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Why Wes Bergmann's Brains-and-Brawn Reputation Makes Him a Threat on The Traitors
The former The Challenge mainstay is branching out to the Scottish Highlands.
This story contains spoilers for the first two episodes of The Traitors Season 3.
Something wicked this way comes, indeed, when it comes to The Traitors Season 3's three-part premiere and its diabolical surprise. The new episodes, which premiered on Peacock on January 9, fold in three infamous reality show players into the Season 3 contestant stable: Survivor and Deal or No Deal Island legend "Boston Rob" Mariano, who was previously announced, as well as new additions Big Brother champ Derrick Levasseur and The Challenge heavyweight Wes Bergmann.
In particular, Wes Bergmann has become an intimidating fixture on the physical reality competition series The Challenge, in which he's been a contestant in 14 seasons and across six different spin-off iterations, totaling 20 appearances.
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Looking like Fergus' Highlander cousin, Wes is already eyeing up Rob, Derrick, and the existing contestants like his next dinner, so let's take a look at why everyone should be very wary of Wes' take-no-prisoners gameplay style.
Wes Bergmann's start as an MTV-Generation reality star
If you were an MTV reality series junkie back in the '90s and 2000s, then Wes Bergmann should be a familiar face. He made his reality series debut in 2005 as a housemate in The Real World: Austin. From the top, he was portrayed as the ginger frat boy who was super competitive — and had a brain to boot. He famously got slapped in the face by a roommate he slept with in the season finale, which secured his villain status in reality show circles in the decades to come.
In 2006, Wes shifted to another MTV reality series, The Challenge, appearing as an alumni competitor for the Real World team in the face-off season, Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Fresh Meat. The format was proved to be totally in Wes' competitive wheelhouse, where he threw himself into crazy challenges that tested his mettle. He came in third place and basically never left The Challenge competition cycles.
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In his 20 different series appearances, Bergmann earned "Champion" status in The Challenge seasons titled The Duel, Rivals II, and All Stars 3. He was a finalist in the seasons titled Fresh Meat, Rivals, Champs vs. Pros, Champs vs. Stars 2, and War of the Worlds.
When you compare him to The Traitors Season 2 winners Chris "C.T." Tamburello and Trishelle Cannatella, both The Challenge alums, he's got them bested — by a lot — for the sheer number of seasons he's competed, the number of times he's won, and for his physical prowess, which saw him evolve from a skinny college guy into the beefy iteration we see today.
Wes Bergmann's House of Villains era
In 2024, after almost two decades of The Challenge loyalty, Bergmann shocked his fans by exiting from the long-running series to try his hand at a new reality franchise, House of Villains. On X, he made it clear that the former series wasn't fitting into his everyday lifestyle as a businessman, father, and husband anymore.
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Bergmann told TV Insider that he liked the shorter commitment with House of Villains, and, more importantly, that he could actually play more villainously than ever.
"I kind of consider myself a villain way," he said. "I see why some of The Challenge fandom is definitely having a hard time wrapping their head around me being a villain. I get it. I’m really a hero. I save the day. I go after the bad guys. All that is true, but I’m also totally prepared to burn the bad guys a lot. When someone becomes a bad guy, I end up doing worse to them than whatever they did to become a bad guy. And so my punishments for bad people are not fair and not just, and in a way that makes me worse than them. But I think that one of the definitions of villain in terms of reality television and who is one is who is prepared to do whatever it takes to win. And I am definitely going to be bringing that mantra into this game."
Those should be words to heed for this season's Traitors, Danielle Reyes, Rob Mariano, Carolyn Wiger, and Bob the Drag Queen.
New episodes of The Traitors Season 3 premiere on Peacock on Thursdays at 9/8c, with the season finale and reunion premiering on March 6.
All episodes of Seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream right now on Peacock.
