Wantagh funeral director competes on 'The Traitors: New Blood'

"The Traitors" returns for a fifth season (8 p.m. Thursday on NBC/4) with a few twists. First, this season will air on NBC then stream on Peacock the following day. Second, this will be the first all-civilian edition (entitled "New Blood") with 22 contestants gathered at that now-famous (infamous?) castle in Scotland, all scrambling to sort out the "traitors" from the "faithful."

Finally — most important — one of them is a true-blue Long Islander, with a big beard, big personality and big ambitions on a hit that just won its fourth straight Emmy and guarantees the winner (or winners) a $250,000 jackpot. Joe Vanella, 44, is also father of three, who grew up in West Hempstead, later Rockville Centre, then moved to Wantagh in 2022.

He spoke recently to Newsday about his life and the show about to make him (maybe) famous.

A funeral director?

My father's funeral home was in Manhattan and he had one in Oceanside too. I'm a fourth-generation funeral director — my great grandfather came over from Italy during prohibition and opened the [parlor] in downtown [Manhattan] because he wanted to run booze out of it. He figured nobody would bother with a funeral home, right?
 

How did you get into "The Traitors?"

Literally my favorite show on television.

Thousands of applicants, but they pick you. Don't take this personally, but why?

You know, I've been asking myself that question, too. I wasn't even going to apply but my sister-in-law kept saying, "you should." I kept pushing it off, then had one of those days at work, got home and sent in the application. Why me? I figured they had Rob Rausch [last season's winner, the snake wrangler and former "Love Island" contestant]. So they needed someone just as handsome [laughs]. But it's like the equivalent of somebody picking me up at 9 years old and dropping me into 'The Simpsons.' "

In an early cast interview, you said you could "sniff out [expletive]" because that's what LIers do so well. Is that more helpful for a traitor or a faithful?

Your [baloney] meter needs to be through the roof if you're faithful and figure out who's lying to your face, who's not. And you need to be — what's the word I'm looking for? — unafraid to call people out. I'm very proud of being from Long Island and that's one of the best things about the people from here — we are unafraid to call people out when things are wrong.

You've also described yourself as "loudest in the room" but some theorize it's better to lay low, or stay in the background in this game.

There are a lot of big personalities in there, and, yeah, I was definitely among the loudest, but the thing about this game is that you're always walking the razor's edge, right? You have to tailor the game to your strengths [and] I knew I couldn't be too quiet or I'd expose myself. So my goal was to be as noticeable as I can without raising any suspicions and, at the same time, befriend everybody. If that person happens to be a traitor, they trust me. If that person is faithful, they trust me. So the gameplay was the same, no matter what my role was.

You've [also] got to do some detective work, to figure out what makes people tick, how they act and where they're coming from. Is there something off about their behavior? It's really about doing the research, and I'm in a great position because I love to talk to people. Every conversation I had, I was charting their behavior, to see how they react in certain situations.

What surprised you most about being on the show?

This is going to sound crazy but the food! The breakfast was good! I was once watching with my wife, Meghan, and distinctly remember one night saying, "Meg, I want to get on this show just so I could eat breakfast." Sure enough the food was good.

Aha! We've confirmed you've had breakfast! (Ejected contestants never make it to the morning.)

I'm not saying anything!

Quickly, I understand there's a viewing party Thursday at Mulcahy's in Wantagh. No cover charge!

"I'm very proud of where I'm from [but] you see people badmouth Long Island a little bit. It's a great place to be — awful drivers but great people. I just want to be surrounded by those types of people Thursday. And Mulcahy's? The amount of times I've been there throughout my life? Just immeasurable."