The joke is too obvious. Just months after a castmate broke her heart “basically, for show-related reasons,” Ciara Miller returned to TV to hunt Traitors. In her four years on Bravo, the baby girl of Summer House has experienced duplicity, vitriol, and audacity (sometimes all at once from Lindsay Hubbard), but that couldn’t have prepared her for the Peacock competition series. “I was playing Connect Four and everyone was playing chess,” she says of her time in the Scottish Highlands. “I don’t watch Survivor. I don’t watch Big Brother or The Challenge. People are like, Oh, these people are legends, but I’m getting to know them for the first time and I’m like, Some of them do seem like sociopaths.”
Following in the footsteps of castmate Kyle Cooke, who appeared on The Traitors season one, Miller represents the non-Housewife Bravo contingent in Alan Cumming’s latest round of trials — a welcome distraction from the one West Wilson put her through last season on Summer House. The new cast member immediately gravitated to Miller, lied about not sleeping with other women, and took her home to his parents in the fall — just to dump her ahead of his television debut. Wilson cited DMs and watch parties with fans among the reasons he couldn’t commit at the reunion last June. “I don’t think it was right to place the end of the relationship on those things,” Wilson would later tell the New York Times. “I think I would’ve read more honest if I was just like, the relationship ran its course, I don’t think we were meant to be together, that’s it. I think me trying to deflect the actual relationship and name all these external things really made me sound like an idiot.”
What’s a special-edition triple threat — reality star, model, registered nurse — to do? With two new housemates, Lindsay pregnant with the first Summer House baby, DJ Kyle Cooke downstairs, and Jesse Solomon smiling big enough for everyone, season nine, premiering February 12, has enough going on. Miller only had one goal: “Let’s get through the drama so that Paige and Amanda and I can go sit in the bed.”
So, who did you think was a sociopath when you first met them?
All of the Survivor people, all of the Big Brother people. I think they’re nuts.
Do you think not watching competition shows helped you in the long run?
Had I known who some of these people were, I would have been able to see what they were capable of.
How was it returning to nursing after filming The Traitors last spring?
At the beginning of the year, I went back to my home hospital in Georgia. I wanted to be around people that have known me for a while and have been with me before all of this. I feel better when I’m doing something that has nothing to do with myself. It’s a way to ease my anxieties, something constructive I can put my time and energy and effort into.
It was definitely hard flying to Georgia and coming back to New York to do, like, press appearances. I only worked three shifts during the summer, but I worked them back-to-back-to-back. Sunday, you get home from the Hamptons; Monday, I fly to Atlanta; Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, I work; and then Thursday after my shift, I fly back to New York to leave for the Hamptons for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It was definitely like, Oh my God, what the heck am I doing? But, hey, you’re only young once, right?
Does the Hamptons even feel like vacation at that point?
It does not feel like vacation. Sometimes it’s like a fucking bad family reunion where you’re like, Okay, who’s pissed at who this weekend? What’s the drama, who’s fighting, who’s going out? Not I. The girls are staying in the bed. That’s my favorite part.
What level of thought and effort are you putting into your costumes for the parties over the summer?
The thing about me is I love a look. Glam is really my specialty, but it needs to be cohesive. I try to incorporate that same mind-set into my costumes, and granted, some of them are very last-minute, but I’m still thinking of them holistically in terms of head, nose, mouth, all the way down to my toes.
How did you find the seagull costume teased in the trailer?
Zoë … I didn’t, okay? Listen to me, this costume … I was at the hospital.
Okay.
You have to order by Tuesday for it to get to the house in time. It’s Wednesday. I’ve missed the deadline. My producer calls me and she’s like, “What are you being for the party?” I go, “What party?” I had to have an assistant run around the city. When I get fixated on something that I could make really funny, I have to do it. I’m gonna be a seagull. It’s stupid.
I had them get plaster; I sent them to the feather shop to get feathers and wings and paint. I sent them to Abracadabra to get contact lenses. She brought everything to my house so it was all there when I got home Thursday night. I stole a beaker thing from the hospital that was this really special shape to be my mold for the beak. Me and Amanda just sat there and plaster-molded this beak to my face.
What did you make of the fan reaction to season eight?
The reaction was crazy. The fans are amazing, but I don’t necessarily ride the waves with the fans. When you’re high, they love you. When you’re low, they kick you sometimes. That’s not necessarily real life, either. It’s just me and my therapist working out things one day at a time. When people are like, Don’t listen to what the fan base is saying, I’m like, How?
You already had some perspective by the time season eight aired. How did you want to show up at the reunion?
I am a fucking crybaby. I cry all the time when my feelings are hurt, and I didn’t want my message to get lost in my tears. I really worked on being able to control my emotions to be able to say how I felt eloquently and not cry all the way through it. I wanted to be stoic, like, This is what it is, and I see the bigger picture now. I see what your intention was and how you played this. Shame on you.
It was really impactful. The emotions made it that much more heartfelt. What was it like seeing Kyle get emotional and feeling all your cast members’ support onstage?
We are like a sick family. It really is crazy. We can talk shit to each other, but the minute an outsider comes, it’s like, I will beat you up. They have known me for so long and they know that I don’t necessarily give myself to everyone. I’m not the fastest to make friends with people. Kyle obviously has a soft spot. Kyle is also a crybaby too. He is very protective of me, Amanda, and Paige, even though we beat him up sometimes. He truly is like our brother.
And I don’t think I had ever told any of them that, especially the boys. The person who heard my grievances the most was definitely Paige and a little bit of Amanda. It was probably their first time hearing it.
After the reunion, where was your head at?
I ended up having another conversation with West after the reunion. Look, I don’t know if it was productive or not. He said some words, not a lot, but he apologized, and I’m thinking we can just leave it where it is. Then I leave for Scotland, and once I came back and saw some of the things that were published in the New York Times, for example, I was like, Okay, fuck you. I don’t do a ton of press anyway. No offense, hate talking to press. It’s not my favorite thing, and so I stayed quiet. I did the beginning-of-the-season press, stayed quiet the entire season, and I still, to this day, haven’t done much press. I don’t think I will do a tell-all or sit-down on a podcast and talk about it.
I get when it’s your first season and all the attention is great, but there’s another person at the end of this who has to read article after article. My family has to read article after article. My friends have to read article after article. People are posting clips if you went on a podcast. All of these things have to do with me, and you are liking it because you’re getting attention. It’s weird. I wouldn’t necessarily do that to you. But I can’t expect someone to operate the same way I do or be as buttoned-up. It just felt like cheap press. I kept my mouth shut. Meanwhile, you’re acting like you’re the man, ’cause let’s be real, you bagged me.
It’s ironic to say he didn’t want to be attached to you.
Every press story is about me. It’s very disrespectful and there is a lack of empathy for me. I guess the rising stardom overtook him, which I get. That’s why I feel like you have to be very cautious. Press, I’m sorry, is not our friend. They want to write. There’s a lot of power in being silent on some things and seeing how it all plays out. It’s really hard to talk as the episodes are airing, ’cause you never really know what the ending is gonna look like.
What did you need, either from him or just in general, in order to have a fun summer? And, without risk of spoiling, did you get what you needed?
I don’t think I needed anything from him. I have been summering with these people now for forever. To be quite frank, I was here first, and I was doing it without him. I can do it with him or without him, still. I wasn’t gonna let him influence the type of summer I had. Was he gonna get the same version of me? Absolutely not.
How did you and Jesse work on your flourishing friendship off-camera?
Jesse was always good to FaceTime me periodically and check in, see what he’s up to, who he’s dating and who he’s not. We have a very natural friendship. Into the summer, there was a point where he was like, “I get where you and West are at, but we’re still friends, and I would never go back to him and say something and vice versa.” Do I trust it 100 percent? I’m always skeptical of everyone, but I do feel like me and Jesse have a really good friendship. Jesse, of course, wants to be back to the trio, but whatever.
As somebody who came in the youngest, what was it like having the new girls Lexi Wood and Bailee Henderson come in?
They definitely came in guns blazing, so that’s always good to make an impression. Sometimes I feel bad because we have to explain years of drama to them and why this particular thing pissed you off. It’s like, “One time five years ago …” They caught on fast and were always down. They were a lot of fun. They could match Kyle’s energy.
This is out of pocket, but would Carl ever be back on the table? At all?
On whose table?
Heard.
If you guys think I’m ever doing another house romance, you’re out of your minds.
Why do you think men always bring you to their family home?
Because they’re bored. They do stuff strictly for their validation. They also love wasting your time, to be straight up.
That perspective reminds me, is your podcast Codependents going to make a comeback?
I don’t know, I definitely am thinking about it. It’s nice to see people continuously asking, “When is Codependents coming back up?”’ I gotta talk to Mya.
What was more intimidating, going into the house your first season or going into the Traitors castle?
Going into the Traitors castle. Although, similar experiences because you’re like, Who do I trust, who would I not trust?
There have to be transferable skills.
Watch your back. Don’t close your eyes and wash your face ’cause you don’t know who’s coming in to kill you.
Was there anyone in the castle that you wanted to come hang out in the Hamptons?
Bob Harper, which is funny because they don’t really show our relationship. But me and Bob are attached at the hip. I just loved him. If you put me in a room full of people, I’m gonna find the gays, always, always. They are my people.
I love Dolores, we were very close. While everyone was crying — typically, I would be crying, but in this, I really didn’t until they accused me of being a Traitor — we would just look at each other across the room and be like, What the fuck? Dolores is like an older version of me and she also has a potty mouth. As I’m watching, it really doesn’t show me being friends with literally anyone, but I did really get to know Chrishell, and she was amazing.
You’re young, you’re hot, you’re cool. Is Kyle a good DJ?
Please put in that she rolls her eyes first. It’s really annoying. He’s actually not bad.