One way to beat your haters is to have way more fun than them, take yourself less seriously than they are, and generally learn not to be afraid of people thinking you're cringe from time to time.
I've been watching American reality TV for the better part of 25 years. And maybe this is a bit of a hot take.
But I don't think I've seen something as big for the genre as the rise of #TheTraitorsUS since the first episode of Survivor.
Maybe it's my algorithm. But the past 2 years I have seen people from my life who never watched reality TV before becoming obsessed with the show. Comedians have filled my feed with impressions of the contestants. I've seen fans of the gamers fall in love with the Bravolebs. I've seen Bravo fans start watching old seasons of Survivor and Big Brother.
The Traitors has revitalized Phaedra's career completely. It helped kickstart Parvati's reality TV renaissance. It put Dylan Efron on magazine covers.
At the same time, I've seen people debate the morality and ethics of betraying someone. How traitorous can a Traitor be? What does it mean to be a "good person" in a cutthroat game? These are conversations I haven't seen since the first alliance was created back in the summer of 2000.
It's been a truly wild ride. And I can't wait to see how it all closes out, and more importantly, what's to come.