The Traitors’ Cam Merchant Calls Out His Co-Stars’ Brutal Decision

After being eliminated in the first 15 minutes of The Traitors Australia, fan favourite Cam Merchant made a surprise return to the reality show during Tuesday night’s episode — only to be sent home again.

In case you missed it, a select group of contestants had to decide during a team challenge whether to bring back the Married At First Sight (MAFS) groom and add $10,000 to the prize pot, or say goodbye for good. 

What should’ve been an easy decision erupted into a tense debate when Australian Survivor players Henry Nicholson and Kirby Bentley, alongside The Bachelor’s Keira Maguire, steered the votes against Cam’s return, leaving the father-of-two devastated.

Cam Merchant speaks out about ‘brutal’ exit on The Traitors

Cam admitted to PEDESTRIAN.TV following the episode that he was baffled by the group’s decision not to bring him back in the game, which was “more brutal” in real life and went for even longer than what was shown on TV.

“I’m sure there would have been so many shots of me shaking my head with the hood over, just going, ‘I can’t believe what I’m hearing right now’. That was what was going through my head because myself, the producers, everyone just thought this is such a no-brainer,” he remarked.

“It was at that point I just realised that everyone was delusional already. This is how hard and punishing and how much of a mind twist this game is, because everyone was second-guessing everything.”

Despite his co-stars’ concerns, Cam confirmed that he would’ve “100 per cent re-entered the game as a Faithful” determined to work with the majority to vote out the Traitors. His return would’ve also significantly increased the prize money for the series, and although he believes the decision wasn’t personal, he still couldn’t believe the group’s “one-sided selfishness”.

“My question at the time was like, if the money was for charity like it is in the UK, how does that differ the decision? Obviously money changes people, or it brings their values and their moral compass to the surface, and it did in that moment,” he shared.

“It wasn’t about the fact I didn’t get to play; that was never a part of it. It was just that my values and my moral compass differed from those guys that made that decision to not bring me in. The fact that they saw me as one more person that had an opportunity to take the money away from them, that’s the sort of character that I wasn’t really impressed with. In that moment, I was like, ‘They’re not my people’.”

Not everyone was against Cam’s return to the game, however, and he said he was grateful that The Block twins Luke and Josh Packham fought so hard to get him back.

“The twins were outstanding. They were like, ‘Guys, he didn’t even get a chance to get into the game. He’s come all this way, he’s put his life on hold, he had to go back and isolate for another two days on his own’,” he recalled. “Even Gretel [Killeen] was like, ‘You denied him an opportunity’, so it didn’t make sense.”

Being the nice guy he is, Cam added that he’s hopeful the episode allowed the show’s contestants to reflect on their character and their decisions moving forward.

“I hope they get to see themselves and maybe learn a little bit about themselves. Then they can come back, and when they find themselves in a different situation that’s somewhat similar, they make better decisions — or ones that they can improve on,” he said.

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Will Cam Merchant return to The Traitors Australia?

As for whether fans might see Cam return for a future season of The Traitors Australia, the mental health advocate says you’ll have to simply wait and see.

“Parts of me just say, ‘Wow, that’s the experience that I got, maybe the universe was telling me something’. But at the same time, there’s this itch that needs to be scratched,” he teased.

“The reason why I went on in the first place was to challenge myself in different, uncomfortable circumstances like that. I think that’s what we all need a little bit in life to step yourself forward, so I’ll never say no, that’s for sure.”

The Traitors Australia airs Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7:30pm on 10.