TV & Film
Mark Ballas: DWTS’s Three-Time Champion Plays a Clean Traitors Game
Mark Ballas built one of the most decorated résumés in Dancing with the Stars history before Season 4 of The Traitors gave him a rare
July 22, 2026
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Maya has covered television and film for five years, starting as a recapper for a streaming fan site before moving into entertainment journalism. She watches an unreasonable amount of TV across every genre, which makes her the right person to tell you what is actually worth your time. At OpenThreadNews, she leads coverage of reality TV, scripted series, and film, with episode breakdowns, cast features, and industry analysis. Her approach is straightforward: no spoilers without warning, no hype without substance, and always an eye on the craft behind the entertainment.
Mark Ballas built one of the most decorated résumés in Dancing with the Stars history before Season 4 of The Traitors gave him a rare
Rob Rausch went from wrangling venomous snakes on an Alabama farm to walking away with the entire prize on Season 4 of The Traitors, the
Maura Higgins built her career on Love Island UK before becoming the emotional center of Season 4’s biggest twist on The Traitors, a runner-up finish
Johnny Weir built a career on being one of figure skating’s most distinctive personalities, both on the ice and behind the broadcast desk, and that
Tara Lipinski won an Olympic gold medal before she could drive, then spent the next three decades turning that childhood victory into one of the
Michael Rapaport spent three decades building a character-actor résumé before turning himself into one of podcasting’s loudest, most opinionated voices, and it was that same
Lisa Rinna built her name the slow way: one soap storyline, one talk show, one reality season at a time, over more than three decades.
Britney Haynes came into Season 3 of The Traitors with a reality-competition resume built almost entirely on outlasting people who underestimated her, and her run
Lord Ivar Mountbatten brought a genuinely singular resume to Season 3 of The Traitors, one built on royal proximity and a personal history that made
Dolores Catania has been a fixture of The Real Housewives of New Jersey since its earliest seasons, and Season 3 of The Traitors made her
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