“The Traitors”' Eric Nam Gets His Revenge Against Winner Rob Rausch in His New Music Video (Exclusive)
“The Traitors”' Eric Nam Gets His Revenge Against Winner Rob Rausch in His New Music Video (Exclusive)
Brianne TracyTue, March 3, 2026 at 2:00 PM UTC
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Eric Nam gets revenge against Rob Rausch after that treacherous Traitors season 4 finale in the music video for his new single, "How the Fire Started"
The music video also features the duo's other Traitors costars Maura Higgins, Ron Funches, Natalie Anderson and Yam Yam Arocho
Nam tells PEOPLE the music video is just the start of what's to come for him this year
Eric Nam is getting even with Rob Rausch after that dramatic Traitors season 4 finale.
In the new music video for his single "How the Fire Started," premiering exclusively on PEOPLE on Tuesday, March 3, Nam travels to Rausch's ranch to "right some wrongs." Last week, The Traitors ended with Rausch turning on his fellow Traitor Nam to win and take home the full $220,800 prize money himself.
After his arrival at the ranch, Nam, 37, learns that the gang there — comprised of Traitors Faithfuls Maura Higgins, Ron Funches, Natalie Anderson and Yam Yam Arocho — is being "held against their will" with "all work and no play." He and the group then vow to make Rausch — clad in his signature jean overalls — "pay."
Eric Nam and Rob RauschCredit: Adam Kudeimati
The video ends with a showdown between Nam and Rausch that leaves Rausch tied up and bound to some wooden beams. The gang douses Rausch in lighter fluid and leaves him to burn in a fire — that is, until Funches has a change of heart and runs back to carry him away from the flames.
While on set, Nam tells PEOPLE it was "fun" to see everyone outside of "the context of Traitors."
"It was good to see everybody in a different element, just chilling," he says. "Ron was doing Ron, just under a tree by himself. Yam Yam was loud as ever. Maura was doing glam and looking fabulous, and Rob just rolls up in an overall."
Eric Nam, Yam Yam Arocho, Natalie Anderson and Maura HigginsCredit: Adam Kudeimati
The group shot the music video in Los Angeles the day after they all filmed The Traitors reunion several weeks ago.
"I was like, 'I know everybody's going to be in town, so I would love to get them in,'" Nam says. "I called Rob, and Rob was like, 'This is the least I can do for you. Absolutely.' Then I called Maura, and she was like, 'We have to do this.' And then we rounded it out with our cast. I think it's just a great way to wrap up this experience and put a bow on it."
While the way his Traitors journey ended with banishment "wasn't ideal," Nam realizes that "at the end of the day, it's a TV show. It's a game."
"Every morning I would wake up and yell into the castle, 'Let's make great TV,'" he says. "That's what I would say at the start of every morning just to remind people that this is a gig. So some of the comments I was getting online were crazy. They were so hateful and spiteful. I'm like, 'You guys, it's not that serious.'"
Natalie Anderson and Ron FunchesCredit: Adam Kudeimati
Still, the song was definitely "inspired and finished by the experience of Traitors and the betrayal and backstabbing," he says.
If he could go back and do anything differently, Nam says he "wouldn't have been as trusting of" Rausch.
"I played as true as I could, as honorably as I could," he says. "I don't have any regrets. Do I wish Rob had made a different decision? Yeah, but whatever, that's on him. People were like, 'Oh, would you share $100,000 with someone you met three weeks ago?' I was like, 'Yeah, I would.' But we're just different in that way. I don't fault him for that. It's just the way it happened."
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Eric NamCredit: Adam Kudeimati
Nam says all will be forgiven with Rausch when he buys him a Rolex. "If Maura gets a Birkin, Eric should get a Rolex," he jokes.
After a long recording career and making a name for himself in the K-pop world, Nam says he ultimately decided to sign up for Traitors in order to introduce himself to a wider audience.
"I wanted to really meet mass America," he says. "Before I did Traitors, I would walk into situations, and I'd always one of the very few Asian people there, if not the only, so people would be like, 'Oh, he's K-pop.' I'm like, 'Okay, but I'm not just a K-pop. There's so much more to what I'm doing.' Now I feel like I can run into my castmates and have my own Traitors Fam."
Eric Nam and Maura HigginsCredit: Adam Kudeimati
Born in Atlanta, Nam got his start posting singing covers on YouTube, in between his studies at Boston College. After graduating in 2011, Nam landed a consulting job at Deloitte, but his videos soon got the attention of a scout for the Korean singing competition Star Audition: Birth of a Great Star. After finishing in the top five, he debuted as a solo artist with his first EP, Cloud 9, in 2013.
In 2016, Nam joined the cast of the South Korean reality show We Got Married, where actors and K-pop singers would pair off in simulated onscreen marriages. Nam was coupled with Solar of the girl group Mamamoo.
"That was the biggest reality show at the time," Nam says. "It is a fascinating concept to be like, 'You're going to be fake married to another K-pop star, and you guys are going to pretend play marriage.' It was crazy because both of us were at the peak of our careers, and we were never sleeping. There was a month where I did 50 different appearances and performances, so we were half asleep the entire time."
"The other part that was tricky was the fans would hate the partner," he continues. "Her fans hated me. My fans hated her. There were fan wars. It's been a decade, so we've gotten over it."
Eric NamCredit: Cameron Driskill
In 2022, Nam became an independent artist, and he released his most recent album, House on a Hill, a year later.
"This career has been challenging and it's not easy at all, but I love that I have the ability to do so many side quests, and my extreme ADHD is satiated jumping between all these ridiculous projects all the time," he says. "So I'm very grateful that I am where I am right now."
With Traitors behind him, Nam says he gets "to go back to what I really love, which is music and acting." In addition to a new album on the way about "relationships and love and loneliness and all the things," Nam has three upcoming acting projects. He voices Aang in The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender film due out in October, he stars in a yet to be titled K-pop movie from Paramount and HYBE America expected in early 2027, and he also has the thriller Loser with Julia Fox.
"Acting is still so new for me," he says. "Acting is so much more difficult than the other facets of my career, but I like to do things where I feel like I'm growing and learning. Acting has really allowed me to flex a new muscle. And all the roles that I'm playing are so different, so it's been a very steep learning curve."
Of his career, Nam wants "to take it as far as I possibly can," he says: "I just hope that I can keep the momentum going and that the work speaks for itself."
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
