January 09, 2026
Euan Cherry/Peacock
Donna Kelce appears in an episode of 'The Traitors,' the Peacock reality TV series. Her stay in the Scottish castle was short-lived. She was voted out of the game in the third episode.
Donna Kelce made her reality TV debut Thursday night on "The Traitors," the celebrity game show that resembles the party game "Mafia."
Peacock premiered the first three episodes of the show's fourth season, in which Kelce joined a hodgepodge of celebrities, including Coatesville native Johnny Weir, inside a mysterious Scottish castle. Her sweet disposition garnered her some new fans. But ultimately she could not keep up with the secretive, ruthless nature of the game, and her debut was short-lived.
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"The Traitors," hosted by award-winning actor Alan Cumming, plays like a twist on classic murder mystery games. Of the 23 people living in the castle, a handful secretly have been selected as traitors tasked with eliminating the other players. The job for the rest of the cast, dubbed the "faithfuls," is to find out who the traitors are and vote them out of the castle.
In the three years since its debut, the show has received multiple Primetime Emmy Awards and a dedicated fanbase. When the Season 4 cast was revealed in June, Kelce and Weir were in a league of their own, surrounded by stars of reality shows like "Survivor," "Real Housewives" and "Big Brother."
This season, the show has a new twist — a "secret traitor" who is unknown to the faithfuls, the other traitors and the audience. The secret traitor puts together short lists of players that the other traitors should consider for elimination. The secret traitor only is revealed if he or she is voted out of the castle.
Kelce, the mom of football stars Jason and Travis Kelce, seemed to have an understanding of her place in the castle, at one point referring to herself as "just a mom," but she told Cumming that she could be ruthless if she had to be. In the third episode, Kelce was revealed as the secret traitor who was pulling the strings for the other traitors, "Love Island's" Rob Rausch and "Real Housewives" stars Lisa Rinna and Candiace Dillard Bassett.
"People think I'm this sweet old lady," Kelce said in the show's first episode. "They're not going to know what's coming."
While riding to the castle in a car with Rinna and "RuPaul's Drag Race's" Monét X Change, Kelce revealed that her son Jason, the longtime Eagles center, got her interested in the show. She said they binge-watched the series during the NFL playoffs one year.
Her unassuming demeanor, combined with her connection to future daughter-in-law Taylor Swift, made other players wary to vote against her. That initially appeared to give her a competitive edge.
"The 'Swifties' will murder you if you kill her," said Dorinda Medley of "Real Housewives of New York City."
"Mama Kelce" was able to make some alliances with comedian Ron Funches, who worked with her son Travis on "Are You Smarter Than A Celebrity?" But her position as an outsider to the reality TV world ended up working against her, because people noticed she was uneasy making connections with other players and conspiring against them.
"She is such a cute, sweet mom. ... She's America's mom," Dillard Bassett said. "But, in this game, America's mom might need to die."
Kelce narrowly managed to keep the spotlight off of herself in the second episode, but she was nearly unanimously voted out midway through the third episode.
"Playing a traitor was tough, but I gave it my best shot," she tearfully said after being eliminated. "This has been a dream come true. These are happy tears that I get to do this at this point in my life. It's just the joy of being in the game."
