Though the U.S. version of the Traitors has cast LGBTQ+ celebrities in the past, they haven’t fared very well. Shahs of Sunset star Reza Farahan, who is gay, was the first person to be murdered in the first season. In season 2, Drag Race star Peppermint was targeted immediately upon entering the house by eventual winner Trishelle Cannatella.
“I came into this game because I’m a huge fan, but the bigger reason for me to come here is because I’m trying to put all my energy, and use my platform, to advocate for our transgender community,” she said after being voted out. “I will keep being myself. That will never stop. But in this game, I think some of you all have been led astray.”
The show’s upcoming third stateside season will feature more LGBTQ+ celebrities, including Drag Race winner Bob the Drag Queen, Selling Sunset’s Chrishell Stause and Survivor’s Carolyn Wiger.
The Traitors Canada season 2 premieres September 23 on CTV and streams the next day on Crave.
