The Traitors: New Blood has arrived! Throughout the season, Mike Bloom will speak with someone from the star-studded cast who was murdered or banished on the iconic Emmy-winning reality series.Xavier Scruggs is used to having all eyes on him, considering the number of years he spent in the MLB as both a player and an analyst. But he faced a brand-new spotlight under the harsh moonlight above a Scottish loch. The first night of the game, he and Katie Fites were recruited out of the Faithful AAA and up to the major leagues, auditioning for the role of all-out Traitor. Seeing an opportunity, he immediately went on offense, drawing suspicion onto his competitor in the hopes that she would be less appealing as a public target. What he thought was a bunt, however, turned into a pop fly. Joe Vanella and Tomica Adams were put on edge by Xavier’s actions, feeling it was a precursor to possible Traitor-on-Traitor violence. And so, when given the choice between the two accomplices, they chose to recruit Katie, striking Xavier out of the game.Now out of the game, Xavier talks with Parade about his reaction to not being picked as a Traitor, why he threw Katie under the bus immediately, and who he was looking to go after if he was recruited.
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So how surprised were you when Joe and Tomica chose to recruit Katie instead of you as a Traitor?100% I was surprised in the moment. Just because I felt like if there was someone that could help them work together as a team and didn’t feel like my name was out there at all, I felt like it would have been a good three, all of us together. And I also felt like I had a good relationship with both Joe and Tomica, more so Joe than Tomica. But at the same time, Tomica mentioned I was good for the eye, so I felt like we had a connection there just naturally in the castle. So I felt competitive at the time, like, “Okay, I should win this. I should be in the turret with them.” But obviously, that’s not how it played out.When you found out you were an accomplice, you immediately decided to start throwing Katie under the bus, in the hopes that she would not be an appealing choice. Talk to me more about this strategy, and your reaction to Joe and Tomica feeling sketched out by it.I think I went in knowing that if I spoke Katie’s name, that there was a possibility that it could get to a Traitor. And so my reasoning behind it was, “Okay, the Traitors would want to see us do whatever we need to do to make sure that we are the one that wins.” Not necessarily almost working together in a sense, because I felt like I’m at a 50/50 chance. What can I do to give myself a little bit more of a chance? That would be to banish Katie if I have that opportunity and do it. Not loudly, but just putting the name out slowly. So I felt like I was trying to play offense, but also that the Traitors would want to see characteristics of another accomplice doing whatever it takes to get the final spot in the turret. Looking back, I’m reminded that my thought process is not going to be the same as the Traitors, and you’re obviously second-guessing every single thought, and you don’t know who the Traitors are in the moment, so you don’t have an inkling as to what their thought process might be. So if I know it’s Tomica, I may have decided to say, “Hey, let me think differently about this.” But yeah, I was going in playing offense immediately and trying to figure out if there’s another way besides me just going through the tests. Let’s see if we’re able to get Katie banished without doing a whole lot.The first Roundtable was edited to make it look like you were going to say something before Kriste jumped in with her theory on Madeline. Were you going to use that time to throw Katie under the bus if you weren’t interrupted?No, I wasn’t. I was actually going to bring up something with Victor or Madeline. It wasn’t the right time to use Katie’s name, especially when there was so much conversation around other things. I was just, in that moment, going to say something else, but I wasn’t going to say anything about Katie. I had already felt that the time was done for me to be able to talk about Katie. Whatever I had, whatever conversations I had had, and whatever I had spoken about was already laid out there. And that there would be no more talk about Katie unless it was brought up by somebody else.Did you go into the show wanting to be a Traitor? What was your reaction when you were told you were an accomplice?Yeah, I went into the show wanting to be a Traitor. In the beginning, I felt like the opportunity to be a Traitor would allow me to have some of that control that some of the Faithfuls don’t have. But also, I felt like my strategy in the turret could have complemented the opportunity to win the game and to win the cash prize. When I was told that I was an accomplice, I was elated. At first, I’m a little crushed knowing that I’m a Faithful. I try to switch my mind immediately to say, “Okay, we’re playing as a Faithful.” But then when Alan says there has to be another one picked, I’m still holding back in my mind that there’s an opportunity. So once I find out that opportunity is me, I’m juiced. I’m ready to go. I’m ready to fight for it. I’m excited about the opportunity, and I’m in compete mode to be a Traitor.Who was on your Traitor suspect list by the time you left the game? Were Joe and Tomica on your radar?Yeah, Joe was somebody that was so boisterous early on. I thought he could have been a good Traitor. Honestly, I did have him kind of in the back of my head. It’s still early on in the game, so it’s like not everybody has high percentages in your dome. Victor was somebody that I thought could have been a Traitor as well. That’s actually one of the reasons why I did not vote for Victor at the first Roundtable and I voted for Madeline. Because, as an accomplice, I didn’t want to be seen voting for a Traitor, and that could backfire on me. And actually, I think about Tomica. That was one of the people I had no idea. I thought she had played it smooth early on, and I did not know Tomica was one. But those would be that Joe and Victor were kind of my early suspects, but not at a high percentage.One of the reasons Joe and Tomica kept Katie is because they felt she was more connected to the younger players in the game. Who were you closest with by the time you left the castle?I felt like I was connected to a lot of different people. Honestly, I was connected with the younger group too. It’s actually a conversation that maybe I wish I had heard Joe and Tomica have in front of me. Because I felt connected to Katie, Mark, Arisa, Madeline, some of the younger group that was there. Including Logan, somebody that had kind of been seen a lot by himself, I connected with him early on too. So a lot of the people that I felt like they were trying to get connected to and learn more from, I had already had some of those conversations, those early relationship-building processes.Let’s say you had stayed and become a Traitor. Who were you looking to target next?I had thought about this a little bit. Since there was some heat already on Victor, it might have been Victor. And then I’m also looking at somebody that’s really under the radar where it had no consequence, like nobody would even think about that person. And I had kind of thought about Michael in a sense because he was obviously a strong Faithful too. Just being someone that came out with a lot of good communication, and you could tell that he was gonna figure out whatever as a lawyer to really get into what’s going on in the turret.Of course, you’re used to being in the spotlight as an MLB player and analyst. But how different was it to compete on a reality show compared to your day-to-day?I think that’s the challenge. I wanted to get outside of my normal everyday baseball sports bubble and do some different things that put me in uncomfortable situations, but also brought out a different side of me, a different personality. Something different that people get to see that people don’t get to see on a day-to-day basis, and do it in Scotland! Why not do it in the area I had never been to, a beautiful spot? That’s something that I felt like I could also use to my advantage with my background in sports and being competitive, and now communicating as an analyst. I thought all roads led to me being on The Traitors.Would you want to do any other reality shows now that you’ve made your unscripted debut?Oh yeah, I would love to! I’m already smelling Destination X, which sounds like a great show. I’ve been a big fan of Million Dollar Secret on Netflix as well. That’s one that I really like. Well-shot and produced. That’s another thing too. The production of The Traitors is something that I was always attracted to. One of the best, highly produced shows that shot like a movie in reality. Those are the types of shows that I’m interested in.
Related: ‘The Traitors: New Blood’ Star Madeline Kostopulos Says Chemistry With Victor Was ‘Definitely Mutual’ — And Reveals Where They Stand Today (Exclusive)
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