This article contains spoilers for The Traitors US season 2 through episode 8, as well as The Traitors US season 1.
Perhaps the greatest Big Brother player of all time, Dr. Will Kirby, graced our television screens as a guest host on The Traitors US season 2 this past episode. And to say he’s not impressed with his fellow houseguests’ performances in the first two iterations of the U.S. version is an understatement.
Dr. Will, the winner of Big Brother season 2 and the mastermind of season 7, showed up on episode 8 to lead the remaining crop of players through a challenge involving crawling through tunnels and enduring showers of bugs.
The dermatologist’s appearance on The Traitors had been teased by Peacock before the season premiering in January, and the Big Brother community was ecstatic about the idea of Dr. Will appearing in the same show as two ex-houseguests he’s been linked to for years, four-time player Janelle Pierzina and two-time contestant and one-time winner Dan Gheesling.
However, both Dan and Janelle had been banished before Dr. Will’s grand entrance.
Janelle, a Faithful, was voted out in episode 5 after a failed offense against Dan, a Traitor. But, he followed her out the castle’s front door the next episode when he was banished as the first Traitor.
Will and Janelle played Big Brother 7 together and were in somewhat of a showmance until Janelle blindsided him at the final four. Although Dan and Will have never lived in the Big Brother house together, they (along with Big Brother 16 champ Derrick Levasseur), are in the conversation of the reality competition show’s GOAT.
So, there was no payoff with Dr. Will, Dan, and Janelle, but he did his job just the same.
Dr. Will’s verdict
Dr. Will spoke with Entertainment Weekly after the episode aired, and he dropped some harsh criticism onto both Dan and Janelle, as well as the two Big Brother champions who competed in season 1, Cody Calafiore (Big Brother 22’s winner and season 16’s runner-up) and Rachel Reilly (Big Brother 13’s champion and a Juror on Big Brother 12). Cody was the first Traitor caught and Rachel was banished as a Faithful in the next episode.
Well, I don’t think it’s any secret that the four Big Brother contestants on the first two seasons of The Traitors have done poorly, and I hope the fans don’t chastise me making that factual statement. See, I think some Big Brother players went on The Traitors to show that they “still got it” — only to realize that they actually “never had it.”
And the doctor didn’t stop there. He went as far as to say that their less-than-impressive Traitors runs may have hurt the way they’re revered by the Big Brother community and that their reality competition careers could be over.
It takes an extremely unique skill set to do well on these types of shows, and anyone can get lucky once, but it’s really hard to repeat that success, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t openly wonder if the Big Brother contestants who appeared have really hurt their reality television legacies because of their poor gameplay in this series. Kind of strange to consider, but it is possible that we never see any of them on our televisions ever again. The reunion show might end up serving as their wakes.
Now, it’s worth it to mention that we’ve already seen Cody since his Traitors tenure. He battled on CBS’s Big Brother Reindeer Games in December.
Dr. Will’s words did not go unnoticed by some of the aforementioned Big Brother stars, and they took to X to swing back at him. Rachel and Janelle both called out Will for never trying his hands at another reality competition show. First, Rachel wrote (the posts have been edited for clarity):
No, I’ll call it like it is. Will doesn’t have the _ to go on this or any show and throws shade at us who do. He knows he’s 1st out. Tell me you don’t have time off, [you’re] the owner of your practice. Overrated The Traitors guest star Will Kirby.
Then, Janelle took her shot. “Says someone who is terrified of participating in another show because they know they’ll be the first out,” Janelle wrote. “At least me, Cody, Dan, and Rachel put ourselves out there for the fans. All you’ve done is show up on set in a bathrobe and act like a creep.”
Janelle referenced when, instead of competing alongside her in Big Brother’s second All-Star season (season 22), Dr. Will guest hosted as the house’s neighbor while wearing a bathrobe.
Dan and Cody have yet to respond to Will’s harsh criticism.
It’s unclear if the “puppet master” will ever compete in another season of Big Brother or in another game like The Traitors. He’s gone on record several times and said he was officially retired from competing — his last appearance was on Big Brother 7 in 2006. In the interview with Entertainment Weekly, he alluded to only being interested in in-and-out appearances on unscripted television. So, armchair quarterbacking it is for the Big Brother legend.