Here’s Who Should Be Cast in The Traitors Season 3

Another season of Peacock’s wonderful reality competition The Traitors is in the books. (Don't worry, if you haven't seen the finale yet, you'll find no spoilers here.) Some of us have complained about the show’s choice to cast only celebrities, the vast majority of them reality TV stars, this season. But even we have to admit that casting director Deena Katz’s picks resulted in a pretty incredible game. Where else can you see Phaedra Parks defend herself with the immortal quip “I do too much ’cause you do too little”? Or a Big Brother legend brought low by his own hubris? Or an athlete who punches people in the face for a living break down over eliminating the wrong person?

Happily, The Traitors is such a hit that it has already been renewed for a third season. (To hold us over until then, Season 2 of the arguably superior UK Traitors hits Peacock on March 8. New installments of the Australian and New Zealand editions will follow on March 28.) So two of the show’s biggest fans at TIME decided to throw out some names we hope to see when it returns.

Let’s each draft our top three reality-star picks for the next season of The Traitors. 

Judy Berman: My first choice, and I’ve spent far too long thinking about this, is Vanderpump Rules alum Stassi Schroeder. The best Traitors players are like Phaedra—sharp but also funny. For better or worse, every woman on Vanderpump is a SUR employee second and an infidelity detective first—and no one out-sleuths Stassi. She is also a quote factory. What show would not be improved by the addition of a person capable of tossing off one-liners like “Scheana, were you raised by wolves in the hills of Azusa?” Finally, Schroeder is on record as a true crime junkie, so she’s guaranteed to bring a specialized skill set.

Cady Lang: I absolutely agree with you on both points—that Stassi would be an incredible pick for next season and that the key to a great Traitors player is someone who can spar while making you laugh. That’s why I need to see Tiffany “New York” Pollard on the next season of The Traitors. If Peacock continues to cast all reality TV stars, then who better to join the show than the trailblazing HBIC of the genre, Tiffany Pollard? While New York may have received her nickname from her reality debut on Flavor of Love, she’s proven herself to be a charismatic star in any format. She's also turned into a formidable contender on all kinds of reality competition shows, from Big Brother UK to House of Villains. No one is quicker with a comeback or more savage with a read—I can already see the GIFs and memes that would come from her being at the round table.

Read More: The Traitors Is the Best Reality Competition in Years—But It’s Doing Itself a Huge Disservice

JB: Incredible pick. I was low-key annoyed to see New York on House of Villains because in my mind she is, at worst, an antihero, but more importantly one of the most compelling reality stars of all time. So it would be nice to see her get the Traitors redemption arc she deserves.

Both the American and the British versions of The Traitors have tried to up the drama by casting couples, but we’ve yet to see that strategy really pay off. This season, Marcus Jordan and Larsa Pippen both got eliminated early in the game; after filming, they had a messy breakup. Maybe it would pay to recruit a more functional couple for Season 3. My suggestion would be Love Is Blind’s all-time greatest match, Brett Brown and Tiffany Pennywell-Brown. I like that they’re unswervingly supportive of each other—a true team, even if they end up on opposite sides—and the show needs some kindness to balance out the bigger, more belligerent personalities.

CL: I’m all in for more couples joining the cast—especially if it’s a pair like Brett and Tiffany, one of the rare hopeful couples from Love Is Blind, whose teamwork could change up the game.

As a devoted Bravo viewer, I was proud that so many Bravolebrities stayed in the game, showing up the so-called “gamers” from strategy game shows like The Challenge and Survivor. Since Peacock is the home of The Traitors and Team Bravo did so well this season, I’m sure we’ll be seeing more housewives next season. An obvious choice would be Monica Garcia, the rookie housewife who went scorched earth on her castmates on Real Housewives of Salt Lake City this year by running a Bravo troll account maligning them—if there’s anyone who could expertly murder her castmates while befriending them, it would definitely be her! Phaedra Parks told us that she hoped her friend, former Real Housewives of New York cast member Dorinda Medley, would be on next season and I couldn’t agree more. Dorinda’s not only wildly competitive when it comes to a game, but would absolutely make it nice at the castle, which is basically just a bigger version of Bluestone Manor. Plus no one can deliver a zinger in the middle of a heated conflict quite like Dorinda—I can imagine her screaming, “Not well, b-tch!” to anyone asking her how she’s feeling after a challenge. I'd also like to suggest Real Housewives of Potomac’s Ashley Darby, a true chaos master who never misses an opportunity to stir the pot.

Read More: How the Casting Director of The Traitors Assembled Reality TV Royalty for Season 2

JB: My Housewives knowledge is extremely limited, but the fact that even I have heard of Ashley’s exploits bodes well for her making a splash on The Traitors. (I also can’t help fantasizing about the Highlands-chic fashion new RHONY star Jenna Lyons would bring to the show.)

Netflix’s The Circle is another competition that has a lot of overlap with The Traitors. It’s all about social skills (does anyone really care about the physical challenges?), with some contestants playing as their true selves while others pretend to be someone they’re not. Chloe Veitch, who’s also been on Too Hot to Handle and Perfect Match, makes a fun addition to any cast. DeLeesa St. Agathe, who won Chloe’s season by catfishing as her own husband, is probably the greatest player in The Circle history. But I’d most like to see Season 1 winner Joey Sasso—who was also charming in Perfect Match—on The Traitors. Warm, funny, reasonably sincere, and smarter than he might seem at first glance, he’s a cross between Jersey Shore’s Pauly D and Nicolas Cage’s Moonstruck character. I mean that in the nicest possible way!

CL: Joey is a true gem and effortlessly likable—I could see him easily navigating alliances in the castle. One reality show network that The Traitors hasn’t tapped into yet is Lifetime and I have the perfect remedy for it—casting Dance Moms stars and partners-in-crime Christi Lukasiak and Kelly Hyland. The dynamic duo, who shepherded their respective children to dance fame all while avoiding the wrath of their nemesis Abby Lee Miller, are absolute mavens when it comes to navigating stressful situations and forcefully advocating for themselves and others. While strategy-obsessed “gamers” from competitive reality shows might underestimate these BFFs, years of wrangling their children and navigating the volatile politics of vengeful stage moms have made them skillful at both scheming and persuasion. Plus, their sisterly co-dependence and loyalty to each other could definitely come in handy when it comes to the numbers aspect of the game.

This season, The Traitors brought back Season 1 fan favorite Kate Chastain for another chance at the prize. Which of the show’s alums would we like to see return in Season 3?

CL: No one charmed me more this season than Bergie, possibly the most wholesome contestant to have ever come from Love Island. His absolute enthusiasm for being a Faithful, his bromance with Peter, his “Bergalicious” friendship with Phaedra—give me more Bergie! He was also universally well-liked and trusted in the castle and was instrumental in the Faithfuls’ strategy in helping to bring down Dan and Parvati. I’d love to see him be cast against type and chosen to be a Traitor.

Read more: Phaedra Parks on Why the Real Housewives Make the Best ‘Traitors’

JB: Bergalicious! I’m so curious how he’d do without the influence of a certain bachelor and his (kind of boring) alliance of Peter Pals. Meanwhile, in my mind, no one got shortchanged this season like Peppermint, the Drag Race alum who was the first cast member to get banished, following a ridiculously overblown confrontation with Trishelle Cannatella. When the other players turned on her, “I felt probably the worst I’ve ever felt in my life since being in high school, when I was picked on as a queer kid,” she told Vulture after her elimination. “I felt like I went onto my favorite show to have an experience and meet some of the people who I watched on TV, and I ended up getting transported back to when I used to get beaten up.” If she’s open to giving The Traitors another try, I’d love to see Peppermint get another chance to use her extensive knowledge of reality TV to outmaneuver the competition.

Along with the reality stars, this season featured a few wildcards, including boxer Deontay Wilder and British politician John Bercow. Which truly random celebrities would make inspired casting choices for Season 3?

JB: Joel Kim Booster isn’t just a writer, producer, and performer; he’s also an excellent Traitors poster. He has thoughts on why Phaedra played a better game than Dan, “one of the greatest gay guy competitors to ever do it,” and even what he would have done at particular roundtables. It should go without saying that Booster is also very funny. Let him play!

CL: I would love to see Joel Kim Booster on The Traitors! Another person I think would kill it (lol I’m sorry, I had to!) is Marshawn Lynch. His experience as an NFL player would obviously be valuable when it came to the more physically demanding challenges and his undeniable charm and quick sense of humor, both qualities we saw to great effect in his scene-stealing turn in Bottoms, would definitely make him a favorite with castmates and viewers alike—I’m team Beast Mode for Season 3!