Redemption Arc Without a Reckoning

Who gets to return to the spotlight after a scandal, and who is written out of the story entirely?

The Traitors positions itself as peak reality competition TV, blending strategy, psychological tension, and pure camp. Its appeal relies on audience investment in both gameplay and character. Yet, the inclusion of Colton Underwood in the current season introduces a discomfort that extends beyond competition. Underwood's continued presence in popular media raises critical questions about who is granted redemption and how harm is minimized in the process.

Underwood is best known as a former Bachelor lead. As the Bachelor, Underwood was in a position of power, dating multiple women simultaneously while controlling eliminations, pacing, and the story. Cassie Randolph was his frontrunner, and when she attempted to exit the relationship on her own terms, her resistance was framed as a dramatic obstacle in their relationship instead of an action of autonomy. This context is important, because what followed reinforced dynamics of control and pursuit.

The couple got engaged, but like many Bachelor Franchise relationships, they split. In 2020, Underwood became the subject of a restraining order obtained by Randolph, after a pattern of stalking and harassment. Allegations against Underwood included stalking Randolph outside her windows at night and placing a tracking device on her car. 

Following the scandal, both Underwood and Randolph disappeared from the public eye. However, Underwood reemerged in 2021 with his announcement that he is gay. He married a man in 2023 and the couple welcomed a child in 2024. These milestones seem to be markers of growth and personal transformation, which have allowed his return to television. Underwood is now presented as a redemption rather than a reckoning.

In Culture Industry, Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer argue that mass culture prioritizes profit through standardized narratives that discourage critical reflection. Redemption arcs function as such. Scandal followed by reinvention offers emotional resolution without accountability. Underwood's return to television is not framed around the harm he caused but around his new identity, making his scandalous actions against his ex secondary to his marketable present self.

Walter Benjamin offers additional insight in The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Benjamin argues that reproduction diminishes the "aura" of cultural objects, altering how they are experienced and remembered. Applied to Underwood's case, repeated media appearances gradually dilute the severity and memory of his past actions. Soon enough, his documented pattern of harm will become a vague backstory.

However, Birmingham School complicates the idea that audiences passively accept this reframing. Stuart Hall, in Notes on Deconstructing the Popular, emphasizes that popular culture is a site of negotiation between dominant meanings and interpretation. Underwood's presence on The Traitors has not been universally embraced. Viewer discourse frequently brings Randolph into conversations the show itself avoids, resisting the industry's attempt to close the scandal.

Similarly, John Fiske argues in Popular Discrimination that audiences actively produce meaning through selective engagement. Enjoyment of a television show does not imply acceptance of all its elements. The discomfort surrounding Underwood's casting illustrates how viewers can simultaneously appreciate a show while rejecting the narrative it promotes. The audience's resistance to Underwood becomes a form of cultural participation rather than disengagement from the program altogether.

What remains most striking is whose story is allowed to persist. Underwood's transformation is continuously revisited, while Randolph's experience fades away. The imbalance reflects a broader cultural pattern in which harm against women is treated as inconvenient, while men are afforded repeated opportunities for reinvention. The culture industry does not prioritize justice; it prioritizes continuity, familiarity, and profitability. 

Underwood's casting demonstrates how pop culture rewards those who can be successfully rebranded, regardless of unresolved accountability. His presence on The Traitors is a statement which reveals which stories are preserved, which are softened, and which are quietly left behind. In doing so, it exposes the uneasy reality that redemption in popular media is less about change and more about marketability.