A former boxing world champion admitted that his appearance on The Traitors evoked childhood trauma.
Deontay Wilder, who was the WBC world heavyweight champion until Tyson Fury took his title in 2020, was a contestant on the celebrity US version of the hit show. He appeared in the second series, amongst other contestants like ex-MP John Bercow.
Wilder participated but withdrew after just three episodes, pointing to personal reasons. At 39, Wilder, who was a ‘faithful’ on the show, found it tough when he had to lead the charge against Maksim Chmerkovskiy from Dancing with the Stars, suspecting him to be a traitor.
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Wilder had formed a bond with Chmerkovskiy, and when it was revealed that the Ukrainian was actually a faithful, it left Wilder shattered. Following the revelation, Wilder was captured on camera, lying on a sofa, clearly distressed.
He was also overheard muttering: “I don’t know how much more I can go on. My heart. I can’t do this no more.”
In an interview with US Weekly, Wilder opened up about his experiences, revealing that the game brought back difficult memories. He said: “I thought it was trying to figure out who were the traitors, and being that you have so many more faithfuls than the traitors, that it would be kind of easy to try to figure it out.
Wilder was a fascinating character during his brief time on the show
(Image: ™ © 2023 Peacock TV LLC. All Rights Reserved.)
“But being on this show, it really struck some childhood trauma from me that I didn’t expect. Although my profession is ‘the hurt business’, as I call it, as a man, as Deontay Wilder, as a person, I’m a loving, caring guy. I love everybody and I want to see everybody succeed in life. And I think you got the best of me being on the show.”
Speaking to Screen Rant, Wilder also expressed that playing a traitor might have suited him better. He said: “I’m a people person and I love people… we all need each other. You get a lot of traitors in my profession, so I’m used that world… I think my background, my space of where I come from it [being a Traitor] fits me better.”
For those unfamiliar, The Traitors is a reality TV game of deception, adapted from the Dutch series ‘De Verraders’. Contestants are split into two groups and compete for a cash prize while staying together in a large house – this time, a castle in the Scottish Highlands.
Wilder said his time in boxing may have made him a better traitor
(Image: PA)
A few contestants are secretly chosen by the host to play the role of traitors against the rest. In each episode, the traitors convene in secret to ‘murder’ one of the faithfuls. Simultaneously, the entire group – comprising of both faithfuls and traitors masquerading as faithfuls – votes to ‘banish’ a contestant they suspect to be a traitor. Both ‘murder’ and ‘banishment’ result in immediate elimination from the game.
Throughout the series, contestants collaborate on tasks to accumulate money for the prize pot. The game concludes when either all traitors or all faithfuls have been eliminated, with the remaining contestants sharing the prize money.
Wilder is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest American heavyweights of the 21st century, and one of the most powerful punchers in boxing history. He boasts a professional record of 43 wins (42 by knockout) from 48 fights, and held the WBC heavyweight title between 2015 and 2020.