Joe Vanella is a 44-year-old funeral director from Wantagh, New York, and one of 22 civilian contestants on NBC’s The Traitors: New Blood. Joe remains in the game through Episode 8 as a concealed Traitor, now the exposed Traitor after naming Tomica Adams himself at the Episode 8 Round Table.
Vanella’s funeral-director career gives his Traitors profile an unusual contrast. His profession involves staying composed around emotionally intense situations, while the game requires him to conceal his role, manage suspicion and make strategic decisions alongside the other Traitors. His gameplay has now moved beyond the pre-season question of whether those skills might help him: Joe has actively participated in the Traitor group’s recruitment and elimination decisions.
Quick Facts
| Name | Joe Vanella |
| Age | 44, per Entertainment Weekly’s reporting |
| Hometown / location | Wantagh, New York (Long Island) |
| Profession | Funeral director |
| Traitors role / status | Original Traitor; active through Episode 9, now exposed |
Latest status: spoilers through Episode 8: Joe Vanella is one of the original Traitors on The Traitors: New Blood. Alongside Tomica Adams, he selected Katie Fites over Xavier Scruggs to become the season’s third Traitor in Episode 3. Joe remains active through Episode 9 as a Traitor, now exposed.
Who Is Joe Vanella?
Public information about Vanella’s early life, education and family background is limited. He is from Wantagh, New York, on Long Island, and reporting around his casting suggests he still lives and works in the area, he’s set to host a season premiere viewing party at Mulcahy’s Pub and Concert Hall in Wantagh on September 17, 2026, the same night the show airs.
Public sources do not document how he entered the funeral profession, where he trained, or his educational background, so those details are left out here pending further reporting.
Joe Vanella’s Career as a Funeral Director
Vanella is officially billed as a funeral director. Funeral directors coordinate the practical and emotional work around a death: meeting with grieving families, arranging services, coordinating logistics with clergy, cemeteries and other providers, and guiding people through decisions during one of the hardest moments of their lives.
In an interview cited by Newsday, Vanella described the job directly: “I’m funeral director so I accustomed to engaging in emotionally intense situations. There’s no more emotionally charged environment than this, and all the other contestants are coming in somewhat unaware. I’ve been navigating this throughout my career. Being able to handle such challenges gives me a significant edge.”
The funeral trade outlet Connecting Directors reports more on Vanella’s family history in the business: his great-grandfather Vincent Vanella Sr. founded Vanella’s Funeral Chapel in 1918 on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, the family expanded to Oceanside in 1965 and sold the property in 2017, and Joe now works as a sales manager for SCI.
Public sources do not identify his specific funeral home or employer, how long he has worked in the profession, his licensing status, or any professional certifications or memberships, so none of that is stated here.
What His Funeral-Director Background Could Mean on The Traitors
Joe’s funeral-director experience does not make him a proven lie detector, and it should not be treated as a direct explanation for his gameplay. However, the professional skills he has identified, including remaining composed during emotionally intense conversations, listening carefully and communicating through difficult situations, are relevant to the social pressure he now faces as a Traitor.
Through Episode 4, Joe’s game has required him not only to conceal his own role but also to coordinate recruitment and elimination decisions with Tomica Adams and Katie Fites. Whether his professional background provides a meaningful advantage in those situations remains difficult to establish from the episodes alone.
The strongest evidence is therefore behavioral rather than occupational: Joe has had to maintain a convincing public identity while privately participating in decisions that shape the Traitor group.
Joe Vanella on The Traitors: New Blood
Joe Vanella entered The Traitors: New Blood as one of the season’s two original Traitors alongside Tomica Adams. His role was confirmed in the premiere, immediately placing him at the center of the season’s hidden game.
Episodes 1–2: Joe Becomes an Original Traitor
Joe and Tomica were selected as the original Traitors at the beginning of the season. They then chose Katie Fites and Xavier Scruggs as Accomplices, giving both contestants covert tasks as they competed for the opportunity to become the third Traitor.
Joe therefore entered the game not as a Faithful trying to identify hidden Traitors, but as one of the players responsible for concealing the truth while managing the Faithful group.
Episode 3: Joe and Tomica Choose Katie
Joe and Tomica selected Katie Fites rather than Xavier Scruggs to become their third Traitor.
Xavier had raised Katie’s name around the castle, which made the original Traitors question whether he would be a reliable ally. Joe and Tomica ultimately chose Katie, who joined them in the turret as the season’s third Traitor, while Xavier was murdered and eliminated.
The decision gave Joe and Tomica another Traitor ally, but it also created a new potential vulnerability because Xavier had already expressed suspicion around Katie.
Episode 4: Pressure Around Katie
Katie’s recruitment quickly created additional pressure for the Traitor group. Xavier’s earlier suspicions continued to follow her after his exit, and Jay Vinnedge publicly named Katie as the contestant he believed was a Traitor.
That put the expanded Joe, Tomica and Katie team under greater scrutiny. The available episode reporting does not establish Joe as the main Roundtable target in Episode 4, but the events showed that the decision to recruit
Katie could become a liability for the Traitors.
Episode 4: Joe Deflects at the Round Table
Joe spent much of Episode 4 deflecting suspicion away from his fellow Traitors. At the Round Table, he declared that Xavier “didn’t bring up Katie’s name once” and added, “I don’t really have suspicion on Katie.” Tomica reinforced the pivot, telling the group, “We need to move on to something else,” according to realityblurred’s recap.
Joe also “ardently” defended Michael Foote at the Round Table, endorsing him as a Faithful, according to the AV Club. In a post-episode interview, a tearful Joe said, “Game aside, I like these people,” and added of Michael, “I don’t want him to think any part of that was deceptive, or not with my whole heart,” per realityblurred.
Joe also framed the Traitors’ strategy as an alpha hunt. Comparing the game to “being chased through the jungle by a cheetah,” he argued that the Traitors are targeting the group’s alphas, a line that diverted attention from himself, according to realityblurred.
Episode 4: The Turret’s Murder Decision
In the turret, the Traitors weighed a shortlist of Abby L., Logan, and Mark, according to the AV Club. Tomica pushed for Logan’s murder, arguing, “He is super smart, and he’s too organized,” while Katie noted that Logan always speaks up at the Round Table. “I don’t see any negatives to murdering Logan,” Tomica said, earning agreement from Vanella, according to the Patriot Ledger.
Suspicion Against Joe
Three straight eliminated players each had Joe on their radar, according to their exit interviews. Logan Smith told Parade, “He’s a really good actor! He was calling me handsome more times than I could count, and it started to get suspicious… he seemed to be getting nervous in some situations, and maybe a little red, so I picked up on that.” Logan also named his suspect list to Parade: “So definitely Joe.” Xavier Scruggs told Entertainment Weekly, “Joe was the one I had the most inclination about.” And Kim Daily told Parade that “Joe was at the top of that list” of her suspects, adding that after the train blindfolds came off, “all of a sudden I was the most interesting thing in the world to Joe… I was like, ‘This is some suspicious behavior. What’s going on here?'”
Episode 5: The Failed Apple Murder
Episode 5 gave Joe his riskiest moment as a Traitor. The Traitors had to murder someone in plain sight by getting a shortlisted player to catch a poisoned apple. Katie suggested Morgan Cook as the target. Joe tossed the apple at Morgan, she did not catch it, and Joe ate the apple himself to kill suspicion. Victor Vollbrechthausen noticed Joe clinging to his fruit and later saw Tomica offering apples around the kitchen. Joe’s cover held, but Victor is watching.
Episode 6: The Round Table Spares Joe
At the Episode 6 Round Table, Victor’s FruitGate theory about Joe’s apple behavior gained real traction (Joe was seen clinging to his fruit during the poisoned-apple murder attempt), but the room dismissed the theory and banished Michael Foote 8-3-3-1 (Faithful) instead, so Joe survived another week.
Episode 7: The Traitors Choose Mark
In the turret, the three Traitors shortlisted Mark Zgoda, Wyatt Gillespie and Kriste Lewis for murder. Katie suggested Wyatt, but Joe argued that Mark and Kriste would never draw Round Table votes, which made them safe murders, and the three chose Mark. Joe said of the choice: “I love Mark. He’s a full-blown Faithful. It’s a smart move.” The Traitors deliberately spared Victor Vollbrechthausen, judging that his murder would draw too much attention to them.
Joe himself drew no public suspicion in Episode 7, but the trio cracked in public view. At the Round Table, Victor exposed Tomica’s slip involving Katie and Kriste, and Katie then voted for Tomica. Managing that rift is now Joe’s problem going into Episode 8. No Traitor has been caught through seven episodes, and Joe remains in the game.
Episode 8: Joe Names Tomica
At breakfast, Joe went after Victor Vollbrechthausen directly, and Victor answered that there was no new evidence against him apart from the shield he took on day one. At the Round Table, Victor asked Joe to name a suspect other than Victor. Joe froze, then said, as reported by NorthJersey: ‘If not you, then it’s Tomica.’ That line put suspicion on Joe’s own fellow Traitor in front of the whole table. Joe then voted for Tomica himself in the 10-2 banishment that revealed her as a Traitor, the first Traitor banished all season. Joe is now the exposed Traitor: he named Tomica himself, and Victor has already turned his attention to Joe, which the episode ends by setting up as the next clash. Katie Fites, the only other Traitor left, voted for Tomica too, for the second episode running, without drawing suspicion herself.
Episode 9: Joe and Katie Choose Morgan
In Episode 9, Joe and Katie chose Morgan Cook for the murder, passing over Victor Vollbrechthausen. Joe called it a “dead man walking situation” and said the Traitors needed “to do something drastic”, but Katie warned that Victor might switch chalices, and killing him would be “too obvious” and bring too much suspicion on Joe. In his confessional, Joe said, “Today, we’re back in the win column.”
At the dinner toast, players could keep their chalice or swap with another player. The only swap was Joe asking Shane Beatty to exchange. Victor tried to swap with Joe, telling him, “You’re not going to die, you’re a Traitor”, but Joe declined. At the Round Table, Joe clashed with Victor, who insisted, “I’m the only one that’s been right.” Read the Episode 9 recap for the full story.
Personal Life
Public sources do not reliably document Vanella’s relationship status, children, or hobbies outside his career. He reportedly maintains a public Instagram account under the handle @thejoevanella, though that has not been independently verified for this profile.
Where Joe Vanella Stands Now
Joe remains in the game through Episode 9 as a Traitor, with 10 players remaining.
He began the season in the turret with Tomica Adams, then helped decide which Accomplice would become their third Traitor. Joe and Tomica chose Katie Fites over Xavier Scruggs, bringing Katie into the Traitor group after Xavier had raised suspicion around her.
In Episode 9, Joe and Katie murdered Morgan Cook with the poisoned chalice, choosing her over Victor. Joe remains a Traitor heading into Episode 10, with Katie as his only fellow Traitor, and Victor still hunting him.
FAQs
Who is Joe Vanella?
Joe Vanella is a 44-year-old funeral director from Wantagh, New York, and one of the original Traitors on The Traitors: New Blood.
What does Joe Vanella do for a living?
Joe Vanella works as a funeral director. His career involves helping families navigate emotionally difficult situations and coordinating funeral services.
Is Joe Vanella a funeral director?
Yes. Funeral director is Joe Vanella’s officially listed occupation on The Traitors: New Blood cast materials.
How old is Joe Vanella?
Joe Vanella is 44 years old, according to Entertainment Weekly’s reporting on the cast.
Where is Joe Vanella from?
Joe Vanella is from Wantagh, New York, on Long Island. His public profile connects him closely with the Long Island area.
Is Joe Vanella a Traitor or Faithful?
Joe Vanella is a Traitor. He and Tomica Adams were selected as the season’s two original Traitors in the premiere, and Joe is still active through Episode 9 as a Traitor heading into Episode 10, now the exposed Traitor after naming Tomica at the table.
Is Joe Vanella still on The Traitors?
Yes. Joe Vanella remains in The Traitors: New Blood through Episode 9 as a Traitor, heading into Episode 10.
Who are Joe Vanella’s fellow Traitors?
Joe’s original Traitor partner is Tomica Adams. In Episode 3, Joe and Tomica selected Katie Fites as the third Traitor instead of Xavier Scruggs. Tomica was banished in Episode 8, leaving Katie Fites as Joe’s only fellow Traitor.
Why did Joe and Tomica choose Katie Fites?
Joe and Tomica chose Katie Fites over Xavier Scruggs after concerns about Xavier’s behavior and the fact that he had raised Katie’s name around the castle. That made Xavier appear less reliable as a potential Traitor partner.
What happened to Xavier Scruggs?
Xavier Scruggs was eliminated after Joe and Tomica selected Katie Fites to become their third Traitor. Katie joined Joe and Tomica in the turret, while Xavier’s game ended.
What happened to Joe Vanella in Episode 4?
Joe remained active as a Traitor through Episode 4. The recruitment of Katie created additional pressure for the Traitor group after Jay Vinnedge identified Katie as someone he believed was a Traitor.
Does Joe Vanella’s funeral-director job help him as a Traitor?
Joe has said that working in emotionally intense situations has helped prepare him for the pressure of The Traitors. His profession may provide experience with composure and difficult conversations, but there is no evidence that being a funeral director gives him specialized lie-detection abilities.
What is Joe Vanella’s strategy on The Traitors?
Joe’s gameplay requires him to conceal his Traitor identity while coordinating with Tomica Adams and Katie Fites. His most consequential documented decision so far was helping choose Katie as the third Traitor, a move that strengthened the Traitor group but also brought additional scrutiny after Katie’s recruitment.
