Taya Valkyrie is adding a major reality-competition appearance to her schedule. The AEW and ROH professional wrestler has been announced as a contestant for The Traitors Canada Season 4, which premieres Monday, September 21 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CTV. Extended versions of each episode will be available to stream the following day on Crave.
Listed as being based in Los Angeles and identified as an AEW professional wrestler, Valkyrie is one of 22 Canadians taking a seat at the series’ famous roundtable. The cast will compete for a prize that can reach $100,000, while attempting to identify hidden Traitors within the group before those players can remove the Faithful contestants from the game.
The casting presents a new high-profile platform for Valkyrie outside the wrestling ring, but the skills demanded by the format are not entirely foreign to someone who has built an international career in front of live audiences and television cameras. In The Traitors Canada, social awareness, persuasive communication, confidence under scrutiny and the ability to manage suspicion can be every bit as important as performance in the show’s physical and mental missions.
How The Traitors Canada works
Hosted by Karine Vanasse, The Traitors Canada brings its players to a historic manor near Montréal, where they work collectively in missions to increase the prize pot. The central twist is that a select number of contestants are secretly assigned as Traitors. The rest are Faithful, tasked with finding and banishing those hidden opponents.
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At roundtable ceremonies, contestants debate, accuse and vote to banish a player they suspect of being a Traitor. Meanwhile, the Traitors are given opportunities to “murder” Faithful players in secret, removing them from the competition. If the Faithful eliminate every Traitor, they can claim the pot. If even one Traitor remains at the end, that Traitor takes the entire prize for themselves.
That structure has made the franchise a natural showcase for competitors accustomed to strategy, character work and high-pressure environments. Wrestlers in particular are trained to read crowd reactions, control their emotions in public settings and tell compelling stories while remaining committed to a role. Those abilities do not guarantee success in a game built around suspicion, but they can make a wrestler a fascinating player to watch.
Season 4’s premiere is titled “The Spark.” The opening episode will see Vanasse welcome the new group of contestants as the game begins. However, the season’s first night will immediately carry danger: the Traitors are tasked with making their first murder before all of the players have fully settled into the manor.
“The daggers are out” for the new season, which returns with 22 players competing amid “suspicion and deceit” as the Traitors attempt to stay concealed among the Faithful.
Valkyrie joins a varied cast of reality veterans and newcomers
Valkyrie will not be entering a cast made up solely of reality-TV regulars. Season 4 features a mix of professionals, performers, social-media personalities and veterans of other competitive reality formats. That range could make early alliances and assumptions especially difficult, since players will have very different public profiles and experiences entering the game.
Among the announced contestants are Survivor Season 44 participant Kane, Big Brother Célébrités Season 6 contestant Felix, and Spicy Vee, who previously competed on Seasons 9 and 12 of Big Brother Canada. Ty, who appeared on Big Brother Canada Season 11 and The Traitors Canada Season 3, is also part of the lineup.
The cast further includes Icesis Couture and Van Goth from Canada’s Drag Race, Elan from Love Island USA Season 7, Nipîy from The Amazing Race Canada Season 11, and Ronnie from The Real Housewives of Vancouver. Other contestants include an Olympian, lawyers, a physician, a teacher, a medium, a Christmas tree salesman, an actress and motivational speaker, and several students and business professionals.
For Valkyrie, the diverse group means her wrestling background will stand out immediately. It may also become an early talking point around the roundtable. A contestant with a background in television wrestling could be viewed as an effective performer capable of bluffing, or, conversely, as someone whose public-facing experience makes them a valuable ally in a tense group discussion. In this format, perception can often matter as much as reality.
A new off-ring spotlight for an established international wrestler
Valkyrie’s inclusion continues her presence as a recognizable wrestler working across AEW and ROH. A performer with a long track record on the international scene, she now enters a television environment where outcomes are not predetermined and each conversation can have an immediate impact on whether she remains in the game.
Reality competition is a different challenge from professional wrestling, even when both rely on charisma and an ability to connect with an audience. Wrestling places performers in a collaborative environment with an emphasis on creating a match or segment for viewers. The Traitors Canada puts its cast members in direct competition, requiring them to balance social bonds with individual survival.
The series also asks players to make difficult calls with limited information. A Faithful who identifies a suspicious player incorrectly could help a Traitor avoid elimination. A Traitor who pushes too aggressively in a roundtable debate could expose their own game. Contestants have to build trust while knowing that some of the people receiving that trust are actively trying to deceive them.
That uncertainty is a large part of the appeal for viewers, and Valkyrie’s participation gives wrestling fans another reason to follow the season. Her role will not be clear until the premiere reveals which contestants, if any, have been chosen to serve as Traitors. Whether she begins as a Faithful trying to solve the mystery or is handed the responsibility of secretly directing the game, her path will be shaped by both the missions and the social dynamics inside the manor.
Wrestling has appeared in The Traitors franchise before
Valkyrie is not the first wrestler connected to the wider franchise. Gail Kim previously appeared on The Traitors Canada, while Nikki Bella was part of the United States version of The Traitors. Those appearances helped demonstrate why the format can be an intriguing fit for wrestling personalities: it invites strong individual presentation while challenging every player to separate performance from truth.
For wrestling audiences, these crossover casts can also introduce talent to viewers who may not regularly follow AEW, ROH or other promotions. A successful run on a mainstream competition series can create a different kind of connection with fans, allowing them to see a wrestler navigating personal strategy and unscripted interactions rather than a match, promo or storyline.
At the same time, a show such as The Traitors Canada thrives on unpredictability. Experience in entertainment does not remove the risk of an early banishment, an overnight murder or a sudden shift in alliances. Every contestant arrives with a chance to control the game, but every contestant is also vulnerable from the moment the first suspicions are voiced.
What to expect from the Season 4 premiere
The September 21 debut will establish the first alliances, first targets and first hidden roles of the season. With the inaugural murder taking place as the contestants enter the game, the premiere is expected to move quickly into the atmosphere of uncertainty that defines the franchise.
Vanasse returns as host after the Canadian edition earned recognition as Best Reality/Competition Program or Series at the 2026 Canadian Screen Awards. The fourth season will air weekly on Mondays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CTV, and viewers looking for additional footage will be able to watch extended cuts through Crave the next day.
For Valkyrie, the show is an opportunity to test her instincts in a setting where composure and strategy are under constant examination. The prize may be up to $100,000, but the immediate objective is simpler and much tougher: avoid becoming the next person sent home, whether through a vote at the roundtable or a murder in the night.
AEW and ROH fans will find out on September 21 how Taya Valkyrie approaches one of reality television’s most deceptive games.
Darryl Polo
Darryl Polo is a passionate wrestling fan covering WWE, AEW, TNA and beyond. He loves great rivalries, breakout stars and the moments that keep fans talking long after the bell. How we work.