If you thought the deception and backstabbing on The Traitors was hard to watch, you clearly haven’t seen Michael Rapaport eat breakfast. The veteran actor and professional loudmouth has gone absolutely viral for all the wrong reasons, turning the Peacock hit into a display of table manners so vile that fans are questioning if he was raised by wolves. But the gross-out moment at the buffet was just the appetizer for the main course of drama: a vicious verbal assault on Colton Underwood that the cast—and the internet—labeled a direct shot at his sexuality.
Rapaport, , is now in full spin mode, trying to laugh off the fact that he was caught on K camera treating a plate of eggs like a trough. In a clip that has been burned into the retinas of viewers everywhere, Rapaport was seen practically unhinging his jaw, placing his mouth directly on the edge of the ceramic plate, and “shoveling” food into his gullet with a speed that defies physics. It wasn’t dining; it was an excavation.
The footage from episode spread like wildfire, with social media users gagging over the sheer lack of decorum. But while Rapaport is busy defending his “shoveling technique,” the real scandal is the aggressive, below-the-belt comment that ultimately got him banished from the castle. We are breaking down the chaos, the excuses, and the apology tour that nobody is buying.
The ‘Shoveling Technique’ Explained
Let’s address the elephant in the dining room. Rapaport admits that what you saw was real, but his defense is bizarre. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly on Tuesday, the actor tried to frame his animalistic consumption as a quirky habit rather than a total lack of home training. He calls it the “shoveling technique,” and apparently, it is his dirty little secret.
I cannot defend the shoveling technique. I do the shoveling technique when I am alone. I do the shoveling technique at times when my wife is not looking, but when I am in public, I do not do the shoveling technique.
Wait, he does this when his wife isn’t looking? That is a level of domestic deception that fits right in with The Traitors. Rapaport claims he “never, ever, ever” thought people would care how he eats, but when you bypass the fork-to-mouth journey and simply slide the food directly from the table into your throat, people are going to notice. He insists he has “no excuse,” yet immediately provided one, claiming the pressure of the game turned him into a vacuum cleaner.
‘I Was In That Room Alone’
Here is where the PR spin gets flimsy. Rapaport claims the only reason he unleashed the “shovel” was that he thought he was in solitude. He told reporters that he believed he was the only person in the room, giving him license to drop the facade of civilization.
I was in that room alone. There’s plenty of other times when I was eating, and I was not doing my shoveling technique. But because I was in that room alone, I was shoveling the food into my mouth at a rapid pace because I wanted to go out there and catch Traitors.
Someone needs to remind Rapaport that he is on a reality show with dozens of cameras and microphones. Being “alone” in a room on a production set is a myth. He claims he was fueling up to “catch Traitors,” but fans think he just forgot that the world was watching. The visual was so disturbing that it completely derailed the tension of the episode for viewers online.
The way Michael Rapaport eats on TheTraitors has lived rent free in my head for days.
Why does Michael Rapaport eat every meal like it’s last one before being sent to the electric chair. He too damn grown for this.
The internet remains undefeated. Comparing his eating style to a “last meal” before the electric chair is the kind of brutal honesty only X (formerly Twitter) can provide.
The ‘Closet’ Comment That Crossed The Line
While the eating was gross, the Roundtable confrontation was ugly. Rapaport’s gameplay imploded when he decided to target former Bachelor star Colton Underwood. In a heated exchange that sucked the air out of the room, Rapaport accused Underwood of being a Traitor because of his ability to hide the truth.
“Nobody in this room would be better at holding a secret than you,” Rapaport sneered across the table. The entire cast froze. The implication was immediate and undeniable: Rapaport appeared to be weaponizing Underwood’s painful history of being in the closet.
Underwood, , came out as gay in after years of struggling with his identity in the public eye. For Rapaport to use that trauma as “evidence” in a game show was seen as a massive low blow. Underwood fired back immediately, asking, “You think it was fun for years of my life?”
Doubling Down on the Defense
Instead of reading the room and apologizing instantly, Rapaport doubled down. In the heat of the moment, he refused to acknowledge the obvious subtext of his comment. He denied making a dig at Underwood’s sexuality, shouting, “That has nothing to do with it!”
He then launched into a tirade, calling Underwood’s behavior “secretive,” “conniving,” and “cowardly.” It was a masterclass in how to lose a room. By attacking Underwood’s character while the “secret” comment hung in the air, Rapaport sealed his fate. The other contestants weren’t just suspicious of him; they were disgusted.
I’m not talking about closets! His behavior is of a Traitor… This man is responsible for chirping in everybody’s ear.
Rapaport tried to paint Underwood as the villain who “organized and colluded” to eliminate a Faithful, but nobody was listening. The “holding a secret” line had already done the damage.
The Banishment and The Apology Tour
Unsurprisingly, the cast voted to banish Rapaport immediately. He was kicked out of the castle, but the drama didn’t end when the cameras cut. Realizing he had stepped in a massive PR pile, Rapaport reportedly scrambled to make amends as soon as production wrapped.
In a new interview with Parade, Rapaport claims he slid into Underwood’s DMs immediately to beg for forgiveness. He insists they had a “grown man conversation” via FaceTime to smooth things over.
As soon as production ended, I DM’d him. And we FaceTimed, and I told him what I meant… We laughed, we talked. He shared some things about the rest of that night, and we moved on.
Rapaport describes the interaction as “cool” and “respectful,” claiming there is “no beef” between them anymore. He says Underwood even reached out to him after the episode aired to touch base. It sounds like a nice bow to wrap up a messy situation, but is it genuine? Rapaport admits, “It happened, and I regret it,” which is the closest we are going to get to a public admission of guilt.
Why Fans Aren’t Forgiving Him
Rapaport might be cool with Colton, but the audience isn’t letting him off the hook that easily. The combination of the revolting eating habits and the perceived homophobia has turned Rapaport into the villain of the season. Viewers are flooding social media with calls for better vetting of cast members, labeling Rapaport’s behavior as “toxic” and “unwatchable.”
Whether he is “shoveling” eggs or shovel-feeding insults, Michael Rapaport made sure he was the most talked-about person on the show. But at what cost? He walked away with no prize money, a damaged reputation, and a viral GIF of him eating like a barbarian that will haunt him forever.
The takeaway? If you are going on TV, maybe use a fork. And definitely don’t weaponize someone’s coming-out story for a game show strategy. It ends with you leaving the castle in disgrace, every single time.
