Peppermint reacts to The Traitors drama with Trishelle: 'I can't imagine that she thinks she was telling the truth'

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the first two episodes of The Traitors season 2.

RuPaul's Drag Race season 9 runner-up Peppermint once had an iconic exchange about fashion ("but is it fashion?") that became a beloved meme in the fandom, but a brief conversation about fashion during her turn on The Traitors led to a much less fun outcome.

Season 2 of the Peacock competition hosted by Alan Cumming sees reality TV all-stars forced to suss out who among them is a Traitor, a secret group of players who "murder" other contestants (a.k.a. Faithfuls) in an attempt to keep the prize money for themselves. Peppermint, a Faithful, found herself the target of suspicion and was ultimately the first to be voted out by the group in episode 2. The person leading the charge against the actress and trans rights activist was a fellow Faithful, Real World: Las Vegas star Trishelle Cannatella.

It all started with a brief conversation in the season premiere in which Peppermint mentioned she'd brought a lot of fabulous outfits and hoped to last long enough to wear them all. Trishelle said she had, too, and then told another person in the room, "If I get murdered, she’s a Traitor," pointing at Peppermint, who said she couldn't tell if Trishelle was kidding. The next morning at breakfast, a not-murdered Trishelle told the other contestants that Peppermint had a "weird reaction" to her remark and she believed it was a sign that the Drag Race alum was a Traitor, which ended up swaying a majority of their votes.

Below, EW speaks with Peppermint about the unexpected fashion face-off, why she finds it "hard to believe" that Trishelle actually thought she was a Traitor, and her unaired attempt to clear the air one-on-one.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You were among the few lone wolves from your respective reality franchises. Did you expect to see other Drag Race alums? 

PEPPERMINT: I wasn't quite sure, to be honest with you. Once I got there and saw that I was gonna be isolated, I realized I'm gonna have to try to build some relationships, and I thought I was doing that. I really didn't have any ulterior motive to stab people in the back or scheme and connive. I tried to just build alliances.

Let’s break down your exchange with Trishelle that lasted less than a minute on the show, but that she said you had a "weird reaction" to.

There's a lot of reasons why someone would have that reaction. On the first day of a show, where you're trying to find out who the most conniving person is, to accuse someone of being a Traitor is kind of a big deal. And she was also insinuating that I would be jealous of her fashion, that for some reason whatever she had to wear would make me so threatened that I would want to "kill" her on the basis of what she wore alone. Now, I had couture fashion made by hand. I'm not sure what she brought because I wasn't around to see it. I guess the internet will decide which fashions were better.

The next morning at breakfast was the first time you heard that it was actually more of a dramatic situation to Trishelle?

Yeah, I honestly thought we were having a friendly conversation and it didn't come off as contentious or antagonistic at all. But that's how it seemed to be described when I walked into breakfast, that there was a blowup or a fight that we had had. I honestly was like, 'Wait a minute, a fight?' That felt like so long ago, that little exchange that Trishelle and I had. It’s not like we had just had the conversation and walked right into the room, so I was surprised and trying to figure out if I had any other conversation with her. ...It seemed to make a big impact, enough to immediately mark me as the first person who they took out.

Before the group vote you had a mission, which turned awkward when your team had to choose who the group had voted as most popular between you and Deontay Wilder. They asked you and you chose yourself, which they went along with before changing their minds and picking Deontay, but that turned out to be wrong. How offended or hurt were you by that?

I wasn't really offended. It's not that I wanted to be the most popular or thought that I deserved to be the most popular. I just based that on conversations I had. Not a lot of people knew me. There weren’t any Drag Race people there, but also there weren't people who watched Drag Race. A lot of them were like, "Oh, were you on that drag queen show?" I knew that I had an uphill battle. ...What I ended up doing with most of the people that I talked to, [was] just ask them about themselves, try to get to know them. I was able to build a rapport that I thought was friendly. It was my name or Deontay’s name. It was a 50-50 shot, and I thought I did have a good shot of being the answer.

Later you had a slip of the tongue where you said the word "Traitor" instead of "Faithful" that some took as you slipping up and revealing your identity in the game. Can you explain this moment and how significant it felt at the time?

I literally misspoke. If anyone has ever fumbled a word or said something in the wrong order out of their mouth, then they would understand that's what happened. I don't even think it was a grave mistake because if I said, "Believe me, guys, I am a Faithful. I'm not a Traitor" really cleanly, I doubt that I'd still have been there. I think I would have gone home anyway because it seems like everybody was just looking for the final excuse. They'd already made up their minds. I was running around trying to defend myself and no one was talking to me that day, so I pretty much knew I was a goner.

That night at the vote, while you were defending yourself seated next to Trishelle, things got a little heated and she warned you not to put your hand in her face. Can you give your interpretation of that moment?

We were sitting like six inches from each other, practically almost touching. I put my hand up, which is not extremely polite, so I'll hand that to her, but I would be like Virgin Mary Godly to have allowed someone to blatantly lie about a fight that we had. Unless she's a Traitor — if she's a Traitor, then it makes complete sense. It seemed like she was really putting in work to convince people and sell this idea that I was a Traitor and that she and I got into a fight.

[Before that,] I went to her and tried to have a one-on-one with her and say, "Hey, what is up with this? Did I misconstrue something that you and I said?" Because how I'm hearing about it was not at all how I experienced it. I really wanted to clear the air. But she was like, "Oh, we're all good," and we joked a little bit. Then from that moment on, that feeling that I felt when I walked into the room a couple of other times where people greeted me in a really polite and friendly way, that was all out the window — it was all sort of just cold shoulder. So that was tough, and that just continued into the round table.

That was something she controlled and manipulated and constructed on her own volition for whatever reason. At worst case, it was a blatant lie. Best-case scenario, it was extremely disingenuous because if I were a Traitor, why would I react to her wardrobe? If you lay it all out it doesn't even make sense. I'm not going to kill somebody because of their fashions. Now, if her fashions are bad, maybe that's a reason, but I'm not even that catty. I don't judge people based on their appearance.

You have now had two iconic conversations about fashion. One was hilarious and one was…

My demise! I need to steer clear of fashion. It's gonna be all sweatpants and sweatshirts the next time you see me on TV.

Do you think Trishelle truly thought you were a Traitor, was she trying to make drama for the show, or was it anything personal? 

I find it hard to believe that she really thought I was a Traitor based on just me reacting to her accusing me of [potentially] eliminating her. The insinuation was that I would be jealous of what she wore. Basically it's a semi-personal dig. And so reacting to a personal attack I don't think is enough of a reason to really, truly believe that I'm a Traitor. It's not like there was a lot of gameplay that had happened up until that point or a lot of time spent getting to know each other. And so to give her the benefit of the doubt, I guess it's probably a good idea for everyone to be a suspect. …But I can't imagine that she thinks she was telling the truth. I can't imagine she really thinks I was a Traitor.

Why did you do The Traitors instead of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars?

My phone only rang once.

You told us a few years ago that you had been asked previously to do All Stars, but the timing didn’t work out because you were starring on Broadway. What would it take at this point in your career to get you back on a Drag Race — or has that ship sailed?

There's something that would bring me back for sure. 

Can you share what that is? 

I can't share what that is. Whatever it is, I haven't heard it yet. But if they call me with an undeniable offer, then I will not deny it.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

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