Watch: Peppermint, Back for 'Traitors' Reunion Episode, Speaks About Bias and Exclusion

The premise is simple but vicious: A small band of conspirators called "Traitors" work to turn everyone else against each other while preserving their own status, all in pursuit of gain for themselves. Meanwhile, attrition in the form of nightly "murders," in which non-Traitors, called "Faithful," are dismissed, whittles down the number of the good guys even further.

If that sounds like politics these days, well, it's also the format for hit reality TV show "The Traitors."

Season 2 of the breakout hit aired last night, revealing the winners (all Faithfuls, the Traitors having been uniformly banished), but the spirit of ruthless competition remained intact as two of the final three Faithful banded together to banish one of their own so that each of them would have a larger share of a prize money pot that would only have to be split two ways.

As nasty as the show's fun and games remained to the end, it was in the reunion episode, which aired directly after the finale, that the real feels set in. Drag artist and "RuPaul's Drag Race" star Peppermint, who had been banished in the season's second episode after being falsely accused of being a Traitor, drew unmistakeable parallels between how she was treated on the show and the suspicion and hostility with which how LGBTQ+ and gender-nonconforming people are generally treated in the culture.

Describing herself as a "superfan" of the show, Peppermint recalled "gagging" with excitement when she was invited to be part of its sophomore season.

"I was like, 'This is going to be such a big opportunity,'" the drag star said. "And it was upsetting to be suddenly sort of cast out instantly," Peppermint went on to say, hearkening back to the dramatic development when she was accused of being a Traitor and ended up being the first of the season to be banished.

Reunion host Andy Cohen noted that "somebody has to be the first to go" on a competition show with a format that whittles down the pool of contestants week by week – an observation Peppermint agreed with, but, she noted, "with no proof?"

"People have to rely on the biases that they bring into the game, which end up targeting whoever's the most different from the group," Peppermint said. "And in those situations, people like me don't really fare that well."

Her words could easily have been applied to the rising tide of legal and social animosity targeting the LGBTQ+ community, particularly transgender people, as well as drag queens. Both groups have been assailed with baseless claims that only seem to drive an ongoing torrent of hostile legislation further.

"It kind of eerily reminded me of a high school experience," Peppermint went on to add, "where I was the only out LGBTQ person at the time. And I – "

Overcome with emotion, Peppermint had to stop and compose herself as everyone else looked on in silence.

Unable to go on with the anecdote from high school, Peppermint refocused on the present. "Yes, I am a drag entertainer, but I am so much more than that," she told those assembled. "And in addition to this being, like, an opportunity for entertainment, I understand that with all the anti-trans legislation in our country right now, this moment is bigger than just me coming to play a game."

As EDGE previously reported, Peppermint's early ejection from the show was largely due to fellow contestant and "Real World" veteran Trishelle Cannatella.

"Peppermint was runner-up in 'RuPaul's Drag Race' season 9 and helped make the phrase 'but is it fashion?' one of the most memorable memes of the show," the earlier EDGE article noted.

"However, a similar exchange about fashion on 'The Traitors' led to a lot of finger-pointing about who was a traitor what on the show."

Trishelle's accusation took the form of her pointing at Peppermint and telling a castmate, "If I get murdered, she's a Traitor." The next day, though she had survived the night, Trishelle insisted that Peppermint had been "weird" in her response to the previous evening's exchange – evidence, Trishelle believed, of Peppermint's treachery.

Trishelle pressed her claims from there; Peppermint told Entertainment Weekly that "It seemed like she was really putting in work to convince people and sell this idea that I was a Traitor and that she and I got into a fight."

For her part, Trishelle explained, "I felt she looked like a Traitor, the way she was carrying herself – so confident, almost like, 'I'm untouchable.' So I was shocked when I found out she wasn't."

In her poignant reunion episode speech, Peppermint tied Trishelle's insistence that she must be a Traitor to the gut-level response some may have in everyday life to people who are different. Her time on the show could have been an educational experience for viewers, Peppermint suggested.

"Most people don't know someone who's trans in their personal life, which means that they learn about how to interact with us from TV," Peppermint pointed out. "And so I was heartbroken that I wasn't able to, um.... see it through" by continuing on after the season's first episode.

"Well, I mean, I think in your way you did," Cohen assured her. "Don't sell yourself short."

Watch the moment, embedded in the tweet below.