Deontay Wilder Wasn’t Afraid to Get Emotional on ‘The Traitors’: ‘I’m a Very Sensitive Man’ (Exclusive)

He might wear intimidating masks and be known as "The Bronze Bomber" in the boxing ring, but Deontay Wilder definitely has a soft side behind all that punching power. And the prized pugilist was more than willing to reveal his emotional side for all of the world to see in The Traitors.

Wilder was one of the celebrities chosen to compete in Season 2 of Peacock's reality competition series and was not chosen to be a Traitor in the first three episodes, which debuted on Friday night. That meant that he was, instead, one of the Faithful and tasked with tracking down those who were committing nightly "murders" of their co-stars. The consequence of the house guessing wrong, however, was that someone innocent was sent home. In the first batch of episodes, that very thing happened more than once. 

After the elimination of Peppermint, when she revealed she was not a Traitor, Wilder took the news hard. He could be seen sobbing over his vote against the RuPaul's Drag Race star, revealing that he wholly identified with her dilemma of trying (and failing) to convince others of the truth about herself. At the next round table, it was Wilder himself who first pointed fingers at Maks Chmerkovskiy as a potential Traitor and led the house in voting against the Dancing With the Stars pro. Wilder isn't worried about all of those raw feelings and spilled tears disrupting his tough-guy reputation at his day job.

"I think a lot of people see boxing and they see toughness — and you have to be mentally tough in boxing — and they see all the promotion," Wilder told The Messenger. "So we will say certain things that would frighten people… but that's boxing. But as a person, as the man that I am, I'm a very sensitive man. My wife would tell anyone, 'He's very sensitive,' and I have no problem at all showing my sensitivity."

Wilder continued, "Especially as far as men — because we grow up to be taught to show no sensitivity, show no fear, just show no sensitive side, don't cry because that shows weakness — but I disagree with that. I think sharing tears and stuff like this is just a cleansing to yourself."

For Wilder, the experience of being completely misjudged by an entire room of other people is a bit close to home.

"Dealing with a game like this where you have to pick and choose to find who is the traitor, and if you're wrong… it hits me differently because of how I grew up and I know what it is [for] someone accuse you of something that you know didn't do wholeheartedly, and everybody targets in on you," he explained. "So it really hit a childhood trauma for me to allow me to really open up in that way. And I have no problem showing the world who I am as a man and who I am as a fighter."

The first three episodes of The Traitors Season 2 are now available to stream on Peacock. New episodes premiere Thursdays at 9/8c through March 8.