Renowned poker champion Nikita Luther recently stepped into the world of reality television with The Traitors, a strategic game show hosted by Karan Johar on Prime Video. As the episodes unfold, viewers are seeing a different side to the seasoned game player, Nikita offered a peek into her experience, including her shocking elimination, a surprise return, and her thoughts on co-contestant Elnaaz Norouzi.
When asked about her reappearance on the show and whether it would shake things up among the contestants, Nikita dropped a surprising spoiler. “They gave me an advantage that I can’t be voted out or I can’t be killed by the traitors. I give you a small spoiler: this didn’t happen with anyone else at any point. I get this advantage throughout the season.”
She further hinted at more twists ahead, especially involving Elnaaz. “I can’t reveal a spoiler, but there is one big thing that will happen again, only with me. I’m excited for the audience to watch that unfold. There will be another thing that happens in relation to Elnaaz.”
Though she avoided the term “power,” Nikita teased a major upcoming moment in the game. “It’s not a power exactly. There is some big episodic thing that will happen. And I decide to be a few steps ahead, and I made a decision because of that.”
Reflecting on her elimination, Nikita shared that she had no clue she would be returning. The production team had relocated her to another hotel without access to her phone or any updates. She revealed, “They were not letting me go home… after one or one and a half days, I figured that I might be coming back. And it happened.”
Despite the offer, Nikita had second thoughts. “The way other reality shows are, they are basically trashy, so I’m a self-respecting person. I’m not going to expose myself to people abusing you on camera, people like coming from nowhere and showing you a finger or something like that. I wasn’t ready to expose myself to that because I’m a very like self-respecting person.”
She revealed, “I like my integrity intact. I didn’t want to be abused and on screen by people I don’t know. The whole game is about picking up on minds, skills, and body language, and there will be no crass, toxic drama. There will be drama, but within the rules of the game. It won’t be dirty drama.”
Nikita also spoke in an interview with Pinkvilla about moments during the shoot where tempers flared. While the show is largely unscripted and contestants were left to navigate the game themselves, there were instances where the production team had to step in. “Once or twice while filming the show, things started getting out of hand. They would actually not communicate with us at all because there was no scripting, nothing, nobody was communicating with us while we were in the palace, but the only time that they stepped in was when things were getting out of hand.”
She added that one such moment involved a heated argument between some of the younger contestants, prompting the team to lay down the rules again. “They told us it’s not a show to fight. They made it clear that they won’t be airing any shouting, screaming or abusive footage,” Nikita shared.
The Traitors premiered on June 12 and continues to deliver intrigue and suspense with every new episode, with Nikita’s return promising more unpredictable turns in the game.
