When The Traitors returned for season 4, viewers anticipated fort intrigue, whispered alliances and loads of reality-TV theatrics. What they could not have anticipated was one of many season’s most grounded, quietly shifting moments to return from Donna Kelce.
Finest often called the proud mom of NFL starsJason Kelce and Travis Kelce—and, extra not too long ago, as the long run mother-in-law of world music celebrity Taylor Swift—Donna entered the sport with out the everyday reality-TV résumé. As a substitute, she introduced one thing rarer: perspective.
Within the season’s opening episodes, Donna spoke candidly about why she mentioned sure to the present at this stage of her life, providing a glimpse into what it appears like when your youngsters develop up, transfer on and start constructing lives of their very own.
RELATED: New Taylor Swift Doc Captures the Cult-Degree Devotion: ‘Taylor Is Jesus’
⚠️ SPOILER WARNING
The next part accommodates spoilers from the primary three episodes of The Traitors season 4. DO NOT KEEP READING if you have not watched them and also you care about spoilers.
Donna Kelce on Reinventing Herself as Her Sons Start New Chapters
Within the opening moments of the season, a fellow participant requested Donna whether or not her sons are excited for her to be on the present. Her reply made it clear this was a household affair from the beginning.
“They’re so excited, they’re big followers. Jason is the one who obtained me concerned. We simply, actually, one weekend throughout playoffs, we binged it, it was nice,” mentioned Donna.
But it surely’s a later talking-head interview that landed with surprising emotional weight. Reflecting on how she ended up in a Scottish fort competing alongside celebrities, Kelce framed the expertise as half of a bigger life transition.
RELATED: Taylor Swift’s Ex-Supervisor Says ‘No One Stole Her Music’ in New Doc
“I am so excited to be right here. I by no means thought in one million years that I’d get this opportunity. Whenever you get to a sure half in your life, and your children are beginning their very own households, it is so essential to reinvent your self, do the stuff you’ve at all times dreamt of—and that is how I ended up in Scotland!” she beamed.
That sentiment quietly grew to become one of many emotional through-lines of the early episodes: a lady embracing reinvention not as a result of she has to, however as a result of she lastly can.
SPOILER WARNING: Issues get actually spoilery now. Flip again in the event you aren’t caught up.
RELATED: New Taylor Swift Doc Revisits the Second Her Profession Practically Ended
‘America’s Mother’ Underneath Suspicion Contained in the Fortress
Regardless of her heat at house, Kelce’s reserved demeanor inside the sport shortly drew consideration. Different gamers questioned her aloofness, with one calling her “chilly,” whereas one other noticed, “That is the way you produce athletes proper there.”
The distinction between her public picture and her in-game presence did not go unnoticed by the forged. Actual Housewives star Dorinda Medley joked in regards to the potential fallout of focusing on her: “No person’s gonna homicide her, the Swifties would kill you.”
In the meantime, Actual Housewives star and Traitor Candiace Dillard Bassett affords a extra strategic take.
RELATED: Nation Music Corridor of Fame Makes Enormous New Taylor Swift Announcement
“I feel Donna would shake this fort if we murdered her. I feel folks can be shocked.
“She’s America’s mother. However you realize, on this recreation, America’s mother may must die,” mentioned Candiace.
Even Donna sensed the shift round her earlier than it was apparent, admitting, “I really feel like I am being focused already.”
A Twist, a Banishing—and an Emotional Farewell
The season’s largest shock arrived when it was revealed that Donna had been secretly influencing the sport in a means nobody else realized, because the Secret Traitor. In a retroactive talking-head filmed after studying of her function, she reacted with seen delight and crowed, “It will be only a hoot, I am unable to wait!”
Her journey in the end got here to an finish on the roundtable in episode 3, the place she was banished from the sport. In her closing talking-head, Kelce grew emotional as she mirrored on what the expertise meant to her.
RELATED: The 5 Songs Taylor Swift Submitted for Her Songwriters Corridor of Fame Poll
“These are blissful tears that I get to do that at this level in my life. It is simply the enjoyment of being within the recreation,” she mentioned as she obtained choked up.
It’s a uncommon reality-TV second that has nothing to do with alliances or deception—and all the things to do with timing, gratitude and selecting your self when the second lastly arrives.
In a season stuffed with dramatic reveals and aggressive maneuvering, Donna Kelce’s most memorable contribution isn’t a transfer on the board. It’s a reminder that reinvention can occur at any age and that one ought to at all times be open to saying sure.
The primary three episodes of The Traitors season 4 are out now; new episodes drop each Thursday at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on Peacock.
🎬 SIGN UP for Parade’s Each day publication to get the newest popular culture information & celeb interviews delivered proper to your inbox 🎬
