Peppermint’s ‘Traitors’ Reunion Speech Confirms Trishelle’s Looks Were Not Worth It

The Traitors Season 2 gave us a lot of moments, y’all. It gave us the phrase “Lord, not Ekin-Su,” it gave us a hot new dance with the backwards cargo pants shuffle, it gave us a lot of unlikely allies (CT and Phaedra? John Bercow and Parvati?), and it gave us — well, it could have given us some much needed trans representation, but it didn’t because of — turn to the left! — oooooohhh fashion.

Peppermint, a drag entertainer and runner-up of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 9 as well as an outspoken advocate for trans rights, was the first player and the first Faithful to be banished from the game. If you can rewind all the way back to those early episodes, before Bergalicious became part of the American lexicon, you’ll remember that teeny tiny little beef between Peppermint and Real World/The Challenge alum Trishelle Cannatella. On the eve of the first killing, Peppermint said that she wanted to not die because she “brought some really fabulous outfits.”This was a joke. Trishelle replied that she also brought some killer outfits. Trishelle said, “If I get murdered, she’s a traitor” — and then literally pointed and laughed at Peppermint. Because Trishelle made a joke, or attempted one, Peppermint played along and over-reacted because this is what human beings do when they are joking around. But somehow Peppermint’s jaw-drop and faux shock at being called a Traitor was enough for Trishelle to lead a campaign against Peppermint and get her banished.

Now that the season is over, I have to delay getting to my very serious point with a bit of a comedic detour, not unlike the ones that host Alan Cumming has the players run through during challenges. I want to ask, hindsight being 20/20, were Trishelle’s outfits really worth banishing Peppermint?

Do we think that Trishelle left any crumbs this season (not including crumbs left at the breakfast table)?

Was Trishelle a panther on the runway?

Was this headband worth giving Peppermint the chop?

Were the berets worth the banishment, Trishelle?!

Yes, the genius who said that Trishelle is dressed like a “2009 Disney Channel star” nailed it. I can’t put it any better than that! I will add in Trishelle’s favor that most of her looks do look rich. The textures, the patterns, the accessories on top of accessories — I’m here for the Neiman Marcus maximalism of it all, sure. But how do we think those looks compare to what Peppermint definitely would have served? Just look at the material!

Of course Trishelle has apologized for banishing Peppermint, and pretty much the entire cast seemed to cop to the fact that they had no proof to go on, and John Bercow — former Speaker of the House of Commons — admitted that he regretted voting Peppermint out. There was no overt maliciousness here — it is a game — and everyone seems to be cool with each other. Seeing the way MJ and Phaedra reached out, comforted, and encouraged Peppermint during her speech at the reunion filled my soul.

And now to the serious part, because all pop culture — even a campy, catty, backstabby reality show like The Traitors — is a reflection of the world we live in: Peppermint’s early banishment denied us lots of fashion moments, for sure, but it also robbed us of very important trans representation on TV. She spoke about this at the reunion, and it made text of all of the subtext that was there in Peppermint’s initial banishment.

“It was upsetting to be suddenly cast out instantly. I know that somebody has to be the first to go on a show like this,” said Peppermint. “But with no proof… people have to rely on the biases that they bring into the game, which end up targeting whoever’s the most different from the group. And in those situations, people like me don’t really fare that well. It kind of eerily reminded me of a high school experience where I was the only out LGBTQ person at the time…”

Peppermint tries to collect herself. If you’ve seen RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 9, then you know a little about Peppermint’s high school experience.

She continued: “Yes, I am a drag entertainer but I’m so much more than that. And in addition to this being an opportunity for entertainment, I understand that with all of the anti-trans legislation in our country right now, this moment is bigger than me just coming to play a game. Most people don’t know someone who’s trans in their personal life, which means that they learn about how to interact with us from TV. And so I was heartbroken that I wasn’t able to see that through a little longer.”

That’s it, right there — and god bless Peppermint for being able to say it in front of everyone who banished her. It would have been great to see what Peppermint had to show as she snuck around the castle plotting and scheming, but trans representation is what we really missed out on in The Traitors Season 2. The show gave us too much of Trishelle’s berets and too little of Peppermint’s slays.