Michael Rapaport finally addresses why he ate his food in such a weird way on The Traitors
He eats in the same way when he's alone
Michael Rapaport has finally addressed why he ate his plate so close to his face on The Traitors. The normal way of eating was adopted by his co-stars, with them sitting at a table to eat or simply resting the plate on their laps, but he had to go and do it really weirdly.
It went viral as a meme, and he’s now spoken out on whether he always eats that way. Michael told Entertainment Weekly he has “no excuse” for why he ate his food like that and said: “I cannot defend the shovelling technique. I do the shovelling technique when alone.”
He continued to explain himself by saying: “I do the shovelling technique at times when my wife is not looking, but when I am in public, I do not do the shovelling technique. But I will not defend, explain, or make excuses for my now iconic shovelling technique.”
The real traitor is whoever taught Michael how to eat. #TheTraitorsUS pic.twitter.com/jmy4h0qgMC
— Ben Mandelker (@BenMandelker) January 16, 2026
“I never, ever, ever, in a million years, would’ve thought people would’ve been so fascinated by the way that I eat my food.” That being said, Michael still goes on to do just that and explain why he was caught “shovelling” his food into his mouth on camera.
“I was in that room alone,” he said. “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 shovelling the food into my mouth at a rapid pace as I wanted to go out there and catch Traitors.”
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He also explained to Housewives Nightcap how he was wearing a wardrobe that had to be approved by production, which is also why he would drink water with two hands. Michael had spilled some water and ruined his outfit, and he had no replacement for it that day.
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