Cam Merchant Just Revealed The Traitors Betrayal That Left Him Absolutely DESTROYED And The $10,000 Detail Is Sickening

The Traitors Australia has certainly had a ruthless return, with shock banishments and strategic murders keeping audiences and contestants on their toes.

In the latest challenge, the players had the chance to add a substantial amount of cash to their prize pot by trading players for bags of cash as they carried a heavy cart through the New Zealand highlands.

However, the challenge took a turn when the players stumbled across a hooded figure on their path who they could choose to save and add to the team – adding an extra $10,000 to the prize pot – or leave behind.

It was soon revealed that Married at First Sight’s Cameron Merchant was the figure beneath the hood, offering him a fresh start in the game.

Shockingly, the players didn’t bite.

After a tense discussion and vote, led by Survivor Australia’s Henry, the contestants decided to leave Cam tied to the pole, throwing camaraderie and $10,000 down the drain.

It’s safe to say fans were fuming, calling the outcome “harsh” and a “bad decision”.

“Cam is such a sweet soul, my heart sank for him when they chose not to bring him back,” one viewer wrote on social media. “No empathy whatsoever for cutting Cam before he got the opportunity to play the game. This is just downright mean-spirited! He would’ve been a Great Player!”

Speaking to WHO about this brutal second-chance miss, Cam revealed that fans weren’t alone in their sentiment as he, the other players, and The Traitors producers were “devastated”.

‘The executive producers were shaking their heads’

When Cam first learned that he would have a “second chance”, he described it as a “relief”, acknowledging that die-hard fans of the show were very much expecting it. However, the way it played out was something no one predicted.

“The way it played out wasn’t definitely wasn’t expected from myself, or even I think even from the producers,” Cam told WHO. “The executive producers were just shaking their heads as well, going, ‘I can’t believe what I’ve just witnessed here’ to be honest.

“It was so evidently clear that that was such an easy decision to get 10k back into the kitty to bring a fresh contestant back, and someone that hadn’t had the opportunity [to play].”

Cam added: “Gretel said even [during the episode] how she just couldn’t believe it.”

Australian Idol’s Cosima De Vito – who was soon banished after this challenge at the round table – told WHO how shocked she was by her fellow Faithfuls’ decision.

“I don’t get it. I don’t understand,” she said. “Had I been there, I would have voted to bring him back 100%. I was devastated he didn’t get to play at all.”

The decision made Cam realise just “how much of a mind twist this game is”

The decision to leave Cam hanging (literally) didn’t just surprise and “upset” the player – particularly given how much they had all given up to be on the show – but also left him questioning how much the game really messes with your “moral compass”.

“It was at that stage I realised that it was only day three and just how delusional everyone was, and how much of a mind twist this game is,” he said. “No one could trust themselves or could think clearly.

“And even watching it last night – that was the first time I’d seen it back since then – and to witness how they came up with that decision didn’t make a lot of sense, and still doesn’t get on the go.”

“The hardest part for me was certainly that we’d all come on this show together,” he added. “We’d all gone through the same journey, travelled there to New Zealand together.

“We put our life on hold. I’ve got two kids. We couldn’t have any contact with the outside world for basically seven days before the show got underway.”

Cam added: “Then for everyone to see me get taken out without stepping foot in the game, and then to get an opportunity that was, for me, probably the biggest part. And that’s why I remember thinking in that time that my moral compass – my values – are completely set aside differently to Henry and a couple of the others.”

No hard feelings

Although, luckily for Cam, he’s been through the highs and lows of reality television before, after starring in Married at First Sight, and doesn’t hold any hard feelings.

“A big part of the character that I am and the life that I put together is basically that I’ve got a lot of acceptance straight away, regardless of the situation,” he said. “I’m a big believer in things happen for a reason – a believer in control of controllables, so that was that was out of my control.

“I forgave and accepted very early on – I still had to vent. I still had to get things out and say ‘This doesn’t make sense, this is what I’m feeling about it’, but then I move on very quickly. Otherwise, that energy is spent elsewhere.”

While he admitted that reliving the experience when the episode aired was difficult, he also said that he learned a lot from Married at First Sight.

“That’s a really hard part that probably a lot of people don’t talk about in reality TV, and the parts that no one really prepares anyone for as well,” he said. “You don’t just live it once. You’ve got to live it twice and then with the rest of the country.”