Cirie Fields Explains How That The Traitors Finale Actually Worked and What to Do in Season 2

Warning: This article contains spoilers for season one of The Traitors

The winner of The Traitors on Peacock just gave a masterclass on the art of deceit.

Survivor fan-favorite Cirie Fields was one of 20 contestants—made up of CBS alumni, Bravo celebs and television first-timers—on the devious reality show. However, she had an even more pivotal role as one of the series' titular Traitors, whose job it was to kill off their competition before the innocent Faithfuls could figure them out.

Luckily for fans of good TV, Cirie clinched her much-deserved solo win after four attempts on Survivor and a group win on Peacock's Snake in the Grass.

"I was in shock," she exclusively told E! News about beating out Andie Vanacore and Quentin Jiles in the final banishment. "One, I won finally, and two, the other two people there with me were so hurt and upset. So, I really couldn't enjoy the win while watching them be devastated."

"I got that feeling later on after all the emotions kind of dwindled and I got to speak to them and I knew that everybody was okay, then I really got to go, 'Oh s--t,' I just won,'" Cirie continued. "My inbox stays full... It's almost shocking to get that much love."

The Cast of Peacock's The Traitors

The Survivor: Panama contestant was selected as one of the show's original three Traitors by host Alan Cumming alongside Big Brother 22 winner Cody Calafiore and fresh meat Christian de la Torre, with former The Bachelor star Arie Luyendyk Jr. eventually joining their ranks prior to his exit in the finale.

"We knew that there could potentially be three to five Traitors in the game," Cirie said of the game rules. "That was explained to us from the very beginning. Once Arie had said he was recruited, and Christian and Cody had been banished, that's two, there should be one more."

The newly crowned winner—who also appeared on Survivor: Micronesia, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains and Survivor: Game Changers—explained why it was understandable that Andie and Quentin lost the game due to their miscalculations since "you can't even count on your fingers in that moment."

"We were all so ecstatic that we made it to the end, I wouldn't have even had the thought process," Cirie revealed. "In that moment, there was no clarity, because everybody was so high-strung with their emotion."

Still, while Cirie was more than comfortable with back-stabbing, she made sure her competitors knew it was all just a game in the end.

"The first person I called when I got home, I just wanted to touch base with Andie to let them know that our relationship had nothing to do with the game," she shared. "The time we spent together connecting was us connecting, we just happened to have it within this game."

"I reached out to Quentin, because I saw the devastation in them [both]," Cirie added. "That was not my goal. Obviously, I wanted to win this game, but I never wanted to have anybody be that upset or hurt."

The mother-of-three also opened up about her fellow castmates. While she was "happy to see" her Snake in the Grass co-stars Stephenie LaGrossa and Rachel Reilly as easy allies, she had a slightly different gut reaction to seeing Bravo's Kate Chastain, Kyle Cooke, Reza Farahan and Brandi Glanville.

"The Bravolebrities were kind of like Bravolebrities, they were just there," she joked. "In the beginning, it was a little clique. But Kate, I fell in love with. Kyle, I thought was really cool but he was on to me, so I tried to stay away from him. And Brandi, I owe her a bottle of champagne. She'll know."

But what advice does Cirie have for those hoping to move into the Scottish Highlands castle in the show's inevitable second season?

"For anyone that's gonna be a future Traitor, best advice I can give them is read the room, see who's the most trusted person in that game and align yourself with them," she shared. "That brings a value. I believe if Andie hadn't been so close with me and so trusting with me, it would have given me a few more targets. I think a lot of people backed off of me because Andie was so trusting of me."

See Cirie Fields sweep the competition in The Traitors, now streaming on Peacock.

(E! and Peacock are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)

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